MSU Spartans fans would/could never understand

[Palindrome]

I am pretty sure nobody wearing Sparty colors and following their team in person or even wstching on the BTNetwork has even a tiny inkling what it’s like as NU hoops persons watch games inexplicably slip away in crunch time. It can be attributed somewhat to turnovers, “choking”, inexperience, cold shooting spells, errant passes, and the like. That’s all part of the ups and downs and twists/turns of competition. But its more than that. It’s knotted guts, anguish, and the psychological edginess, because nearly every whistle, all the weird bounces, most borderline calls, and even the roll of the ball around and off the rim on a “bunny” … they always go in favor of the bad guys. You come to expect it, being snakebitten, that is. Was there a single Wildcat fan ANYWHERE today who did not just absolutely know that in the final moments some combination of forces and fortunes and fate would bring us down with a huge and ugly thud.

At the end of today’s game, and I had it on mute because it’s too painful to hear the words, with O:0:0 showing as the MSU free throw clanked … I HONEST TO GOD still expected there might be a whistle and a technical foul against NU for something. Like someone having put on an illegal shoe (eyelets of varied hue) during the time out prior to the free throw. I know, it’s batpoop crazy, but wonder if I’m the only one with this unhealthy horror film playing over and over and over...

 

[zbag51]

I am pretty sure nobody wearing Sparty colors and following their team in person or even wstching on the BTNetwork has even a tiny inkling what it’s like as NU hoops persons watch games inexplicably slip away in crunch time. It can be attributed somewhat to turnovers, “choking”, inexperience, cold shooting spells, errant passes, and the like. That’s all part of the ups and downs and twists/turns of competition. But its more than that. It’s knotted guts, anguish, and the psychological edginess, because nearly every whistle, all the weird bounces, most borderline calls, and even the roll of the ball around and off the rim on a “bunny” … they always go in favor of the bad guys. You come to expect it, being snakebitten, that is. Was there a single Wildcat fan ANYWHERE today who did not just absolutely know that in the final moments some combination of forces and fortunes and fate would bring us down with a huge and ugly thud.

At the end of today’s game, and I had it on mute because it’s too painful to hear the words, with O:0:0 showing as the MSU free throw clanked … I HONEST TO GOD still expected there might be a whistle and a technical foul against NU for something. Like someone having put on an illegal shoe (eyelets of varied hue) during the time out prior to the free throw. I know, it’s batpoop crazy, but wonder if I’m the only one with this unhealthy horror film playing over and over and over...

Oh man, i always get the same feeling. Any close game, I just KNOW we’re gonna lose. When we’re ahead close to the end, and you think to yourself, as long as we score on this possession, that’ll give us a good buffer… and then we get a terrible possession with a worthless shot and the other team rebounds, drives, and scores in like 2 seconds.

That feeling of clinging to hope as it is slowly wrenched out of your fingers again and again.

But not today… Today, we turned the tables, we stood up, and we won! GO CATS!

 

[Zootcat]

I am pretty sure nobody wearing Sparty colors and following their team in person or even wstching on the BTNetwork has even a tiny inkling what it’s like as NU hoops persons watch games inexplicably slip away in crunch time. It can be attributed somewhat to turnovers, “choking”, inexperience, cold shooting spells, errant passes, and the like. That’s all part of the ups and downs and twists/turns of competition. But its more than that. It’s knotted guts, anguish, and the psychological edginess, because nearly every whistle, all the weird bounces, most borderline calls, and even the roll of the ball around and off the rim on a “bunny” … they always go in favor of the bad guys. You come to expect it, being snakebitten, that is. Was there a single Wildcat fan ANYWHERE today who did not just absolutely know that in the final moments some combination of forces and fortunes and fate would bring us down with a huge and ugly thud.

At the end of today’s game, and I had it on mute because it’s too painful to hear the words, with O:0:0 showing as the MSU free throw clanked … I HONEST TO GOD still expected there might be a whistle and a technical foul against NU for something. Like someone having put on an illegal shoe (eyelets of varied hue) during the time out prior to the free throw. I know, it’s batpoop crazy, but wonder if I’m the only one with this unhealthy horror film playing over and over and over...

This was one of the things that made the NCAA season so much fun. that season was the opposite. As the season went on, I started getting the feeling we would either win each game, or it would go down to the wire.

I wasn’t a believer until partway through the season, after we beat a really good team, and I texted one of my best friends (huge Marquette fan) “Damn! We’re a good team!”