Yesterday's basketball game was rough. It was like a relic from the past, as this team lost by doing things they haven't done all year: turning the ball over on offense, and puttling out little effort on defense. Further, it was a crippling blow to our NIT chances (making Stanford an absolute must win, both to have any hope at an NIT berth, and to avoid having to play in the first day of the Pac-10 Tournament). On the flip side, there is something refreshing about the fact that it hurts to lose a basketball game again. I had become so used to a bad product that losing any individual game had ceased to trigger much of an emotional response in me. It had become the expected outcome. So its nice to be able to expect good things again.
However, we now turn our attention to Stanford, in a game that becomes a must win.
It is also senior night, and we honor two guys who have been the leaders of this team. Joevan Catron, a guy that many followers of this blog were hoping didn't win his medical redshirt, having spent most of his first three years at Oregon as a walking travelling violation. However, under Coach Altman, he has become an all-conference caliber player, becoming the biggest post threat this team has seen in years. The other is Jay-R Strowbridge, who we're barely starting to know, but is about to leave us already. Most people thought he would just be bench fodder, but he has developed into one of Oregon's most lethal long-distance shooters as well as serving as rodent control with two huge performances against the Beavers.
I'm usually not one to support movements to wear one color to the game. There is gear in green, yellow, black, white, and gray, and having some in every color is expensive. This is especially true for games at Autzen, where more expensive outerwear must be worn to many games. But Joevan Catron asks all fans to wear white on senior night, and we should absolutely do it. For two reasons: 1. this is coming organically as a request from a player, not something being pushed on us by the athletic department to look a certain way on TV and 2. indoor buildings are obviously climate controlled, and everybody has a white T-shirt of some sort that they can wear. These guys have given us a fun ride this season, its literally the least we can do. They've earned that much.
Its senior night and a must win.
BE THERE.
BE LOUD.
WEAR WHITE.