As a tax accountant who took almost 5 days off the first week of April to see our boys bring home a title the past two weeks have been a blur. With that in mind I really wanted to share my thoughts about the events of the past few weeks now that I can finally breathe!
Going into this tournament, I, like many others felt that if we could get past the second round, the sky was the limit. That said, to sit back and see that not only did we do it, but the oath we took to do it, I'm still in shock. Now without reiterating everything that had been said on the board the past few weeks I do want to say a few things.
I was totally blown away by the number of Nova fans in Houston! As a season ticket holder for 22 years I've been to a lot of games. I've traveled to see us play all over this country (even other countries!). However, nothing, I mean nothing compared to the sheer number of fans that were in Houston. As I sat in section 109 of NRG Stadium during the Oklahoma game the volume of the Nova fans was off the charts. I've never seen the screams, cheers, clapping, high fiving etc. with fellow fans like there was that night. I'm still not sure where everyone came from! It is not homer bullsh@t when people say we outnumbered the other schools-it's a statement of fact! However the dude who was dressed as Darth Vader with the Nova jersey- you were friggin awesome! Anyone in 109 - you were friggin awesome! The way we dismantled OU was off the charts.
Heading out to the Dogwood and the bar next door (forget the name) people were beyond pumped. That night the booze was flowing and the entire town was blue and white! Everything is big in Texas including the shots of Jack!
The next day was one to recuperate have a nice steak dinner and rest up for Championship Monday. The team hotel blew me away. It was like a blue and white bomb went off! Posters everywhere were boozing up. I won't list names but all the usual suspects plus dozens more were there. Great times!
Championship Monday I felt unsettled. Walking around the pregame event many people said the same thing- " I can't believe we could win the title tonight. However, I can't see us losing either". When Rollie showed up to say a few words the place got fired up.
Onto the game. You would think playing in the title game I would have been screaming like crazy. However, a strange nervous calm came over me. I was so into each and every play - I just stood there. When we were up 10 I thought we were about to blow their doors off-then when they started to climb back I thought oh boy here we go again. One Marcus hit that three I thought I was going to puke-I was convinced UNC would get a turnover off the inbounds pass to win the game. Of course we all know the rest! I just remember shouting "What the hell just happened?!? " It wasn't until I saw the trophy that I felt like I could rest! BTW, how f@cking cool is Jay. The guy wins his first title, in perhaps the best title games of all time, with the biggest shot in the History of the tournament and he just says " Bang. " and walks away- are you kidding me?!? The dude is a rock star.
As we wandered through the Houston night and found our way back to the team hotel I found mself reflecting not on the big moments of the season, but on the ups and more importantly on the downs if the past. Some reflections I had:
Sitting in my public speaking class sophomore year I remember the professor saying " everyone love to talk about 1985. Well let me tell you, I was a professor here at the time. It was an amazing time however, it will never happen again." As I look back, that professor should be fired!!
I thought about the great Lappas teams that didn't get it done. I thought about Whiterock chocolate. I thought about how we were convinced that Aaron Matthews could be a star. I thought of Medley talking trash at UCLA before they destroyed us. I thought of Johnny Helmsey hitting a three after the buzzer and Lappas screaming, pulling his lapels. I thought of the turnover meter.I thought of the bs A-Ray travel call. I thought of Nashvile, Minneapolis, Boston. I though of very drunk nights in St Thomas. I thought of myself and the one and only Novaworm driving up to meet EricW, Zman, The Letter Z, and kjbert driving to Ottawa just so we could see Fisher and Stokes play together for the first time!
Then I thought of the 2001 basketball banquet. Lappas had just been fired and Jay just hired. Jay was still wrapping up some things at Hofstra so he couldn't stay long however something he said always stuck with me. Jay told us that " that school in Durham, North Carolina had nothing on Villanova."He said we can and would get our program back to the Final Four. He said Villanova deserves to win another title. Now, 15 years later we are on the brink of taking over. I truly believe as Coach K, Roy, Pitino, etc. retire Jay will lead the charge to raise our programs to heights not seen! We are so lucky to have him as our coach.
Now I want to get a little deep here ( which isn't usually me) but I just feel I have to share this. Some of you may think I'm crazy but that's OK. I doubt many remember but about a year and a half ago I asked for some prayers as my grandfather, a WW2 veteran to whom I was very close and had lived with had recently passed. Well, as the oldest grandchild I had the honor of delivering his eulogy. It was both the hardest and easiest speech I had to give. Towards the end of my eulogy, I wanted to lighten the mood a little so I said, "Grandpa, you have done so much for me but I need you to do one more favor-if you ever get a few moments alone with God, please ask him to send Villanova another national championship!" It got a big smile from everyone at the time. This was only 18 months ago. Now go back to Houston, UNC has tied the game and we are coming out of the time out with the now famous 4.7 seconds left. I'm convinced we are going to be snakebitten again by Carolina. Then, I swear on my life, I heard my grandfather say in his broken Italian accent, " don't worry grandson, I got this". Jenkins inbounded the ball to Arch and the rest is history! The next day I am on my flight home to Newark and we are slowly coming in for a landing. I always like looking out the window to see if I recognize where we are flying over. Soon I realize we are over the GSP. I then spot the E&Y building and realize we are over Metro Park. It then dawns on me where we are, I look up and in the distance I see the cementary where my grandfather is buried. I practically lost it on the plane!
Now is all this a coincidence or just my imagination? Maybe. Do I think my grandfather was the reason we won? Probably not. However, the whole experience made me think about all those Nova fans who are not here anymore. I can't help but think we had a lot of good people up there pulling for us, maybe at a level we can't understand.
Now that I've gone way too deep I just want to end by saying I've never been prouder to be a Nova alumni. This school and the community around it are truly special. This board is full of special people. We have a lot to be proud of these days. Here's hoping to a lot more in the future!!! Go cats!!!
Going into this tournament, I, like many others felt that if we could get past the second round, the sky was the limit. That said, to sit back and see that not only did we do it, but the oath we took to do it, I'm still in shock. Now without reiterating everything that had been said on the board the past few weeks I do want to say a few things.
I was totally blown away by the number of Nova fans in Houston! As a season ticket holder for 22 years I've been to a lot of games. I've traveled to see us play all over this country (even other countries!). However, nothing, I mean nothing compared to the sheer number of fans that were in Houston. As I sat in section 109 of NRG Stadium during the Oklahoma game the volume of the Nova fans was off the charts. I've never seen the screams, cheers, clapping, high fiving etc. with fellow fans like there was that night. I'm still not sure where everyone came from! It is not homer bullsh@t when people say we outnumbered the other schools-it's a statement of fact! However the dude who was dressed as Darth Vader with the Nova jersey- you were friggin awesome! Anyone in 109 - you were friggin awesome! The way we dismantled OU was off the charts.
Heading out to the Dogwood and the bar next door (forget the name) people were beyond pumped. That night the booze was flowing and the entire town was blue and white! Everything is big in Texas including the shots of Jack!
The next day was one to recuperate have a nice steak dinner and rest up for Championship Monday. The team hotel blew me away. It was like a blue and white bomb went off! Posters everywhere were boozing up. I won't list names but all the usual suspects plus dozens more were there. Great times!
Championship Monday I felt unsettled. Walking around the pregame event many people said the same thing- " I can't believe we could win the title tonight. However, I can't see us losing either". When Rollie showed up to say a few words the place got fired up.
Onto the game. You would think playing in the title game I would have been screaming like crazy. However, a strange nervous calm came over me. I was so into each and every play - I just stood there. When we were up 10 I thought we were about to blow their doors off-then when they started to climb back I thought oh boy here we go again. One Marcus hit that three I thought I was going to puke-I was convinced UNC would get a turnover off the inbounds pass to win the game. Of course we all know the rest! I just remember shouting "What the hell just happened?!? " It wasn't until I saw the trophy that I felt like I could rest! BTW, how f@cking cool is Jay. The guy wins his first title, in perhaps the best title games of all time, with the biggest shot in the History of the tournament and he just says " Bang. " and walks away- are you kidding me?!? The dude is a rock star.
As we wandered through the Houston night and found our way back to the team hotel I found mself reflecting not on the big moments of the season, but on the ups and more importantly on the downs if the past. Some reflections I had:
Sitting in my public speaking class sophomore year I remember the professor saying " everyone love to talk about 1985. Well let me tell you, I was a professor here at the time. It was an amazing time however, it will never happen again." As I look back, that professor should be fired!!
I thought about the great Lappas teams that didn't get it done. I thought about Whiterock chocolate. I thought about how we were convinced that Aaron Matthews could be a star. I thought of Medley talking trash at UCLA before they destroyed us. I thought of Johnny Helmsey hitting a three after the buzzer and Lappas screaming, pulling his lapels. I thought of the turnover meter.I thought of the bs A-Ray travel call. I thought of Nashvile, Minneapolis, Boston. I though of very drunk nights in St Thomas. I thought of myself and the one and only Novaworm driving up to meet EricW, Zman, The Letter Z, and kjbert driving to Ottawa just so we could see Fisher and Stokes play together for the first time!
Then I thought of the 2001 basketball banquet. Lappas had just been fired and Jay just hired. Jay was still wrapping up some things at Hofstra so he couldn't stay long however something he said always stuck with me. Jay told us that " that school in Durham, North Carolina had nothing on Villanova."He said we can and would get our program back to the Final Four. He said Villanova deserves to win another title. Now, 15 years later we are on the brink of taking over. I truly believe as Coach K, Roy, Pitino, etc. retire Jay will lead the charge to raise our programs to heights not seen! We are so lucky to have him as our coach.
Now I want to get a little deep here ( which isn't usually me) but I just feel I have to share this. Some of you may think I'm crazy but that's OK. I doubt many remember but about a year and a half ago I asked for some prayers as my grandfather, a WW2 veteran to whom I was very close and had lived with had recently passed. Well, as the oldest grandchild I had the honor of delivering his eulogy. It was both the hardest and easiest speech I had to give. Towards the end of my eulogy, I wanted to lighten the mood a little so I said, "Grandpa, you have done so much for me but I need you to do one more favor-if you ever get a few moments alone with God, please ask him to send Villanova another national championship!" It got a big smile from everyone at the time. This was only 18 months ago. Now go back to Houston, UNC has tied the game and we are coming out of the time out with the now famous 4.7 seconds left. I'm convinced we are going to be snakebitten again by Carolina. Then, I swear on my life, I heard my grandfather say in his broken Italian accent, " don't worry grandson, I got this". Jenkins inbounded the ball to Arch and the rest is history! The next day I am on my flight home to Newark and we are slowly coming in for a landing. I always like looking out the window to see if I recognize where we are flying over. Soon I realize we are over the GSP. I then spot the E&Y building and realize we are over Metro Park. It then dawns on me where we are, I look up and in the distance I see the cementary where my grandfather is buried. I practically lost it on the plane!
Now is all this a coincidence or just my imagination? Maybe. Do I think my grandfather was the reason we won? Probably not. However, the whole experience made me think about all those Nova fans who are not here anymore. I can't help but think we had a lot of good people up there pulling for us, maybe at a level we can't understand.
Now that I've gone way too deep I just want to end by saying I've never been prouder to be a Nova alumni. This school and the community around it are truly special. This board is full of special people. We have a lot to be proud of these days. Here's hoping to a lot more in the future!!! Go cats!!!
