(ed. note: The following piece was originally a series of e-mails sent to my friends from college before and after Syracuse played Oklahoma in the NCAA tournament. Knowing my psychotic Syracuse fandom (and baffled by it since we didn't go to Syracuse), they were curious as to my state of mind after they completely and inexplicably shat the bed against Oklahoma. Remember, Syracuse was one of the hottest teams in the country coming in to the tournament, as late in the year they won at Marquette, had that great run in the Big East tournament, and looked like they were on cruise control in the first two rounds of the Big Dance. And then the wheels came flying off...)
E-mail sent before the game:
Gerry McNamara jersey on? check. Syracuse shorts on? check. Labatt blue light in hand? check.
/checks clock... 4:27 pm. Still 3 hours til tipoff. Words cannot describe how amped I am. I'm probably going to have a heart attack at some point today/tonight.
E-mail sent a few minutes later, after my friends wondered who I was drinking with:
Yes I'm drinking a few casuals by myself in my room. I don't know where my roommates are; they were home and have mysteriously left. I know they're going out to dinner tonight at some point though, presumably because I may be home watching the Cuse game and they don't want to be near me when that happens. Although I think I'm going to go watch at my friend's apartment with approximately 10 other cuse fans. Odds of him getting evicted: 3-1.
E-mail sent the following Monday, describing my day/night of watching that trash:
Okay here is a rough summary of my state of mind before, during, and after the cuse game. Let me first prephase this with a few of my comments on the game in general. It was an absolute fluke game. Syracuse lost because Devo and Rautins missed about 6-7 wide open threes in the first half while Tony Crocker- who is a God awful shooter and a pretty bad player in general-- made it rain and poured in 28 freaking points. However, I do have a theory as to why Devo and Rautins missed those shots-- each of the first 3's they took in the game were absolutely horrendous shots. Devo took a 27 footer with about 20 on the shot clock that barely grazed iron in the first 2 minutes of the game, and on Rautins' first possession he inexplicably launched a fade away NBA three with a hand in his face with about 25 on the shot clock. I think these two shots threw them off before they could ever get going. This fluke first half threw everything off; the teams actually played evenly in the second half. Anyway, let's travel back in time to Friday night, a.k.a. one of the worst nights of my life.
Before the game- I'm 6 beers deep before tip off and at a bar at a golf course in my town. Why a bar at a golf course? Because it was basically empty, we got to watch it with sound on, and my friend who wanted us to watch it at his apartment had to work late. We plan on going to his apartment at halftime. I'm excited. I'm amped. I can taste the national title.
During the game- The first few possessions were practically vomit inducing. each team was mauling each other and no fouls were being called. Neither team could hang on to the ball, and the aforementioned Tony "I suck" Crocker (ed. note: when I get bitter I coin incredibly creative nicknames for players who have wronged me) throws in a three. To top it off, Cuse plays great d one possession, and some asshole with a faux hawk (ed. note: for the rest of my life I will refer to Austin Johnson as "Asshole with a faux hawk") banks in a running 18 footer at the shot clock buzzer. Needless to say, I'm getting nervous. The score is 5-0, and my stomach is in knots. Predictably, Syracuse goes away from their offense because they are nervous, getting mauled, and can't hang on to the ball. They go in to what i like to call "hero mode," something that was responsible for about 80% of their losses this year. What is hero mode you ask? When Flynn (him to a lesser extent, cause he actually can take over games), Devo, Rautins, and Harris begin trying to do everything on their own. Whoever has the ball of that group will immediately either barrel into the lane out of control or huck up a three-- usually without anyone else on the floor touching the ball-- and an awful shot or turnover coming with about 25 on the shot clock. Cuse gets down 14-6, and I proclaim to my friends that we're going to lose this game by 20. To Boeheim's credit, he recognizes hero mode quickly, calls timeout, and gets them to run their sets. Stunningly (sarcasm), this results in them getting great looks. Flynn is getting layups and easy mid range J's, AO (Arinze Onuaku) and Ricky (Rick Jackson; as you can see, I have no problem calling Syracuse players by their nicknames) are getting good looks inside, and Devo and Rautins are getting some of the most wide open 3's they've ever seen. Most normal games, they'd explode for about a 15-0 run and take a 5 or 10 point lead. However, Devo and Rautins are inexplicably both way off. They havent shot this badly all year, probably because of a) those awful shots I referenced earlier and b) they haven't had looks this open all season.
For most of the rest of the half, they hang around, and eventually make a move to cut it to 1 with about 4 minutes left. I'm ecstatic; after all, they can't buy a 3 and are within 1. Then, Tony Crocker rips my soul out. The bricks keep piling up for Cuse, while Crocker pulls shot after shot out of his ass. I'm getting angrier and angrier, and drunker and drunker. When crocker hit that 3 at the buzzer to make it 13 at half, I'm as angry as i've ever been. I slap the bar, storm out of the bar, and snarl to my friends "I'll see you at (redacted)'s apartment". I race over to my friends apartment for the second half. Deep down, I know right now the game's over, but I talk myself into believing (hey, if Rautins and Devo can get a couple 3's to drop, theyre right back in this!). I proclaim that if they can get it 7 or 8 by the under 16 timeout, they'll have a good chance. Everyone agrees. Then, Oklahoma starts the 2nd half on a 7-0 run, and hope is gone. I am now somewhere between maniacally angry and morbidly depressed, mostly because I now have to watch this shit for 40 more minutes knowing they're done. We resort to taking potshots at Oklahoma's cheerleaders. For instance, when they show one, my friend shouts "hey porky, why don't you throw on a jersey I'm sure you'll bomb in a 3 out of your ass too." (That quote seemed much funnier at the time. Manical anger takes a toll on your sense of humor.) At about the 12 minute mark, my friend who is as equally insane about Syracuse as I am and lives in Florida texts me requesting which method of suicide I'd reccommend. He's doubly depressed because he's been watching this game with his parents and they are appalled at his behavior. We spend the next 15 minutes texting each other the most gruesome forms of self-inflicted death we can imagine, including my favorite, forced beer bottle sodomy followed by a bullet in the brain. This is surprisingly therapeutic (the texting, not the beer bottle sodomy). (If we're lucky, this friend may grace us with some posts on here from time to time.)
Eventually, I get hammered and pass out on my friend's floor and forget this ever happened. I then wake up and play golf the next morning, beginning drinking at 11 am, and I fire the worst round of golf in my life. This isn't coming from Tiger Woods either; I'm talking a cool 124 (this is the first and last time my golf game will be mentioned on this blog). At the end of last season I was routinely shooting 100 or just over; good to see I was on such tilt to negate any progress I had made. I also lost 5 balls that day. And as a final postscript, just when I thought I was over it, I watch Oklahoma play like absolute trash against UNC sunday, and the esteemed Mr. Tony Crocker goes back to his useless, bricklaying self. This made me angry again. Oh well; the future is bright for Cuse hoops; 3 solid recruits coming in next year, a transfer from Iowa State who sat out this year is now eligible, and if Jonny returns (which he has said he is going to), this is a legit preseason top 10 team.
(Postscript: And as you know, not only did Flynn leave, but so did Devo and Harris. Wonderful; back to mediocrity this season. Although I don't really blame any of the three of them for leaving-- Flynn obviously, but Devo and Harris each have families to support, and since Devo got a redshirt year he actually has already graduated. I'd just like to point out that since winning the title in 2003, Syracuse has won exactly 4 NCAA tournament games. And lost to Vermont. Which may have actually been the worst night of my life. But that's a story for another day...).
No comments:
Post a Comment