It's All Over

How fitting was it that this season of disappointments ended with Josh Wright, the most selfish kid ever to wear an Orange uniform, throwing up a three that he had no business taking? And this happened only seconds after Matt Gorman left his man all alone under Clemson’s hoop, and they got a put-back with twenty seconds left in the game. Our season in a nutshell.

At least we weren’t blown out by twenty plus points. And with about ten minutes to go, that’s what it looked like. But I give Eric D and PH, and Terrance credit for fighting back, for making a game of it, for keeping the team from embarrassment in front of a national audience. It makes it hard for us to complain about the NCAA snub, if we can’t even make it to the NIT semis in the Garden. But on a night when we couldn’t buy a basket, and when Clemson had more prayers answered than the College of Cardinals, a four-point loss keeps the program respectable.

In a way, the loss is a relief. I’m done suffering the aggravation that’s been a constant companion since the middle of December. I’m done giving myself heartburn because we can’t wait for a good shot, but have to throw up the first available shot, even if it has almost no chance of going in. I’m done wondering whether Mookie will wake up, and look like he cares about the game. (Chatterbox, are you reading this?) Instead, I’ll try to wait patiently for next fall, for the most highly touted recruiting class since Gerry and Melo came in 2002. In the meantime, Jon Lester threw for the first time since he had chemo; the Herald says Manny is happy once more; and in a only a couple weeks it will be baseball season. The time of the year when things change from Orange to Red. Go Sox.