Orange Power

With the exception of Yankee fans, UCONN fans, or UCLA fans, most true sports fanatics have learned to live in the moment of sports. Most of us don't have the opportunity to invest so much time and passion into a team to be rewarded with a championship at the end. I've lived for 20 years and besides the Dallas Cowboys championship run when I was much younger, I've never rooted for a national champion. Therefore, I must grasp and hold on to those 'special' moments in my fantasy sports universe. These 'special' memories, along with the emotional side stories that accompany sports are the reasons people like me watch sports. I mean seriously, how can you look at this photo and not appreciate what athletics bring to the table.

I have many of these special memories that I can reach back and remember: Seeing Emmitt Smith break the all time rushing record in person, going to my first OSU basketball game with my brother, seeing A-Rod hit a walk-off grand slam against the Red Sox in the bottom of the 12th inning, watching the Yankees play ball, watching Michael Jordan cross over and drain the game winning shot against the Jazz while running fever, seeing John Lucas hit the game winning shot over St Joe’s to send the Pokes to the Final Four, or my own personal experience of playing 10 minutes of a basketball game with a broken nose. Of course, I can't leave out seeing your dad get kicked out of a state tournament for yelling at the officials in defense of his son. Ask any human why he or she watches sports and I guarantee everyone will have their own set of 'special' stories to tell. These stories are the reason we faithfully keep watching our teams play even when they are losing.

This past weekend I have another story to add to my collection. My OSU Cowboys basketball team upsetting the number one ranked team in the country! I have to admit that over the years I've learned, when it comes to sports, to expect the worse, therefore I'm never disappointed. My mindset walking into the game was that I was blessed to get to see at least five future NBA players play a game on the same court. I never would have expected we would do the impossible: win. Immediately, this memory has become branded as an all time favorite. The popular Al Michael's quote, "Do you believe in miracles?" kept pounding in the back of my mind as the seconds wound down to one of the largest victories in our school's history. I will never forget how loud the stadium rocked in the final minutes of the game when James Anderson threw down the game clinching break away dunk. The surreal converged with reality when I peaked over my shoulder to see the thousands of students inching closer and closer to the front row in anticipation of rushing the floor. The skinny police officers were not going to keep the deeply torchered Cowboy fans from ravishing our once in a lifetime victory celebration on Eddie Sutton court. Travis Ford's ear to ear grin said it all as he invited the students to rush the floor with 5 seconds remaining.





I'll never forget the rush, but I'll also never forget our tradition of holding the fan next to you and singing the Alma Mater after our victory. But this time is was done at mid court and under the arms of our fellow students, friends, and basketball team. I will simply never forget.




We're going dancing! Go Pokes!