Advice from The Cup
posted by David Cloninger, 3/10/2010 01:54:00 AM
I am starting to be brand new.”
------------------------------- O.A.R.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Great movie, “Tin Cup.” I’ve long said that Kevin Costner’s only good roles are when he plays washed-up sports bums (with a notable exception coming in Clint Eastwood’s “A Perfect World”).
There’s that scene where Roy McAvoy (Costner) is talking with Romeo (Cheech Marin) about attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open. McAvoy likes it because it’s not only the biggest tournament in the world, it’s the most democratic.
Because it’s open. Anybody can qualify, anybody can win, anybody can be a legend.
It’s why I always have to watch that movie around this time of year (and the presence of Rene Russo at the apex of her hotness certainly doesn’t hurt). It represents the reason why we all watch college basketball in March.
Because anybody can win.
Even South Carolina.
The Gamecocks start the SEC tournament on Thursday knowing what they must do to clinch an NCAA tournament. They must win four games in four days, a not-impossible task considering the last two SEC tournament champions pulled it off.
USC’s middling history in the tournament is a factor, of course, as is the current team. The Gamecocks are coming to Nashville with, really, an eight-man squad. They will first have to play a team they just lost to at home on Senior Night despite that team not having one of its best players. Then, if they win, they get to play Kentucky, holder of the SEC Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, three first-team all-SEC picks, three all-freshman picks and a measly two losses all season.
But that chance is there. It has to be there. Likely takes a back seat to possible at this time of year.
I drove up here (for the second time in five days) thinking of some of the miracle teams I’ve seen accomplish what USC is hoping to accomplish. Most were in the ACC back before I knew the SEC had basketball, but all became legends.
Every year there’s one team that shocks the world and wins a conference tournament it has no business winning. That’s what makes this week, as the Cup said, so democratic.
Odds are that USC will go one-and-done. Darrin Horn may have pulled a Bill Foster, back when he was at Duke – pack a handkerchief for the tournament instead of a suitcase. The Gamecocks simply don’t match up well with Alabama and if they win that, there’s Kentucky, which is still not happy about that lost No. 1 ranking.
Yet, odds only count for so much in March. This time of year is about who wants it the most.
The Cup had a chance to win the Open, yet deliberately played himself out of contention because he wanted to prove he could make an impossible shot. That was a defining moment, he said, and when a defining moment comes along, you define the moment, or the moment defines you.
“I did not shrink from the challenge, I rose to it!,” he proclaims.
Good advice, from golf to basketball.
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“God, give me one shot and I'll break right through,
I am starting to be brand new.”
------------------------------- O.A.R.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Great movie, “Tin Cup.” I’ve long said that Kevin Costner’s only good roles are when he plays washed-up sports bums (with a notable exception coming in Clint Eastwood’s “A Perfect World”).
There’s that scene where Roy McAvoy (Costner) is talking with Romeo (Cheech Marin) about attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open. McAvoy likes it because it’s not only the biggest tournament in the world, it’s the most democratic.
Because it’s open. Anybody can qualify, anybody can win, anybody can be a legend.
It’s why I always have to watch that movie around this time of year (and the presence of Rene Russo at the apex of her hotness certainly doesn’t hurt). It represents the reason why we all watch college basketball in March.
Because anybody can win.
Even South Carolina.
The Gamecocks start the SEC tournament on Thursday knowing what they must do to clinch an NCAA tournament. They must win four games in four days, a not-impossible task considering the last two SEC tournament champions pulled it off.
USC’s middling history in the tournament is a factor, of course, as is the current team. The Gamecocks are coming to Nashville with, really, an eight-man squad. They will first have to play a team they just lost to at home on Senior Night despite that team not having one of its best players. Then, if they win, they get to play Kentucky, holder of the SEC Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, three first-team all-SEC picks, three all-freshman picks and a measly two losses all season.
But that chance is there. It has to be there. Likely takes a back seat to possible at this time of year.
I drove up here (for the second time in five days) thinking of some of the miracle teams I’ve seen accomplish what USC is hoping to accomplish. Most were in the ACC back before I knew the SEC had basketball, but all became legends.
Every year there’s one team that shocks the world and wins a conference tournament it has no business winning. That’s what makes this week, as the Cup said, so democratic.
Odds are that USC will go one-and-done. Darrin Horn may have pulled a Bill Foster, back when he was at Duke – pack a handkerchief for the tournament instead of a suitcase. The Gamecocks simply don’t match up well with Alabama and if they win that, there’s Kentucky, which is still not happy about that lost No. 1 ranking.
Yet, odds only count for so much in March. This time of year is about who wants it the most.
The Cup had a chance to win the Open, yet deliberately played himself out of contention because he wanted to prove he could make an impossible shot. That was a defining moment, he said, and when a defining moment comes along, you define the moment, or the moment defines you.
“I did not shrink from the challenge, I rose to it!,” he proclaims.
Good advice, from golf to basketball.
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David Cloninger. David is a full-time staff writer for GamecockCentral, and covers Gamecock football, men's basketball, baseball and recruiting. He may be reached by email at david(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.