Post by YB on Mar 12, 2005 23:28:59 GMT -5
Well, I just came back from the BE tourney…. Tired, depressed, yet hopeful. It was quite an experience.
I should note here that this was my first one in 10 years, so it was a little of the new and a little of the old.
First day- hope abounds for our Hoyas, yet a lot of apprehension. Many of the Hoya fans I met here were afraid we’d lose to SHU, and many of them wanted no part of Yukon afterwards. After seeing many of our fellow bubble teams get burst that day, I was prepared to let the chips fall where they may here. WVU won earlier that day, blowing out Provvy, which did not set the stage well for the evening.
At Café 31, we saw some isolated groups of Hoya fans, but mostly ND and others. The Irish were dismissive of us, the rest were extremely magnanimous. All said how happy they were that we had a great year and what a great coach JT3 was. This was a constant throughout the tourney; everywhere me and my sign-toting (and equally “obnoxious”) companion went, we got kudos on how well GU did this year. This difference in our record between last year and this was 4 wins. But boy, did it ever feel like more. Learned Jeff got co-ROY. Congrats, big fella- we look forward to many fond memories.
BTW, I did not particularly care for Café 31. It was crowded, expensive, with mediocre food. Must find another place to hang out next year.
Everyone in my section was disgusted with how poorly GU seemed to be playing and impressed with how much passion the Salty Seadogs played with. As we continued to fall behind, we expressed some amazement with how little Tyler, Hibbert, and (yes) Guibunda played. More on this later.
Anyway, miraculous win. I did not cheer but rather prayed the last 5 minutes when we held them without a FG. This allowed me to cheer when we won, all the more. The good feeling carried over to cheering like Hell for RU to beat ND. This wasn’t the K-niggit team we all came to know and love as having mailed in their season; no no, they were feisty from the getgo. Unfortunately for them, one special night was all they had in them; but it served our purposes as the obnoxious Irish were shown the door. The Rutgers band and dancers were both unbelieveable- just top notch talent and very nice on the eyes. If RU fans ever ask, I never said that.
At this point I came to realize what a great thing the BET really is. Not only do you root on your team against its ancient rivals, but you root for your rivals to be upset. Terrific.
The best part, tho, was the Hoyas winning- then getting cheers and well-wishes from SU and VU fans to blow the doors off Yukon. BE fans are really knowledgeable on the whole- not all and especially not Yukon fans, who were the most prideful bunch of frontrunners- but on the whole, I just loved talkin’ ball with the BE fans. We really do have the best conference, and everyone is really geared up for next year when we will have the undisputed best conference in America.
I should note here that this was my first one in 10 years, so it was a little of the new and a little of the old.
First day- hope abounds for our Hoyas, yet a lot of apprehension. Many of the Hoya fans I met here were afraid we’d lose to SHU, and many of them wanted no part of Yukon afterwards. After seeing many of our fellow bubble teams get burst that day, I was prepared to let the chips fall where they may here. WVU won earlier that day, blowing out Provvy, which did not set the stage well for the evening.
At Café 31, we saw some isolated groups of Hoya fans, but mostly ND and others. The Irish were dismissive of us, the rest were extremely magnanimous. All said how happy they were that we had a great year and what a great coach JT3 was. This was a constant throughout the tourney; everywhere me and my sign-toting (and equally “obnoxious”) companion went, we got kudos on how well GU did this year. This difference in our record between last year and this was 4 wins. But boy, did it ever feel like more. Learned Jeff got co-ROY. Congrats, big fella- we look forward to many fond memories.
BTW, I did not particularly care for Café 31. It was crowded, expensive, with mediocre food. Must find another place to hang out next year.
Everyone in my section was disgusted with how poorly GU seemed to be playing and impressed with how much passion the Salty Seadogs played with. As we continued to fall behind, we expressed some amazement with how little Tyler, Hibbert, and (yes) Guibunda played. More on this later.
Anyway, miraculous win. I did not cheer but rather prayed the last 5 minutes when we held them without a FG. This allowed me to cheer when we won, all the more. The good feeling carried over to cheering like Hell for RU to beat ND. This wasn’t the K-niggit team we all came to know and love as having mailed in their season; no no, they were feisty from the getgo. Unfortunately for them, one special night was all they had in them; but it served our purposes as the obnoxious Irish were shown the door. The Rutgers band and dancers were both unbelieveable- just top notch talent and very nice on the eyes. If RU fans ever ask, I never said that.
At this point I came to realize what a great thing the BET really is. Not only do you root on your team against its ancient rivals, but you root for your rivals to be upset. Terrific.
The best part, tho, was the Hoyas winning- then getting cheers and well-wishes from SU and VU fans to blow the doors off Yukon. BE fans are really knowledgeable on the whole- not all and especially not Yukon fans, who were the most prideful bunch of frontrunners- but on the whole, I just loved talkin’ ball with the BE fans. We really do have the best conference, and everyone is really geared up for next year when we will have the undisputed best conference in America.
Yeah, right!!! Are you even still IN the Big East or did we ship you off to the MAAC yet?” Now, we WANTED this win very badly. The rest of the BE fans were definitely on our side though, except some VU fans who wanted Yukon in the finals.