Sunday, March 12, 2006
I've played because, when the game is good, when everyone is doing, not thinking, it happens, little stillnesses in the moments when you see your open man and nothing else, or you feel your shot going in the hoop as it leaves your hands, or you share a laugh with someone you've never spoken to. Race, money, gender, age, they're still there. But the junk we're all saddled with is gone.
-- She's Got Next, Melissa King
It is perhaps cliche or overly sentimental to speak of sports as transcending the everyday, but then a romantic belief in the pure joy of competition is among the U-Haul of quirks in my possession. As are the way a well-turned phrase can make me weak in the knees and a victory by the scrappy underdog can make my eyes moist.
So there is no greater time of year for me than this March Madness we currently enjoy. For even casual basketball fans in Central New York, this week started with gloom over our Syracuse University team, ninth in the 16-team Big East Conference and going nowhere. Or so we thought. From Wednesday through Saturday, the situation went from curiosity to frenzy into euphoria.
It started simply, if spectacularly, on Wednesday as scrappy star guard Gerry McNamara (recently maligned as allegedly overrated) nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to beat Cincinnati 74-73 on Wednesday afternoon (while most of us were working). Next up: Connecticut, the #1 team in the country. They couldn't possibly beat a team that had whipped them in the regular season. Or could they? McNamara hit another last-second three-pointer to put the game into overtime, and SU won 86-84. Many of us tried to track the score online, but when it hit OT I finally gave up and turned on a TV in the media center and invited the crew from financial aid to watch. It's hard to work under such conditions.
By this time, it appeared something magical was happening. I contacted the staff of The Raven, who happily turned our favorite haunt into a sports bar for Friday's contest against archrival Georgetown. SU only led for nine seconds of the game. But it was the last nine seconds, as they staged an incredible rally from a 15-point deficit at the half to win 58-57. Jubilation. Saturday we were back at The Raven, and it seemed like even more sports fans were coming. After many twists and turns, SU hung on to defeat Pitt 65-61 for the Big East championship. Jubilation. An NCAA Tournament bid. For McNamara and teammates, redemption. Four wins, four days -- from losers to legends.
As it happens, I'm also reading She's Got Next: A Story of Getting In, Staying Open and Taking a Shot by Melissa King this weekend. On the surface, it's the story of how King finds what she's been missing in her everyday existence through basketball: passion, comaraderie and insights into the human condition. As she chronicles playing pickup games and later coaching a girl's team, King presents a story about life, not basketball. While I can appreciate it as a basketball fan, her tale will appeal to anyone who has a passion -- writing, cooking, painting, anything.
When I was in Big Lots on Saturday looking (unsuccessfully) for a replacement for the still-busted Lateral Thigh Slider, I found myself face to face with a basketball. Only $7.99 for a Rawlings? Love that store. The new basketball and I took advantage of the nice weather by going out to some courts behind Oneida Hall on the spring-break-silenced campus. It has been a while, as the first shot missed badly. I chased down the rebound, dribbled out and put up a bank shot. It went in cleanly. Words cannot accurately describe the satisfaction.
posted by Tim 9:12 AM
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