Friday, November 16

Falling, Falling

If you’re looking for a silver lining in a Sonic season covered in mud, here it is.

Last night, my alma mater, the University of Oregon, the #2 ranked team in the nation, a team on the verge of combining a national championship game with a Heisman Trophy in a single, glorious season, lost all of it in the span of 10 seconds.

It’s one thing for Ohio State, USC, LSU, or any of the other perennial powerhouses to blow their shot at a national title. After all, those schools are borderline professional football teams, and their chance at a championship comes annually. Likewise, Heisman Trophies grow like weeds in an untended garden for those lucky universities.

For Oregon, these opportunities come once a century, and Dennis Dixon’s injured knee in the first quarter of a game the Ducks were dominating ended it all. We – as fans – fell from the heights of the Rose or Sugar Bowls to the depths of the Holiday Bowl in moments. It was a dizzying plunge.

So, here’s your silver lining, Sonic fans. As fans of a team with no shot at anything this year, we have nowhere to fall. With an ownership and a league hell-bent on taking our team and with a roster riddled with questions, rehabs, and inadequacies, we have nowhere to go but up.

Remember the pain in your stomach we all felt when the Sonics would annually lose in the first round, the tension you’d get as the Sonics fell behind 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, then the urge to vomit after they lost a series they should have won?

Well, that pain is gone now, and there’s no chance of it this year. As bad as rooting for a 1-8 team is, and it is bad, perhaps it’s not as painful as rooting for a team which disappoints you.

At least, that’s what I’m telling myself this morning.

7 comments:

  1. Regarding the team's on-court outlook, I agree completely.

    However, it's difficult to separate the fact that the team could leave Seattle. I think we'd all agree that losing the Sonics would be worse than any on court failure (even 1994).

    That said, if everything works out and the team stays in Seattle, it'll be a fun ride watching this team go from horrible to great.

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  2. One thing that keeps me up is that the Bulls (my friends favourite team) ain`t any better :)

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  3. ESPN.com is reporting that Sonic Legend Gary Payton appears to be finished with the NBA.

    http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=GaryPayton-071116

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  4. I was just about to comment on the article. Reading it makes me feel all fuzzy inside. And he's ours!

    Can't we give him a one-day contract or something?

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  5. Tonight wasn't a bad way to forgive an 0-8 streak. May it be the first of many buzzer-beaters, Mr. Durant!

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  6. the ducks will never leave Eugene
    but the sonics are so gone
    our coffee boys sold us out
    over and out

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  7. Went to the Sonics-Hawks game last night. I'm still buzzing. Best game I've ever seen capped off by the best shot I've ever seen.

    Best of all, the Sonics played as a team. Great win.

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