One Shining Moment: One Thousand Little Moments
by Beauford on Apr 5, 2010 11:45 PM CDT
in Michigan Basketball
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It's not been a good year to be a Beauford Bixel Team. Perhaps, given that 50% of my last posts on this blog have been shatteringly off topic, it hasn't been a good year to be a Beauford Bixel Blog either, but that's a different argument. The Colt's are one thing; I can handle that. But why does whatever God is in charge of sports let teams like Duke beat teams like Butler?
I should expain a stupid story.
After graduating college, I lived in Indianapolis, and was in that weird funk time when you don't have a real job, and the "college" lifestyle permeates your every action. I hung out a lot at a house that I knew on the Northside of Indianapolis - one that, through an odd set of circumstances, happened to be inhabited by the Butler basketball team. The players I knew as people who lived in that house all graduated, but my loyalty to a then Todd Licklighter coached Butler team remained. They were the hometown team that could go to the sweet 16 every year and maybe scare the hell out of a 1-seed, but ultimately get beat. Charmingly harmless, I would call them; and the perfect team to decide to pull for come tournament time every year. John Calipari and his ilk have no hold over Butler University.
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I have no ill will towards Duke, unlike a great many of people in my generation. I actually have a close friend who played for Duke, and now plays in the NBA. I've always enjoyed a good Duke basketball team, and never really understood the hatred towards what should be a well respected, well coached basketball team. The only time a team that I cared about crossed paths with Duke was the year that Indiana University went to the finals, only to be beaten by Maryland. Along the way, Indiana shocked Duke by (gasp) beating them, and so my initial reaction to Duke was "charmingly harmless." I'd never been stung by the evil empire.
via i.a.cnn.net
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What they never teach you as a sports fan - or the storyline that Disney never seems to greenlight - is the fact that sometimes, the Empire fucking wins. Sometimes, they take the rebel alliance, and they crush their impotent efforts to change anything about the natural order of things. The ACC beats the Horizon league. Duke beats Butler 363 days out of every year - and guess what? The odds didn't work out tonight. The Empire had a scare, but in the end, they won, just like they were supposed to.
via almostnot.files.wordpress.com
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It's not that I'm disappointed. Butler was never supposed to be a team of destiny. They were supposed to get beat by UTEP. Then they kept winning, and before you knew it, Butler was Gonzaga with a shot at winning it all. They weren't a mid-major because they expected to win. When they took the court against Kansas State, it was a forgone conclusion. When they matched up against a Tom Izzo Michigan State team, they were supposed to win. It seemed natural. So when they took Duke to the final shot - and had two legitimate shots to put themselves in a very good position to win the game - it seemed natural. This team was going to win. What's more, for myself - selfishly, I figured that I had won the "sports" lottery. When Gordon Hayward launched that last shot - the one that hit backboard and rim, and seemed the be an angel's breath away from going in - I figured that I would have my very own "North Carolina State" moment to cherish in the NCAA tournament. These moments don't come often - and they never come to a team that you've, for whatever reason, decided to cherish as the hometown team. You can root from afar for North Carolina State. It's a rare opportunity when the team that you've decided as "your own" has the shot to be replayed with the hysterical elation that comes with winning against a team like Duke.
I don't harbour ill-will towards Duke. They came and did what they were trained to. I do wish that those last two shots had fallen. I wish it for Hayward, and Norad, and Coach Brad Stevens (and, from a DePauw grad myself, you're welcome Butler...), and Howard, and Mack, and all of the scraps that bigger D-1 programs left behind.
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Sometimes though. Sometimes, Duke wins. And there are a whole other slew of people in North Carolina and spread across the country who can breath a sigh of relief that their team did what they were supposed to. It's just that there was another team, who will likely be lost to history after another 2 years, who had a job to do too. It's just too bad that the Victors are inevitably the one's who write the history books. They'll be missing one hell of a story.
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Totally agree
BB, this was one of the best pieces you’ve put up on MnB. Just outstanding.
Maize n Brew
Because Football is Better with Beer
by Maize n Brew Dave on Apr 6, 2010 12:29 PM CDT reply actions
Great post!
I think the 2010 tourney will be remembered for a long time to come, for nearly everything except the Blue Devils.
So Sayth King Zach I
It's funny
It would almost be more poetic if Butler had lost to MSU and faded away like George Mason.
by Cairo on Apr 6, 2010 6:15 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
After thinking about it for a bit...
On the drive home last night it occurred to me what this game reminded me of… Tom Watson at last year’s British Open. For me, I didn’t grow up a huge Tom Watson fan, his era preceded mine, I was aware of him and his accomplishments and that was pretty much it. Over the course of four rounds I became swept up in what was happening, and by the time he missed that 8 foot par putt on the 72nd hole that would’ve sealed one of the great sports stories of all time, I was heart-broken. While I wouldn’t describe myself as “heart-broken” after the horn sounded last night, I was disappointed. I went into the game relatively guarded… aww hell I’ll be honest, I thought Duke would kill Butler. I was hoping for something incredible, and for 59 minutes and 47 seconds the Bulldogs delivered. I was certain that they would win when they got the ball back with 13 seconds to go down one. When each of those last two shots (WHY DIDN’T YOU DRIVE TO THE BASKET WHY?!) missed by mere inches I was just crushed.
To draw yet another golf analogy, this was like the PGA Championship at Valhalla in 2000 when Bob May went toe-to-toe with Tiger Woods through 72 holes and into the playoff only to come up short at the very end… a tournament that lives on in highlight fame for Tiger’s “run-and-point” bomb that he made during the playoff.
The thing that really is tough is that, and this is particularly true of the Watson analogy, you just know that this set of circumstances, this chance, may very well never materialize again. Sure Butler will have another solid team, but it takes more than a great team to reach that point, just ask Kansas… and for that, I’m disappointed that Butler wasn’t able to cement themselves into the legend of the tournament last night.
GO BLUE! http://www.maizenbrew.com/
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