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IN MY OPINION
Can't shake Davidson withdrawal
TOM SORENSEN
I see you moping. I see you moving at half speed, not really caring if you get there.
And I hear you. I hear you saying what if. What if Jason Richards had hit the shot and what if Stephen Curry had put the ball in the air and Richards and not Curry had brought the ball up court and Davidson had hit more free throws and Andrew Lovedale had not fouled out?
Three days after Davidson's two-point loss to the Jayhawks and we're -- our city and region -- still not all the way back.
The last time I saw a sporting event leave us so flat was on the second day of February, 2004. The night before, New England had beaten the Carolina Panthers by a field goal in Super Bowl XXXVIII.
What about the Carolina-Seattle NFC championship game two seasons later? That game was huge until it began. The Panthers were overmatched and the Seahawks won by 20.
For pain to linger, a game has to be close because if it's not close there are no what ifs. A 59-57 loss to Kansas, with the ball in the hands of Curry, the best shooter in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, is close.
North Carolina can tell you how badly the loss hurts. The Tar Heels were a victory away from the Final Four last season. But Georgetown beat them in overtime.
Tar Heel Nation was crushed. Fans of, in alphabetic order, Charlotte, Clemson, Duke and Everybody Else seemed to handle the loss just fine.
Most schools have natural enemies. Just as old-time race fans can't drive a Chevrolet and a Ford, college fans can't cheer North Carolina and Duke. But who is Davidson's bitter blood rival, Elon? I suspect that, like the rest of us, the Southern Conference pulled for the Wildcats.
We all loved the Davidson vs. Goliath angle, the 1,700-student school tangling with the Big East, Big Ten and Big 12.
We loved that no matter how famous they became the Wildcats remained tethered to the real world.
Be honest. If you're Curry, and LeBron James is asking for a ticket at courtside because he wants to "watch the kid play," and Dick Vitale and the fellows are praising you nightly and columnists are comparing you to Larry Bird, how humble would you be?
Yet if there was a moment in which Curry alluded to himself as Stephen Curry, chastised those who didn't believe (which is almost everybody) or acted as if his recent celebrity separated him from the rest of the human race, I didn't see it.
This was a team we could embrace and the more it won the more we liked it. And when the end came, it came with a suddenness that was not to be believed.
IT CAN'T BE OVER.
The loss was a stark reminder that the good guys don't always win.
What it is, if we get lucky, is a joyous and exhilarating ride.
Yeah, the last few days have been rough. But would you rather they had lost by 20? IN MY OPINION Tom Sorensen
