This is a column I wrote a year ago about the basketball tournament, which starts in full Friday. It was our most read online basketball item. I thought I'd post it here - because I'm too tired and too lazy to attempt writing something better after finishing all the hoop previews for tomorrow's paper.
There will be moments that last a lifetime. At basketball arenas all over the state over the next week, there will memories made, and entertainment you just can’t find elsewhere, no matter how many Hollywood writers end their strike.It’s basketball tourney time. It starts in full today, and it is one of my favorite days of the year. I look forward to this day and week almost as soon as the previous one ends. Even as I scramble to gather information for countless previews, it feels like a last stressful dash toward Christmas Day. Except, I guarantee, over the next week, you’ll receive something you wanted, and you’ll witness something you didn’t expect.There are numerous reasons I love the basketball tournaments. It is not the eight days of driving to Augusta or Portland (or both in one day). It’s not the 15 games or so I’ll write about or the games I’ll simply watch, which will number twice that, at least. It’s not even the drama of who might win. I made my predictions already. I know who’s going to win. Well, I think I do.What I like about the tournament is the atmosphere, the excitement, and the buzz around the arena when a game is on the line. People are yelling, screaming, praying. Bands are cranking out the tunes. Fans are on the edge of their seats. Coaches are on the edge of a coronary.I like the people that you see. It’s like a family reunion. Over the years, I’ve met plenty of great people in the basketball fraternity. The tournaments provide the opportunity to reunite. You catch up, watch games, talk hoops and share plenty of laughs.I can step through doors of the ACC and feel like I’ve traveled to another world. It is where basketball is played around the clock and nothing else matters. You have limited contact with the outside world. All you care about is who’s playing in the next game or where you go eat between sessions?There will be bands that absolutely rock. I still haven’t gotten all my hearing back since the MDI band came to the ACC for the Class B state championship game a few years back. I was seated at the press table toward that end of the arena. Their thunderous volume and close proximity gave me a mighty headache, but they were tremendous. I remember more about them than I do the game.There are fans that are inventive and entertaining. I remember the kid that wore a box and dressed up as a robot. It made me create my list of “Things I’d have to be intoxicated to do.” Wearing a box and dressing like a robot is still atop that list. There are students that enjoy being kids and have fun, without being obnoxious. Who can forget when the Dexter fans brought out the Dexter Tiger in a wooden cage prior to a state game? That was one of the best bits I’ve seen. What about the raucous Mt. Abram contingent last year? They were a force and certainly a boost to their Roadrunners.There will be games that are absolutely ugly. There will be blowouts. There will be times that you feel you’ve been there all day and it’s only 11:30 in the morning. You go long periods without seeing the sun, assuming the sun is shining. You’ll even drive through at least one snowstorm to get there. You might have to swear off coffee by the time the week is over.There are going to be fans that act like idiots. There will be parents that make you feel badly for their kids. There will be coaches and players that make mistakes and let their emotions and actions get the best of them. The bad side of high school sports will rare its ugly head in one form or another. We’re in a culture where lunacy and self-involvement are becoming the norm.But, there will also be great moments that you won’t forget. I just saw a Wells team Thursday night in which the Warriors Sarah Quint hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds to force overtime. Wells went on to win in overtime. Quint told me after the game that they set up plays like that and practiced them, but she never actually imagined she’d have to hit a shot in that situation. She did, and it was amazing. It’s a moment she’ll never forget and neither will the fans that saw a very entertaining game. Can Survivor beat that?The basketball tournaments give us the opportunity to see heroes that last for more than just one day. We see amazing moments and unbelievable developments. Maybe in the coming week, I’ll chronicle some of my favorite moments from years past.Granted, we can see fabulous feats on television. We can watch the greatest athletes in pro sports. We can see drama in the movies. People can even tune into their favorite reality show and snoop into other people’s lives for their own jollies.The basketball tournaments give us the best of all that, but these are our kids and our communities. It’s the kid that bags your groceries and works at the local fast food place. It’s a neighbor down the street. It’s the kid of a friend of yours. And, even if you don’t know the participants, you are pulled into their world as you watch them play their hearts out. These are real people. They’re people from your communities that are facing challenges and overcoming odds. They’re stepping up and achieving. They’re doing things many us only can only dream of doing.I remember when Dirigo won a state championship at the Bangor Auditorium. Shannon Daley finished off a broken play in the final seconds and scored with a short baseline jumper. I remember the whole play moment by moment, including the jig that Coach Gavin Kane danced at the final buzzer. Afterwards, I talked to Daley outside the locker room. With tears of joy, she exclaimed, “I scored the winning basket in the state championship.” It was a moment she couldn’t believe and couldn’t explain. It is a moment I’m sure she’ll never forget. It is still etched clearly in my mind, and I’m sure fans that saw it can still picture it as well. It was a moment of unexpected greatness that many Maine basketball players might experience today or tomorrow.As the coming week unfolds, take time to notice them. You’ll realize that there are things you won’t witness anywhere else or in any other way. We’ll see the unexpected, the unbelievable and the unforgettable. There will be moments that make us smile, moments that make us laugh, moments that bring us to tears, moments that we won’t soon forget. It’s just basketball and a great chance for communities to rally around their kids, but it gives us all a whole lot more.
