Friday, March 18, 2005

Savoring Victory and Enjoying Defeat

UAB played the spoiler again in the world of basketball by defeating LSU 82-68 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. I really enjoy college basketball this time of the year and I'm glad to see UAB doing well again. Success in one area of our university's life benefits us all.


I didn't see the game, I was on a plane to Orlando (where I sit now in 56 degree weather). I was impressed to see that "UAB's lead swelled in the second half to as many as 26." Pretty impressive to dominate the SEC West co-champion LSU with a performance like that!

What made it even better was to see the much-heralded UAT go down in flames to #12 seed Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Maybe I'm being petty.

Part of my possible pettiness comes from an accumulation of negative comments directed towards UAB from the Paul Finebaum Show, a sports program I listen to while driving home each day. I like listening to Paul, even though he isn't a UAB fan (or even much of a basketball fan for that matter).

You (I) get tired of listening to all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding UAT and wonder when the former glories of the past will finally turn into muted acceptance of the continual frustration of the present.

OK, enough pettiness.

More choir talk later. This adventure into college sports is now over.

Well, almost over: I'm pulling for all the underdogs at the NCAA tournament.

As of this writing, Louisiana-Lafayett is behind Rick Pitinio's Louisville team 55-56 with 3 minutes left. And #13 seed Vermont just took #4 Syracuse into overtime.

UDATE UPSET: Vermont defeats Syracuse, 60-57. Awesome.

2 comments:

Jessie said...

Dr. Copeland,
You're not the only one that gets tired of hearing about UAT. As part of the UAB Sports Marketing staff, I am exposed to this topic everyday. My boss gets mad when people wear UAT attire to our games. It's a very big issue if someone in the media compares UAT and UAB, and UAB is put down. Those are the days you don't want to be at work because a lot of people will be in a bad mood in my department.

Choral Advocate said...

GO BLAZERS...texas tech is about to win and I am gonna pull for UAB against the evil Arizona...hope the choirs have gotten better...I am sure you have heard some interesting things...peace out