In the end, the only thing standing between the Shockers advancing toward the NCAA championship game was a controversial call by a ref in the final six seconds of the game. At that moment, the die was cast. Up to then, a Shocker championship was a real possibility. What seemed unrealistic at the start of the season was, near the end, plausible. The loss was a close shave.
I'm so proud of the Shocks. They never let their fans down. Their rise from obscurity to national prominence and the eyes of the world this season was miraculous. They lost most of their starters and scoring power from last year, they were undervalued, underrated. (They were picked fourth to win the Missouri Valley Conference.) They didn't even win the conference, yet they came back to prove the "experts" wrong at every turn. Beating a no. 2 ranked Big 10 school -- Ohio State. Beating no. 2 seeded Gonzaga!
I remember when upstart school, George Mason -- an urban school much like WSU --made it to the Final Four in 2006. Who were they? And to think, this year it happened for WSU. Was afraid I'd never see this again.
When I was a kid, my parents took me to see the Shockers play at the old Henry Levitt Arena during the Shockers old glory days of the late '70s-early '80s. There were all these dry years afterward, but now the Shockers are seeing a new renaissance. It's actually better because the coach Greg Marshall is really of a higher caliber than the old Shockers controversial coach Gene Smithson of some 30 years ago.
Marshall is a class act. Read up on his record. All the Shocks are upstanding, hardworking guys and they deserve all the love, all the praise they are getting from the community -- all the respect they have earned from their competition and the nation.
My son told me to calm down as I yelled at the TV, but it's all right. We got home from his Pinewood Derby tournament just in time to see the game. Gotta go to a Scout meeting now. Love my boy. Love my friends. Wish I'd been watching the game with my buddy Adam. Wish my old journalism instructor Les Anderson was here, but it's all right.
Life is sweet. It's time to believe again.
