The road to March takes many curious bends and twists. The Valley Highway, in particular, is a hazardous route, indeed. This nebulous cow-path, quite apart from the brightly lit highways in the Big East, et. al., leads past obscure and ominous places like Springfield, MO... an odious locale, home to a particulary angry species of Bears who sharpen their claws and feast on Badgers for amusement.
The map shows other dubious destinations... Peoria, Cedar Falls, Omaha, Wichita, Carbondale.......places no sane coach would lead a bus-load of callow, self-important youngsters without intense indoctrination in how to ignore leather-lunged partisans, crazed student cheering sections, ear-searing profane tirades, erratic officiating, dim shooting backgrounds, toxic truckstop tacos, cramped locker rooms, drizzling showers and damp, cold concrete floors . Sometimes IPODS even get misplaced (!) which could be the most unsettling fate of all.
Yes, it's easy to cruise in to these seemingly innocuous places , get off the bus, and get slapped silly in short order. Barry Hinson and his colleagues are not dallying away their time tutoring unskilled walk-ons. Nobody is suiting up student managers in the MVC. Talent trickles down here with amazing regularity. Perennial top-25 programs are finding themselves shoved aside by lantern-jawed mugs with bowling ball shoulders wearing MVC jerseys. Publicity and praise accrued in the early going of a D-I campaign can evaporate unless a team can slug it's way in and out of these and other ambuscades with dignity and RPI intact. Beware the bumpy road through The Valley.
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1 comment:
there were some big words in that one
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