09-10-2023, 06:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-10-2023, 06:12 PM by Blue Hawk (Mizzou) Card.)
My family moved to Thief River Falls, Minnesota between my junior and senior years of high school. TRF, like many (though not all) Minnesota towns, was hockey mad. Except for the tall guys, most of the good athletes played hockey, and we also had wrestling and swimming teams. We had a few good/okay basketball players, but let's put it this way: The talent was so diluted in a small town with four winter varsity teams that I actually made the varsity basketball team. End of the bench, but I was on the team.
About two-thirds of the way through our five-win season, we drove to Hibbing, MN, on the Iron Range. They had a whale of a basketball team. Their star was a guy named Kevin McHale.
For some unknown reason, we played our best game of the year against them. I kid you not. As our coach noted at the banquet after the season, we defended better, passed better, and shot better against Hibbing than we had all year.
And they ran us out of the gym. I don't remember the exact differential, but we played our best game and still lost by 24. Or maybe it was 32. Or maybe 36. Put it this way: We lost by a margin so large that I actually got a fair bit of playing time, which is the basis for my claim that "I played high school basketball against Kevin McHale." [He could have been showered, dressed, and on a date by the time I got into the game. But, technically, I played in the same game he played in. And, seriously, he was probably still around for the post-game handshake, so I probably shook his hand and he probably said "good game," though if he did it was to be polite, not to provide his actual analysis of our play.]
So here's my take on last night's game (or, more specifically, the first half of last night's game, the part where they played their number ones): We played awful, to be sure. But we could have played as well as we were capable of playing, and they are so much better than us that it probably wouldn't have changed the outcome. Why waste a good outing? You only get so many in a season.
Of course, the question now is whether we can bounce back, and that remains to be seen. As Matt, who has forgotten more about big time college football than I will ever know, points out, we are not very good. But can we be good enough to win a few more games? If so, that makes us better than we have been when we were at our absolute worst, or even when we were at the worst most of us can remember (which was not that long ago--my how our guys have risen and fallen again). It's no fun to not be competitive against the best teams, but I remain hopeful that the new coaching staff can start the long road back. It is most definitely a long, uphill climb. But this new staff might be able to facilitate it.
p.s. I hate those bums. I mean, I really HATE them. As some here know, we hate them so much in our family, that we don't even say their name. They represent the worst of the worst in college sports, from my perspective. So I, too, hate to end a really long rivalry like that. The taste in my mouth is not great right now, but I will cling to a couple of things:
(a) There were moments--and, they, too, were not that long ago--when we had their number. For most of my Stanford-loving life, those bums have been better, usually a lot better. The first eleven times I was a Stanford student or alum watching the game against them, _._._. won. But since they we had some great moments, like the Greatest Upset, "What's your deal," Andrew Luck, etc. I will remember those times fondly.
(b) Right now, _._._. is really talented. And well-coached. But, fwliw, they will mess it up somehow. Character counts, too. They don't overcome that reality very often anymore. I won't pay any more attention to them, as they are dead to me now, but I am confident they will mess it up, despite the talent and the great coaching.
Those bums are now officially in our rear view mirror, like it or not. Onward. Let's get a few more wins, somehow.
About two-thirds of the way through our five-win season, we drove to Hibbing, MN, on the Iron Range. They had a whale of a basketball team. Their star was a guy named Kevin McHale.
For some unknown reason, we played our best game of the year against them. I kid you not. As our coach noted at the banquet after the season, we defended better, passed better, and shot better against Hibbing than we had all year.
And they ran us out of the gym. I don't remember the exact differential, but we played our best game and still lost by 24. Or maybe it was 32. Or maybe 36. Put it this way: We lost by a margin so large that I actually got a fair bit of playing time, which is the basis for my claim that "I played high school basketball against Kevin McHale." [He could have been showered, dressed, and on a date by the time I got into the game. But, technically, I played in the same game he played in. And, seriously, he was probably still around for the post-game handshake, so I probably shook his hand and he probably said "good game," though if he did it was to be polite, not to provide his actual analysis of our play.]
So here's my take on last night's game (or, more specifically, the first half of last night's game, the part where they played their number ones): We played awful, to be sure. But we could have played as well as we were capable of playing, and they are so much better than us that it probably wouldn't have changed the outcome. Why waste a good outing? You only get so many in a season.
Of course, the question now is whether we can bounce back, and that remains to be seen. As Matt, who has forgotten more about big time college football than I will ever know, points out, we are not very good. But can we be good enough to win a few more games? If so, that makes us better than we have been when we were at our absolute worst, or even when we were at the worst most of us can remember (which was not that long ago--my how our guys have risen and fallen again). It's no fun to not be competitive against the best teams, but I remain hopeful that the new coaching staff can start the long road back. It is most definitely a long, uphill climb. But this new staff might be able to facilitate it.
p.s. I hate those bums. I mean, I really HATE them. As some here know, we hate them so much in our family, that we don't even say their name. They represent the worst of the worst in college sports, from my perspective. So I, too, hate to end a really long rivalry like that. The taste in my mouth is not great right now, but I will cling to a couple of things:
(a) There were moments--and, they, too, were not that long ago--when we had their number. For most of my Stanford-loving life, those bums have been better, usually a lot better. The first eleven times I was a Stanford student or alum watching the game against them, _._._. won. But since they we had some great moments, like the Greatest Upset, "What's your deal," Andrew Luck, etc. I will remember those times fondly.
(b) Right now, _._._. is really talented. And well-coached. But, fwliw, they will mess it up somehow. Character counts, too. They don't overcome that reality very often anymore. I won't pay any more attention to them, as they are dead to me now, but I am confident they will mess it up, despite the talent and the great coaching.
Those bums are now officially in our rear view mirror, like it or not. Onward. Let's get a few more wins, somehow.