Four years ago yesterday, Creighton beat Florida in the NCAA Tournament. Last night, I watched a DVD of that game to reminisce. (Yes, I'm that big of a dork that I have old Creighton games on DVD. A whole bunch of them, actually. Every NCAA game of the Dana Altman era, and a bunch of assorted MVC tourney games and regular season dandies, all converted onto DVD for posterity.)
Anyway, I'd forgotten so much of how that game went. I remembered the overtimes but the rest of the game it was like watching again for the first time. What's always most fun in watching these "classic" games is the feature stories the reporters do. In this game, CBS' sideline reporter showed Father Hart on the bench wearing one of his famous hawaiian shirts that he'd bought at the Rainbow Classic in 1987, and announcer Tim Brando said "They're from Omaha, home of Boys Town and Father Flanagan...and apparently, Father Love Boat." Of course, Brando is also the guy who kept calling Terrell Taylor "Terry". Warrants mentioning.
When that game actually was played, I was ironically enough in Florida of all places. I was one year out of college, and I was having trouble letting go -- I went on Spring Break with my brother and his friends, all students at Northern Iowa. We spent that afternoon in the ESPN Zone in Orlando, which did have a few Gator fans -- but a LOT of what I'd call anti-Gators. Namely, people rooting for Creighton simply because they weren't Florida.
As the game tightened up in the second half, the anti-Gator contingent and the Creighton Contingent (me) got progressively more and more vocal. Through two overtimes, we sweated it out. And when Terrell Taylor (or Terry Taylor as CBS' Tim Brando called him all game) hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to win, it was incredible. Suddenly people in the place were buying me drinks. "Hey bartender: see this guy? He's from Omaha, his team just beat Florida. Buy this man a drink!"
And good times ensued.
I'd brought just one Creighton shirt with me on the trip, but armed with a victory in the NCAA Tournament and being IN FLORIDA, I washed that shirt in the hotel laundromat every morning so I could wear it again. Because everywhere we went people recognized the name Creighton and would invariably say something to me -- because they'd pulled the upset and beat Florida, and thus the news media was all over it. I can remember an Orlando Sentinel columnist ripping the Jays for celebrating too exuberantly, swarming Taylor before the final horn. He thought they should have been T'd up, Florida should have been shooting free throws, and won. I thought he was a gigantic ass.
Four years ago already. Man. Good thing for DVD's that last forever. I wouldn't want to forget that game, and there's no chance ESPN Classic will ever show it.
You bet.
Leave a comment