Thoughts from Saturday's KU/Mizzou game, that will go down in history as one of (if not the best) game in Allen Fieldhouse history (it's one of the most intense rivalries in all of sports; it was the last time they'll ever play in the regular season, after 100+ years of hating each other; both teams were ranked in the top 5; and KU came back from a 19-point second half deficit to win in OT):
-- I can't believe how good Mizzou played. Visiting teams just don't come into the Fieldhouse and shoot that well and play that fearlessly. KU has won 91 of their last 92 at home-- and the one that they lost was because Thomas Robinson's mom died in the middle of the night the night before, and the whole team and coaching staff stayed up the entire night before a 2 pm game. And that's their only home loss in over five friggin' years. I remember when Mizzou went up 15 or so that I realized I had never even seen this kind of score on the scoreboard before.
-- Why do I walk downstairs to pee in the main floor bathroom at the Fieldhouse? Because you'll see at least one celebrity/athlete/former KU player every single time. At halftime on Saturday, I was at a urinal in between Gary Woodland and Clark Kellogg. I took this as a good sign for a second half comeback.
-- Normally I'm a pretty pessimistic fan, while Kyle is the upbeat one. I'll never be the first one to truly believe in a comeback; I usually climb on the bandwagon begrudgingly. But for whatever reason, we completely switched roles on this day. He was pretty much comatose during the whole comeback and overtime, not really believing what was happening, and only really celebrating once it was all over. The vast majority of my fist bumps and high fives (and even a full-on man hug in OT) had to come from the 60-year-old guy on the other side of me. I feel slightly uncomfortable about that hug now, but in that moment it just felt right. This old Adam Sandler sketch comes to mind.
-- So while Kyle had shut down and climbed into a shell of himself, I had compartmentalized the 19-point comeback into small fragments to keep my sanity along the way. Like if we could get the lead down to 12 by the 12-minute mark, and down to 10 by 8 minutes, down to 5 by 4 minutes, etc., then we'd be in good shape. So as the minutes went by and the baskets piled up and the lead narrowed, I kept going back to my mantra as my go-to chant. So there were lots of people giving me confused looks when Connor Teahan would bury a three and I'd throw my arms in the air and exclaim "4 by 2!!! 4 by 2 babyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" But it's in the crazy times that you yell the same weird things over and over again. If you're a sports fan you've been there.
-- I still have no idea how I feel about this year's KU team. I can't really convince myself that they're very good, even though there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. They have a great starting five, arguably the best 1-2 punch in the country with Tyshawn and T-Rob (I can't believe I'm talking positively about Tyshawn after this four-year roller coaster ride) but the bench is a joke. Two walk-ons, a transfer from a mid-major, and IF the 9th man gets in, he'll probably turn the ball over within the first two possessions. But yet they're 24-5, ranked #4, a bunch of wins over top-10 teams, about to win their 8th straight Big 12 title.....I don't know, man. I don't know. They might get upset as a 1-seed in the tourney again this year, but damn they've been better than I thought they would be. Again. Every time you think KU is gonna have a down year, Coach Self just refuses to let it happen. This article sums up my thoughts pretty well.
-- By the time we walked out of the Fieldhouse, it felt like we had been in there for days. Like all of us had just gone on an epic journey together. Like I was Frodo Baggins and the other 16,299 people were collectively my Samwise Gamgee. It wasn't just a game, it was a life experience.
-- And days like Saturday are the reason why I moved down here in the first place.
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