In the big picture . . . Zags are a class act.

I've been thinking about Gonzaga's embarrassing loss to the St. Mary's Gaels last night during the final game of the West Coast Tournament. It was evident about five minutes from the game's end that the Zags would lose this one---big time.

This morning the papers have chronicled the reasons and the residue of defeat as of our beloved team collapsed to a hungrier, more physical, more fortunate team led by a big guy who wanted to prove something.

Omar Samhan, dubbed in this morning's paper as the tournament's "'Most Valuable Jackass' hands down," provided a lot of proof for who he really is as a basketball player and as a human being.

He did well last night, blocking lots of Zag shots with Herculean force.

He won WCC Defensive Player of the Year. He deserved the title.

He did not win WCC player of the year. Gonzaga's Matt Bouldin did, and Matt deserved the title.

So, last night provided the stage for Sanham to win redemption for losing out against Matt Bouldin.

The paper reported that Omar did not shake the hand of Demetri Goodson during the game introductions. I saw, and the paper reported, the technical foul assessed on him when he shoved Robert Sacre while walking past the Zag's 7-footer. Naturally, Sacre turned around and gave him a piece of his mind.

I also saw him race down the court like a gloating, guilty ghoul who just got away with something really bad. The commentators said he did get away without being assessed a foul at the Gonzaga end of the court.

During the game, the commentators talked about how he is the Most Hated Man in Spokane. I had never seen why, but last night's game provided some tangible reasons he may have earned the title---both as a good athlete and as a jerk.

Okay, got that off my chest. I'm admittedly a Gonzaga fan who felt a little sick at the end of that game. I'm sure that I'm not alone.

Congratulations to the Gaels on winning a hard-fought game, and, as Bill says, it's hard to beat a good team twice, let alone a third time. That seemed to be the story for the Zags last night.

I wanted to talk today, however, about the picture posted at the top of the page. Normally, I wouldn't post such a picture, but it fits for today.

We, who love photography, have the luxury of throwing away our bad clicks. Seldom does anyone ever see those shots where the telephone pole is rising right out of little Johnny's cowlick or the blurry dog is running out of the picture trying to get away from that crazy lady who keeps shooting hundreds of pictures while we doggies chase our Folgers coffee cans.

Nope, the audience seldom gets to see our photographic glitches. These days they can be immediately deleted from the camera or removed later. In the old days they were thrown in the waste basket. After all, we want to present ourselves as gifted shutterbugs who never falter.

We have that luxury, but our live performers do not. We see them in their triumphs, and we see them in their humbling defeats. We saw Gonzaga look bad last night for the sixth time this year out of 32 games.

I'd wager to say that photographers may have a larger percentage of bad shots each time they go out to shoot pictures.

Twenty-six times this season we've witnessed the young Zags' finesse, their talent, their teamwork. We've loved the fact that each game a different star took the spotlight and shined. That says a lot about a team and its depth of talent.

Last night, they weren't shining as we've been accustomed to watching---as basketball players, that is. As human beings, I think they maintained the same class we've seen in 32 games, win or lose.

This year when it comes to Gonzaga, we may have wanted to block out a few games from our memories, just like we do with photos.

But in the big picture of life and basketball, tried and true Gonzaga fans remain steadfast. We know they will conduct themselves with class, regardless of the frustrations.

We know they'll help us---from the little ol' housebound ladies to the hero-worshipping young kids throughout the Inland Northwest---make it through another winter by providing us entertainment and thrills with their talent and exciting style of basketball.

They'll have games like last night's, which we'd like to delete, but not often. It's a sad morning today after the hard-fought tournament game, but there's March Madness yet to come.

And, when it comes to the Big Dance and the Big Picture, I would not count the Zags out.

When it comes to a class act, we Zag fans know we're following an all-around winner, and we'll continue to do so for a long, long time.