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March 26, 2006
All Aboard The Bandwagon
Hope they inflated the tires up real good, because the George Mason bandwagon is gonna pick up about another 25 million riders this week. I'll happily be among them. My NCAA pool hopes died with Duke (lesson learned: never again side with the devil, even when you think it can win you money), so I am more than happy to start cheering for the greatest underdog story in 20 years in college basketball.
There have been underdogs before; in fact, every year, a few of them make it into the Sweet 16. But very rarely do underdogs reach this level, the Final Four. As the entire world will point out with nauseating frequency this week, the most direct comparisons are North Carolina State in 1983, Villnova in 1985, and Kansas in 1988. Maybe LSU in 1986 belongs in the conversation, the last 11 seed to get to the Final Fout. Yes, Kansas won it all in 1988, as did 'Nova in '85 and Jimmy Valvano's NC State in '83. But every single program on that list was from a major conference where even surviving to the NCAA tournament level means having gone at least .500 in one of the premier competitive environments college basketball offers. George Mason is the first mid-major to make the Final Four since the NCAA tournament became the "March Madness" mass marketing machine that it is today.
And Mason did it the hard way -- as Dick Vitale and others have noted this afternoon, their road to Indianapolis ran through three of the last six national champions, half of last year's Final Four, and three Hall of Fame coaches. This isn't just some fluke, friends. These are some kids playing out of their heads and hitting an incredible streak, yes. But they're playing damn good basketball. Better than Michigan State. Better than North Carolina. And better than UConn. If they can play better than Florida next Saturday, they will have taken their Disney movie in the making all the way to the national championship game. And you'll be able to hear me rooting for them all the way from Italy.
Move over, Rudy. Take a seat, Hoosiers. Grab some bench, The Rookie. The next okay-for-men-to-cry-at-the-end sports movie is being scripted right now, only in real life. Because if George Mason wins two more games... Cinderella's gonna look like a trailer park floozy in comparison.
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Comments
Have you ever seen "Miracle?" It's similar to "The Rookie," in feel. I really enjoyed both films, even knowing the endings ;)
Posted by: eden at March 27, 2006 09:09 AM
This is a prime example of why one should always read all the way to the end. Heh. Trailer park floozy. You funny boy.
Posted by: Jill at March 27, 2006 11:50 AM
So, how was the helicopter ride?
Posted by: Jim at March 27, 2006 02:57 PM
