Let's be honest. Didn't most of us, when we heard George Mason made the NCAA tournament, first say to ourselves: OK, that's fine, but what are the names of the other four guys George plays with? And will George still be there in the NBA draft when the Warriors pick? And can Baron Davis get along with him?
I'm a curious George when it comes to George Mason University. It's not every day a commuter school has a basketball team in the Final Four. This is like taking the bus from your parents' house to sing at Carnegie Hall. Could happen. If George Carlin was the guy writing the script.
George Mason University offered the country's first doctoral program in conflict resolution. Ah, there you have the seeds of it. Nothing says "conflict resolution" better than beating almighty UConn to make it to Indianapolis next weekend. Nothing says "I love the NCAA tournament" better than a Final Four team whose school has been around for only 39 years and named after a man who died 214 years ago.
George Mason would be proud of his basketball team. One of America's founding fathers, chiefly responsible for creating Bill of Rights, Mason was obsessed with individual freedoms. The US against Britain in 1776 or George Mason University against UConn in 2006, both were 500-to-1 shots. Refusing to bow to a superior force, George Mason already had won the Final Four once before, 230 years ago.
George Mason might be the sentimental favorite again this weekend if it weren't for a disquieting fact.
There's no Darth Vader. This is a major code violation of the Sanctity In Sport. Games need bad guys, lines drawn, venom cast. Black and white are the colors of the day. Not this Final Four. Everyone is wearing baby blue.
George Mason? Its charm already has been mentioned. Florida? Basketball? What basketball? Who cares? Spring football is starting, dude. Louisiana State? It has a 300-pound butterball in its lineup ("Big Baby" Davis) that talks like Charles Barkley without the poison and plays like Shaq without the bling. These three teams have never won a national title.
The fourth is UCLA, which might inspire rancor because it has won more titles (11) than anyone else. But the Bruins are so far removed from the smug Wooden days, not only in time but in style. UCLA doesn't play opponents as much as it mugs them, trips them, climbs on their backs and beats them on the top of their pointy heads. The Bruins are from that sissy Pac-10, the elitist Big East snickers, as if physical contact can exist only there.
But UCLA can trade bruises and sharp elbows with anyone and, in fact, prefers to do so.
There's not a Dukie or Tar Heel or a Bob Knight or a Jim Boeheim anywhere to be found. No bad guys or puffed images to be poked. In other words, no Adam Morrison or J.J. Redick wearing a scarlet bull 's eye. They can all cry underdog because they all indeed are.
"Everyone disrespected us. No one gave us a chance. We shocked the world!" Now we wait a few days to see what team says it.
Root for everyone, I say, because everyone in the Final Four is playing with house money. Love is in the air everywhere. It's just, who do you love more? George Mason, of course. It's the statue and how can you not love the story behind it.
There's a seven-foot bronze statue of Mason on the Fairfax, Virginia, campus. As legend has it, if a student kisses one of Mason's toes before taking a test, he will do well.
Yes, you've already guessed it, haven't you? A photo opportunity. Sometime this week we will see a basketball player kissing George's toe. In fact, he'll be asked to kiss more than one. He'll do three more. And why not? It's the Final Four.
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Cycling great Marianne Vos won the opening stage of the women’s Tour de France with a brilliant late attack on Saturday. The 38-year-old Dutchwoman overtook her Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prevot approaching the line, and then held off Mauritian rider Kim Le Court in the closing meters of a grueling uphill finish. Ferrand-Prevot looked set to win the stage, but the Frenchwoman attacked too early from 600m and could not withstand the late surge from Vos, who punched the air with her left fist as she crossed the line. Moments later, Vos hugged an exhausted-looking Ferrand-Prevot, the Paris-Roubaix winner. “I didn’t know if
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
RSS