Upsets invigorate sports. For the good of the game, whatever game, craziness is a plus, particularly when you're a fan of a team that, by resources and public renown, that is unknown or discounted by the game's royalty.
I guess half the SoCon, at least, has knocked off someone in that alleged royalty.
As a Furman grad, I've seen many upsets, and knocking off a big school is worth at least 10 losses in terms of memory and pride. It's planted a general love of the underdog in me. Most of the times, when I'm watching a game and don't have a natural affinity (or dislike) for either team, I always root for the underdog. When the possibility subsides, I look for a surprise elsewhere on my program guide.
Part of this owes to my profession. I often say that fans root for teams and writers root for stories.
Fans of one team are demanding of it, perhaps in part because they have a personal investment. I'm not immune to that sentiment where the Paladins are concerned, but as a writer, I want Furman to win but I also want something to write about.
Mostly I've watched Furman on TV so far. Caleb Gilbert has been at most games. He went to Winthrop last week and he's going to Chapel Hill. More of my time is spent chained to the desk and heading out nearby to write about Laurens County (LaurensCountySports.com) high schools and Presbyterian College.
On Friday, we took special interest in the Appalachian State game. I was there to write a column. Caleb was there, and we also had Jamal Session to give video highlights a try. In order for me to be there, a new stringer covered the high school rivalry of Clinton playing Laurens, and it's the second time recently in which I erred in sending someone to a job without enough experience to handle it. I thought I had prepared him adequately for it. I was wrong. Young people have a tendency to say "yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it" and they don't yet know enough to know they don't.
That's a stereotype that doesn't apply to Caleb. We're remarkably attuned to each other's skills, strengths and weaknesses. We intuitively react to each other. As a 2-man team, we run a motion offense with a goal to make the rest of the team get it.
Our pairing, fraught with fortuitous coincidence, is so good it will really be a shame if we can't ultimately make it work.
Cuz, like, it's a ballgame, too. It's a season, too. Caleb's tryna make me hip, and Ima tryna make him wise. As you can see, he has amended the private vernacular. Aight? Bet.
I enjoyed myself immensely at Timmons Arena. I knew Dustin Kerns from his two years as head coach at PC. I'm as impressed with Bob Richey up close as I have always been from afar. It's a pleasure to talk to the young athletes at Furman. The most enjoyable work experience of the school year to date was the interviews with Devin Wynn and Jace Wilson at Wofford. Part of that is that they're smart, articulate and confident. It can be tough prying words out of high school kids. That's part of lifelong experience, though, and I'm occasionally good at it.
I try to use my experience, but part of that experience is understanding its limitations. I can't possibly know as much about a team as the coaches who work with the athletes every day, and I try to keep that perspective without using it as a rationalization for not writing what needs to be written.
I hope FurmanATT.com can grow to the point where we can staff every game, not just the ones that we can afford or spare the travel time. We'll be out trying to sell some additional ads soon, but it's taken lots of time getting our website up to the standards we want for it. We're sort of doing it all with mirrors right now, and it's a tough job to remain focused on a blur.
-- MD
