David Becomes Goliath

My Old man loved basketball, college basketball to be exact. And when it came to college hoops it was the old Big Five that he loved. The University of Pennsylvania, Villanova, Temple, St. Joseph's, and LaSalle. If he had to whittle these five down he would take Temple, St. Joe's, and Villanova. If pressed further he would easily tell you there was no comparison in choosing his favorite; it would've been Villanova. I clearly remember that magical journey, almost befittingly matching the date: April 1st, 1985. The only fools that day were the mighty Georgetown Hoyas lead by Patrick Ewing as they walked off the court that day almost dazed by what had just transpired.

My father would talk about that game for the next twenty years of his life. He loved the grit, determination, and the unwillingness of the smaller, and on paper- mis matched "David" against the nationally touted and much feared "Goliath"- Georgetown Hoyas. God he loved that team. It was therefore quite fitting that he was buried on a day that I think he himself would have been proud of-- St. Patrick's Day, and Villanova's semi-final game of the NCAA playoffs. I made remarks to this effect when I spoke at his funeral, saying something to the effect that had he been attending a funeral on such an auspicious day it would have been an "Amen, God bless and let's get to the game", and for no one to be sad, because he would have wanted everyone cheering for his boy's at 'Nova and enjoying St. Patrick's Day.

PinF saw it by chance. I was perusing the Palm Beach Post sports page as they gloated over the Dolphin's improbable victory against the Bears in Chicago, when I saw that tiny Northwood University right here in West Palm Beach was ushering in a new era this Saturday night. This tiny business school was beginning a new chapter in their history with the inaugaration of a men's basketball program. The news flash here is that they lured the legendary and disheveled Rollie Massimino out of retirement to coach their program through its infancy. The fact that this school only has 900 students makes this a big deal, the other fact of note would be that almost the entire student body wasn't even born when Rollie lead his Wildcats on their improbably title run.

I'll be in the stands Saturday night. I bought two tickets of the 1600 that the tiny field house can accomodate. The first game? Division I Villanova. These NAIA upstarts figure to have no chance, none, nada, zilch. Of course this would be missing the point. It's already been announced that Hall of Famer Billy Cunningham will be there, so will legendary Hall of Famer Chuck Daly, along with a host of national press, as this will be the first game in the new field house built for Rollie's team. I'm sure there will be no shortage of luminaries on hand as Rollie has proved to be quite the ring master when it comes to garnering attention for his program and calling out big favors for the school and team. This of course is not about winning, it's about competing and learning. I was planning to take a buddy, but now I'm leaning towards taking my little buddy--Sophie. She loves hoop, she loves Philly, and she's never been to basketball game, and with all the inaugural "hoop"-la, this could be just the ticket for her to get a taste of it.

I know this much is true. If my dad were here today he'd be on a plane down on Friday. He would've loved this. So PinF will be there, and Sophie too. And I'm sure in his own way, so will my dad.