Calling all Huskies! Time to do it again! Another MakersMuppet Respons

[huskies92]

Hi Everyone.. hope you had a great summer... Skinner Here again.. Figured it was time to get the Mojo Rising Again.. I have that special feeling brewing.. IT IS TIME TO RISE UP! We just came off two National Championships(that would be 13 in 19 years for our two programs!),opened the Greatest Practice Facility in the Country and hung our banners.. The Werth Championship Center.. Please go check it out.. simple said... totally amazing.. so many amazing people supporting a great university and program.

https://www.google.com/search?q=wer...mmyASLuIHYCA&ved=0CAsQ_AUoBA&biw=1280&bih=613

So I figure Why Not? Lets do it again. This time we will have 3 winners, I would love to see a third MarkersMuppet response about our program and for that I would offer seats sitting next to me in the middle of mayhem for the three best posts at the Duke Game in NYC/NJ.

Best, Skinner

just so you remember...

We have all experienced 28 years of the greatest basketball run since John Wooden. We were blessed to have Coach Calhoun lead us for 26 years. Now Coach Ollie, words cannot describe the quality of them as a coach, but more importantly as people. They are two of the greatest people I have ever met, I am lucky to be able to call them my friends. We need to rally behind through the highs and the lows (some of you seem to forget this) so that we can have the opportunity to experience what I believe we are going to experience tomorrow night. This is one of the greatest teams that we have had, both on and off the floor, in our history. I think tomorrow night we will rewrite the history books and find ourselves in a special place of 5 final fours in 15 years.

Calling all boneyarders (all true UConn lovers), lets do this! Join me tomorrow at the worlds most famous arena. You have until 10:00pm tonight to submit your Husky response. In the famous words of Keyser Soze, as you have found me, I will find you...

LETS DO THIS! Its time to do what we do when our backs are against the wall(#7 seed, blah blah)WIN CHAMPIONSHIP!.. As I screamed at Kemba, You are a Warrior after the 3 against Kentucky in Maui... and said to the greatest Uconn fan McIntosh ..we are gonna win a Championship this year(2011). I now say the same thing! It is our time and we can and will do this! In KO we believe, we deliver and we ARE UCONN! JOIN ME AND RISE UP!! ITS TIME.. TEN TOES IN.. THIS IS OUR CITY.. WE ARE NEW YORK'S FAVORITE.(oh i am sorry where is Syracuse, DUKE, Pitt, Indiana, UCLA, Carolina,Nova, Ohio State, Kansas, Texas and Louisville right now(no I didn't say BC and PC).. playing golf.. while we win a championship and open our NEW Practice Facility)

LET DO THIS!!!.. #IBLEEDBLUE #TENTOESIN #GO HUSKIES

Love you guys and all your comments.. but most importantly your love our our great school, our program and these players! We are UCONN! Let's go Huskies!

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Thanks for reaching out to the UConn fan base with such great enthusiasm, sincerity and generosity. This board has so many great fans. Good luck with your contest! Have fun in good health and continued prosperity.

 

[champs99and04]

I tell people all the time, I’m not a UConn fan. Calling me a fan would be misrepresenting the role that the program plays in my life. A fan is somebody who yells their guts out at games, reads up on players, and uses the basketball season to pass the chill of the New England winter. I’m not sure that description describes me. I watch game film in the middle of July, click refresh on the Boneyard every five minutes on game day, and write game recaps long enough to pass as a short Dickens novel. At some point in my life, UConn basketball stopped being something I was a fan of and became a part of my identity.

Sometimes, in the weeks before tip-off, my father and I debate whether to renew our five game ticket package. Dolling out a couple hundred dollars, driving a combined four hours and strolling back home north of midnight on a weekday is occasionally tough to justify. But we always come back to the same conclusion: life is short, and one of these days, when we’re not living together anymore, commuting long hours to UConn games together are the memories we’re going to cherish. I remember the long 12 hour drive back from Detroit in 2009; I remember falling asleep in the car on the way back to DFW airport in 2011. And of course, I remember day-tripping to New York City with my mother for the Michigan State game last season, all because of one man gracious enough to give us one of the best days of our life. My father, generally the one accompanying me to games, was away on an untimely business trip. As a result, my mother, who knew nothing of the game beforehand, is a rabid fan. Win or lose, these are all experiences I wouldn't trade for anything - UConn basketball isn't something I've merely enjoyed in solitude, I've used it as a forum to embrace the company of the people I love the most.

For everything UConn basketball has given me, I’m most thankful for the way it’s connected me to other people. We all have our own personal problems, but none of it seems to matter in the hours between tip-off and the final buzzer. The run this team went on last season needs no regurgitation here; beating Michigan State, Florida, and Kentucky in consecutive games while the experts were dismissing us all the while yielded another reminder that there’s no substitute for a group of players that love each other and believe. What endears me to the program more than anything, though, is the inextricable bond Jim Calhoun and now Kevin Ollie have created with the fans. I would run through a brick wall for these guys, and seeing the overwhelming outpouring of Husky blue at Madison Square Garden last season reminded me that there are thousands of others who would do the same.

I have already informed Skinner that I am pulling my name out of the running this year. As I’ve continued to emphasize, watching one of the most satisfying victories in program history last season from right behind the UConn bench, meeting the Calhoun family, and taking a picture with Richard Hamilton was like a dream come true. But despite the euphoric state I was in as I departed the Garden that afternoon, I couldn’t shake the small part of me ridden with guilt that my fellow die-hards on the Boneyard couldn’t experience the same.

So this season, when we beat Duke in New Jersey, I want somebody else to be the beneficiary of Skinner’s continued generosity. Kevin Ollie implored Shabazz Napier a season ago to share his gifts rather than keep them hidden. And really, it’s precisely that sort of selflessness that is a defining virtue of this program. If the leaders of this program have that sort of character, I definitely would not feel right about depriving the other thousands of deserving fans the experience of a lifetime.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Once again……

Once again they are sleeping on us. Once again they are clueless as to what we have and what we can do. Once again they are saying “yeah, they had a great run last year, and yes, they were better than we thought they would be o maybe we made a mistake there but they aren’t good enough to do it again”. Once again we will hear, once all is said and done “yeah, they’ve won a lot of titles recently but they aren’t blue bloods” to which Jay Bilas will respond (once again) “they question shouldn’t be ‘does UConn deserve to be mentioned with the blue bloods .‘ The question should be ‘do the blue bloods deserve to be mentioned with UConn!’”.

I can go on for hours how the supposed blue bloods all fall short when compared to us but that would be a waste of time and effort. This isn’t about them, it is about us and will always be about us. Roll the ball out, give us a chance (it doesn’t even need to be a fair chance, we’ve seldom been given a fair chance) and we’ll be the last one standing. Early on the haters will predict our demise but (I pointed this out last spring, from V for Vendetta) similar to Creedy saying to V “Why won’t you die?!”, the haters will be saying that to themselves about us. We will keep coming back, with a determination that few can fathom, a determination instilled by a man who as a teenager worked digging graves and cutting granite, a determination now taught by a man who turned a number of ten day contracts into a twelve year NBA career. Our opponents, who were handed nearly everything they’ve received in life, cannot compete with this. They can never compete; not with our hearing them knock us and wanting nothing beyond the chance to prove them wrong.

Once again they will say that our days are numbered, that we don’t have enough, we aren’t good enough. Please do, I dare you.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Sport is the clearest of life’s mirrors. There are rules and we know every one of them. There are clearly painted lines and instant replay. The games and seasons run their course in digestible bites. It is the purest stage to see ourselves in others’ moments of defeating adversity and recovering from defeat. We live and die with each moment because they are the athlete’s and ours both.


In our own lives the playing field isn’t always even. Some days the points seem to come on and off the scoreboard without reason. The clock skips minutes. Often we don’t know if we are winning or losing or even playing the right way. The battles are more private. It’s harder to see the greatness in each other and ourselves. Its why we turn back to sport again and again. To be reminded.


This is at the heart of fanaticism. Being a part of others’ undeniable and hard earned success, even if only because of where you live or where you went to school or because you liked the logo and colors at a young age, is addicting. At some point it becomes hard to differentiate yourself from that success. The emotional turmoil of being a die-hard becomes your ante. You feel paid in; a shareholder.


If you are really lucky, maybe the luckiest, you formed this bond with Uconn Basketball. The underdog story is the most often told in Hollywood. We can’t get enough of the idea that the underprivileged and unknown can pull up by their boot straps into something awe inspiring. It is our hope for ourselves. Uconn’s is a real and rare version of that story but only for starters.


It is seasoned by the virtues of the “Boston Irish Tough” Patriarch who became the man of his house at too young an age. The Not-A-Dime Back, spit in the wind, larger than life figure we long to be in our most vulnerable moments. The perfect flawed hero who at times could appear too tough on “his kids” but never as tough as he would be on you for your criticism of them.


Its seasoned by a legacy of selflessness and shared purpose. That each torchbearer is accountable to those who preceded him to carry the flame in the way that honors those who carried it before him. An often mentioned circle of brotherhood that spans decades and anywhere else would appear to be lip-service if not for the stories of player after player coming back to the program.


And Its seasoned by its newest protector, a leader in the truest sense of the word. A man who uses the game of basketball to exude optimism, perseverance and drive in a way that inspires all within earshot to live better lives.


This is a special thing we get to call ours. Something beyond a game. Something not understood in the sterile market evaluations of conference realignment or questions about whether or not Kevin Ollie would be in the NBA next year. Something only we’ve come to know the way it should be known.


If you were near enough to me in Dallas when the buzzer sounded against Kentucky you would have heard a scream that went beyond celebration into a place of defiance. Our story endures. Come and get it.

 

[Kitaman]

When I read these types of posts it makes me so glad that I am just a casual observant in all things UConn basketball.

Some of you guys (or fanatics) got a serious jones.

 

[OkaForPrez]

When I read these types of posts it makes me so glad that I am just a casual observant in all things UConn basketball.

Some of you guys (or fanatics) got a serious jones.

Do you know where I can get help?

 

[bazzdog]

Do you know where I can get help?

You don't need help-like Shabazz, you need to share your gifts my friend...

 

[Penfield]

One of my first memories is watching UConn play at the Civic Center w/ my Dad. The images will be forever etched in my mind.

Two amazing March runs since I started dating my wife. I think she is beginning to get used to it.

Three brothers all growing up obsessed. Every year it seems this program gives us new experiences to bond over.

Four of the best years of my life. I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Five banners will be hanging in Gampel next fall. I always believe in UConn.

Bleed Blue.

 

[Chuck]

Already going to the game so I hope someone gets the tix that couldn't otherwise go. My only dilemma is that I'm sitting in a Duke section with "important alums" and I'm supposed to be "on good behavior." I'd Pearl Harbor the guy (you know... when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor), but he's a great contact for tickets whenever UConn is in the NY area and I only have this stipulation for Duke.

Rob, thanks for the support of the Boneyard and, more importantly, the program! I know Rob a bit (although he does not know me through my anonymous internet persona) and he is certainly every bit the fan he seems.

Despite not wanting tickets, I'll give my memories anyway. I did not grow up with UConn basketball, or any college basketball. I became a "Big East fan" during the late '80's because I grew up in NY/NJ. My first UConn hoops memories only started with my decision to attend the school in '89 from out of state and being excited to watch Big East hoops. When I got season tickets people in my dorm made fun of me because "you can get tickets for any game you want." After an abysmal showing against Villanova in Hartford, nothing big seemed to be brewing. Fast forward a few short weeks and we had beaten top ranked Syracuse and G'Town teams. Now people were begging me for a ticket. After "The Shot" I was one of the first 5 people to have a couch on the fire in the Jungle (and I know who started it, but his/her secret is safe with me). That's when we knew how to keep our destruction orderly. The person that deserves Skinner's ticket is the one that put a dorm door on the fire. Somehow no room was found to be missing a door.

UConn basketball gave me some great memories, and some tough ones. I felt the losses almost as much as the wins. In fact, I was ready to propose to my wife on the evening after one of the Arizona day games. UConn was down and she was standing in front of the TV asking about outfits. When I got a little short with her she started teasing me about UConn losing. I lost it and we had possibly our biggest argument in the now 15 years we've been together. I'm glad I went through with the proposal in hindsight, but it was touch and go for a while there. It took a while, but my wife is a UConn convert. She grew up devoid of sports and went to a prissy liberal arts school. She shed tears during the Okafor/Gordon championship and stopped me from quitting on the team during the Duke game when I (as usual) thought we were done.

 

[GemParty]

Bump

 

[jleves]

Sport is the clearest of life’s mirrors. There are rules and we know every one of them. There are clearly painted lines and instant replay. The games and seasons run their course in digestible bites. It is the purest stage to see ourselves in others’ moments of defeating adversity and recovering from defeat. We live and die with each moment because they are the athlete’s and ours both.

.....

Don't know if I get a vote, but this has got to be a winner.

 

[huskies92]

Hey Everyone, the season is upon us. Some great responses here, going to be making the selections shortly. If you haven't submitted one yet, please do. This is will be a great day and a ton of fun. All the best, RS
GO Huskies!

 

[jleves]

Not sure if @Sandman is interested, but if he is, this should be considered: http://the-boneyard.com/threads/hi-my-name-is-sandeman-and-i-have-a-uconn-problem.67325/#post-1117243

 

[patrick]

I don't need the tickets either even though I'm sure your seats are alot better then mine lol......... Well I would definitely give mine to somebody else, obviously a uconn fan, I would let the seats go to waste before a puke fan sat in them!

My love for this team can't be measured by words! I not only wear blue on the outside but #Ibleedblue on the inside!
I did not go to uconn or any college for that matter and I still feel like I'm big part of the HUSKIES family! I'm 34 years old and have been a BIG UCONN fan for over 20 years! I actually shed tears for them my wife thinks I'm a big weanie lol but she knew what I was all about. In my wedding vows I clearly said "I will be there for you no matter what, unless UCONN is playing!"


Thank you Skinner not only for getting everybody pumped up but for being such a GREAT ambassador for the best basketball team!

RISE UP UCONN NATION! ! !

 

[intlzncster]

Already going to the game so I hope someone gets the tix that couldn't otherwise go. My only dilemma is that I'm sitting in a Duke section with "important alums" and I'm supposed to be "on good behavior."

My suggestion is to eat only burritos for a couple days leading up to the game. Then simply let loose all game long to you're hearts content. It's the right thing to do.

Aaaaaand there's my contribution to the thread. Mojo.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Ladies and Gent's, we're two weeks away from Duke. Last chance to stoke the fires in the Den of the Mojo Gods. Write well my friends.

 

[nomar]

I like turtles...er...UConn basketball.

 

[Penfield]

Date: March 29th, 1999
City: Saint Petersburg, Florida, a.k.a "St. Pete", a.k.a "The Sunshine City"
Location: Topicana Field a.k.a "The Trop", originally "Florida Suncoast Dome" and formerly "The Thunderdome"

We were told we couldn't win. We were told not to even bother showing up. We were told it was impossible.

Richard "Dicky V" Vitale actually had the mark of the beast emblazoned on his forehead in anticipation. The Devils would be the National Champions and all men would bow down to them as our masters, from this day forward and for all eternity. Michael William "Coach K" Krzyzewski a.k.a "Rat Face" was parading his minions through the streets of The Sunshine City towards The Trop, and asking all before him to, "Make way for the National Champions, the greatest team ever, the new kings on earth". Women threw their children to the ground to simply catch a glimpse of his rat like features. Men wet themselves in fear. All forms of animal, land, air, and sea, shat themselves at the sight.

However, there was one group of men that didn't piss their shorts. Those men were the 1998-1999 University of Connecticut Huskies. On their own march to St. Pete they had already taken down Road Runners, Lobos, Hawkeyes, Bull Dogs, and Buckeyes. Some of the most feared beasts of the continental United States of America. Maybe none of the "experts" believed in them, but there was at least one man who did, James A. Calhoun a.k.a "He who turned cow land into College Basketball Heaven". He told his players to "Stop drop, shut 'em down open up shop.", and shut 'em down they sure did. Oh boy did those "Ruff Riders" roll on that day.

First, they totally took this dude Elton "The unstoppable but stopped by the Huskies" Brand completely out of his game. Coach K was like "MY POWERS SHALL NOT LET ME LOSE THIS GAME", and he countered. But JC was like "Not so fast Rat Face", and totally countered right back at him. Ricky Moore was like doing some awesome defense. Richard "Rip" Hamilton was hitting shots left and right. We held a slim margin when Khalid El-Amin stood at the line and with the coldest of ice cold blood running through his ice cold veins, he knocked down two free throws. Trajan "The Alaskan Assassin" Langdon didn't assassinate no body on this day because he was too busy tripping over his own stupid feet. He fell to the ground and this dude Rashamel Jones picks up the ball and starts running. The Buzzer Sounds. The UCONN HUSKIES HAVE SHOCKED THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the Devils have been defeated. Coach K and his goons started crying so much that they actually changed the nickname to the "Blue" Devils on account of how sad they were.

This was the beginning of a power shift in the land of College Ball. Sure the Dukies may have one another Chip or two since then, but the Huskies have won 4. 4 freaking national championships!!!!

We meet again on the 18th of December. Sure its not exactly the same teams, and sure we have a new leader, but its still a meeting of GOOD vs EVIL or maybe not that intense. but still a pretty freaking awesome matchup. They have this big man that is unstoppable but maybe we still have a trick to stop him up our sleeves.

You know what people will be saying? They will be saying "The Huskies have no chance". Dickie the V will once again have the tattoo of the mark of the beast on his forehead, because he loves the Blue Devils so much. But we know whats really going to happen ------

THE RUFF RIDERS WILL ROLL

WE WILL SHOCK THE WORLD

WE WILL TAKE THE STAIRS!

 

[CallMeBruce]

For all the criticism Vitale takes for being a Duke homer, you should remember that we were his preseason pick to win it all in '99, and during the pregame, he was the one picking Duke the most tentatively.

 

[Penfield]

For all the criticism Vitale takes for being a Duke homer, you should remember that we were his preseason pick to win it all in '99, and during the pregame, he was the one picking Duke the most tentatively.

Revisionist history

 

[Gurleyman]

For all the criticism Vitale takes for being a Duke homer, you should remember that we were his preseason pick to win it all in '99, and during the pregame, he was the one picking Duke the most tentatively.

I think Digger picked us to win pregame (pretty much the only one in America). My memory could be clouded.

I will say that Vitale is a prince of a human being to deal with, and that helps to deal with some of his corny shtick. Billy Packer, meanwhile, was as much of an as you might think.

 

[champs99and04]

I think Digger picked us to win pregame (pretty much the only one in America). My memory could be clouded.

I will say that Vitale is a prince of a human being to deal with, and that helps to deal with some of his corny shtick. Billy Packer, meanwhile, was as much of an as you might think.

Out of curiosity, what were your experiences with Packer like?

 

[Gurleyman]

Out of curiosity, what were your experiences with Packer like?

He had the personality of a used Swiffer dustrag. But really I just remember this one snippet most vividly, where I made a reference to my alma mater (a pretty good liberal arts college), and he said "I don't understand why anyone would want to go to such a second-rate school" and turned away to talk to someone else.

He also loudly played the "do you have any idea who I am" card at some intern/volunteer while I was in earshot. Made a big scene out of something that didn't need a big scene made.

 

[huskies92]

Hi Everyone.. it is a new week and we will bounce back strong.. We are Uconn and we are National Champions. Thanks for the submissions, I will be taking OkaforPrez, Penfield and even though he said he was pulling out, Champs99 because his submission was great. Lets go get a W vs Duke and we will be off to the races. All the best, Skinner