QOTD: With football season being over (college with signing day ended this week and NFL) what sporting events are you looking forward to now? College and pro sports?
ATTQOTD:
@LSUlakes , you have hit a bit of a sore spot for me. Well, you asked so I guess you get to watch me cry in my coffee...
Normally for me, this is my favorite time of year. It is all about college basketball and in CT, it is all about UConn basketball. But not this year or the last few years, actually. In fact, it has been an interesting story for the entire athletic department rising from nothing to a national power only to have now skidded into some dark times. The rise: in the last 30 years, UConn hired 2 hall of fame basketball coaches and achieved 5 final fours and 4 national championships in men’s basketball and 11 national championships in women’s basketball; had a football team go from Division 1-AA (FCS) to a major Division 1-A (FBS) conference and making it to the Fiesta Bowl; a hockey team joining one of the top hockey conferences in the country (Hockey East) and coming close to landing a spot in the 16 team frozen four tournament; a baseball team being nationally ranked and producing the 2017 world series MVP (George Springer) which is unheard of for a team from the north especially since ¾ of the season needs to be played on the road in warmer weather.
Fast forward to 2019 where the wheels have completely come off the athletic department.
For basketball and football it started to go south during the Big East breakup and conference realignment where UConn was left out of a Power 5 conference and was exiled to the American Athletic Conference. Since winning the 2014 men’s basketball national championship, the hall fame coach’s hand pick successor drove the team into ground and into the first losing seasons in 30 years. UConn basketball is completely irrelevant now and this year has been more of the same even though there is hope the new coach will turn the team around. I wish I could say the same about football where there is little to no hope and which is literally on life support right now coming of the worst season IN THE HISTORY OF DIVISION 1 FOOTBALL. That is not a hyperbole, they were statistically the worst team ever in college football and is close to having the program shut down. Meanwhile the hockey team is now dead last in Hockey East and will not even make the conference tournament, women’s basketball is still in the top 10 but already has more regular season losses this year than any in the past decade and the hall of fame coach is hinting at retirement which will probably mean the end of UConn’s reign when the coach is gone (just ask Tennessee).
Meanwhile, baseball is starting the season nationally ranked anywhere from 25 to 40 in various polls. So there is a glimmer of hope there. The season starts next week but we won’t see a home game until April…
So, yeah…luckily, I have my running because I am not looking forward to much when it comes to sports in the near future…
I've also got a partial season plan with the Orioles (they cost way less than most teams, and I live <2 blocks from Camden Yards, so not too shabby)
I think the marathon is in my sooner rather than later future. I sure wished I could have been there to meet many of you!
