LARGETONY Blog

Crocodile tears are fake. Gator tears are real. At least they were in Knoxville, last night. And you know what? Gator tears aren’t salty. They taste oh so sweet. Especially if you’re a Vol.

There’s always a moment in sporting events when you reach a point of no return. That moment where you realize that there is no way you’re going to win. There’s just not enough time left. Sometimes it’s a close game and it’s down to the last few seconds and you reach that point just as time runs out. Sometimes you’re far enough behind that you watch the win slip away with a minute or so left (and in sports, if you know you’ve lost, a minute on the clock is a loooooooooooong time.)

I’d say there were about 30 seconds left on the clock when the Florida Gators realized that even though they were making a decent comeback from what was as much as a 27-point deficit, they were not going to make up those final ten points and beat Tennessee last night. There’s something really fascinating a surreal about what happens to college (and pro) athletes as the game they were supposed to win just runs away from them. These big enormous rough tough trash-talking cocky men sit quietly on the bench and revert to being sad little boys. Remember when you were small and the balloon you’re playing with unexpectedly pops? Suddenly it’s all gone and you feel so empty.

Tennessee vs. Florida in any sport is always a big deal. It’s all anybody talks about for weeks. And last night’s game was the biggest event in East Tennessee since football season. It was one of those dream basketball games.

To paint the picture: Florida is the defending National Champion and currently ranked #4 going into the game. Tennessee was unranked, but having a strong late-season finish. The 25,000 seat arena was basically sold out (almost unheard of with men’s basketball at Tennessee. Peyton Manning even flew in for the game.) The game was nationally televised and called by Dick Vitale (an icon of basketball broadcasting who has not called a game in Knoxville in years. It would be like having Oprah over for dinner and her actually letting you have the first pork chop.) Tennessee was one game away from no home-game losses (something that has not happened since the year I was born-1975). This game would play a big role in how Tennessee gets seeded in the NCAA tournaments.

Florida jumped out to an early four-point lead…and never led again. By the end of the first half, Tennessee was ahead 50-31. Florida made a good run at coming back late in the second half, but still fell short 86-76. Ten points in a basketball game is a strong win. But the score doesn’t do justice to the way the Vols played. It was amazing. They way they played last night, they could have beaten anybody. Tennessee didn’t just beat the Gators, they skinned them and made shoes and purses out of them.

The only regret I have about it all is that I didn’t drive down and see it all in person. The attorney was there and he left an excited voice mail on my phone on his drive home. Would have been great to have experienced it with him.

But it’s okay. I still got to see the game, even if on TV. That would have been too good to just hear on the radio. Plus, I had Granny right there with me. She stayed up late and was in the game right to the end. She doesn’t care much for the Gators either. She probably wouldn’t even have one for a purse.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 10:45 am and is filed under being tony. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.