I’ve got a love/hate relationship with FSU men’s hoops. It has always been something I’ve never really understood. I’ve actually kind of taken it personally. It seems as if every time I get my hopes up, FSU men’s hoops purposefully lets me down.
It’s why I’ve learned to just be a causal fan.
We’ve come to expect big wins and even bigger let-downs during the past 17 years of Lenard Hamilton’s tenure. I was in the stands as a student-athlete watching us upset Duke, I even stormed the court; I was also there when we lost to some directional school A&M.
Then my mind changed last season when I was told, “Big Game, you gotta watch, these boys, they are good. Especially the Bacon kid!”
Who doesn’t like Bacon?
The 2016-2017 Noles were exciting, but offered more of the same.
FSU made the tournament which, let’s be honest, is really the minimum required for Seminole fans, but then something strange happens: we know our other sports can win, so we get this thing called hope. We start to believe we can win because we’ll catch a glimpse of what this basketball team can do. Then they’ll act like The Monstars took their basketball ability and fail miserably.
Well, I said no more this year. I refuse to allow them to do it to me again. I told my radio partner, “I’m only watching Tiger and Bubba Wallace this weekend – basketball be damned.”
But the trash-talker in me bubbles up after watching Florida lose and then seeing Texas A&M win, I didn’t want it to be over… let me take a glance at the TV.
Well, I fell asleep, but was awakened by my 4-year-old pouring punch in my mouth and mimicking the Black Panther which lead me to not being able to go back to sleep. Magically, the game was on. We were up by one point and I watched the rest of the first half, feeling proud, until the last, like,10-seconds where I saw us go from up by three to down by two against Xavier in a blink.
Then halftime comes and I, along with most of Seminole nation, felt a pain in my stomach… we were doing it again. We looked lost at times. I got tired of this mess and said, “I’m gone.” Let me go use the bathroom and get ready to end my evening.
It was right about then that something magical happened. We started coming back. We tied the game up.
I ran to my bedroom, watched the game and we were losing – as a former athlete, I’m still very superstitious. I believe you go with what was working. So I turned the TV up and watched, well listened, to the last three minutes of basketball in my bathroom. I felt involved as Seminole Nation literally cheered me on and willed me, along with my now Seminole basketball teammates, because we are in this together.
My superstition paid off.
FSU is now in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2011. I, like most Noles, just want a winning team that plays good basketball with consistent runs in the NCAA tourney. Now I’m torn as I’ve got expectations. Hamilton will have turned a hater into a fan for life if he can somehow beat Gonzaga, blow out Texas A&M in the Elite 8 and just punch a ticket to San Antonio.
Is that really too much to ask?
Article Originally Appeared on Gridiron Now: http://gridironnow.com/seminole-fans-lovehate-relationship-fsu-basketball/
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