Syracuse enters the Big East Tournament on the last fringes of the bubble. They are playing in the 8-9 first round game, Wednesday at noon. Pundits are calling it an “elimination game” between two teams fighting to sustain their faint NCAA Tournament chances. And, my schedule as a teaching assistant will prevent me from seeing the game, as I have to teach class from 12-2pm on Wednesday.
Stop me if this sounds familiar.
Every one of those sentences is as true today as it was two years ago around this time. I’m starting to have some serious flashbacks to 2006. So much so that I think I just heard Juelz Santana on the radio. Anyway, you, me, and a fair chunk of America remember how that 8-9 game ended:
I remember making it back to my office (shared with a half-dozen others) and pulling up the game score on Yahoo. Not GameChannel, I didn’t want to take time for it to load. Just the regular box score with play-by-play. I “watched” as Cincinnati made a basket to take a one-point lead, with only 10 or 15 seconds on the clock. But we still had the ball, and a chance. The next play sequence made my heart sink: a steal by Cincy and a foul with about 6 seconds to go. That’s when I just knew we were done. The guy made one of two, but it didn’t really matter. I was 100% sure that was it. All. Finito. Just waiting for the word “Final” to show up and I could go home and face the depressing reality.
But something weird was going on. The last few seconds didn’t seem to be elapsing. Come on Yahoo, you buttwads. Just show me the final score and put me out of my misery. I don’t remember how many times I had to hit “refresh” before the following showed up on the screen:
00:00.3 G. McNamara makes three-pointer
WHAAAAAAT??? ARE YOU KIDDING?!??!?
Final: Syracuse 74, Cincinnati 73
NO FREAKING WAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!
My office-mates’ reactions ran from mild amusement to utter confusion. I, on the other hand, ran to my car to go home so I could watch the highlights over and over and over. I couldn’t get enough of them. I still can’t. In fact I just spent 8 minutes watching this other YouTube compilation of not just the Cincy shot but the entire G-Mac BET run. Other than featuring the song about “15% concentrated power of will” and so forth that 8 of 10 YouTube basketball compilations use, it’s a pretty sweet Gerry lovefest that should get you all pumped for this year’s BET. Bring on the ‘Cats! (Wild-, not Bear-.)
PS. I never actually listened to Juelz Santana. I swear.