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Travelling over to Tampa and listening to non-UConn people talk about the team and its accomplishments got me thinking.
My buddy Marty, a guy I know because we walk our dogs at the same time most days at the local dog park, describes himself as a "non-sports person." But he was quite interested when I mentioned I was going to the UConn game and was a fan of the team. He knew the team had won more than 100 games and thought the idea of any team doing something like that was pretty cool.
After the game tonight, our waiter asked whether it was a good game, and said, "Of course they (UConn) won. But he was interested in the details and later admitted he had never really followed women's basketball before. Later, as we were walking out, another employee asked for conformation that UConn had won "something like 120 straight." We told him it actually was 104, and he talked about how well the team plays the game.
Okay, this is completely anecdotal, but it appears to me that UConn WCBB has managed to insinuate itself into the consciousness of at least some people who previously had no interest in the sport at all. In my experience, those people seem positive about the team.
If I may hazard a theory, I believe it may be because so few of us ever have the chance to associate with perfection. It was one thing to be a Yankee fan when it seemed the Yankees were winning every year (even if they weren't). It was also easy to hate the Yankees for the same reason (Trust me on that one). But the Yankees never approached perfection. This UConn thing, for now at least, is unique in that anyone can sit down, watch a game and appreciate what they see. Perhaps it is only because, for right now, at least, no one can revel in the team's comeuppance, because it has not been comeupped (What? Syntax police alert!)
Maybe I'm all wet, but for as long as the streak continues, we need to consider the idea that, as Professor James Burke (remember his 'Connections" series on PBS?) would say: This changes everything.
Now, Just what it changes everything into is not certain, but UConn's performance may cause people to think about not only the team but the sport in very different ways going forward.
My buddy Marty, a guy I know because we walk our dogs at the same time most days at the local dog park, describes himself as a "non-sports person." But he was quite interested when I mentioned I was going to the UConn game and was a fan of the team. He knew the team had won more than 100 games and thought the idea of any team doing something like that was pretty cool.
After the game tonight, our waiter asked whether it was a good game, and said, "Of course they (UConn) won. But he was interested in the details and later admitted he had never really followed women's basketball before. Later, as we were walking out, another employee asked for conformation that UConn had won "something like 120 straight." We told him it actually was 104, and he talked about how well the team plays the game.
Okay, this is completely anecdotal, but it appears to me that UConn WCBB has managed to insinuate itself into the consciousness of at least some people who previously had no interest in the sport at all. In my experience, those people seem positive about the team.
If I may hazard a theory, I believe it may be because so few of us ever have the chance to associate with perfection. It was one thing to be a Yankee fan when it seemed the Yankees were winning every year (even if they weren't). It was also easy to hate the Yankees for the same reason (Trust me on that one). But the Yankees never approached perfection. This UConn thing, for now at least, is unique in that anyone can sit down, watch a game and appreciate what they see. Perhaps it is only because, for right now, at least, no one can revel in the team's comeuppance, because it has not been comeupped (What? Syntax police alert!)
Maybe I'm all wet, but for as long as the streak continues, we need to consider the idea that, as Professor James Burke (remember his 'Connections" series on PBS?) would say: This changes everything.
Now, Just what it changes everything into is not certain, but UConn's performance may cause people to think about not only the team but the sport in very different ways going forward.
