Good news, bad news

The bad news for me is that my adopted college basketball team -- the Saint Joseph's University Hawks -- actually lost a game today, 87-67 to Xavier in the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic 10 tournament. (Relax Rowan U fans -- if there are any out there -- I was an SJU fan way back when Rowan was still Glassboro State College.) The good news is that now I can start writing about my beloved Hawks. See, like most sports fans, I'm a tad bit superstitious. So, when the Hawks kept winning -- and winning and winning and winning -- I refused to write about them out of respect for the streak. (See Crash Davis.) Now, however, their deliriously -- ? -- exciting run is over, and I am free to shout from the rooftops how much fun this team has been. I have had the fortune to attend two games this year -- both at the hallowed Palestra, against city opponents Drexel and Temple. Watching this team play is a wonder in and of itself. In an almost effortless fashion, the Hawks put Drexel away early and had the fans chanting "We want cheesesteaks!!" midway through the second half. (A local pizza shop offers free steaks to anyone with a ticket to a game in which the Hawks pour in 100 points. They finished with 92 that game.) The Temple game was better, if only for the fact that it was Temple we were stomping. While not beating the Owls as decisively as they did the first time this season -- a game in which they threw down an A10 record 20 three-pointers, the game was nonetheless never in doubt. I had the extreme pleasure of watching this game along with my two brothers, their wives, and my girlfriend from the fourth row. If you think this team is exciting to watch on television -- with their frantic defense, crisp ball movement, and stunning perimeter shooting -- then I would highly recommend you find a last minute ticket to whatever NCAA tournament venue the Hawks wind up playing in. One cannot truly appreciate the game they play until it is seen in person. So now I sit and wait to see what the eggheads on the NCAA tournament committee do with this loss. Do they use it as an excuse to knock the Hawks down a peg or two in the seedings? Or will they take it for what it was -- a blip on the radar of an otherwise stellar year, a team that finally succumbed to the pressure of an undefeated season -- an accomplishment so tough it hasn't been reached in 13 years? We'll have to wait until Selection Sunday to see, but cheer up SJU fans -- no matter what happens with the seedings or even in the tournament itself, we will forever be able to say that, at one time, we had the #1 team in the country. And no one can ever take that away from us. Go Hawks!!