Johnny Cash posed in front of the 576 back in '69 Alone and in quiet. I guess it was a fitting way to watch the Spartans implode in the tourney.
The weekend had been great so far. Mrs Doofus and I traveled to Nashville to see the Sax Man and Saxy Lady.
Friday was a great time. I joined everyone at the local Spartan watering hole around halftime to watch State take down Bucknell. The Spartans were blowing out the Bison before holding on to eke out a win.
At the time, you figured that maybe it was just a little rust or maybe just a lot of freshmen getting their feet wet. But a win was a win. Win and advance. There’s no such thing as style points in March.
Afterwards, we stumbled in and out of several honky-tonks on Broadway before ending up with a night cap at the Acme Feed and Seed. There was a $5 cover - no band, just a chance to go the rooftop, have a few brews while overlooking downtown Nashville, the Cumberland River and, of course, Titans stadium. An excellent end to a great evening.
Saturday was even better. We toured various Nashville tourist spots. Sully would have loved the restoration of the ‘Ol 576 4-8-4 Dixie (not a Northern, you damn Yankee). I got the goggles and T-shirt. We went by an exact replica of the Parthenon, and a place where the make and sell uncooked cookie dough - mmmmmmm, my favorite type of cookies, before heading over to a sports bar to have some non-green beer and watch future Spartan victims. Or so we thought.
The best part of the day was yet to come. We ended up at the Station Inn to watch some bluegrass. We got there early to get a good table. The tables were laminated leftovers from a fifties diner. The venue was modest, the walls covered with posters from old bluegrass concerts dating all the way back to the 40's, the stage barren save a few microphones. In the back there was a place to order pizza but there was no table service. Rather, it was more like a bowling alley. When your pizza was done, a call would go out over the speakers, "Tom your pizza is ready" and then you would see some guy maneuver through the gathering crowd to get his pie.
After a couple of hours of catching up on the day's activities, punctuated by some trips to get more pitchers, the band came to the stage. And for you bluegrass fans you would have loved the featured player - Roland White of the legendary Kentucky Colonels. The Colonels were an influential bluegrass act that brought a flat picking acoustic guitar style to the forefront.
They were so popular that they made the Andy Griffith show twice
That's Roland on the Mandolin
The weekend had been great so far. Mrs Doofus and I traveled to Nashville to see the Sax Man and Saxy Lady.
Friday was a great time. I joined everyone at the local Spartan watering hole around halftime to watch State take down Bucknell. The Spartans were blowing out the Bison before holding on to eke out a win.
At the time, you figured that maybe it was just a little rust or maybe just a lot of freshmen getting their feet wet. But a win was a win. Win and advance. There’s no such thing as style points in March.
Afterwards, we stumbled in and out of several honky-tonks on Broadway before ending up with a night cap at the Acme Feed and Seed. There was a $5 cover - no band, just a chance to go the rooftop, have a few brews while overlooking downtown Nashville, the Cumberland River and, of course, Titans stadium. An excellent end to a great evening.
Saturday was even better. We toured various Nashville tourist spots. Sully would have loved the restoration of the ‘Ol 576 4-8-4 Dixie (not a Northern, you damn Yankee). I got the goggles and T-shirt. We went by an exact replica of the Parthenon, and a place where the make and sell uncooked cookie dough - mmmmmmm, my favorite type of cookies, before heading over to a sports bar to have some non-green beer and watch future Spartan victims. Or so we thought.
The best part of the day was yet to come. We ended up at the Station Inn to watch some bluegrass. We got there early to get a good table. The tables were laminated leftovers from a fifties diner. The venue was modest, the walls covered with posters from old bluegrass concerts dating all the way back to the 40's, the stage barren save a few microphones. In the back there was a place to order pizza but there was no table service. Rather, it was more like a bowling alley. When your pizza was done, a call would go out over the speakers, "Tom your pizza is ready" and then you would see some guy maneuver through the gathering crowd to get his pie.
After a couple of hours of catching up on the day's activities, punctuated by some trips to get more pitchers, the band came to the stage. And for you bluegrass fans you would have loved the featured player - Roland White of the legendary Kentucky Colonels. The Colonels were an influential bluegrass act that brought a flat picking acoustic guitar style to the forefront.
They were so popular that they made the Andy Griffith show twice
That's Roland on the Mandolin
The show was less a band and more of a jam session. At various points he would have people he knew in the audience come up and join the show. He had the fiddler's wife come up and sing. Wish she would have had a longer set - she was great. He had another young fiddler come up and jam. The kid was fantastic, deservedly winning several awards at the Grand Ol Opry.
When he called the sound man Mike to come down and play bass I yelled out "Mike, your pizza's ready!" which brought a good laugh from the crowd.
But the biggest laugh was when Roland asked the crowd to quiet down between songs. A friend of his sitting next to me said he's getting a bit cranky in his old age. He just turned 80.
The crowd did as he asked and hushed. Except for a couple in the back who in the middle of some conversation (or more likely argument), the wife blurted out "Well, hillbillies are people too!" Not sure what that was all about but it brought the house down. We adopted it as our mantra for the rest of the evening.
Somewhere around midnight, Roland and the gang finished up their last set, we reached the end of our last pitcher and headed on back to the hotel
Little did I know that Saturday was to be the best day of the weekend.
Rule #3 had been broken. Would Rule #1 be next? On Sunday, we went over the the Sax Man and Josh's house to catch the Spartans. They were going to play a First Four team, usually a good sign when they are playing in their second game. But there was something about this years tourney that had us worried.
Rule #3 of the Doofus' Rule for March Madness had already been broken when 16 seed UMBC not only beat, but destroyed, number 1 seed Virginia. Would Rule #1 be at risk too?
I was hoping to watch the entire game with the Sax Man but the game had started a little late so I was going to have to head to the airport at the half. As we left, we were ahead but struggling, clinging to a 25-22 lead.
I thought, we always seem to struggle and it never seems to be the same thing. In one game, it would be the defense, the next it would be toughness and rebounding. Izzo would put his finger in the dike and fix one problem only to have another burst through. Yet, through it all we almost always picked up the win. 30 wins to be exact.
When I got to the airport, I was pleasantly surprised to find they had a Delta lounge. I headed on in and sat next to the TV. There was about a dozen people in the viewing area, perhaps 3 or 4 actually watching the game. One thing about Delta lounges - they are pretty quiet. The TV sound was barely audible, so there I sat, by myself wearing a pullover with a discrete Spartan logo, in near total quiet, watching something I hadn't seen all year. Something dreadful.
Rule #3 of the Doofus' Rule for March Madness had already been broken when 16 seed UMBC not only beat, but destroyed, number 1 seed Virginia. Would Rule #1 be at risk too?
I was hoping to watch the entire game with the Sax Man but the game had started a little late so I was going to have to head to the airport at the half. As we left, we were ahead but struggling, clinging to a 25-22 lead.
I thought, we always seem to struggle and it never seems to be the same thing. In one game, it would be the defense, the next it would be toughness and rebounding. Izzo would put his finger in the dike and fix one problem only to have another burst through. Yet, through it all we almost always picked up the win. 30 wins to be exact.
When I got to the airport, I was pleasantly surprised to find they had a Delta lounge. I headed on in and sat next to the TV. There was about a dozen people in the viewing area, perhaps 3 or 4 actually watching the game. One thing about Delta lounges - they are pretty quiet. The TV sound was barely audible, so there I sat, by myself wearing a pullover with a discrete Spartan logo, in near total quiet, watching something I hadn't seen all year. Something dreadful.
This time it was the shooting that went awry In all of Izzo's fixes, the one thing he never seemed to have to worry about was shooting. This team was in the top 10 in shooting percentage, top 20 from three point range and had three player average over 80% from the free throw line.
Here they were, smothering the Cuse on defense, owning the boards, all Izzo March Madness staples, yet they couldn't throw the ball into the ocean. A team that shot nearly 50% was going 17 for 66 (26%). It was worse from behind the arc. A team that hit 40% of its threes was going 8-37 (22%). And from the charity strip they were getting outscored by 13 points.
Made all the worse by the silence all around me.
And this silent movie was to have an epic bad ending. Both teams were fouling at the end. State to stay in the game, Syracuse to keep us from hitting a three to take the lead. Syracuse misses a FT leaving the lead at 2 with 1.8 seconds left. State gets the ball, gets it to midcourt and heaves a desperation 3
Could it be? scUM won just the night before in the exact same scenario. Would a three fall for once?
Clank...nope
Maybe we used up all our miracles beating middling teams in the Big Ten. Or maybe when we came from 27 down to beat Northwestern. Or maybe it just wasn't meant to be.
Here they were, smothering the Cuse on defense, owning the boards, all Izzo March Madness staples, yet they couldn't throw the ball into the ocean. A team that shot nearly 50% was going 17 for 66 (26%). It was worse from behind the arc. A team that hit 40% of its threes was going 8-37 (22%). And from the charity strip they were getting outscored by 13 points.
Made all the worse by the silence all around me.
And this silent movie was to have an epic bad ending. Both teams were fouling at the end. State to stay in the game, Syracuse to keep us from hitting a three to take the lead. Syracuse misses a FT leaving the lead at 2 with 1.8 seconds left. State gets the ball, gets it to midcourt and heaves a desperation 3
Could it be? scUM won just the night before in the exact same scenario. Would a three fall for once?
Clank...nope
Maybe we used up all our miracles beating middling teams in the Big Ten. Or maybe when we came from 27 down to beat Northwestern. Or maybe it just wasn't meant to be.
In time this may be what we remember about 2018......Perhaps The basketball world got to see what we have been seeing all along. For all the wins, there was something just not right about this team. For all the talent on the roster, it just always just seemed to be a struggle for these guys. We knew there was going to be a clunker in the tourney. We were just hoping it wouldn't be this soon
Decorum prevented me from yelling "Shit!!" like I did the night before during one of Roland's quiet times. He finished a song just as scUM hit their buzzer beater. Mrs Doofus gave me the stink eye for that one.
The rest of the lounge, to the extent they were even watching the game, returned nonchalantly to whatever they were doing. I was going to have to carry this burden alone and in silence.
So I left the lounge, boarded my flight and spent the next 4 hours on a plane trying not to think about it. Or console myself that there was a Big 10 championship and 30 wins. Perhaps. Down the road, that will be what I remember and not this loss. But Izzo is defined by the tourney and this team had such high expectations. That disappointment is going to stick for awhile.
At least until the next Final Four.
The good news is that football is just around the corner. I have all the games in my spreadsheet. More to come soon
Remember the GO JUMBO trip is Nov 3 at the Westgate
And don't forget your drink coupons!
Decorum prevented me from yelling "Shit!!" like I did the night before during one of Roland's quiet times. He finished a song just as scUM hit their buzzer beater. Mrs Doofus gave me the stink eye for that one.
The rest of the lounge, to the extent they were even watching the game, returned nonchalantly to whatever they were doing. I was going to have to carry this burden alone and in silence.
So I left the lounge, boarded my flight and spent the next 4 hours on a plane trying not to think about it. Or console myself that there was a Big 10 championship and 30 wins. Perhaps. Down the road, that will be what I remember and not this loss. But Izzo is defined by the tourney and this team had such high expectations. That disappointment is going to stick for awhile.
At least until the next Final Four.
The good news is that football is just around the corner. I have all the games in my spreadsheet. More to come soon
Remember the GO JUMBO trip is Nov 3 at the Westgate
And don't forget your drink coupons!
