Spring Break
Letter to the Editor: Basketball team is more than sum of achievements
Issue date: 4/10/09 Section: Commentary
We had grown attached to them - not because we wanted or needed another heartbreak, but because we had started to believe and we just couldn't help ourselves. We had begun to believe not just in them, but in the glories of winning. We had aligned ourselves with the effervescent center, wily veteran point guard, and the primal rage of our forwards.
There was something about this team that made us believe in them. The smiles seemed genuine, the joy real - that was something that had been missing from our basketball team.
The almost grim nature of Josh Boone and Marcus Williams was replaced by - in the irony of ironies - the innocence of A.J. Price and the pure emotion of Jeff Adrien. And we like them for it. Hasheem - for all his potential in the NBA - carries himself with an odd combination of sincerity and immaturity that endears him to us. Craig Austrie and Stanley Robinson quietly go about their business only to blossom into a fountain of skill and persuasion at the moments when we least expect it. Jerome Dyson and Kemba Walker straddle the finest of lines between control and chaos. And we like them for it. This team wasn't perfect, but their flaws only allowed us to believe in them more.
The 2006 team was too perfect. Talent ebbed in every step that team took. But it was a double-edged sword; the immense amount of talent allowed their eyes to gaze too far ahead. Our UConn goliath was toppled by the upstart George Mason, and our fan base was more upset about it than the team itself was.
This team was made of inherently flawed individuals and basketball players but the difference was that they cared. A.J. Price knows the value of a basketball game. Two years removed from a near-death experience, he is the vocal and emotional leader on a Final Four team. The smile he wears isn't for the cameras or even for us. It is for him, and that's why it matters so much.
Jeff and Stanley's screams would occur even in the darkest of gyms. Hasheem blocks shots with an almost visceral joy. It is these elemental things that make this team so much more memorable and likable than others we have followed just as closely and passionately.
I feel like I've lost something - something as simple and wonderful as belief. I hadn't just hoped we would win; I had believed we were going to. This team meant more to me than the others that I had grown up watching. This team is so much more than another Final Four banner or another basketball team. It is a reminder of why we watch sports in the first place. It is about caring about something - even something as stupid as a basketball game. We cared about this team, this coach, and these players, and if we remember nothing else about this season, that should be enough.
-Shaun Wrinn
6th-semester
secondary English education major
There was something about this team that made us believe in them. The smiles seemed genuine, the joy real - that was something that had been missing from our basketball team.
The almost grim nature of Josh Boone and Marcus Williams was replaced by - in the irony of ironies - the innocence of A.J. Price and the pure emotion of Jeff Adrien. And we like them for it. Hasheem - for all his potential in the NBA - carries himself with an odd combination of sincerity and immaturity that endears him to us. Craig Austrie and Stanley Robinson quietly go about their business only to blossom into a fountain of skill and persuasion at the moments when we least expect it. Jerome Dyson and Kemba Walker straddle the finest of lines between control and chaos. And we like them for it. This team wasn't perfect, but their flaws only allowed us to believe in them more.
The 2006 team was too perfect. Talent ebbed in every step that team took. But it was a double-edged sword; the immense amount of talent allowed their eyes to gaze too far ahead. Our UConn goliath was toppled by the upstart George Mason, and our fan base was more upset about it than the team itself was.
This team was made of inherently flawed individuals and basketball players but the difference was that they cared. A.J. Price knows the value of a basketball game. Two years removed from a near-death experience, he is the vocal and emotional leader on a Final Four team. The smile he wears isn't for the cameras or even for us. It is for him, and that's why it matters so much.
Jeff and Stanley's screams would occur even in the darkest of gyms. Hasheem blocks shots with an almost visceral joy. It is these elemental things that make this team so much more memorable and likable than others we have followed just as closely and passionately.
I feel like I've lost something - something as simple and wonderful as belief. I hadn't just hoped we would win; I had believed we were going to. This team meant more to me than the others that I had grown up watching. This team is so much more than another Final Four banner or another basketball team. It is a reminder of why we watch sports in the first place. It is about caring about something - even something as stupid as a basketball game. We cared about this team, this coach, and these players, and if we remember nothing else about this season, that should be enough.
-Shaun Wrinn
6th-semester
secondary English education major
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Lance
posted 4/10/09 @ 9:54 AM EST
Great Article. I graduated in 1992 and was a die hard fan since our first NIT Championship and I still ready the Daily Campus, online version, on a regular basis. (Continued…)
KKM
posted 4/10/09 @ 9:54 AM EST
Yeah, Baby!! Extremely well said!!!
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