Sunday, January 11, 2015

Sweetest of Victories


I don't know how many teams won a game or match yesterday in the big wide world. Surely, it was in the thousands when considering men's and women's teams of varying disciplines among professionals, amateurs in college ranks, high schools, community leagues, etc. 

We watched a few victories yesterday.  The Kentucky-Texas A and M men's basketball game was pretty exciting.  

Hate to admit it, but I was kinda hoping for an upset.  As a loyal follower of the nation's No. 6 ranked NCAA team, I thought it would be nice if our ZAGS could move up another notch in the rankings.

Well, No. 1 Kentucky pulled it off, and that was okay. The ZAGS time in the spotlight will come when and if it's meant to come. 

Later, I saw in the streaming banner that runs across the TV screen that North Carolina had defeated Louisville by one point.  For one brief, shining moment I thought "No. 5 for Gonzaga" this upcoming week cuz Louisville held that spot this past week. 

Then, I read from another source that Louisville had actually won the game by one point. Oh well.

That all changed this morning, though, when I read that North Carolina did win by one point.  So, I checked some other sources online, and, sure enough, the No. 5 team went down in defeat yesterday. 

Maybe the ZAGS will move up, since they've handily won both of their games this week.

Another big victory that we especially enjoyed came in Seattle as the Seahawks pulled out an action-packed, exciting win over Carolina to move on in the play-offs and one step closer to another Super Bowl.  

We had to play with the TV remote a lot last night since the Gonzaga game started 15 minutes before the Seahawks game.  And, for a while, the situation was even more complicated than that.  

Let me tell the story leading up to our coming home to my sisters sitting in our living room very upset.  Instead of the ZAGS game at 5 p.m. on KHQ's Channel 6, NBC chose to run what seemed like a never-ending post-game report of another NFL play-off.  Get that "post-game."  

The actual game had ended, and we all understand the "Heidi Rule" that says nothing will interfere with the full TV programming of an NFL game.  

I'm told that the rule evolved decades ago because of an NFL game where "Heidi" suddenly came on the network before the end of a game where the outcome changed while viewers had to watch "Heidi." 

We all fully understand that policy BUT who needs to watch a half hour of "post-game" reruns of key plays from a game of relative insignificance in ZAGS-Seahawks lovers' minds. 

Anyway, Barbara was trying to find the ZAGS game on her laptop while Laurie kept changing channels, hoping that the ZAGS would suddenly appear somewhere, anywhere. 

The reason we walked in on our sisters in our living room was that we had just attended a game that I will confidently deem the sweetest victory in the whole wide world, a victory achieved in overtime, making us late for the ZAGS game that was not showing when we got home late anyway. 

In mid-afternoon, I organized the basics for last night's ZAGS feast so I could just pop stuff in the oven when we arrived home from Swiss Miss aka Laura's JV-B team game against Lakeland. 

It was to begin at 3, so I figured we'd easily be out of the gym and on the road home in plenty of time for the lasagne and garlic bread to heat up in the oven before the ZAGS started playing. 

My plan did not turn out as expected.

Let me backtrack some more.  Laura's team has not won a game.  Normally, I would not announce that this team lost its first game 69-0.  The team scored one point, I believe, in its second game, a significant loss. 

When the season began, Laura's team had only one player who had ever had any basketball experience.  Four members of the team are foreign exchange students. 

A few games into the season, the girls were thrilled when they scored as many as 10 points in a game.  They've had a long lay-off from competition over the holiday break, but it's apparent they've been working hard. 

Yesterday we watched a transformed group of basketball players exhibit good defense, true grit and determination and some fairly accurate shooting.  Yesterday, we think, marked the first time the JV-B team had taken a lead.  They did that after the 6-6 tie, and then they took off, actually leading by 9 points at one time. 

Well, Lakeland came back, and at the end of regulation, the score was 24-24.  In a wild and determined overtime clash, Lakeland battled back and Sandpoint battled back and when the buzzer sounded ending the overtime, the JV B team had won 29-28.  

What a tribute to the players who started basically from scratch, who stuck with it game after game, never really appearing discouraged but always thrilled with each step forward in their progress.  

With the help of their coaching staff, they have learned so much about their new sport of basketball. They have shown spectators much more about perseverance, acquiring skills and knowledge and overcoming the odds.  

So, I call their win at Les Rogers Bulldog the sweetest victory in yesterday's world of sport, and I challenge anyone to come up with one better.  

Bill and I came home anxious to watch the ZAGS but thrilled with we both viewed as the best game of the day.  

Eventually, the NFL rehash program ended and KHQ came on with the ZAGS and we continued channel flipping between the Seahawks and the ZAGS.  

By day's end, we were pretty thrilled that all of our favorite teams won cuz, oh yeah, later the Bulldogs girls varsity took a big win over Lakeland. 

Congratulations to all of yesterday's successful teams but a huge shout-out to Swiss Miss and her teammates for a sweet victory that will always be beyond special for the players, coaches and spectators who saw it happen.  

Happy Sunday. 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

And did you see that Duke just lost? We should be headed up!
Janet

Anonymous said...

Now #4 Wisconsin has a loss. Wonder how far up we will move!
Now on to the BIG game tomorrow.
Janet

MLove said...

Wow! What a weekend! Good luck, Ducks, tonight!