In some ways, the way I was raised was the perfect class for the job I currently have. At my house, we went to “New York”. My father may have leaned slightly toward the Yankees, Giants, Rangers and Knicks, but the Mets, Jets, Islanders and Nets also won and were always quite happy.
It was like this. This is what I knew. I realize that it seems impossible and impossible at a time when favoring is the law of the land. I learned that lesson in high school when I was told that there was no half-measure in sports: you chose a side, and that was your side. Reluctantly, in public, I followed along.
Personally I vested for “New York”.
It helps when you become a sports columnist in New York, that kind of approach. We are original to good stories, and it doesn’t matter the uniform. Good stories are mostly on good teams, so that is fine with us. But you lose something in translation. It is easy to lose the essence of being a fan.
Short for “hardcore” of course.
Okay, if you’ve read this column before, you probably know where it’s going because I’ve mentioned a time or two to my alma mater, St. Bonventure. And each time the name appears in this space with greater frequency because, each time, they find themselves within the confines of the NCAA tournament.
This is one of those times. On Sunday afternoon, they will play VCU for the Atlantic 10 Conference championship and the automatic bid that goes with it. Most pragmatists believe that the two teams have already put in enough effort to merge the 68 zone. I think so too, but I do not have the vote.
I thought so in 2016 as well, and the committee disagreed with me, and I don’t want to say that I would like $ ## $ %% $ $%% $ $ $ # $ $ COMMITTEE and A HOOKS about IT STILL BITTER. But and on the claims made for them and their …
(Sorry. I think I passed there for a few seconds.)
Anyway, I like to consider this aspect of my life particularly useful for my job, because many times I hear from fans who insist that I can’t get over their plight, because I just don’t They care about the game the way they care about the game.
On a certain level, they are right: I haven’t lost sleep over any of the teams wearing “New York” (or “New Jersey”) in front of their uniforms in a long, long time. It has been a long time since I have watched a baseball game and stopped at Mother Nature, while avoiding her for a long time to the point at which it is wise to do so, because the home team is rallying and you are one of the lucky couches. Can not abandon. Or La-Z-Boy.
Ever since I watched an NBA game wearing the same sweatshirt for the eighth game in a row during a winning streak, it’s been a while since Crash Davis taught us, you have to honor the streak. It has been a long, long time since I had to drink to forget a particularly egregious double overtime loss that was helped by incompetent referees and regrettable coaching and gagging in the clutch.
Well. With one exception.
And although it probably sounds unhealthy, the relationship I have with the St. Bonventure basketball team (my wife alternately calls it “sociopathic” and “pathetic”), I think it helps me understand all of the above behaviors. Does because the above embodies the behaviors. . I’m impossible to watch a Bonnies game, it’s impossible to be around when they lose, Really It is impossible to be around when they are winning because I have never been silent about them.
I think this is important – really necessary – if you are going to write the game for the fans then at least maintain a bit of bigotry. It is important to achieve this. I think the Bonnies help me achieve this.
I also think that if they lose on Sunday, there will be three long hours between the final buzzer and the “selection show”, and I’ll be ready to bring everyone to light, from bracketologists to howie hoops (which Well better they have picked up correctly elsewhere in this newspaper)% $ k $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ …
(Sorry. It happened again.)
Vacas walk
Come at the end of this month, it’s a very good thing Many years welcome to my great pal, Ian O’Connor in The Post’s sports pages. I would compare the excitement in the section to what Crosby, Stills and Nash probably felt when Neil Young joined the band.
I feel really good for the St. John’s fan base. They really like this team and have displayed almost universal approval for the direction the Johnnies are headed (rightly so). In 2021, you rarely see this combination of patience and gratitude. Good time ahead
It certainly feels like a balloon popping up during a terrible fun season when Anders Lee struggled with snow on Long Island the other night. He is a pleasure to watch. Here is a fast recovery.
Living through the “Search for Italy” every Sunday via Stanley Tucci is the latest favorite way to grind through pandemic life for the past few weeks.
Empty on vac back
Frank Venice: When I rated you Stickball No. 1, it brought back fond memories of growing up in Bed-Stew, Brooklyn. We played from dawn until there was not enough light. Thank you.
Blank: Billy Joel sang in one of his greatest songs: “Learned Stickball as a Formal Education …”
Bruce Welsh: I was 18 at the time of the Battle of Ali-Farazier, and I have never feared any such incident before or since and have billed it as “The Fight of the Century”. I am not happy that I am a senior citizen, but I have to say that I was fortunate to be around to see it, although it was through close-circuit TV.
Blank: As I have started learning myself, the downside of age is … well, aging. But the opposite is being able to create a collection of memories that no one can snatch away from you. Especially the memories of the game.
@AlienAden: I think the NCAA should have scheduled the tournament two weeks after the conference tournament. Everyone will be cured from across the country.
@Mikevac: Of all the games grinding through the epidemic, I always felt that college hoops were the most fragile and the most likely to face problems. Here’s hoping they can make it a few more weeks.
Don Dunphy Jr .: I very much enjoyed your column on Ali-Farazier. My dad always thought that the event was the No. 1 sporting event in New York history … and he was very grateful to call this fight. (Tickets were impossible, of course. My mom saw it on a closed circuit in the Garden).
Blank: Never believe if I try to tell you that I do not have the best work on earth. Hearing Don Dunfee Sr. call that fight when it aired again last week and it introduces life in so many ways.
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