Sequoia, You Are Magic

On Sunday, fans of Maryland's Women's basketball program were invited to celebrate a remarkably accomplished senior class, culminating in Alyssa Thomas's number being raised to the rafters after a blowout win marking the end to ACC regular-season play (now and forever). 

Back during the 2010-2011 season, we took our eldest daughter, then two years old, often to Comcast.  These trips triggered a new, deeper appreciation of the program while we watched Alicia DeVaughn, Alyssa Thomas, and Sequoia Austin build a new identity for the team.  With Essence already enrolled a year prior and the transfer of Katie Rutan into the mix, the school had a core group of incredibly charismatic upperclassmen going into this season.

That dynamic shown through in the game against Virginia Tech.  And while we are marking the end of the collegiate careers of one of the best players to ever don a Terrapin jersey, in this household we're celebrating the tenure of our favorite Maryland student-athlete ever -- Sequoia Austin.

Sequoia has always been the player that our two girls most want to see at team events.  Sequoia's smile at the annual mini-golf games and autograph sessions has been electric, it is contagious.  Positivity Monday was a misnomer insofar as it has been positivity pretty much every minute of every hour of every day.

Prior to player introductions on Sunday, AwesumPawsum brought down the house by leading the cheerleading squad's routine (this happened:  http://instagram.com/p/lGPuR6IYjK/#).  Sequoia then went back to the bench and, along with Essence Townsend, was announced with the starting lineup for the first time this season.  Essence and Sequoia played the first five minutes and then played several minutes towards the close of the second half.  It was awesome.

I often doubt that the selfless acts of a pure heart can rise above cynicism and world weariness, but there it is (or was):  people chanting Sequioa's name, dancing with her, delighting when she jumped with joy into Alyssa Thomas's arms after the ceremony. 

Our section was packed to the gills with young girls.  A couple of rows behind us, towards the end of the games, a group of them talked about the prospect of meeting Alyssa after the game.  There was disbelief and excitement, questions as to whether it was, in fact, true.  Yup.  It is.  Alyssa Thomas.  Wow.  And then the question:  "Are we going to meet Sequoia too?"  Followed by echoes of "Can we?" 

This is something both my daughters agree with whole-heartedly.  All of the players are great.  Sequoia Austin, a former walk-on, is something else.  She is magic.

Afternoon Out

Me to five-year old:  "The women's basketball team is playing today at 2.  Do you want to go?"

Five-year old:  "Yes.  Yes, I want to go."

Me to wife:  Ok, so I'll take our oldest to the game and the youngest will stay here with you?

Two-year old:  "I want to go.  I want to go to basketball too."

There hasn't been a lot of opportunities for me to take both our girls out of the house and give my spouse an extended respite from the children.  Trips to the playground don't last terribly long before the youngest begins to miss her mom.  And activities requiring a greater time commitment risk full-fledged meltdowns with little prospect of enjoyment.

But there is the University of Maryland's Women's College Basketball team, offering over two hours of distraction without once netting a plea to return home.

We are very fortunate to be so close to an elite women's basketball program, particularly one that has done remarkably well at embracing its identity.  Students may not show up to games with any regularity.  Kids do and are welcomed.  The line for Rita's was ridiculously long this afternoon.

With all the kids and all the activities, there is no issue about staying to the final whistle.  And hanging out for the conclusion of a fifty-point blowout was rewarded first by an Essence Townsend basket and then, moments later, a field goal from Sequoia Austin.   

Popular

This afternoon, we joined 15,849 others at Comcast to watch the Maryland women lose their fifth game of a season to a Duke squad that was rolling.

It is always a bummer to watch the women lose, but the game itself was not a disappointment.  Although fairly well beaten, the Terrapins did not roll over and Alyssa Thomas led a fiery comeback that sputtered and fell apart with poor shooting.

I'm looking forward to Maryland's enrollment in the Big Ten and have no qualms about the departure from the ACC.  The annual Maryland-Duke women's basketball game will, nevertheless, be missed.  The environment is unparalleled at Comcast.  While the men's game is an outpouring of fear and loathing, the women's game is a genuine rivalry teeming with energy.  Beating Maryland at Comcast means something to the Duke women.

The game obviously means something special to the community around here.  Today's attendance was nearly four times the average game attendance for the season (~4,379).  Before this afternoon, there hadn't been more than 5,153 people at a game for the season.

Even more remarkable:  the attendance for the game was higher than for all but one of the Georgetown men's home games at Verizon this season (they drew 17,474 for the game against Louisville in January).

The women's basketball program will thrive in the Big Ten, but there's not likely to be anything to this event.   

Proximity

 As a kid, the name of nearly every player on the sports teams I followed was imprinted in my brain.  Yet the relationship with those players was, with few blessed exceptions, entirely remote.  Meeting a Chicago Bear at a promotional meet and greet at a Sears in the western suburbs was worth every minute of the interminable wait.  My cousins and I would spend hours standing outside a chain link fence in a parking lot at Jack Murphy just for the chance to get Mark Parent’s signature on a baseball.

As I’ve grown older, the distance between fan and athlete has narrowed.  But I still feel an intense sense of privilege at being able to meet, however briefly, an athlete I root for as a spectator.

I doubt it will be the same for my daughters.  

 In the last week, our eldest was at Maryland women’s basketball game on Sunday, a D.C. United season ticket holder event on Tuesday, and a college gymnastics meet last night.  At each, the highlight for her was the chance to interact with players or coaches.

At RFK Tuesday night, our four-year old found Coach Olsen mingling with fans before the questions and answers session, peppering him with non sequiturs that Bennie looked eager to escape.  But before he did, she learned that the coach had a four-year old kid and pondered when, exactly, it would be appropriate to share with him what happened when the frog’s car broke down.  A couple of days earlier at Comcast, she shared her plans to celebrate her fifth birthday at Chuck E. Cheese’s with Maryland’s Katie Rutan and Chloe Pavlech after the women’s impressive win over Boston College.

Last night was the best of the week.  Maryland’s gymnastics team has adopted the practice of granting kids autographs from everyone on the roster after every home meet/match.  It is not a minor commitment.  There are scores of children – overwhelmingly girls – at Comcast for these events.     Attendance last night was announced at over a thousand. 

And the gymnasts don’t just sign autographs.  They really seem to love interacting with the kids.  After walking through the line, our daughter has decided that maybe gymnastics is something that she can do and she’s been practicing her tumbling throughout the day.  It was and is amazing.

Almost as impressive for me were the number of football and basketball players at the meet last night that came out to support the team.  Watching Dez Wells earnestly hand out flowers as the final scores were announced it seemed, to me, as a genuine gesture of respect for fellow athletes.  For our daughters, we make a big deal out of going to see the men’s basketball team and the football team play.  Seeing Seth Allen and Dexter McDougle (among several others) in the stands supporting the team signaled how big a deal the meet was as well.  

Not that it was necessary.  The event spoke for itself.  The perfect ten that Katy Dodds netted from one judge followed an electrifying floor exercise.  Stephanie Giameo's beam routine drew audible gasps.  

Roll on, Maryland

We have lived in College Park for a decade now and, yet, the benefits of life in this little corner of Prince George's County continue to present themselves anew. 

Tonight, I walked our youngest over to Ludwig while our oldest accompanied her mom to a Friday night movie.  Enjoying a Maryland soccer game with a toddler is not new, but the number of other families -- including coaches from other athletics teams at the University -- that are now also doing so means that I can now get through a full ninety minutes.

Or maybe this is how it has always been.  Maybe there has always been an easy collegial vibe between administrators and athletes hanging out at soccer games (in addition to head coaches and athletes from other squads, President Wallace Loh was again on hand).  But for an athletics program that was hammered last season by everyone who deigned to opine on the Terrapins, it sure seems like building a community anchored in pride is not just a promotional slogan.

Based on the limited stolen glances I had of the game, it was a good night to be one of the 4,846 folks at Ludwig.  The game was tight, but Maryland kept its composure throughout.  The one-nil victory over the Wahoos was well-deserved.  It is just flat-out fun to watch Sunny Jane go.  He is kind of good.  Dan Metzger and John Stertzer were also very impressive tonight.  

For their part, Virginia never backed down.  The Cavaliers did not create a lot of offensive opportunities, but they still managed to absorb wave after wave after wave of rapid assaults.  Georgetown Prep alum and DC United Academy veteran Marcus Salandy-Defour, a true freshman, acquitted himself well for Virginia.  In fact, for a very young team -- five of the starting eleven were freshmen, four were sophomores and all three subs used were underclassmen -- they did not make many damaging mistakes.  

The only notably poor performance tonight came from the referee, Shane Moody.  I am no saint in the stands.  I have developed the terrible habit of screaming in frustration at poor calls made by refs.  But I have also refereed youth soccer games and blown numerous calls, so I rarely make note of any particular performance.  I have never actually bothered to learn the name of any referee from a college game prior to this evening.  But Mr. Moody, who has, I think, experience in the MLS and in the U.S. Open Cup, went way, way, way over the top in making a spectacle of his control of the match.  Moody did not render any notable bad decisions, but he did loudly convey disdain for Coach Cirovski's protests regarding some questionable offside flags raised by his assistant before theatrically flourishing a yellow card to the Maryland bench for complaining about a foul call.  In the stadium, Moody's exaggerated gesticulations looked ridiculous and seemed more a performance for the cameras than the game.

But that is only a very mild quibble for what was otherwise another great night of Maryland soccer.

Not every Maryland athlete was represented at Ludwig.  The women's basketball team was at the movies and, before leaving, were stopped by a little girl and her family who are eager for the season to start.

Sweet and Sour

If you watched Maryland hold off Louisville last night on television, you might have seen rows and rows of empty seats behind the baskets (although, if you could see up to the top rows of Sections 107 and 108, you'd have seen Nick Faust and Pe'shon Howard providing their conspicuous support to the Lady Terps). But you would have heard a raucous, partisan crowd that was almost as amped as those that turned out for this year's Duke game, despite being one-third the size (4,857 vs. 15,150).

We were stunned by the crowd support; overwhelmingly positive. Each and every time Maryland players seemed to lose focus or lag, the fans threw everything they could behind the team. Agree completely with the good folks at DC BasketCases: "We've seen great crowds at Comcast before, but never like this."

Despite the amazing fans, I was certain that the Terps were getting bounced from the tourney. Our eldest showed up to the game in her Laurin Mincy jersey. Mincy: 6 for 10 from the field, 10 for 13 from the charity stripe, 24 points, and 7 rebounds. 7 rebounds. She hit a free throw with 4:30 left to give Maryland a lead that they would not relinquish.

I am a believer.

I had a tough time convincing my daughter to go Monday night -- ice cream tipped the scale -- because I had taken the kids to a basketball game on Friday. In Oakland. For the return of Monta Ellis to Oracle Arena as a Milwaukee Buck.

I am an idiot.

If the Warriors' front office didn't anticipate a debacle for Chris Mullin's jersey retirement ceremony last night, they are also idiots. The mood on Friday night presaged raw anger that spilled out into skirmishes throughout the upper deck. When my three-year old and I tried to duck around a pair of guys punching each other while throwing nachos and beer at each other, onlookers shouted that "everyone's pissed about the Monta trade!"

Oracle is, truth be told, a fantastic place to watch an NBA game, provided you do not leave your seats. This is, unfortunately, very difficult to do when you bring two young kids to a sporting event. For one of the few times in my life, we booked early from a game. Our reward: a pleasant walk through driving rain inside a cage back to the BART Station.

I do not, however, regret going. The game was Filipino Heritage Night. My daughter had spent the week fully embracing her own pinoy background (highlight was walking around the Academy of Sciences' aquarium singing the Black Eyed Peas' "Bebot"). We were primed to celebrate and took full advantage of the pancit and lumpia on offer. That probably doesn't make up for my juvenile enjoyment of the free t-shirt giveaway scene at Oracle Friday night.

Part of Heritage Night was a certificate for a t-shirt redeemable on the upper level. Thousands lined up, with hundreds waiting a ridiculous amount of time for the shirt. By the beginning of halftime, I was trying to put my youngest to sleep by walking around and we passed by the tables where shirts were being handed out. At that moment, the Warriors' employees staffing the table shouted out to those remaining in line that "We only have larges left, only size large!" To which the crowd responded with a loud, collective, audible groan.

Lethal

I watched two basketball games yesterday -- the televised (ESPN2) ACC women's basketball final and the Bulls' visit to the Wells Fargo Center last night.

First, congratulations to the Maryland women on another ACC championship. We, like many around the region, have fallen head over heels for this team. Ranked number 10 in the preseason, the Terps' success shouldn't be that surprising, but we didn't have high expectations. They're kind of good.

Second, away visits to Philly are way easier than I would have imagined. A two hour drive to the sports complex is only about forty minutes longer than it takes me to get to Verizon. 76ers fans are great (although a third of the stadium bolted prior to Iguodala's three-point shot to tie the game went wide left). Because of the environment, it was the best regular season NBA game I've attended (as 90% of the NBA games I go to feature the Wizards, this is not impressive).

But pause for a moment on the players.

Begin with the ACC tournament final.

Georgia Tech's senior center, Sasha Goodlett, was terrific -- an efficient 20 points on 6 of 8 shooting, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks. But watching the game, the play of sophomore Tyaunna Marshall stood out. Ms. Marshall averaged 15 points a game for Georgia Tech this season and capped a fantastic season with 25 points to keep Tech close throughout. No surprise. The Elizabeth Seton standout and 2010 WCAC player of the year has flourished in Atlanta and we're looking forward to seeing her back in Comcast next season.

Similar respect for another Georgia Tech ballplayer, Thaddeus Young. I loved Young's game in college, but haven't paid much attention to him in the NBA. Last night, he was the spark plug that kept Philly in the game in the second half. But whatever I think of Young, I left the stadium a full-fledged convert to the Andre Iguodala cause. Iguodala made Luol Deng's life hell and switched to cover Derrick Rose when Doug Collins needed to try and reign in the MVP. He hustles, plays fantastic defense, and corrals every loose ball in his vicinity. Iguodala's clearly bought in to Doug Collins approach and the rest of the team feeds off of his commitment. And the Sixers will be tough out in the playoffs because of him.

But as much as I like Marshall and Iguodala, Alyssa Thomas and Derrick Rose are exceptional.

Thomas would not let Maryland lose. Thomas's twenty-nine were the highest posted by a Maryland player all season -- and she posted the team's season high in the ACC Championship game. On an afternoon when Lynetta Kizer, Anjale Barrett, and Laurin Mincy combined to shoot 8 for 27 from the floor and Tianna Hawkins, Alicia DeVaughn, Kim Rodgers, and Brene Moseley chipped in another four field goals between them, Thomas picked up the slack.

With less at stake, Rose pulled off a similar feat in Philadelphia. 35 points, 8 assists, four rebounds. With the Bulls up eight in the fourth, Evans Turner caught Rose in the post, loudly called for the ball, and pointedly backed Rose down before missing a short jump shot. Turner's open disrespect for Rose's man-to-man defensive skills got a rise out of Derrick and after he stridently canned an open three on the way back up the floor, he showed more anger than we've previously seen. It is tough enough to defend Derrick Rose off the dribble. An angry Derrick Rose? Good luck with that.

Attendance

We had provisionally planned to drop by Hyattsville this afternoon to witness Paul VI successfully complete the first undefeated WCAC conference run from a team not named DeMatha before realizing that the game had already sold out by the end of last week.

Plan B was Comcast and helping "Pack the House" for Duke-Maryland. As much as we would have enjoyed hanging with all the college coaches at DeMatha, an afternoon with the Lady Terps means a Comcast memory exceeding American's upset in 2007.

Fantastic game; even if Tiana Hawkins' putback off her ninth offensive rebound -- her ninth offensive rebound (with zero defensive rebounds) -- didn't go in or Alyssa Thomas doesn't make the incredible block to close out the win, it was still the best spectacle I've experienced firsthand in the stadium.

15,150 people. Eighth largest crowd in ACC women's basketball history (not coincidentally, also the eighth largest women's crowd in Maryland history and the eighth largest crowd during Coach Frese's tenure). Number five team in the country visiting and that team just happens to be Duke. Kids going nuts throughout the game and not once -- not once -- does a "Duke Sucks" chant even begin as a whisper in the stands, even though there are a sizable number of students in the arena.

Add 2,800 more fans to today's total and what transpired this afternoon should be the aspirational dream of the Athletics Department for every game at Comcast.

Cut through all the chauvinistic crap about how women's basketball is a lesser liberal sideshow not worthy of the attention of true red-blooded sports fans and what you get is tension, exhilaration, and excellence on par with anything on display in men's basketball.

At Maryland, you also get a bunch of added benefits. For example, on offer is an emphasis on academic achievement equal to athletic success, evinced by a graduation success rate for an exceptional women's basketball program -- measuring freshman that preceded Coach Frese's tenure by a year and extending to 2004 -- of 81 percent compared to Gary Williams' substantial improvement to 46 percent (and Ralph Friedgen's 59 percent). On offer is a coach committed to winning over the community -- both on campus and in the broader metropolitan area -- despite the affected apathy of the doyens of sport in Washington D.C.

Coach Frese wears her heart on her sleeve, taking pride in how much effort she's put out in bringing fans to the game rather than bemoaning short shrift. Because of that commitment, what was exceptional in 1992 (a women's game drawing 14 thousand plus in College Park) is now almost pedestrian.

Coach Frese has been indefatigable in this regard. When she started, attendance for women's games averaged under 2 thousand people; it was 833 as late as the 1994-1995 season and at 1,681 in 2001-2002. The current total hasn't dipped below 4,500 since the 2004-2005 season (4,169).

A losing season in the ACC in 2010 led attendance to collapse from near 9,000 fans a game in the three seasons between 2006 and 2009 to around 5,000 the last two years. And, yet, despite the fickle nature of support, the team has thrown itself into wooing fans from outside the school (with multiple meet the players and team events) and within (student raffles for video game consoles). Prior to the Miami game, there hasn't been a lot of payoff for those efforts. But the team persisted and the faith shown in the community paid off today.

As good as Maryland was on the court, it was just as good in the stands.

A Night in Comcast

There is not much I regret about having kids, but I have missed the season tickets to Georgetown men's basketball. We had great seats, alongside good friends, and got to watch charismatic teams. Saturday mid-day games bridged into enjoyable afternoons in the city.

But it's no place for an infant and the three-year old has let it be known in no uncertain terms that she's not a fan. She says that Hoyas games aren't for kids and begins lobbying for a quick exit roughly ten minutes after finding our seats.

Now, however, I have found a suitable replacement. Maryland women's basketball games are now calendered events. This season we've lucked into a team that is as charismatic as any Hoyas squad in recent history.

While conference play has exposed weaknesses in the team, this iteration of the Terps has performed well beyond reasonable expectations. They are, simply, a fun team to watch; a well-balanced rotation of hard-workers without an elite level talent that towers above the rest. (Four players average double digits in scoring; four players average over five rebounds a game).

And then off the floor, there is the game experience in the stands.

Finding a gelato cart at tonight's game against Boston College eliminated any bad feelings that might have lingered from having to sit until the final whistle at Verizon.

More importantly, the school has shown its gratitude to the team's fans by making players consistently and regularly available. In the few occasions that our eldest has wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, she's thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it has palpably enhanced her interest in rooting for the team. I'd hazard a guess that this is true for a lot of the kids that come out to Comcast for games.

We've enjoyed the season so much, that I began to contemplate picking up Washington Mystics season tickets again. That idea was quickly quashed by the abysmally depressing escape of Marissa Coleman to Los Angeles. I'm not troubled if Maryland loses a game or two or three or four, because what the team offers, night in and night out, is competence. The contrast with the egos run amok that have torpedoed a good WNBA franchise is stark.

Tonight, incidental to demolishing Boston College, Maryland once again demonstrated that they provide maybe the best family-oriented sports ticket in the region.

Yesterday, in sending an iconic Terp on her way (rather than boldly arrest a stunning decline), the Mystics proved that when it comes to alienating loyal fans, the Wizards aren't the only game in town.

Rebound

The Baltimore Sun's Don Markus recently penned a nice tribute to James Padgett's growth as a college basketball player under Coach Turgeon. With Alex Len, Pe'Shon Howard, Terrell Stoglin, Nick Faust, and Sean Mosley on the roster, Padgett's contributions can easily be taken for granted. I, like Markus, have very much enjoyed watching Padgett crash the boards at Comcast and it is nice to see his effort recognized in a mainstream publication.

But I'm back from Comcast this evening having witnessed a transcendent rebounding performance from Riverdale Baptist's Tianna Hawkins. The junior is averaging over ten rebounds a game this season and tonight Ms. Hawkins eclipsed a thirty-five year old team record by pulling down twenty-four rebounds against Wake Forest. Tianna grabbed her first twenty-three boards without much fanfare. Then the stadium's jumbotron informed fans that she had tied the team record after Maryland had pulled away, the game was largely over, and Tianna was on the bench:

"I asked the team if we should let her come back in and they unanimously said yes," Frese said. "That record has been in the record books for a very long time. It's special for us to be able to break records."

Now, we enjoyed the game and my daughters' had fun throughout, but the last minute and a half -- with Tianna trying to get one more board -- was the most compelling. In that short time, Tianna barely missed an offensive rebound after a missed free throw that slipped out of bounds, then elected to actually honestly finish a layup rather than play the ball off the rim to break the record cheaply, and then broke the record fair and square while her teammates bounded up and down off the bench.

We're about two-thirds of the way through the regular season and this has already been an amazing year for Maryland women's basketball; Tianna's phenomenal performance tonight was just another brick in that wall.

Thanksgiving

I read Tracee Hamilton's most recent column as my three-year old napped prior to tip-off of the Maryland-Florida Gulf Coast game. We were taking our daughters to their first Maryland men's basketball game after a pleasant Tuesday evening visit to campus for my five-month old's first Maryland women's basketball game.

The view of Comcast that my girls had at both games was roughly the same, as the stadium was largely devoid of fans for Mark Turgeon's second home game of the year. The thousands of empty seats led the Baltimore Sun's Don Markus to observe:

One more thing. I have never seen the Comcast Center as empty as it is tonight. I know it's Thanksgiving break, but the marketing department should have done a better job getting tickets out to youth groups, etc. to try to fill the student section behind the basket.

Of course, if Markus ever wants to see Comcast more empty, he need only show up to a women's basketball game.

Hamilton's frivolous lament stuck with me during the game because it seemed to so perfectly reflect the ethos of what it means to be a Washington-area sports fan. It also encapsulates why midwesterners (among others) have such difficulty sympathizing with the fickle nature of the DC-area sports fan.

Washingtonians behave as if this is an anointed city of Champions. And not just run-of-the-mill "we're ridiculously, phenomenally blessed in these particular areas of sport" but Champions in things that will earn the attention of important people around the globe. What matters is the Redskins competing for the Super Bowl, the Wizards marching towards the Eastern Conference finals, the Nationals stirring towards a wild-card spot, the Capitals hoisting the Stanley Cup, and the Terps in play for a BCS bowl or yet another Final Four men's basketball tournament appearance.

The complaints about the dire status of Redskins and Terps football, Wizards and Terps men's basketball, and Washington sports generally comes at a time when my enjoyment of local sports -- particularly those at the University of Maryland -- is at an all-time high. And the incongruences between the way sports are covered in this region and what actually takes place become all the more remarkable.

The best example I can give is from two weekends ago beginning with Veterans Day.

The weekend began with a trip to Ludwig to watch the Maryland women open up their NCAA tournament games against a La Salle team that had given up seven goals all season. Led by a fantastic performance by sophomore transfer Hayley Brock, the Terps put five in the back of the net against the Explorers in one game. There were probably more La Salle students in the stands for the game than Maryland students, but those Maryland supporters that showed up were treated to a terrific showing by an extremely talented Terp team that had sputtered a bit through ACC play.

After the game, we walked down to Comcast to watch the women's basketball team open the regular season by blowing out Loyola. And, as usual, the student showing was even more sparse than at the soccer game. Even with few eyes on them, Coach Frese's team served notice that this year's squad is much stronger than last year's version.

Saturday night, we traveled over to FedEx Field to catch Maryland get whacked by Notre Dame. There were probably better ways to spend the evening and there's little doubt that the Terps are not a good football team, but, for us, we're not going to do a lot of traveling with the team and sitting down on the field engulfed by Notre Dame supporters afforded us a level of intense fan support that is unmatched at Byrd on gameday. Plus, despite being pounded on the scoreboard and pummeled in the stands, we got to watch solid linebacker play out of Demetrius Hartsfield and freshman Alex Twine.

And Sunday, I went to Comcast twice -- first for the Maryland women's prolific beat down of a very, very good Georgetown team (a team that embarrassed Georgia's women tonight in Las Vegas) and later for Coach Turgeon's inaugural win as head coach of the Maryland men against UNC Wilmington. For both games, the Center was largely empty. And the massive line from community supporters waiting to meet the Maryland women's players and coaching staff after the Georgetown upset was piteously juxtaposed with the short wait I endured to get into the men's game as students got their tickets scanned, then turned around and walked out of the stadium (something I've never previously seen first hand).

In between all of that, I also attended my first ever field hockey games, watching Maryland beat Iowa in their first round NCAA tournament game and then sitting through most of a thrilling, tense affair that concluded with the Terps upending Syracuse to advance to the Final Four.

Of all the Maryland events I went to that weekend, the Syracuse field hockey game was the single-best sporting event; although I had little idea of what was going on in terms of rules or playing strategy, the contest was so engrossing I forewent a large part of the Maryland-Georgetown game. And the timing could not have been better... the next weekend, for entirely bizarre and providential reasons, we toured the Field Hockey Hall of Fame housed in Collegeville, Pennsylvania on Saturday and then my three-year old and I watched, through a live feed, Maryland's stunning comeback win over the Tar Heels in the National Championship game on Sunday.

I may not have any ability to appreciate the subtlety of the sport, but even my three-year old could appreciate the drama of a two-goal comeback with four minutes in regulation and the exhilaration of Jill Witmer's determined run in overtime to give the Terps yet another National Championship.

But an NCAA field hockey championship is not a real championship and Kevin Anderson still deserves to be fired and Debbie Yow remains the worst person in the world. And *yawn* we've got another top ten women's basketball team in College Park. And *shrug* Maryland's men's soccer team absolutely obliterated West Virginia -- with a hat-trick from future professional Casey Townsend -- in their opening game of the NCAA tournament, roughly a week and a half after Maryland alum Omar Gonzalez was named MLS defender of the year and shortly before he and fellow Maryland alum A.J. DeLaGarza would start together and secure a clean sheet MLS Cup win.

Of course, all of the above relates only to Maryland.

After skipping the Georgetown men's home opener to watch field hockey, I went to Verizon that Monday to see the win over UNC Greensboro and was floored by how good Georgetown's young team was. I sat down behind Roy Hibbert, equally impressed by how accommodating Hibbert was with fans in the crowd and how impressive Georgetown's freshman class looks on the court. For those who were paying attention, the Hoyas remarkable run at the Maui Invitational wasn't wholly unexpected -- indeed, on the strength of the Greensboro game I stayed up to watch the Kansas opener live because I thought that Georgetown had a decent opportunity to pull the upset win. Although this year was written off as a down year for the program, the chances now are better than fair that the Hoyas will once again be among the nation's elite.

And none of the foregoing even begins to account for the insane level at which prep sports are played in this region: DeMatha's soccer team went undefeated and was generally considered the number one or two high school team in the entire country. The last ESPN ranking I looked at had Good Counsel's football team placed at sixth nationally.

Yet, even with these overflowing blessings, the accepted storyline is the paucity of compelling sports storylines this fall.

I don't get it.

On almost any weekend day over the last couple of months, anyone could easily have taken themselves over to watch world-class athletes compete in high-level sporting contests. Those of us in this region are privileged to have before us a bountiful cornucopia of excellence across fall sports -- football, basketball, soccer, and field hockey -- and yet the complaints about what we don't have register the loudest.

There are many, many more important things that I am thankful for. Nevertheless, the simple fact is, as a massive fan of sports, I am thankful for what D.C. offers. And, in my own selfish way, I'm thankful for all the empty seats around us that facilitate going to these matches with an infant and toddler in tow.

Boosters

Before exposing my two-year old to the elements and Terry Vaughn's comical refereeing at RFK, we took her up to Columbia for the UM Rebounders' second annual minigolf tournament for the University of Maryland Women's basketball team.

The event was fantastic, our daughter had a great time, and our admiration for the program grew in result.

Although I am a passionate sports fan, I am not drawn to sports for social interactions. I will not go to a movie theater or playhouse by myself, but have no problem flying solo to a stadium to watch a game.

So, this might be the first time I have wanted to join a supporters' group and get to know its members. The first thing conveyed by the Rebounders at the event is that they are an extremely nice group of people. The second thing conveyed is that the Rebounder volunteers genuinely make people feel welcome. We knew no one there, but were treated warmly and left to our own devices to enjoy the event.

But the third thing -- and this is the most important takeaway -- is a sense of the intense pride felt in the great history of women's basketball at the University of Maryland. At the first hole on the minigolf course, the "celebrity" host for that hole introduced herself to us as Dottie McKnight. And we had no idea who she was... A hole earlier I took a bad prat fall on the green trying to stop my daughter's putt from going into a sand trap. Chris Weller came by to make sure that I didn't hurt anything beyond my pride. And we had no idea who she was...

That level of ignorance is embarrassing. But if either Coach McKnight or Coach Weller were put off by our cluelessness, they did not show it. And while we did not know who they were at the time, we've remedied that now.

We weren't unaware of everyone on the course and brief interactions with some of the current players and coaching staff underscored the quality of the program. And my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about Lori Bjork's time in Transylvania playing professional basketball this past European season.

Our sincerest thanks to the Rebounders for organizing the event and for making it open to the public.

Tourneys

Like everyone else, I have been greatly enjoying Virginia Commonwealth's run in the NCAA Men's Tournament. Beginning with VCU's beatdown of Georgetown, I've caught most of their games and have marveled at how the Rams' have maintained the same level of intensity throughout their upsets over the Hoyas, the Boilermakers, the Seminoles, and now the Jayhawks.

The Tournament is a terrific televised sporting event -- the large number of games in the early rounds allows viewers to find potential upsets or close games and, as the number of games begin to dwindle, the competitiveness of the matches ratchets up and you've got tension-filled contests where kids are playing at a level that defies explanation or understanding.

This was the second time in the last four years that early round games of both the men's and women's tournament were played in the DC metro area. Both in 2008 and again this year, I've had the good fortune to attend some of the games of both tournaments. Overall, as much fun as the men's tournament is to watch on television, it is not nearly as enjoyable to be sitting in the stands. On the other hand, the women's tournament is a fantastic live event and one that we have not missed at Comcast.

There is one huge exception to my general impression of live men's tournament games -- Duke vs. Belmont, still one of the single most exciting live sporting events I've ever attended. But the five other games were largely forgettable. I have no recollection of Xavier's twelve point win over Georgia, nor of Purdue's win over Baylor. The Wildcats' band's full rendition of Oingo Boingo's "Insanity" was more memorable than anything that happened in Arizona's loss to West Virginia, despite the fact that both Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill were on the floor for Arizona. And this year, although Cinci's win over Mizzou had its moments, I was uncomfortably bored for the bulk of UConn's dismantling of a totally overmatched Bucknell.

Part of it is the environment at the stadium. The single biggest fan base for the evening games this year came from Bucknell and they got thrashed. Despite the fact that UConn shows well for Big East matches against Georgetown at Verizon, Huskies' fans were not out in force for their first-round game, with alums sprinkled throughout the upper deck.

Even when supporters show up -- and West Virginia's fans turned out in droves in 2008 -- the ban on alcohol sales at tournament games means fans get smashed before entering the stadium. The net effect is brutal. While excessive binge drinking prior to a college football game may augment the emotion pouring out of the terraces, five hours in a basketball stadium can wear down even the most debilitating intoxication. Because Belmont came so close to knocking off Duke, the West Virginia fans had completely spent themselves by the time their game had started and endured most of it in a groggy stupor.

The significance of pre-game drinking was probably accentuated this year because of the games coincidence with St. Patrick's Day and nearly everyone I know who went to the evening sessions almost cut their night's short because of the number of "I Can't Believe How Drunk I Am!" cell-phone jibbering idiots in their section. I lucked out in sitting a section where the five kids who fit that profile were quickly quieted by threats of physical assault that they had no desire to test.

The combination of factors means that the prevailing mood is negative, the fans -- spoiled by the possibility of seeing something like Belmont-Duke for every game -- are, for the most part, disinterested until forcefully engaged, and the games themselves will, in most instances, fail to meet expectations.

The women's tournament games are fundamentally different. Although regular season games sometimes approach comic/tragic, with the Terps matched up against another side that doesn't take the sport terribly seriously, tournament games insure that both teams approach the game with the same level of importance.

In 2008, we caught Maryland and Nebraska's first round games against Coppin State and Xavier, respectively; skipped Duke and Arizona State's openers against Murray State and Temple, respectively; but returned for the second round games. This year, we watched Maryland beat St. Francis and then came back for the Georgetown-Maryland rematch.

Few fans, if any, get tanked before going to a women's tournament game and the absence of alcohol is unremarkable. Those that come out do not come for the event, they do not come out to brag to acquaintances about what they are doing, instead they buy tickets anticipating an entertaining game.

The resulting environment is of an entirely different feel than the men's tournament. And it has nothing to do with a team (Maryland) being able to play on their own home court. If Geno Auriemma is disappointed with his fanbase's apathy to the Huskies' tournament runs, Brenda Frese must be resigned to the fact that no matter what her program achieves, students cannot be bothered to show up to tourney games. At both of Maryland's tournament games this year, there were more students from St. Francis and Georgetown in the stands. The Red Flash's fans, in particular, put Maryland's student body to shame, with several dozen showing up and raucously supporting their team throughout the game.

The crowd is, nevertheless, heavily partisan as it is drawn from the surrounding community, but they are receptive to great performances regardless of the uniform she is wearing. This year, the crowds got behind Sugar Rodgers, who dropped 60 points in two games against Princeton and Maryland. Against Maryland, I think Rodgers had the single most impressive performance of any player I've watched live at Comcast. The three pointers she was draining (7 for 10 from beyond the arc) became increasingly ridiculous and despite good effort out of the Terps, Maryland didn't stand a chance.

And, yet, I have not bothered to watch a single one of the women's games on television this year. In years past, I've only managed to watch Maryland's later round games but have not tuned into anything else. I had intended, notionally, to remember to catch the Hoyas attempt to take down UConn today but remembered the game was on only after it was completed.

But I don't think that detracts from how much I have come to enjoy women's collegiate basketball. Maryland was a pleasure to watch this season and the student body's disinterest notwithstanding, I hope the school continues to bid on hosting the tournament in the years to come. Like Maryland's soccer program, the women's tournament is one of the most underrated, underappreciated gifts from the university to DC-area sports fans.

Value

It is unlikely that there is a better sporting event value in the D.C. metro area than the annual Maryland - Duke women's basketball game. Maryland's hatred for Duke often manifests itself in ugly and troubling ways, which is one of the principal reasons that it is difficult to fully become a fan of the Terrapins athletics program. But the women's basketball match is where it actually seems like there might be a respectful rivalry between the two schools.

Tonight, we sat behind a family of Duke fans fully decked out in Blue Devils gear. While they enjoyed the first few minutes of the game, the rest of it was fairly miserable -- not because Maryland fans hassled them; surrounding fans didn't even tease them. And they were not alone as a number of other people showed up in Duke colors. At Duke-Maryland soccer games at Ludwig, little kids wearing Duke logos get chased down and harassed by students. Since few students show up for women's basketball games, this isn't an issue.

The marketing arm of the athletics program offered us additional tickets to encourage fans to bring out more people to see the women's team. And it is a great showcase. We were able to get some friends to come out to the game and the environment was fantastic. We were not, I am certain, the only people that spent some time after the game heralding the $145 family of four season ticket package offered by the school.

I spent the much of the second half chasing children around Comcast, but what I was able to see was impressive. Bouncing back from two tough losses at Miami and at home to Virginia, Brenda Frese's young squad blistered Duke's more experienced team. At first, Maryland's players made a series of poor decisions and routinely turned over the ball, falling behind early. But in short order, the tables were turned and the Terps ended up forcing 20 turnovers.

Maryland has one more home game -- against Virginia Tech next Thursday night -- and then Comcast will host first and second round games in the NCAA Women's tournament. Reserved seats for the games are $30, which is a ridiculously inexpensive way to see three good college basketball games.

NGWSD

On the way out of Comcast Sunday, I asked my daughter what her favorite part of the game was (she is an avid Dora fan). She said: "When the players got in trouble." We asked her what she was talking about and she said "When there was a timeout on the floor."

My favorite part was having her sit next to me -- for the second day in a row -- while watching a basketball game.

I do not take lightly the privilege afforded by close proximity to an elite women's college basketball program. I am treated to great basketball and my daughter gets to see women playing at the highest level cheered on by thousands of enthusiastic fans.

It helps that this unique state of affairs appears to be fully appreciated by the program's participants. Coach Brenda Frese's contribution to the celebration of the National Girls and Women in Sports Day emphasized the resources made available to student athletes seeking to be the very best at what they do. And for those women that take advantage of what the school offers and can fully harness their talents -- well, that leads to some pretty remarkable things. As Coach Frese marvels:

One of the most incredible things I’ve watched in my time here at Maryland is how young women can grow into incredible role models and heroes that transcend gender. I’ll never forget being at a wedding reception and watching little boys and girls pretend they were some of our more prominent players. I’ve seen people of all ages wearing the jerseys of our players in the stands. And I’ve had people stop me in the street to tell me a story about where they were and what they were doing when one of our players or teams had an incredible moment. Each time, it crosses my mind that these are young women that are inspiring all sorts of folks.

As Maryland steamrolled the Wolfpack with a 67 to 26 run, our two year-old wandered into the team store and picked up a basketball jersey that she wore for the rest of the day.

I don't care whether she'll ever actually want to play basketball or if she ever will want to be an athlete. But there is something pretty cool about having her female role models extended beyond Disney characters.

One of the books in regular rotation at bedtime is Jane Yolen's Not All Princesses Dress in Pink. It is a neat little book and something that our daughter took to immediately. For her, there is no conflict between wearing frilly dresses and playing soccer with the neighborhood toddler boys. Football helmets go perfectly with tutus. And we can watch Sleeping Beauty while she wears her Terps basketball jersey. Long may it continue.

New Frontiers

Before turning in last night, I caught the NCAA tournament semifinal between Michigan and Akron and, before that, the second half of the Bulls' huge win at home over the Lakers. Michigan played well and showed that their upset win over Maryland was not a fluke, but Akron is tremendous. I'd not seen them play before, but as much as I've been impressed by what Coach Cirovkski's done for the Terps in making them a strong, well-organized competitive unit, Caleb Porter's Zips are not just good, they are extremely entertaining. Akron's passing is crisp and precise, while their style is breathtaking and each of the players on the field appears to reflect an institutional emphasis on creativity and independence rather than organization and responsibility.

I would not have expected to see the same level of ingenuity and flourish in a Tom Thibodeau coached team. But that's what the Bulls offer their fans these days. Back to back games at the United Center and Derrick Rose has exploded his ceiling. He is, so people say, kind of good. The three-point jump shot he drilled with the shot clock expiring against the Lakers is not the most important shot he's nailed this season -- it would be tough to surpass the three pointer at the end of regulation that allowed the Bulls to pull out a win against Houston last week -- but the ease of the extreme elevation to get himself free to even attempt the shot coupled with the circumstances (closing out Kobe's juggernaut), make it the most memorable.

I grew up idolizing John Paxson. MJ, Scottie, and Horace Grant all had skills and physical gifts that I could not fathom and I could, at best, only identify with the unimposing guy on the wing who converted seemingly every open shot afforded to him. Paxson's run as a general manager has been, the conventional wisdom goes, rocky and he has been bailed out by turns of good fortune (like pulling a lottery spot that brought Rose home). We're only 22 games into a 62 game season and another first-round playoff exit may be the ultimate result of an otherwise promising year, but it is hard to fault the team that Pax has pulled together. It may be that Carlos Boozer's early season injury has worked, unintentionally, to improve the team as the returning nucleus of Rose, Noah, Deng, Taj Gibson, and James Johnson was given time to gel with a series of role players (Omer Asik, Keith Bogans, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, and C.J. Watson) into a good NBA team.

My daughter is, unfortunately, unimpressed. Although she will use virtually any excuse to delay bedtime, watching the Bulls with Daddy has sent her to sleep each of the last two nights as her preferred alternative. She may enjoy soccer games, but basketball bores her. I spent most of Friday night at Comcast for Maryland's game against UMBC chasing her up and down the stairs as she eventually found a crevice in the wall to be far more interesting than anything occurring on the court (which does not bode well for tomorrow's Georgetown game at the Verizon Center).

On the way out of Comcast, we stopped by the women's gymnastics team's intrasquad scrimmage. After spazzing out throughout the basketball game, sequined outfits commanded every ounce of her attention. The team signed autographs and chatted with young gymnasts who had come out to see the squad and, I fear, I've entirely lost the battle for basketball -- if gymnastics is in the same building, it will be what she'll clamor for.

Kids Day at Comcast

Whenever I run across arguments justifying belligerent behavior and obscene language in the stands as being the badges of "true" fans, I am always curious as to what happened to the proponents' childhood. Did the man spewing inanity in front of me spring fully formed from the gut of a foul-mouthed middle-aged lout?

Being a fan, paying money to watch people do their jobs, living and dying vicariously through people based on the concession that they are better than you will ever be -- these are childish things. Sports, at least from the spectators' perspective, are how we get to act like children in a socially acceptable way along with thousands of closest friends.

Having a child helps to bring this all home. Sunday at Comcast was kid's day hosted by the University of Maryland Women's Basketball team. The athletics program has done a wonderful job of making events for the community and creating an atmosphere that is substantially different from that which pervades at other Maryland Athletics games.

My daughter had a great time. The organizers had made an area available for kids to make signs before going into the stadium. Our little one decided on a design and happily held it over her head at strange moments during the game. She danced when other kids danced. And, when she felt like it, nuzzled in with one of her relatives and watched the game asking questions with bizarre premises regarding what transpired before her.

After the game, juniors Kim Rodgers and Yemi Oyefuwa and freshmen Sequoia Austin, Alyssa Thomas, and Alicia DeVaughn signed autographs for kids with good humor. I bought a basketball for my daughter and, although it was almost the same size as her, she dragged it down in front of each of the players and thanked them with a grin.

She was probably even more pleased with the autograph she had gotten from Testudo earlier in the game, but for a two-year old who had not napped, we left the stadium with a pretty happy little girl.

Thanks to the Terps Athletics program for setting it up and we hope that it will be a regular feature of the team's season.

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One unrelated note: great report on the Philippines' huge upset at the Suzuki Cup by Bleachers' Brew. Just a great story.

Content

I have thought a bit about sports, the teams I follow, and the disappointment that has flowed from this allegiance over the last several months. I have started, and ultimately abandoned, posts that set out (in a manner so as to instill maximum boredom and disinterest) analysis of this or that problem that besets one of these teams (which are manifest). But all of this is tiresome. It is utterly uninteresting. And when I found myself screaming at another Georgetown basketball fan yesterday -- who knows much more about basketball than I -- about a perceived defensive lapse from Nikita during what seemed like a seminal play, I came to recognize that I have become a bore.

The women's basketball game between Duke and Maryland tonight helped put things back in perspective. I am a fan. Nothing more, nothing less. It helps when the team I am cheering for wins (or destroys the Blue Devils, such as Coach Frese's kids did tonight), but the pleasure derived from watching success is built by experiencing the inevitable frustration of failure.

And, regardless of the results of a game or a season, I have the privilege of watching Kristi Tolliver and Marissa Coleman play basketball. Tomorrow night, I'll walk from my office to the Verizon Center and watch Chris Wright, Austin Freeman, Jason Clark, Greg Monroe, Henry Sims, Julian Vaughn, DaJuan Summers, and Jesse Sapp play that same game tomorrow. The Hoyas may not make the NCAA tournament, but they are a pleasure to watch.

Over 16,000 fans were at Comcast tonight to watch the Duke-Maryland match. It is an incredible spectacle to behold -- families racuously and joyously taking in a game. Not living and dying on outcomes... just watching... just taking in the moment, the event ...

The attendance for the game marked the fourth-largest crowd for an ACC women's basketball game. The OS says that the top ten largest crowds for ACC games have all been at Maryland. There are probably lots of reasons for this, but I choose to focus on one: however twits might deride the quality of women's basketball, you will be hard-pressed to find a more unambiguously positive environment to watch a sporting event. And stripped of all the machismo bs, there is no other choice but to have fun.