Tough loss for the Lehigh Mountain Hawks in the Patriot League Final against Holy Cross.   Things were set up for the Mountain Hawks to make it to the NCAA Tournament for the 1st time since 2012.  They had won 11 in a row to finish 2nd in the Patriot League, and were hosting the game on campus as the higher seed.   While Holy Cross was playing well and had  won 3 straight road game (including Number 1 seed Bucknell in OT), they did finish 5 – 13 in the league loosing every road game (0 -9).   Lehigh had beaten them at home just a few weeks earlier.   But Lehigh started the game looking very timid, and never got into any type of rhythm.  They looked slow and sluggish and it showed as they trailed by 11 at halftime.   They played a better 2nd half but still found themselves down by 10 with 5 min left.  A furious comeback saw them get within 1 point with 30 seconds left.   But after Holy Cross made 2 free throws to push the lead to 3, there was no magic to be found and after 4 missed 3s in the final seconds, the season came to a bitter end

While not a super fan,  I do try to follow the team and root for them to do well.    As an proud alumni, (I graduated in 1989),  Its fun when the school does well and gets some national attention related to its sports teams.   Was really looking forward to seeing them announced during the selection show on Sunday.  Sadly, will need to wait another year

Was wondering why I felt so bad about this loss (took me until the afternoon to be able to write this).   I would not consider myself an avid sports fan, but I am one of the most passionate fans of the teams I like.   I don’t like fans who only follow whatever team is doing well, or say they are a fan, but cant name a player on the team.   I have been a NY Mets and NY Giants fan all my life (through the good and the bad) and will continue to root for them win or loose.   As for Lehigh,  as I mentioned before, as a Alumni, I have the same passionate feeling about their sports teams, as for the Professional Teams, and feel the same sadness when they lose.  I also think basketball is a bit different than other sports, in that its more a random.   You can run the perfect play, and have the perfect shot, but still miss.  Basketball is unlike other sports, where if you execute correctly, you usually win.

This loss had the feeling  of a Football Team losing a Play-Off game on Hail Mary pass after a bad call that should have ended the game, or having a pinch hitting bench player hitting a home run against an ace reliever after an error, or after he walked the previews batter on perfect strike 3 that was called ball 4.

Add to that that I got to the point where I expected them to win (and imagined winning, and celebrating) that when they actually lost is didn’t seem real.  It was a huge letdown.

I will get over it, but this will sting for a while

Last nights Survivor was crazy and will be back tomorrow with my thoughts