A Bitter Pill

[OUSKINS]

As someone who has lived and died with his sports teams (to an admittedly excessive level) since childhood, I carry a long list of painful losses stored in my memory bank. It's not all losses and it's not all close losses. It's not all post season losses. I'm never quite sure when or why one is going to torture me. In January of 1993 Mark Rypien and Brian Mitchell of the Redskins muffed a hand off while driving deep into 49ers territory down 17-13 in the 4th quarter of the divisional playoffs. It was 21 years ago and I can still see that ball on the turf and feel the pit in my stomach. If you ever want a good cry/laugh I can wax poetic about other Redskins losses stored in my brain for hours.

In 1999 the Reds won 96 games but tied in the wildcard with the Mets. Cincy lost that one game playoff and the pain of that magical season's end still stings for me.

And I will always feel that I left a part of my fan-self at Chespaeake Arena during game 4 of the 2011 West Finals when Dallas overcame a 15 point deficit midway through the 4th. I can't even look at the section I was sitting in now without feeling a little ill.

And for some reason, that loss last night feels like it will be stored for me forever with the rest. Last year I was happy to be there and got over the first round exit by the next morning. This NDSU loss was torture. I hated every minute of that game. It was awful to watch. Torturous. We played so hard at times, but also so stupidly. I was so incredibly frustrated with Lon, Buddy, and Spangler in particular. I haven't been that angry during an OU game maybe ever. And still it was right there for us.... There were about 7-8 different plays and if we just make one of them we win. Cousins' foul on Braun will haunt me forever. Why?!?!

It's weird because usually losses hurt the most when I feel some major opportunity was missed. I know this OU team wasn't Final Four caliber and I knew that they'd overachieved to earn the seed they did. I really appreciated how they played this year and enjoyed the season immensely. Maybe that is why it is bugging me so much--- they went down playing unlike they played all year. I thought we needed to win to validate the season--and I do think we could have gotten to the Sweet 16. Now it ends with such a thud that it's hard to feel good about the season even though I know I should.

Can't even watch the tourney the rest of the weekend. Switch to full NBA mode and start getting excited about MLB opening day. And at some point this feeling will go away... But right now it lingers and for me that means it will probably get stuck there forever.

[S.PadreIsl.Sooner]

Make our freethrows in the final :45 and we win!

[hawaii 5-0]

Make our freethrows in the final :45 and we win!

This.


Oh, and maybe not fouling in the last minute.

Double Oh.......speaking of long suffering......I'm a Cleveland Brown fan.


5-0

[badger]

Take your medicine with a glass of water and feel better. Bitter pills are sometimes necessary to swallow

PS: It could be worse we could be Duke and (assistant) coached by Jeff Capel

[SoonerMarkVA]

Make our freethrows in the final :45 and we win!

Yup. Insane, isn't it? We had that wrapped up, 5 up with 1m to go. And we couldn't just hit free throws.

Nevermind the 3 open looks at the end of regulation, 2 of them airballs.

[badger]

speaking of long suffering......I'm a Cleveland Brown fan.

But you live in Hawaii. All Hawaii residents should have to cheer for the Cleveland Browns They should also have to cheer for the Houston Astros, New York Knicks and NHL hockey when they're in the middle of one of their lockouts.

[Temujin]

I was actually "blah" on NCAA basketball this year until OU started showing signs of being a good team. Watching the tourney last year and most of the games I've watched this year, I just get too irritated at how bad the officiating is. It's not just OU games either, it's all of them. Anyway, now that OU's out, I'm just back to being uninterested.

I am kind of rooting for WSU just for the hell of it, though.

[rock on sooner]

But you live in Hawaii. All Hawaii residents should have to cheer for the Cleveland Browns They should also have to cheer for the Houston Astros, New York Knicks and NHL hockey when they're in the middle of one of their lockouts.

Ummm, the Knicks are in for a Phil Jackson turnaround, so maybe remove them from your
list.

As to ND St beating OU, well, Cincy, Duke, New Mexico fans will sympathize...KU
has their hands full right now. Lower seeds, for the most part, have visited the
"no respect for our betters" fountain and drunk deeply. DAYUM, luv March Madness!!!

[birddog]

Rewatched the game today and it's obvious we just didn't have the experience to finish off a team in this tournament. Woodard and Spangler looked like they hit a wall from a long season, not unlike rookies in the nba.

Ndsu looked more composed and confident. It's all good. Those guys got some good experience playing a lot of minutes in a lot of big games. Kansas will have to replace freshman with freshman and pokes will lose their core, so I'm thinkin we'll have a team that can compete for a title and THEN win a game or 3 in the tourney. Atleast football is around the corner.

[8timechamps]

Great post OUSKINS!

Most of us here are old enough to know that one play doesn't change the outcome of a game, but it's so hard for me to really apply that. I KNOW it's true, and I've lived/coached it my entire adult life. Still, I can't get past Cousins play at the end of the game. The one that sticks out the most isn't the missed free throw or the foul, it's the way he nonchalantly put up a shot when time ran out. Buddy missed the three, Woodard short-armed the rebound shot and it Cousins had the ball under the rim with what seemed like 5 seconds left on the clock - yet he threw the ball up like it was a warm up session.

I don't know for a fact that there was enough time left on the clock for his shot to matter (and I'm not going to put myself through the pain of re-watching the game...birddog, you're braver than I)...and maybe it was because we had more than one shot in that final possession...but that's the play that sticks out to me the most.

[OUmillenium]

Cousins had about 1 sec to get that shot up. His foul at about the :30 mark is what sticks out to me.