UConn - Duke!
March Madness and my flirtation with unconsciousness
Last night was one of the great, most exciting nights of my life. And yet - or consequently - I almost crashed to the floor unconscious.
Here’s what occurred:
And here’s a description of what I believe happened to me as I sprung up from my arm chair in disbelieving celebration:
Vagus nerve dizziness, often linked to vasovagal syncope, occurs when the nerve overreacts to triggers like stress, pain, or standing quickly, causing a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure. Symptoms include lightheadedness, nausea, clammy skin, and blurred vision. Management involves lifestyle changes, hydration, and deep breathing exercises.
The lifestyle change I’ll adopt will relate to slowing my rate of springing, and bracing myself better for the seemingly impossible.
I don’t want to say I hate Duke because that sounds immature and petty. But I hate Duke. As a kid, my best friend and I rooted hard for North Carolina. We could listen to games at night in New Haven on the radio signal from WBT Charlotte. Duke was the archenemy, just ten miles away from Chapel Hill on “Tobacco Road.” For reasons that are hard to accept but (mostly) rational, my friend ended up going to Duke. I didn’t, so I have continued to hate them.
From the late 80s, when my friend was there, up until now, Duke has by most accounts been the most consistently elite college basketball program in the country. Yes, UConn since its first championship in 1999 has won six titles, twice what any other program has won over the quarter century. But no one is great year in and year out like Duke with their evergreen collection of top rated, pretty boy recruits who matriculate every year at that ersatz Ivy temple of self regard.
But how do I really feel? Lol. 😉
There have been great games between the two programs - the early ones mostly won by Duke and the later ones by UConn. One of those early ones was played on March 24, 1990 in another East Region Elite 8 contest, a place in the Final Four on the line then as it was last night. Duke had appeared in seven final fours by that time, including in three of the four years prior. UConn had appeared in none.
To say UConn had appeared in none understates the situation. Before the 1989-1990 season, UConn had only reached one Elite 8, in 1964, and the last time they got as far as the Sweet 16 was 1976. UConn was a respectable regional program without any real prospect of rising higher. When Jim Calhoun showed up to coach for the 1986-87 season (a year after Geno Auriemma was hired to build up the women’s program), things started to change.
Connecticut is a sports crazed state violently split between New York and Boston sports fans. Until that 1989-1990 season, we never had our own big time team to rally behind. I can’t accurately describe what that team meant to us. It gave us organic, native Connecticut pride. You could be Connecticut for Connecticut - not Connecticut for New York or Connecticut for Boston.
We were winning that game on March 24, 1990. It was a great game and we were winning. We had advanced two days before thanks to our own buzzer beater by Tate George, assisted by Scott Burrell, at the expense of Clemson. Now we were a few seconds away from the promised land, the Final Four, the true stamp of college basketball relevance and respect. Then this happened:
It wouldn’t be the last miracle shot Christian Laetner would hit in his Duke career with his annoying Duke hair flop and abrasive arrogance. He is arguably the greatest college basketball player of all time. Whatever. That shot crushed me.
I was living in DC that year. I know I watched the Clemson miracle in a Senate committee room with members (including my dad), and staff from the Connecticut and South Carolina delegations. I’m pretty sure I watched the Duke game at the apartment I shared on Capitol Hill with another highschool best friend. I’m not sure if he was there or somewhere else. In any event, once Laetner crushed me, I jogged through the rain to a party, probably of Connecticut congressional staffers, at someone’s apartment elsewhere on Capitol Hill. I got drunk, the floor was beer and rain slicked, I’m going to guess I was dancing, and I wiped out hard falling on my left hip, which bothers me to this day.
UConn has a fighting chance at a remarkable seventh national championship next weekend, which of course is the real goal. But the Elite 8 dagger fired by the freshman Braylon Mullins pretty well expiates the pain of Laetner’s dagger in March of 1990.
Many if not most of my most memorable life moments have been watching sports - principally the Yankees, Georgia Football, and UConn basketball. I remember where I was for almost every championship win or loss over not just the last five or six years but over the last five or six decades. Why that is may be the basis for a future column. Or it may just better be left alone and enjoyed. Who cares why. Life has its incredible moments. I’m happy to just accept them as they roll in.
Go Huskies! Men and women! Both Final Four bound.
My family always loved basketball and felt there is nothing like watching a great game. Since you grew up in Connecticut, I can understand your loyalty. UConn has enviable basketball history. Since Duke was in my bracket, I was cheering for Duke. Duke's offense withered in the second half while UConn's offense picked up with their 3 pointers. That was truly a miracle shot at the buzzer by Duke. I still have Michigan in my bracket. Good luck with UConn.