Thursday, March 8, 2007
Kevin's blog: March Madness at Central
Is there a better story right now in Connecticut than CCSU basketball? The Blue Devils are going to the NCAA tournament with only 9 players. Their star player Javier Mojica is a former walk-on. And their best rebounder is about 6'2". They are in many ways the most unlikely team in the country, regardless of their conference, to have won 19 of 21 games. But what I saw last night will never show up in any stat sheet. These Central players have heart. They simply willed themselves to win against a very gritty Sacred Heart team.
I've been fortunate enough to cover some major sporting events: The World Series, Super Bowl, Final Four and Olympics. But I would put the atmosphere at the Central/Sacred Heart game at the top of the list. Here are some things that stood out.
1) 3000 plus fans made as much noise as 30,000.
2) Bigger isn't always better. Detrick Gymasium rocked!
3) Almost every Central player and Coach I interviewed praised Sacred Heart
4) This was totally about the love of the game...not impressing NBA scouts
5) How can you not love Central Coach Howie Dickenman? He's an old school Coach with that distinctive tough voice. But the man has a huge heart and would do anything for a friend.
6) Central's Sports Information Director Tom Pincince telling me with 20 seconds to
go that this would be his first trip to the NCAA Tournament. Congrats Tom! You deserve it.
7) Tom Pincince and everyone at Central treating us like kings even though it was my first trip there all season. Everyone went above and beyond to make us feel welcome.
8) I was in the middle of a wild celebration and did not get injured! That's a good thing when you have three kids and a wife at home who count on you to take out the trash and change diapers.
9) Seeing Javier Mojica's stepfather embrace his son...both with tears in their eyes.
10) Running into former Central baseball player turned major league pitcher Ricky Bottalico. He could have been anywhere last night, but Ricky knew there was only one place to be in CT.
I could go on and on and probably will next week at the NCAA Tournament. But for me, this Central Basketball team is why I got into this business. Thanks Blue Devils for one of the top 10 moments of my career. It's hard not to root for you.
See you at the NCAA Tournament. You deserve it. And I am pumped to go along for the ride.
I've been fortunate enough to cover some major sporting events: The World Series, Super Bowl, Final Four and Olympics. But I would put the atmosphere at the Central/Sacred Heart game at the top of the list. Here are some things that stood out.
1) 3000 plus fans made as much noise as 30,000.
2) Bigger isn't always better. Detrick Gymasium rocked!
3) Almost every Central player and Coach I interviewed praised Sacred Heart
4) This was totally about the love of the game...not impressing NBA scouts
5) How can you not love Central Coach Howie Dickenman? He's an old school Coach with that distinctive tough voice. But the man has a huge heart and would do anything for a friend.
6) Central's Sports Information Director Tom Pincince telling me with 20 seconds to
go that this would be his first trip to the NCAA Tournament. Congrats Tom! You deserve it.
7) Tom Pincince and everyone at Central treating us like kings even though it was my first trip there all season. Everyone went above and beyond to make us feel welcome.
8) I was in the middle of a wild celebration and did not get injured! That's a good thing when you have three kids and a wife at home who count on you to take out the trash and change diapers.
9) Seeing Javier Mojica's stepfather embrace his son...both with tears in their eyes.
10) Running into former Central baseball player turned major league pitcher Ricky Bottalico. He could have been anywhere last night, but Ricky knew there was only one place to be in CT.
I could go on and on and probably will next week at the NCAA Tournament. But for me, this Central Basketball team is why I got into this business. Thanks Blue Devils for one of the top 10 moments of my career. It's hard not to root for you.
See you at the NCAA Tournament. You deserve it. And I am pumped to go along for the ride.
Posted at 5:29 PM by kevin
2 Comments:
Yes, congrats to Howie and his team. Maybe a better question, what's wrong at UCONN? Howie, Karl and Dave are probably all in the big dance. Where's Jim?
How can you have substitution patterns as we saw (11 players in 4 minutes) and build confidence in a young team?
At the same time, those first 11 games were set up to build that confidence but maybe those games weren't good preparation for the Big East.
Why did the team do so poorly early in the second half in many games, given halftime talks by the coaching staff?
I don't know, just a frustrating season, just venting, I guess. Already there is talk of player changes but what about the coaches?
Hello Mr. Nathan,
As a graduate student at Quinnipiac University currently pursuing my MA in Journalism, I'd like to commend you, Persefcone and Joe D. on a job well done delivering the nightly sports reports for NBC 30!
Like you, my first-ever trip to Detrick Gymnasium was an experience I will never forget.
This past season, I served as the "beat writer" for QU's men's basketball team for their station website, 98.1 WQAQ-FM. I had traveled with the team to New Britain on February 10th for their meeting with the Blue Devils, and the first person whom I came across was radio analyst Marc Robbins, also of WTNH. He was very helpful in seeing that I met the right people in the event I needed to ask questions about who to talk to after the game, stat sheets, etc.
And I will especially remember the PA voice there, Joe Arnone. I believe that is the gentleman I'm referring to. He helped make the game more exciting to watch with his "Bob Shepard" like commentary. Watchin the NEC title game on ESPN2 Wednesday night, I heard the TV mics pick up a couple of his exciting calls as CCSU made some big plays down the stretch!
Even though the sour moments was that my team got blown right out of the gym in the second half, CCSU was very hospitable to me that day. I'm looking forward to going back next season when QU travels there for another "local team" showdown.
Keep up the great work to you and the rest of the NBC 30 Sports Team.
Best,
Mike Lyle
QU Graduate Student
Class of 2008
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