How to Start a Season

I've been all sorts of stoked for the start of college hoops, and today it's even more pronounced than before. A buddy surprised me yesterday by saying that he had an extra ticket to the Wahoos' first basketball game of the season, which happened to be the opening of their sparkling new arena. He asked me if I wanted to go. Did I want to go?! Does the pope shit in the woods? Damn skippy.

So we took the 2-hour drive down to Charlottesville and went to the game. First, let me say the new arena is awesome. It's just an excellent basketball venue, and it has all this state of the art audio visual equipment, too. It's an absolute gem. Sure, it cost more than $130 million, but ... I like it.

Not surprisingly, the excitement was palpable as they readied to start the game. There were fireworks and lasers and flames and general craziness. There was an animated Cav Man video (a cheesy thing they do where an animated mascot does battle with the opposing teams mascot - it's incredibly campy, but it's hard not to like it) that led to the "real" mascot rappelling down from the roof. Then, they had Michael Buffer, who might very well be a caricature of himself at this point, announce the starting lineups. I was thinking that I had waited 7 months for some college hoops so it would be fine with me if they could dispense with all this buildup business and get down to some game action. They finally did so, and what a game it was!

The Hoos started out shooting well but quickly cooled, and Arizona started to run away with the game, leading by 19 at one point in the first half. I was thinking that I could handle such a blowout, as Arizona is damned good, and I would at least have had the chance to see the opening game in the new arena. But those crazy Wahoos came out on fire in the second half, and they came back to secure an improbable 93-90 win.

Now that's the way to start a college basketball season. I'm just hoping to get a win out of my beloved Hoosiers in their opening game tonight. Either way, hail, hail, hoops is here!