Okay, so I am partisan.  I am biased.  But isn’t that what blogs are for???  Some of you may know (and others may not) that I am the play-by-play voice for the Loyola Greyhounds.  In my fifth year with the program, I have seen the lows of a 1-27 season.  Last night I saw the highs!  A 73-68 win at home over Rider.  Rider is 24th in the mid-major poll.  They have 6′11 Jason Thompson who is projected to go 15th in this year’s NBA draft.  They were also the first place team in the conference.  They left Reitz Arena wondering how they lost.

In the victory, Loyola beat a team tied for first place for the second time in three days and proved that they could beat anyone in this league.  They will have to in order to win their first Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) title in 14 years, as four teams sit tied for first place at 11-5, including the team they just beat Rider.

It’s easy to talk about how Jimmy Patsos has taken a program that had one win four seasons ago and made them a perennial contender, but that isn’t what Jimmy is worried about.  He cares about winning championships.  He cares about building a program.  He cares about basketball and the boys who play it.  For this Loyola alum, it is just great to see a winning atmosphere back at a winning school.  A school that has too long been known as, just a lacrosse school.

As I sit on press row calling games, I find it hard to not be a fan.  I find myself juming up when great things happen and expressing major disappointment when they don’t.  That passion has bled through everyone on that campus, students, faculty, and administrators alike.  That is what people like Jimmy Patsos inspire.   Terps fans know his mentor Gary Williams has been doing the same in College Park for almost two decades.

Posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 5:46 pm.
Categories: 1300 News.
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