A Moral Victory!

March Madness is finally over and can you believe that they are thinking about 96 teams making the tournament next year - instead of the current 64 teams. (For all of you purist - I know they have a game between two teams to see which team wins the opportunity to loose real bad to the number one team. I don't count that one.) Anyway the final game was between perennial powerhouse Duke and virtual underdog Butler. Make that a Bulldog. And I didn't see any analyst go out on a limb and pick this small private school to win.

If you are a Duke fan you realized last night that Butler was for real. Butler had won their previous 26 games and in the tournament they sent Syracuse, Kansas State, and Michigan State home. If either of Hayward's final two shots went in the basket instead of bouncing out - it would have been the young 33 year old coach of Butler cutting down the nets. Their suffocating team defense and hustle was exciting to watch. They just were one possession short.

I knew that it was coming, I watched as they asked the Butler's warriors if they could see this as a moral victory. I wanted to shout, "YES!" Here is a bunch of young men that played hard, played as a team, and played hard until it was over. When one of their stars had foul trouble another player entered the game and contributed. I think it was a great moral victory. Five years from now nobody will remember who won the game. Ten years from now nobody will care. Last night I watched basketball as it was meant to be played, as a team! I think our society would do well with more moral victories and less story book endings.

April 7, 2010