Section 124: A View from the Platoon
November 30, 2011 · 3 Comments
As a diehard fan of Mason basketball, I’ve come across a variety of ups and downs over the past two years. I try my hardest to push the ups above the downs in my mind because, after all, the ups have been pretty damn good. Even during the rare mishaps of Mason basketball, I still find the silver lining in the situation. When we got stomped by Ohio State last season in the NCAA tournament, I couldn’t help but see the bright side of an incredible season as a whole. Or even Coach L leaving for Coral Gables was, of course, a stinger at first. But the signing of Coach Hewitt only showed promise for the future.
February 9, 2010. One of those dates that will go down in my book of unforgettable games. We hosted VCU in an insane 82-77 win in overtime. After going down 41-28 at the half we forced OT to win a huge game at home. I remember not only standing up for the entire game, but everyone was standing on their chairs for the game. At one point, I literally felt my chair rattling as every student was jumping up and down. What put the icing on the cake for me in this game was the fact that we beat VCU. I can’t stand the Rams. I’m even willing to bet that 99 percent of Mason fans would pick VCU if they could select any team they would like to see fall to Mason.
15 straight games. That’s how many games Mason won in a row last year. To top that all off, it was to close out the regular season leading into the CAA tournament. The winning streak was an incredible way to close out the season and each game we just wanted to keep the streak going. Who knows how long it could have gone if we started it even earlier? Everyone has to remember that beard streak going along with the winning streak. In an interview with The Washington Post, Ryan Pearson said, “Everybody come out here, we looking rough, we looking a little intimidating.” Maybe it was the team beards that helped contribute to the epic winning streak. Either way, going from 10-5 to 25-5 was a pretty sweet season ending streak. But no one could have predicted what was about to happen in the NCAA tournament.
Selection Sunday. All of the players and coaches were on stage in the Johnson Center with a giant television watching the selection show with the fans. The only thing that would have been sweeter would have been CBS camera crews on site to watch our team’s reaction. Watching Mike Morrison and Ryan Pearson literally jump out of their chairs as we got matched up with Villanova will just be another awesome image I will never forget.
Clutch in Cleveland. I have been to a lot of sporting events in my life, and many of them stand out as favorites. However, it is exciting to say that the Mason vs. Villanova game will go down as the best game I have ever attended. First of all, just being in the atmosphere of the NCAA tournament was something that I’ve never experienced before. As the game got closer and closer to the final buzzer, the Mason faithful were getting more and more anxious when the score kept fluctuating. ‘Nova winning, now Mason winning, back to ‘Nova winning. However, once Luke Hancock hit that memorable 3-pointer my roommate Mark and I proceeded to share the most emotional man-hug of our lives. Between that hug, experiencing that game with my roommates, and Gus Johnson screaming “Hancock…AHHHH!” and “Exclamation point George Mason!” (Which will undoubtedly go down as one of my favorite sports calls of all time) made that game THE best I have ever attended.
The joy and excitement that Mason basketball has brought me over the past few years is absolutely incredible. No matter what, I will always remember not just watching our Patriots play, but experiencing it as well. It feels good to know that I’ll always bleed the green and gold, and am honored to be able to forever call myself a part of Mason Nation.
I watched that game. I was lelary happy to see VCU beat Kansas. Their guard, Joey Rodriguez, is a very good player. He’s almost reminiscent of Kentucky’s Travis Ford (if you go by most Kentuckian standards. Personally, I thought he (TF) was a good player, but he was too cocky for my tastes.) I wish VCU lots of luck against Butler. I’m going to try to catch the game, but we do have a birthday party to attend that day. Kentucky is also playing that evening against UConn, so I’m wishing us both luck.
no were not leaving i paid for these titecks we are staying well you all know the rest of the story i was like 5 years old and i became a bills fan because i never heard a crowed like on that day when the bills came back. i am a die hard to this day i stay in Jacksonville now ( hate the jags lol) so i get directtv to watch my bills play and on every Sunday( and on rare occasions Mondays) i’m in front of my tube rooting for my team the worst moment as a bills fan was when we lost to the Pittsburgh steelers backups in a must win to go to the playoffs we lost to i think charley batch and the backups of the steelers vs our first stringers if we won that game we go to the wildcard and we couldn’t do it. so that’s my story hope you all enjoyed!!!
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