The Loss Column — Baltimore Sports Blog and Community

ed. note: the following post is by UMBC student Zak Bratcher, who attended last week’s game in Raleigh. It’s long, but worth it.

I remember going to my first UMBC basketball game two years ago. My roommate and I, both sports-obsessed freshmen who considered ourselves diehard Terps fans in our formative years, felt it natural to support our Division I men’s basketball team. We were playing Delaware sometime in December, a non-conference contest that meant practically nothing. Considering the Retrievers were coming off three forgettable losing seasons, the RAC arena was noticeably void of fans. My roommate and I represented two of about 30 less-than-crazed students composing the less-than-intimidating Dawg Pound student section.

I glanced at my buddy, “You think we’ll ever make the Tournament?”

Mostly out of courtesy, he didn’t respond.

At the time, we both realized our men’s basketball team had an arduous journey ahead to become relevant – probably too laborious for us to witness the resurrection in just four years. Hell, all we really wanted was for the Dogs to play a meaningful conference game in February. We weren’t holding our breath.

Last Thursday morning, a hoard of eight of my closest friends loaded into two cars, fueled up on coffee and donuts, and trekked down to Raleigh, N.C. Two weekends prior, we had logged over a thousand miles to support the Retrievers in their quest for a first ever America East Conference title, so following the Retrievers to their first ever NCAA Tournament game seemed only natural. After all, the 300-plus-mile retreat to the Mecca of College Hoops wasn’t a bad way to spend Spring Break.

Upon arrival, we followed Tobacco Road from Durham, home of the rigid, gothic architecture of Duke University, into Chapel Hill, home of the University of North Carolina. UNC’s campus has an overwhelmingly communal feel, highlighted by Franklin Street, a pathway connecting the university with downtown shops, restaurants, and bars. Clad in our gold and black, we felt right at home in the prototypical college town’s expanse of sky blue.

(more…)

UMBC did what they could today against Georgetown, but it wasn’t enough. They played it close, showed a ton of heart, and can leave their 66-47 defeat with their heads held high.

Hell of a run for sure. Hopefully we’ll have an on-the-scene report in a few days. Stay tuned.

Oh, by the way: the Terps got embarrassed by Syracuse in the NIT. Thus ends the Bambale Osby/James Gist era.

Soon there’ll be lots of college basketball on TV. But with college basketball on TV comes college mascots on TV, and you’re gonna need to be prepared.

People either love mascots or hate mascots. But there’s one thing you can’t do: ignore mascots. Here’s the best and the worst from the place where athletics meets community theatre and puts on a costume.

Worst:

5. St. Joseph’s University – The Hawk (view)

A school as over-priced as SJU should be able to pay for an actual mascot costume instead of getting the equipment manager’s mom to sew something together in her free time. The fuzzy sweatpants and Down Syndrome eyes and non-stop arm-flapping and delusions of immortality (The Hawk Will Never Die) inspire involuntary hospitalization as opposed to school pride. It’s telling when people find out you’re an alumnus and immediately ask “What’s the deal with that hawk?”

4. University of Southern Illinois – Grey Dog (yeah, that’s the official name of the mascot) (view)

Good old-fashioned nightmare fuel.

3. Three-way tie:
Purdue - Purdue Pete (view)
UMASS – The Minuteman (view)
New England Patriots - Pat Patriot (view)

People are ugly and scary. Mascots that look like giant plastic people are even uglier and scarier. The clever names are telling of the laziness involved in opting for these cop-out mascots. Two of these horrid things are from Massachusetts. Go figure.

2. Notre Dame – The Leprechaun (view)

Short, bearded, red-headed guys in green vests are made to be ridiculed and hated so it kinda makes sense that Notre Dame chose one to be the face of their school.

1. Philadelphia 76ers - Hip Hop (view)

Hip-Hop is the mascot equivalent of Poochie the Rockin’ Dog meets Chester Cheetah meets The Worst Attempt at Urban Youth-Focused Marketing Since Boost Mobile Phones.

Best:

5. UC Santa Cruz - Sammy the Slug (view)

Look at how hard he’s chillin’. That kind of easy unflappability can’t be bought. It can only be earned. Insect mascots are difficult to pull off. Where Buzz the Georgia Tech Yellowjacket goes so wrong with it’s translucent fish bowl eyes, Sammy goes so right. He looks like a less creepy Gelfling from the Dark Crystal. Plus he’s a slug.

(more…)

CBS tripped me up a bit, but here’s how you join the Loss Column Brackets Hoedown:

Go to http://losscolumn.mayhem.sportsline.com/e
Our password is: chuckwagon

I know this is late, and I know there aren’t any prizes, but join anyway.

Tonight was a good night for local hoops…sort of.

Mount Saint Mary’s took down Coppin State 69-60. After that, the Terps continued the ACC’s domination of the Big Ten by beating Minnesota — on the road in the NIT — by 68-58.

It’s a shame Coppin had to go home, but they did lose 20 games this season.

Here’s what I really want to talk about, though: the so-called “opening round” game, which we all understand as the “play-in” game. As in, here are two teams not really good enough to be in the tournament, so they have to “play in” to the field of 64.

It’s nonsense. It unfairly penalizes two teams who earned a spot. Coppin State deserved the same chance to stare down a #1 seed that Mount now gets. Why make them fight for it?

There’s an easy fix for this, and it’s one where everybody wins: have four play-in games instead of one. One play-in game per region.

Make Tuesday night a “do or die” night where eight teams square off for a chance to make the show. But instead of making these games a struggle among small conference champions, make them a struggle among all the major conference teams who were “on the bubble” on Selection Sunday. Give teams like Virginia Tech and Arizona State a chance to really play their way in. Then reward the winners with, say, #12 seeds. Continue to reserve the lowest seeds for conference championship winners who have already earned their shot.

Who wouldn’t come out ahead in this scenario?

I’d like to take a moment to officially invite everyone to participate in the Second Annual Loss Column Brackets Hoedown. Simply click here to register, then fill out your brackets and watch the fun pour in.

Unfortunately, there will not be any actual money or prizes or anything like that. This is strictly for fun and bragging rights. But, hey, isn’t that enough?

Remember to sign up before Thursday morning.

First, the good news: a Maryland team will win a game in this year’s NCAA tournament.

The bad news: it will be the play-in game.

On Tuesday night, Mount Saint Mary’s will take on the surging Coppin State Eagles in the “opening round” game. The winner earns the right to get throttled at the hands of UNC.

My beloved UMBC Retrievers, meanwhile, play on Friday against Georgetown. I like the fact that it’s an all-local matchup, but man…that’s a tough draw. I’ll keep hope alive, of course, but this looks to be a situation where just getting there is the victory.

I could be wrong, but this bracket doesn’t seem to include any great injustices or surprises. Everything feels pretty right.

The Loss Column will be setting up a brackets pool on CBS Sportsline, but there won’t be a buy-in or prizes. Unfortunately, there’s no feasible way to collect money because PayPal shut me down last year. So we’ll be doing it for sheer joy and bragging rights.

Consider this your pre-Tournament open thread and let it fly in the comments.

Tomorrow (Sat.) at noon, the UMBC Retrievers take on the Hartford Hawks at home with an NCAA Tournament bid on the line. Folks have been calling this the biggest college basketball game in Baltimore history, and if that statement is incorrect you’d have to go a long ways back to find one bigger.

A win tomorrow would pretty much wash away Maryland’s useless performance against Boston College yesterday.

The game is on ESPN2. It’s gonna be a good one.