Michael, good news. Penn should win the Ivy title in hoops.
I've never been much of a hoops fan, but I got over to Princeton last night to meet my Columbia roomie for the B-ball game. Princeton is currently leading the conference, but from what I saw, the Quakers should not have much trouble (despite a road loss to Harvard, whom Princeton has already beaten at Jadwin). Last night's game was a horror show on several levels. The Blue led 25-12 with 5 minutes left in the half (you read that right), then Princeton rolled to cut the deficit to 26-20 at intermission. The Tigers kept it going and put on something like a 17-2 streak to begin the 2nd half, but Columbia cut it to 43-41 with under 2 minutes to play. There was a very bad goal-tending call against us, and our coach was hit with a technical for arguing a 10-second violation. His point was that only 9 seconds had elapsed on both the game clock and the 35-second clock when the whistle blew -- he was correct, of course. But that's Columbia sports -- after nearly 40 years, I'm accustomed to heart-breaking, gut-wrenching losses.
What was really awful was the way the game was played. You've probably seen Princeton once or twice under Pete Carill. Well both the Princeton and Columbia coaches played for Carill and both (John Thompson, Jr. and Armand Hill) adopted his style. It's probably impossible to imagine more boring basketball. Take the air out of the ball? These guys fileted it. Also, in my day, players like Bill Bradley and Jim McMillan were around. Despite not being a hoops fan, I'm relatively certain that I didn't see any future NBA types last night. Anyway, go ahead and make your bets on Penn -- they're a lock.
So much for girly sports.
I did manage to enjoy another visit to Princeton on Wednesday. The Columbia rasslers beat the Evil Empire in a more manly sport. And the dual meet came down to the final match, making for more excitement -- and satisfaction. Makes me want to go down to the basement and lift again, although I'm not scheduled for that until Monday. I'm wondering if an attitude like this is healthy for a near-geezer like me.<G>
Oh, yeah. The Quakers are the class of Ivy wrestling, too. Columbia's up there tonight, but enough's enough, and PHA is not that easy a trip for me. Penn's ranked #8 nationally in duals, right behind Oklahoma and Oklahoma St. Big 10 teams are 1-4. |
