Posted 2:23 PM by Alfred

I don’t think I’ve linked it here before (I know I have at least once at clipper), but Tightwad Hill is just an unbelievably good cal bear sports blog. This guy’s like an Oski Brittanica, and I’ve been reading him off & on for a while, but it was this post, about a random college basketball game from thirty years ago, between cal & Oregon, that ended up becoming the longest pac10 game ever (5 overtimes). Just the detail, the obvious love, the knowledge; the essence of sports, I really believe, is in the transcendent moments in the seemingly mundane. The true moments lie not just in the championships, the playoffs, the tournaments, but also, and sometimes with so much more truth, in the Thursday night games that aren’t on television, that are sparsely attended, that don’t seem before tip off to mean anything, therein can appear moments, that rise above all the things like records, stats, and banners, therein can flourish moments in which athletes battle each other, fans scream, the whole building feels they are suddenly a part of something that was wholely unexpected. When two teams that have had otherwise not amazingly remarkable years combine to create something that is bigger than all the individuals on the floor combined, when everyone walks out thinking “damn,” when you have that feeling of “I was there for that,” yet no one that was on the floor will be someone you’ll see on the cover of sport illustrated (though one of the ducks in that game went on to a nice pro career). Yup, the apparently inconsequential, that’s where the manja is. Now just don’t ask me what manja is. And no, Randy Duck (pictured) was not involved, way ahead of his time, but you know, Duck, Quack, Oregon, and Randy, you know, like weren’t those ducks randy? No? well, that’s ok. It’s ok. Really. My era, my joke, even though at the time can’t remember it existing anyway. I’ll be in my room. Gratzi.

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