Puke

Duke 93, Maryland 84

If you are anything like me, Turtle Nation, you hate reading the game stories the day after a painful loss. So last night, after I got home from Comcast, having done a 2.5 hour radio show devoted to Maryland hoops before the game, I was -- to coin a medical term, "All Terped Out." So my apologies if you visited this site earlier today to view lots of insight and venom about Md. vs. Duke and found only a lame promotion for yesterday's radio show.

My bad.

I actually starting writing twice last night and stopped, unable to conjure the necessary inspiration. But today I was gently reminded by a friend that if I'm going to bother with this blog, I better damn well have something to say after Maryland plays Duke.

So here goes, and I'll add more later, because I have a notebook of thoughts at home and want to make sure I get to everything:

The Good:
Comcast atmoshpere was amazing. Loud, electric, and fun. If you watched at home and thought you had a great viewing experience on your new flat screen, well, you did, but for my money nothing compares to the force of energy in a packed building for a heated rivalry college basketball game. Butterflies and goose bumps atmosphere, GREAT, GREAT atmoshpere.

The First Half - Great runs by the Terps, seemed in control of the ballgame, played with smarts and intensity. For a change, it was their coach who lost his shit and got hit with a T over questionable calls as opposed to ours, and a good time was had by all.

Actually that's not totally true. The Maryland student radio team did not have a good first half and it was not their fault. See, my media pass for 1300 puts me in the upper left corner of the media section, right next to the student radio guys. Last night because all the front-running, Duke following, don't go to other Maryland games, local and national media were in town, I actually had to sit on a stool, not a chair, and had to shimmy out of the way of people going back and forth to their seats.

But I am not complaining, it's a great seat to a great game. But that's not what the student radio team was thinking. See, someone who works for the University of Maryland, in all their gusto to take care of national media and not necessarily their own, gave away the phone line that the students use to transmit their broadcast.

Regular readers of this notebook will recall that I developed an appreciation for the enthusiasm and professionalism of the student broadcasters during the Ohio game. They care and they try very hard. So after seeing a few of them pace back and forth during the first half (while I shimmied my stool out of the way), I gave one of the guys a "what's up?" kind of a glance.

He came over and was eager to tell me what was going on, said something like the following:
"I am a senior. I've been waiting four years to call the Maryland Duke game. I have broadcast women's games for the past two years and this is the biggest game of the season. They gave away our phone line. I'm here, I'm ready and I can't call the game."

Apparently there was either a mix-up of a fuck-over (I love writing for a blog by the way and using the occassional f-bomb; moving from email to blogging is like moving from broadcast TV to HBO. No limits baby. Of course I do want my content to be somewhat family friendly for the kids, so I will limit the use of profanity to situations where I feel as though it is warranted. And believe me people, in this situation it was warranted. I felt so bad for this kid.) because ISP sports, some national college radio online start-up, was given the line that the University of Maryland student broadcasters typically use. They got it straightened out by the end of the first half, but the damage had been done and the point had been made. I told the kid to go tell one of the Washington Post reporters how the university treats its own and he didn't want to because he knows he needs them to help facilitate future broadcasts.

And here's the final zinger. He told me that when the Md. student radio team calls or emails the Duke sports information department to request credentials to cover the game, THEY DON'T EVER RETURN THEIR MESSAGES. Let's be clear, it is one thing to be told "no" it is much more insulting to not even be replied to. And what the heck is a college basketball program for, if not for entertaining and frustrating us, of course, but also to provide a venue for the students of the schools to practice their craft so that they can one day get a job or just have a great time while they are in college.

The cheerleaders get to cheer the game, the pep band plays, it's not like the university brings in the Wizards dancers and the organist from Madison Square Garden. So even if 10 people are listening to the student radio station, shame on Maryland for giving a line to some bullshit online radio station and not taking care of their own students.

I'll have more on the game later.

GA