Through the Curtain

October 25, 2021 – Smithfield, Rhode Island
Bryant University v Nichols College
Men’s Basketball

Why am I doing this? Why am I firing up the car and making towns for the blog for a third year?

Responsibility.

Sure, this is a personal creative project, but beyond that it’s far more important to me. It is the responsibility of taking something to the finish line. I’ve started so many projects in my life and seen them fizzle to dust.

I have 15,000 words of a book buried in an old computer. I’ve stopped and started writing my novel three times. I have a 72-minute feature documentary that sits on a friend’s hard drive on Long Island because we couldn’t get the financing to finish it.

And that was all true back in 2019 when I conceived of this project. I just wanted to do something wholly my own that I could look back on and say “Shit, I did that.”

And in the intervening years, especially now, this project, like college basketball overall, has been a major anchoring point in my life as I’ve seen my mental health spiral, rebound, and bounce around all over the place.

I’m trawling the websites of every college in New England as early as August looking for any scheduling nuggets. Sometimes colleges post unfinished schedules and I even pull those up too. Anything to find my anchor and right my ship. Something to keep me upright and on course for port.

Keeping the ship upright is one of the major reasons why I keep pushing myself forward with this. Knowing my anchor is there, keeping me grounded, is everything.

And I really, really like the gyms and the vibes and the food and the people I meet along the way. I just want to better enjoy the company of myself. The miles are very real and the majority of these games I’m by myself with myself.

I don’t know what to do to better enjoy the company I have on the ride out to wherever I’m going. I can run from it with music and podcasts and YouTube videos but every runner always needs a drink.

I’m thirsty.

The Good Eats

Being back in Rhode Island brings with it a whole bunch of memories. I went to the University of Rhode Island, and eternally have a soft spot for the smallest state in the Union.

And one of my favorite things is how fucking weird this place is. Being so small, Rhode Island depserately clings onto anything homegrown and pumps it every chance it gets.

“I just finished my hot weiner as I drove by the Big Blue Bug and am going to get a coffee milk cabinet before I get home.”

That’s a real sentence that would perfectly make sense to any Rhode Islander. In any other state it reads as well as Kanji or Cyrilic. The translation is below.

“I just finished my hot dog as I drove past the extermination company’s mascot and am going to get a coffee-flavored milkshake before I get home.”

Which brings us to Newport Creamery.

A small chain with a dozen locations all in either Rhode Island or in Massachusetts towns bordering Rhode Island, the Creamery is an Ocean State institution.

I can’t walk into one and not feel warm and familiar even though I never went to one growing up. There are small chains like this throughout the country. Every one has familiar food, familiar feelings, and good prices.

I kept it simple on what was a cold, gloomy Monday night. Cheeseburger club with fries.

It was damn good. It was homey. It was something I needed on the day.

But at the Newport Creamery you can’t leave without getting an Awful Awful. Made with different flavors of syrup and a proprietary ice milk, the Awful Awful is the star of the show. As it says on the cup, awful big awful good.

I went junior because I just turned 30 and suddenly I don’t vibe as well with dairy as I used to. Still wasn’t going to say no. My flavor was chocolate. Next time I’ll get the chocolate mint.

The Game

Bryant University is the enigma of Rhode Island college basketball. Every other college in the state is either in Providence or in some way connected to the waterfront and beach culture of the Atlantic.

Bryant is in Smithfield, a small town in north-central Rhode Island a good 30-45 minutes from the oceanside. A private university founded in 1863, the current campus is on land that was donated by alum Earl Tupper in 1971.

You might be familiar with his most famous invention: Tupperware.

The Chace Athletic Center is the beating heart of Bryant sports. Home of the gymnasium, the swimming pool, team offices, the works, places like the Chace are common among low-major schools. And it’s a lovely building. Bright, full of energy, plenty of schools would love to have a building like it.

The gym is a cozy 2,670, and would be electric when it’s filled.

Despite being an exhibition game there was still plenty of juice in the room because Nichols showed out. With a strong recent history of success at the Division III level, it was the Nichols student section and cheerleaders that brought the energy early.

The schools being separated by only 26 miles certainly didn’t hurt either.

I will eternally have a soft spot for Nichols. They were the main protagonists in the best college basketball experience of my life, and for that I will always have a place in my heart for the Bison.

And early on, they controlled the game. A few pieces from the Elite Eight team in 2019 still remained, and the uptempo energy punched Bryant in the face early.

It was even throughout the opening segments of the first half. Bryant had the bigger size but the Bison were wily and kept the Bulldogs in check.

Halfway through the first half it was only 20-16 Bryant and the place was buzzing. Eventually Bryant shook free a bit but the lead hung at a dozen late in the half, and the large Nichols contingent was feeling like an improbable comeback was possible.

Now, allow me to introduce you to Charles Pride.

Those ended a run of four straight threes by Pride to cap a 24-point first half. The last one made it 53-31 and the Bulldogs rolled from there. Pride finished 29 points an 11 rebounds. Erickson Bans had 19 points, five boards, and five assists.

Jason O’Regan finished with 18 points and eight rebounds to lead Nichols.

Bryant 107, Nichols 71. Final
Time of game – 2:06:34

Yeah, I knew this would probably be an unbalanced game, but I wasn’t going to say no to basketball so early in the season. And Bryant is looking to be one of the better mid-majors in New England this year so keep an eye on them. Plenty more to come this season. Thank you for reading.

And now, here’s one for the road.

March 5, 2021 – Springfield, Massachusetts
American International College v Franklin Pierce
Men’s Basketball

There are more than 110 stops on The Hoops Project. Only 11 are in Division II.

Division II basketball is the four-leaf clover of basketball in New England, and the lone league in town is the Northeast-10.

I’ve been around the league as a fan and a reporter for 15 years. I got to follow Bentley’s run at the top of the division many years ago, and I got to cover some of Saint Anselm’s run to the final four in 2019.

The basketball is good, and the league is always top-shelf.

D2 is strange in how it structures its season. The NCAA tournament is built out of eight regional brackets and winning games in region is key. This leads to a final Elite Eight rather than a Final Four like in the other two divisions.

The schools are also a bit of a curiosity in their own right. While Division I is full of flagship state schools and universities with 30,000+ students, and Division III is composed of numerous small state schools and top academic institutions, D2 sits in the middle.

In New England, 10 of the 11 D2 schools are small, private schools. More than half are Catholic institutions.

In my time as a fan I’ve seen UMass-Lowell, Bryant, and Merrimack move from the NE10 up to Division I. It’s a great league, and I’m happy to finally have it as part of The Hoops Project.

Now let me tell you about the dinosaurs.

The City

Springfield is the third largest city in Massachusetts with a population of 153,000 and is about 90 minutes west of Boston.

It’s a city with a rich history and is the hub of culture and commerce in Western Massachusetts.

The Springfield Museums consortium is wonderful. A five-museum campus with two art museums, the Dr. Seuss museum, a science museum, and a museum of Springfield history, it really is a cut above.

Now, this is a basketball blog so what about the Basketball Hall of Fame? There were only certain time blocks I could buy tickets for and I wasn’t able to match that up. The Hall will be visited in a future trip to Hoop City.

But today I found time for the Springfield Science Museum, and it was a delight.

It was a perfect museum. Sure, it didn’t have the scale and gravitas of something like the Chicago Field Museum, but it was an excellent education tool and was a totally fun way to spend an afternoon.

And there was a dinosaur room. Nothing can prepare you for turning through a normal hallway door and coming face-to-face with a T-Rex.

I audibly gasped when I saw it. In my head of course I know a T-Rex is a big, but to see a full-sized replica from ground level was awe-inspiring. The picture does not do justice to its full size.

And right across from it was a replica stegosaurus skeleton. We still don’t know what the plates on its back were designed for.

There was also an exhibit with live reptiles and sea life, both local and exotic. This is what I love about local museums. You can see the work that went into maximizing resources to deliver a memorable experience for everyone who comes through the door.

Like, look at this obsidian. I love rocks like these. They may as well be alien considering how precise the conditions are to foster their creation, and yet I was able to press my forehead against the glass and see it for myself.

This is why I love stopping into small museums. There’s always something magical hiding in plain sight.

The Good Eats

I’m not going to tell you that The Student Prince is a must-try restaurant but I’m not going to give you a recommendation anywhere else in town.

The German eatery at the corner of Fort and Main Streets has been a Springfield institution since 1935.

Visually, the restaurant is striking for its endless drinking ephemera. Hundreds of beer steins sit above the bar and the tables, and a huge collection of bottle openers are displayed along the walls of the restaurant.

It’s homey without being a cliche.

But every bit of ambience will fall flat if the food sucks, and the food is worth the trip.

For an appetizer I went with the adorable Hurley burgers. Small, bite-sized burgers topped with cheese and atop a ketchup slathered piece of toast.

They were juicy in a way that only fresh-ground beef can be. For $2 a burger it was a perfect little starter.

But this was a German restaurant. That meant only one thing was on the menu for me: wienerschnitzel.

Now that was a meal. I went with the veal and it was perfectly breaded and fried. You can see the anchovy & lemon garnish that paired beautifully with it. The fries were great too. Bad fries can ruin a meal, but good fries can elevate a dish and boy did these fries pass with flying colors.

And then there was the sleeper hit, the fresh cucumber salad. It’s not like you can get that at most places so I had to try it, and it was great. It balanced that perfect sweet & sour balance while keeping the cucumbers crisp. The parsley garnish added a fresh dynamic to round it out.

If you told me I could go to one of America’s best restaurants and have two courses for less than $35 I’d have laughed at you, but that’s how it goes at The Student Prince. If you’re ever in town, or just passing through, pull off and grab a bite here. It’ll be worth your time and your money.

The Campus

American International College was founded in 1885 as a French Protestant college to serve the city’s diaspora population. Seven years later, in 1892, it became the first college in New England to admit women.

Today, it is a small liberal arts college of 1700 students. The campus itself is quite nice, but the location is strange.

It is wedged between State Street and Wilbraham road, which are both major, multi-lane thoroughfares through Springfield although the athletics facilities are about a mile drive from the main campus.

Despite the odd location, the quadrangle is still quite nice.

The Game

Henry Butova Gymnasium is named for the first coach in program history. Butova only coached the inaugural 1948-49 season and also coached baseball and football for the college.

The most famous coach to stroll the sidelines was Jim Larranaga, who coached the Yellow Jackets from 1977-1979, and a decade prior, Jim Calhoun captained AIC and led them to the Elite Eight.

Tonight though it was AIC taking on conference rival Franklin Pierce.

The one constant this season has been the pregame. The mood’s felt like any other game minus the lack of crowd noise. It’s relaxing.

Despite this being their first, and only official, game of the season due to Covid protocols, Franklin Pierce looked good out the gate, and the game was even early. The Ravens led by a point 13 minutes into the game, and neither could break away.

It had the mesmerizing flow that only the lower divisions can provide. With no media breaks to artificially break up the game, it moves more artistically. The rhythm feels more like an album and less like a series of singles.

It is immensely calming to be around.

The half ended as it started, razor-thin and with a flourish. Xion Golding had the honor of sending the Yellow Jackets into halftime up a point.

After the break, AIC took the game over. The Yellow Jackets started the half on a 17-6 run to open an 11-point lead seven minutes in.

AIC kept pushing and got the lead to 15 points. Sheyheim Hicks finished with 17 points while Golding had 14 and Franklyn Batista had 12.

Walter Covington came off the bench to score 19 points in 18 minutes on 10 shots.

And even with those scorers, the Ravens kept tapping on the chamber door and would not go quietly into the Springfield night. Franklin Pierce kept chipping away at the lead, and this three by Max Zegarowski with just over three minutes left cut the gap to five.

Zegarowski led the Ravens with 19 points and nine rebounds.

However, this was Xion Golding’s night. He had the dunk to close the first half, and it was this bucket with under a minute to go that sealed up the game.

American International 88, Franklin Pierce 78.
Time of game: 1:29:12.

. . .

What a fun Friday this was. A sub-90 minute game is always a treat because it means there was a flow. One day I will find my Atlantis: the sub-80 minute game. Tonight was not that but still quite fun.

And Springfield is great. It gets forgotten amid the New England cities because its so far west of Boston, but it’s only a 90-minute drive on the Mass Turnpike.

Definitely come here if you can. A tight, little gym in a great city with a lot going on. And it’s my dad’s alma mater, so that has to count for something, right?

January 16, 2021 – Lowell, Massachusetts
UMass Lowell vs Binghamton
Women’s Basketball

It’s cold and wet and Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac, better known as Jack, rests below my feet in the Edson Cemetery at the corner of Lincoln and Seventh.

All the walking paths here have road names. It’s easier to parse through the acres of graves that way.

I’ve never read Kerouac’s work but I know that his influence has touched writing far and wide and it’s doubtful that I haven’t read and enjoyed something that was shaped, in some way by his writing.

The small flat stone sits a few yards in front of a more robust stone with the simple inscription “The Road is Life.” A small Fleurdelisé adorns his grave in honor of his Quebecois heritage.

As a writer myself it only felt right to pay my respects.

I find a sense of peace and calm in cemeteries. They are always quiet. Good thinking places. And I’m always taken by the names. There are millions of names on millions of gravestones around the country. Every one of those names is a story, a life lived.

There was Eugene Haines. He passed in 1881 at the age of 28, a year younger than myself. Who was he? What did he do? When did someone last say his name or think about him?

Just a short walk from Eugene was the Proctor family plot. A family of four was buried there. The last person died in 1925. Gone for nearly a century and the stone that marked their final resting place still looked immaculate.

Nathaniel and Zilpah Matthews lived beautifully long, symmetrical lives. He was born a year before her. She passed a year before him. Both lived into their 80s.

As I walked I thought of  a song lyric from Ron Gallo’s All The Punks Are Domesticated — “I will be forgotten in two generations/What will have been my big mark?”

All of these people lived a life as best they could and now they’re here. What was their big mark? I’ll never know. In a tangible sense they are just names etched in stone. In my mind they are whoever I want them to be.

That’s why I like cemeteries: even in death, they are still places to dream.

The University

UMass Lowell is one of the youngest Division I programs, having elevated from Division II before the 2013-2014 school year. The Riverhawks hockey team was the school’s lone Division I program before the department-wide elevation.

Lowell holds a unique distinction as being one of only four programs in New England to have two campus venues for basketball with Northeastern, Providence, and Fairfield being the other three.

The program’s rise to Division I mirrored the university’s rise in overall prestige during the same time. When I went to my first UMass Lowell hockey game back in 1999 the university was a small regional school, and now the total number of students is quickly moving toward 20,000.

Academically, the school has hung its hat on its unique plastics engineering major. One of just seven four-year school’s in the country to offer the major, Lowell is the lone school to offer Master’s and Doctorate programs in the field.

The Good Eats

Suppa’s is a Lowell institution. It’s a greasy dive. It’s a pizza place. It’s a perfect campus spot for a quick bite.

I hadn’t eaten anything and was ravenous. The menu is a calvalcade of greasy goodness. This is not a health food spot. It never will be a health food spot. It’s an indulgence and a damn good one.

I went with the steak stick. This is how it is described on the menu: Fresh shaved steak and mozzarella cheese wrapped in homemade pizza dough, deep fried to perfection.

Served with a side of blue cheese, I added a bag of honey mustard chips and a water to wash it down. It was great. It was the type of food that you love eating and know full well you’ll never eat it again.

Worth it.

The Gym

The Costello Athletic Center is the beating heart of UMass Lowell sports. The soccer/lacrosse field and the field hockey field sit across the parking lot from the building. Opened in 1964, it’s the home of the Riverhawks both literally and spiritually.

Recent investment has built out the facilities in the building for its tenants, the basketball teams and women’s volleyball. While it looks very 60s brutalist on the outside, the renovations (where you can still smell the wood lacquer) are modern and sleek.

The actual playing arena is a step back in time. A small, cramped room that is a perfect place to spend an afternoon watching hoops. This season both teams are playing all home games in Costello. In a normal year both would split time between here and the much newer, and larger, Tsongas Center.

The Game

Today was the first of a weekend doubleheader between the Riverhawks and Binghamton. Lowell came into the game 6-2 in the league and contending for first-ever America East title while the Bearcats came in 3-5 in conference play.

In the first half, things went back and forth as neither team could fully defend the other.

However, UMass Lowell, led by a great group of sophomores, put the pedal down in the third quarter. The Riverhawks had slowly built a lead throughout but opened up a 10-point gap after three quarters.

The Riverhawks would hold on with ease thanks to six players scoring at least six points led by sophomore Denise Solis scoring 16 in just 22 minutes of play as she was hampered by fouls and eventually fouled out. Tianha Sears had 10 for the Riverhawks.

UMass Lowell only shot 38 percent from the field but it was enough as Binghamton shot 32 percent.

UMass Lowell 59, Binghamton 49. Final.
Player of the game: Jailena Sanchez (UML) – 9 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals.

This piece was written months after attending the game. The blog got lost in the fray of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is written of its time.

February 21, 2020 – Waltham, Massachusetts
Brandeis vs Washington University (St. Louis)
Men’s Basketball

It’s fucking cold. It’s so cold walking around Waltham on this day, but it is a beautiful day for basketball.

Waltham is a sneaky little city. With a population of 60,000 people, and located 11 miles west of Boston, Waltham is a place with things going on. Today I am at Brandeis University, and a few miles away sits the city’s second college, Bentley University.

With a consistently in flux population of young people, and good restaurants and quality of living, Waltham hides in plain site as one of the Commonwealth’s great cities.

But it’s still so fucking cold.

The Good Eats

Moody Street is the cultural beating heart of Waltham. Full of restaurants and shops of all flavors, Moody Street is as good a high street as there is in Eastern Mass.

And boy did I get a great meal on the corner at Balani. I even needed a reservation. The place even had a 4.9 rating on Google with more than 50 reviews, that type of unanimity is unheard of online.

Walking in I knew I was in for quality all around. The ambience of the restaurant struck the perfect chord between relaxed and upscale. An Asian fusion restaurant, I found myself seated at a table under a cherry blossom tree.

If only for a minute, it made me forget how blisteringly cold it was outside.

Fried chicken over pineapple fried rice? I had no idea how much I needed that in my life but I need it every day.

Instead of chips or popcorn, Balani offered a basket of puffed, fried shrimp chips. I don’t know how to describe this other than the texture of a baked lay with the flavor or perfectly cooked shrimp that melted on my tongue like a thin sliver of chocolate.

It was both airy and decadent.

The Campus

Brandeis is located about 20 minutes away from Boston in Waltham. A sizable suburb, Waltham is known as The Watch City due to the Waltham Watch Company, the first manufacturer to make watches on an assembly line.

The university itself is named after Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice, and it was founded in 1948. Originally, the board of trustees wanted to name the university after Albert Einstein, but he turned down the accolade. Although, his connection to the university in its fledgling days did help raise its profile.

The photo atop this piece is of the Brandeis statue that sits in the middle of campus.

A mix of mid-century architecture with newer, shinier buildings sprinkled in, Brandeis has carved out a place for itself as one of the top universities in the Boston area.

The Game

Brandeis is a member of the United Athletic Association, and that conference needs a deep dive in its own right.

The league has a larger geographic footprint that most high-profile Division 1 conferences. It’s eight members are all ranked in the top-40 research universities in the country. While athletics play second fiddle to academics in the league,  basketball has seen its share of success across the conference.

Brandeis was a national power early this century, and Wash U won a men’s national title in 2008. And that’s small fry compared to the Bears’ women’s program which won the 2010 championship and four-peated from 1998-2001.

The other schools in the league are:

New York University
University of Rochester
Emory University
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve
University of Chicago

In fact, the largest distance between schools in the Big 10 (Nebraska & Rutgers) is just 115 miles further apart than Brandeis is from Wash U. It’s a D3 league with a D1 travel budget.

On this night, the Judges needed to find a way to get past the Bears if they were to stay in league title contention. The UAA still crowns its champion after a double round-robin regular season schedule with no tournament.

Brandeis plays its basketball on Red Auerbach court, which is located just inside the running lines of the indoor track. The most analogous D1 facility I can think of is Jadwin Gym at Princeton.

The game was back and forth early as both sides were able to hit shots. Brandeis closed the half on a 10-4 run to go into the break up 38-34.

The second half was a game of Brandeis trying to get breathing room, and Wash U closing them down like quicksand.

The first 10 minutes of the second half was exciting basketball, and Wash U slowly started to open up a lead as the clock began to wind down. Then it was Jack Nolan who made it his job to stick the knife and twist. A pair of threes on consecutive possessions cemented a 12-point lead with 3:45 to play.

Nolan had 15 in the second half. He finished with 24.

Washington University 77, Brandeis 70. Final

Top Performer
DeVaughn Rucker (WashU): 25 points, seven rebounds

February 7, 2020 – New Haven, Connecticut
Yale v Harvard
Men’s Basketball

There aren’t many rivalries that quite match Harvard-Yale. The schools have been playing football annually since 1875, and the annual rowing regatta has been held each year between the schools, except for war time, since 1859.

Harvard has six fight songs that mention Yale. Yale has five fight songs that mention Harvard.

It’s a rivalry intertwined with American culture both in sports and, considering the long list of global alumni, the world at-large.

On this night it was another basketball chapter that was written. A strange 5 p.m. start on a regular-season Friday, a packed house, a 40-minute banger. It was something else.

But first there was the second-largest city in the state to explore.

The Campus

Yale is the first of my four Ivy League stops and it oozes with what people think an Ivy League campus looks and feel like. Large, castle-like buildings dot the campus with walls that could regale you for hours if they could talk.

There are many new, sleek buildings of glass and steel but nothing compares to the centuries-old buildings that rise above The Elm City.

Located on the old campus is the statue of Theodore Woolsey. The tenth president in school history (1846-1871), Woolsey grew Yale’s influence and helped build the reputation that the school is known for around the world today.

The statue sits in the quad in the middle of Old Campus, which is now mainly freshman housing. The statue is considered as talisman as rubbing Woolsey’s toe is meant to bring good luck.

The Good Eats

So before I can get to a one-of-a-kind spot in New Haven, I must take you 50 miles back up the road to Vernon, CT.

Take a right off exit 65 on Route 84 and you’ll find the Vernon Diner. This is a necessary detour as this is my single favorite restaurant in the country. A perfect diner that never closes and always satisfies.

It’s a place I stop at nearly every time I ride through Connecticut and I wanted to share it so more people go there in the hope that it stays open now and forever.

With almost 300 seats, it’s much larger than what you would think a diner would be but there are regularly long waits on peak hours, and it’s always worth it.

As you do I was having breakfast at 1:30 in the afternoon and started off Shabbat with a warm bowl of matzo ball soup on a bitterly cold day.

And I finished it off with pancakes and eggs. I love the old standbys because unless the chef is completely inept, they will always satisfy. And the breakfast in Vernon sticks the landing every time.

So after that delicious meal I found myself several hours later at Louis Lunch in the heart of New Haven.

This place is tiny. Smaller than my apartment by a large margin, Louis Lunch has been in business since 1895 and is one of the most important restaurants in America’s food history.

Louis Lunch is the birthplace of the hamburger sandwich and that is still the only freshly-cooked food product that they sell.

Want ketchup? Not happening. Want fries? Move on. For toppings you choose from cheese, onions grilled into the patty, and fresh tomato slices. That’s it.

The bread is toasted on a rotating toaster that dates back to the 1920s and the burgers are cooked vertically in the original vertical broilers.

The burgers are beautiful in their simplicity. Just a burger on a paper plate.

Delicious.

The Game

Before you see a Yale basketball game you must first admire the beauty that is Payne Whitney Gymnasium. The Cathedral of Sweat.

The building is the second-largest gym in the world by indoor space (12 interior acres) and houses Yale’s pool and numerous indoor training facilities as well as the home for basketball, the John J. Lee Amphitheater.

Lee is a regal dungeon. The amenities are non-existent. There are seats with obstructed views. The media area is just a small section of the wooden bleachers with tabletops.

The concourse looks like it could be used as a castle hallway for a period piece if you took the lights down. It’s the only place I’ve ever been where I can admire stained glass during a TV timeout.

The Game

Over the last 15 years the Ivy League has become one of the most comeptitive mid-major leagues in the country.  Between 1989-2006 Penn or Princeton won at least a share of every championship.

Since then five different schools have won at least a share of the league crown and four have won it outright.

Tonight, the skill was fully on display between two of the top squads in the conference.

That’s Yale junior Paul Atkinson, an excellent inside player. Did you like that dunk? Here’s some more of him and a sweet dime.

Atkinson was the lynchpin for Yale on this night but the Bulldogs played from behind for most of the game thanks to timely shooting from Harvard’s Christian Juzang and Noah Kirkwood.

The Crimson eventually took a 13-point lead into intermission.

But then Azar Swain happened. The junior from Brockton took the game over, mortgage and all.

He had 27 points in the second half on 8-11 shooting. And with Swain the gap fell and fell some more. The Bulldogs continued to grow larger in Harvard’s mirror and Swain was the gas pedal punched through the floor.

Swain and the Bulldogs clawed back from the edge but found themselves down four points with five seconds left.

Yale got the ball to Azar. He made magic.

I don’t follow sports much anymore for wins and losses. Yes, there are a few teams I support, and I want them to do well. But the morning after a game I wash the result away. I’m in good health. That’s all I need.

What I do follow sports for is that noise. That noise that rattles in your bones and echoes through your muscles. I want to be surrounded by the energy that only sporting passion exiting the human soul can produce. I chase moments like Azar Swain’s three.

The And-1 had to wait as the refs reviewed the time left on the clock. The review dragged on for almost three minutes before Swain stepped to the line.

Harvard 78, Yale 77. Final.
Time of game: 2:03
Top performer: Azar Swain. 33 points

At halftime I was able to gain an audience with Handsome Dan. Handsome Dan is known by everyone at Yale and is at almost every single Yale sporting event. He’s deeply loyal to the Elis and always enjoys meeting new fans.

He is THE Yale Bulldog in every way.

I just hope no one tells him I was in the Harvard Kids Club many moons ago. I wouldn’t want to impose on the relationship.