Favorite Sports Moments and Other Stuff

My top three moments of sports fandom, as I recall:

3. Trinidad & Tobago 0 - 0 Sweden
This was the first full match I watched from the 2006 World Cup. I'd watched pieces of the June 9th matches and had spent the weeks prior to the World Cup boning up on the many participating teams and their players. Going into the World Cup, I was sure of a few things: 1) I didn't like England, Germany, or the United States (the football teams, not necessarily the countries), 2) I was in love with Togo, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Portugal, Sweden, and Italy, and 3) T&T was going to have their asses handed to them, the poor bastards.
Looking back on it, this is the only time I can remember being so thrilled by a tie, especially a 0-0 tie. If I remember correctly, T&T played much of the way with 10 men, and Sweden had any number of solid chances along the way. I remember initially rooting for Sweden, hoping Zlatan Ibrahimovic would do something spectacular. I remember Sweden was remarkably crisp and creative with their touches and movement, and feeling like they looked the most like a team that had spent some time playing together. They just couldn't finish their chances, at all. I also remember Avery John being sent off with a red card pretty early (I think he was the first player sent off in the 2006 World Cup), and it must have been shortly after that I started really feeling bad for the T&T squad. Their goal-keeper had an absolutely PERFECT match, making miraculous saves throughout, and it seemed like the Soca Warriors were doing a great job of counter attacking, with Cornell Glen making these extended, exhausting runs down the side, a couple of times even putting shots on goal. For me, it was a fantastic start to the World Cup, with a major underdog, in their first ever World Cup appearance, going the distance (a la Rocky Balboa) against a European favorite. I was an hour late for work that afternoon because I was hopping around my living room for the second half and stoppage time. Great match. I can't wait for 2010.

2. Darrell Green's last game
I magically ended up watching this game from FedEx Field with my brother, my sister, and my mom. It was the last home game of the season, and it was against the Dallas Cowboys. In fact, a pair of Cowboys fans sat directly in front of us at this game. Walking around Washington D.C. and the whole D.C. metro region, you see a lot of fans of other teams. We've got a lot of transplants around here. When you're a big Skins fan, you tend to notice the Dallas fans a bit more, and probably the Philly fans and Giants fans, but especially the Dallas fans. On top of being deep in enemy territory, they also happen to be some of the most obnoxious, pompous, know-nothing bandwagon fans in all of sports. They stick out. In a bar, at a game, at a party, they're loud, stupid, and wrong most of the time.
A Redskins home game is a pretty special thing. The fans are insane 90% of the time, especially the ornery old turds who mostly hate the Redskins but "support" them all the same. A home game against the NFC East is crazier; a home game against the Cowboys crazier still; a season-ending home game against the Cowboys . . . a season-ending home game against the Cowboys with a Redskins legend playing his final game . . . you get the picture. It was nuts. There was never a lull in crowd noise, not even during TV timeouts.
The absolute peak of the day was a punt return taken by Champ Bailey and then handed off to ol' man Darrell, who took the ball 30 yards down field, even hurdling a defender along the way. I had almost no voice left before the play; after the play, blood was shooting out of my throat, nose, eyes, and hair follicles all over the Cowboys fans in front of us, who by that time had been reduced to quivering, whimpering shells. They spent the rest of the game huddled under their seats with an improvised white flag sticking up from between the arm-rests. No Cowboys fans made it out of the stadium alive, and many a hungry D.C. child lived the entire winter off of the nutrition from their shredded remains.

1. George Mason's 2006 NCAA Tournament Run
Unbelievably, this is the most under-rated accomplishment in sports history. People still talk about effing Valparaiso as a Cinderella story team. Just yesterday, I watched a commercial that used the Cinderella theme without showing a single picture of the 2006 Patriots, who pulled the most improbable and astounding run in NCAA tournament history. Let's recap: George Mason lost in the semi-finals of the CAA tournament to Hofstra that year and were given a very suspect at-large berth in the NCAA's. Their draw was laughable: they had Michigan State in the first round, a final four team from 2005 that was seeded a good 2-3 spots lower than they should have been and had legitimate final four hopes (a #6 seed). Was I shocked when GMU pulled the upset? I was proud, but I wasn't especially shocked. GMU was a solid team with a handful of seniors. In the second round, they drew UNC, the 2005 National Champions and a #3 seed. There wasn't anybody that wasn't shocked when GMU pulled that upset, especially after UNC jumped out to a 16-2 lead early. In the third round, Wichita State might have seemed like a slight break, except that it was the Sweet 16 and, presumably, a team in the Sweet 16 is no push-over. Wichita State was a a #7 seed, and something of a Cinderella themselves. This was the only game of the tournament that GMU solidly dominated from start to finish. In the Elite 8, GMU drew #1 seed and National Championship favorite UConn. On paper, this was a joke. Josh Boone, Rudy Gay, Hilton Armstrong, Marcus Williams, Rashard Anderson, Denham Brown . . . each of these guys has played in the NBA. How many GMU players went on to play in the NBA, you ask? Not a one. The tallest player on GMU was Jai Lewis at 6'7" (he tried football after college). Frankly, there wasn't anyone anywhere that wasn't mostly hoping GMU would only lose by 10 points. They were down a dozen at halftime. When they came storming back behind hot shooting from the perimeter and brilliant rebounding, I was sitting in my car listening to it on the radio, again late for work, this time in the parking lot. When they had the lead with under a minute left, half of the staff of the store was huddled around my car. I was pretty unhappy when Denham Brown hit that crazy reverse at the buzzer to tie it up, and I was virtually certain UConn would flex their muscles in overtime and run away. I still don't know why Brown settled for a step-back three at the buzzer when they only needed a two, but when Tony Skinn came down with the rebound, I just about punched a hole in my windshield. That, I think, was the only time I can remember actually getting emotional about the accomplishments of a sports team I wasn't actively a part of. I shit you not, I spent the next two or three days choked up about that victory. I was still so elated about it when GMU took on the Florida Gators in the Final Four, I wasn't even sad when they lost. That's the brilliance of a miracle run by a Cinderella in the NCAA Tournament: it's all joy. When the New England Patriots only went 18-0 and made it to the Super Bowl, when they were only able to win every regular season game and make it to the Super Bowl, their fans went home emotionally destroyed by the final result of the season. How can that be, when I was so thrilled that the GMU Patriots made it to the Sweet 16 that I would have stood out on Braddock Road for a goddamn parade? When I was so overjoyed by a trip to the Elite 8 that I only wanted them to lose with pride? When I was so astounded by their appearance in the Final Four that I was actually happy when they lost? There's nothing like a Cinderella run in the NCAA tournament. Even now, when I watch the YouTube video of their run, even with that obnoxious Bon Jovi song going, I still get all misty. That GMU is back in the tournament in 2008, with Folarin Campbell and Will Thomas as seniors . . . watch out!

Another sports thought: why am I supposed to give a shit if Gilbert Arenas befriends some high-school dude in my area if he's not even interested in helping the Wizards playoff run? There have been a handful of reports that Gil is pushing back his return so he can capitalize on his off-season market value. This doesn't surprise me one bit, and any team that ponies up for him ought to know this is exactly the kind of guy they're getting: a too-proud, shoot-first guard that definitely cares more about himself, his money, and his stats than his team, and whose team played a lot better without him. Good riddance.

Also: VCU should definitely be in the tournament. I can't believe anybody thinks Oregon, Arizona, Syracuse, Arizona State, Arkansas, Villanova, or Illinois State should be in before them. They took down Duke in the tourney last season! They went 15-3 in the CAA! They beat GMU (thrice!), ODU, and UAB. Those are quality wins, and the CAA is no pushover. This is pure mid-major hate going on. People don't know jack about the small conferences, so they assume a POS Big East school like Syracuse is superior. Arizona has been crap this season! Arizona State was even worse! Arkansas is trash! I like Illinois State, but c'mon, what does their previous NCAA tournament resume look like?
On that note, I made a comment on an ESPN chat board thing that San Diego State didn't deserve better than a 15 seed. That was an emotional comment. I was angry at them for upsetting Gonzaga and thus making it harder on teams like VCU, UAB, Houston, New Mexico, and Temple. Seriously, though, they not only deserve a spot in the tournament, they would have deserved a spot even if they hadn't won. They deserve to be a 13 seed, maybe even higher. They've got wins over Gonzaga, St. Mary's, and Kentucky. Those are three NCAA tournament teams. The WCC, Missouri Valley, and CAA are the three most under-rated conferences in college basketball. The WCC deserves three berths. The CAA deserves two. The Missouri Valley deserves three, maybe even four berths (yes, including Illinois State . . . I was angry, ok?). The friggin' Pac 10 doesn't deserve more than three, and in my book, they're on par with the WCC and Missouri Valley. Put the Pac 1o and Missouri Valley in a pre-season tournament on neutral turf, I see the MVC coming out on top.

That's all for now. It's been a while, I'll do better.