My New Team
I woke up this morning thinking I had just experienced a bad dream. Then I realized that it was reality that was the real disaster.
You see, my Hawkeyes finished their once-glittering season by losing seven of their last eight games, the last a "play-in" game to earn the 11th seed in their NCAA division. The Hawkeye star was held to 3 of 15 shooting, but they kept a small lead until late in the game, when they had to hit a shot to get into overtime. It went in, but then it all went over the cliff in OT, ending the season. The star is finished, and so is one of their top rebounders. Pretty sad for a team that was challenging for the Big Ten title a month ago. Today's big BYU loss didn't help matters either, even though that wasn't part of my dream.
Maybe I need a new team to root for before I become too old to remember which team is which. I spent some time today thinking of the options:
1. BYU - Well, I went there and met Mona there, too, so I can't say nothing good ever took place in Cougarville. They have good teams sometimes, but the place is just so....paternal. I feel as though they're still giving out orders even though it's been 40 years and 1000 miles.
2 Cal - It's not terrifically far, but no way we'll ever go there to a game, and we have no other connection to the place. That goes for Stanford, too, unless you remember that Herbert Hoover (a native Iowan) was part of the 1st Stanford graduating class.
3 Iowa State - There are some plusses there, but it always seems to me to be too much like Nebraska on the cheap. It's hard to like their colors, as well.
4 Northern Iowa or Drake - What's the biggest thing that ever comes from Cedar Falls or Des Moines? Why, it's the rare victory over Iowa!
5 Humboldt State. It's the closest school, but the teams are up and down, and not Division I. Right now their best teams are softball and crew racing. They don't even have tennis. I'd walk across the street to watch them, but it would have to be a nice day.
6 Cornell College - They have some good (Division III) teams, which I used to watch when we lived a few blocks away, but that was over 25 years ago. I do still have one of their T-shirts. It's for the women's tennis team of 2002-3. They had me practice with them a few times.
Wow. The whole list seems like pretty thin gruel. When you get right down to it, I'm either stuck with the Hawkeyes, or limiting myself to one season (summer) watching baseball's semipro Humboldt Crabs. Yup, that's their real name, and they win lots of games. Then again, I could give the Buffalo Wild Wings a shot - if I only knew what league they're in and what they play.
It seems my little mockery of Arizona in this space will have to end. Our oldest son Zach and his family are moving there (Peoria, which I guess is near Scottsdale) in about a week. Sigh.
You see, my Hawkeyes finished their once-glittering season by losing seven of their last eight games, the last a "play-in" game to earn the 11th seed in their NCAA division. The Hawkeye star was held to 3 of 15 shooting, but they kept a small lead until late in the game, when they had to hit a shot to get into overtime. It went in, but then it all went over the cliff in OT, ending the season. The star is finished, and so is one of their top rebounders. Pretty sad for a team that was challenging for the Big Ten title a month ago. Today's big BYU loss didn't help matters either, even though that wasn't part of my dream.
Maybe I need a new team to root for before I become too old to remember which team is which. I spent some time today thinking of the options:
1. BYU - Well, I went there and met Mona there, too, so I can't say nothing good ever took place in Cougarville. They have good teams sometimes, but the place is just so....paternal. I feel as though they're still giving out orders even though it's been 40 years and 1000 miles.
2 Cal - It's not terrifically far, but no way we'll ever go there to a game, and we have no other connection to the place. That goes for Stanford, too, unless you remember that Herbert Hoover (a native Iowan) was part of the 1st Stanford graduating class.
3 Iowa State - There are some plusses there, but it always seems to me to be too much like Nebraska on the cheap. It's hard to like their colors, as well.
4 Northern Iowa or Drake - What's the biggest thing that ever comes from Cedar Falls or Des Moines? Why, it's the rare victory over Iowa!
5 Humboldt State. It's the closest school, but the teams are up and down, and not Division I. Right now their best teams are softball and crew racing. They don't even have tennis. I'd walk across the street to watch them, but it would have to be a nice day.
6 Cornell College - They have some good (Division III) teams, which I used to watch when we lived a few blocks away, but that was over 25 years ago. I do still have one of their T-shirts. It's for the women's tennis team of 2002-3. They had me practice with them a few times.
Wow. The whole list seems like pretty thin gruel. When you get right down to it, I'm either stuck with the Hawkeyes, or limiting myself to one season (summer) watching baseball's semipro Humboldt Crabs. Yup, that's their real name, and they win lots of games. Then again, I could give the Buffalo Wild Wings a shot - if I only knew what league they're in and what they play.
It seems my little mockery of Arizona in this space will have to end. Our oldest son Zach and his family are moving there (Peoria, which I guess is near Scottsdale) in about a week. Sigh.
posted by Mark at 8:53 PM
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