Tag Archives: Transfer Portal

Hoopaholic’s Gazette: Commotion, Relegation>Elevation

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Come on Baby, do the Loco-Commotion

Skewed lyric to fit. With apologies to Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Little Eva and Mark Farner.

“What’s the commotion,” Kasean Pryor inquired via social media?

You mean, Kasean, like why were Cardinal fans fretting when you waited to (almost) the last minute to reveal you’d cut the deal with 502Circle to pledge your unwavering troth for another campaign at U of L?

That commotion?

C’mon, dude.

Speaking of almost waiting until deadline, how ’bout James Scott?

On the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride, give or take a day or two, the (former) Cardinal pivot bid his verily unanticipated adieu to the Ville, hitching a ride on that carriage of Cinderella before it turned into a pumpkin.

Commotion begat Loco-Commotion. Continue reading Hoopaholic’s Gazette: Commotion, Relegation>Elevation →

Hoopaholic’s Gazette: The Silence Screams

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Is it the lies?/ Is it the style?/ It’s a mercenary territory/ I wish you knew the story/ I’ve been out here so long dreamin’ up songs/ I’m temporarily qualmless and sinking

Ignoring my own admonition, that what I see while staring relentlessly into the weltschmertz of the Portal.

Mercenary territory.

Wish I knew the story.

Lots of ballers, thousands of them — 3,500 according to Seth Davis, only 500 committed — scurrying about, hands out.*

*Before we go any further, I want to explain something. I do not wish to come across as some cranky old guy, objectifying how much better it was in the good old days, two hand set shot and all. How loyalty mattered. Yes, I’m cranky. And old. But I accept the new reality, as mondo bizzaro as it is getting. 

It’s just driving this hoopaholic nuts.

The silence is deafening. Continue reading Hoopaholic’s Gazette: The Silence Screams →

Diagnosis: Portal Stress Syndrome

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It seemed a fascinating, obviously delusional comment to one of the many articles about Kevin Willard’s Week of Waffling. After it became obvious he was Mainline bound, jumping ship in College Park. (To be replaced with peripatetic Buzz Williams, late of Texas Aggies.)

A number of Terrapin fans weighed in. Invective reigned.

The specific comment was something to the effect of “Maryland has the most dedicated basketball fans of any school in the country.”

Unable to help myself, I immediately replied, “Really? You heard of Kentucky? Kansas? Indiana?” To name but a few.

Some fan bases are bigger. More vocal. Travel better. More obnoxious, if only to their opposites at arch rival.

But fans are fans.

Fan is derived from “fanatic.” Or so I’d surmise.

From the Latin fanaticus. “Mad, enthusiastic, inspired by a god.” At least according to one etymology site. Other “theories.” From the 1520s, “zealous person.” From the 1640s, “a furious person.”

“A fanatic is someone who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.” Attributed to Winston Churchill.

You get the point. Continue reading Diagnosis: Portal Stress Syndrome →