U.S. Reed and the 49-Foot Memory Maker

We recently passed the five-year anniversary of the moment the country shut down and the course of our nation's future and our lives changed irreversibly. We're better off from a health perspective, I suppose, but the number of ways in which we've gone backwards are hard to count, at least without causing inchoate rage.

Rather than marinating in anger (again), we'll use this moment to once again call back to a happier time. As I type from my couch in advance of not moving and watching 10+ hours of college basketball, we'll keep this post going, celebrating an unequivocally good thing.

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There's an ongoing political meme happening in the zeitgeist at the moment because That Fucking Guy mused aloud about whether people were better off today than four years ago. Over at The Bulwark, Jonathan V. Last has been making sport of the question, pointing out that four years ago we were locked in our houses afraid to touch anything while also being told that this little viral kerfuffle was going to go away in a few minutes.

As for the Gheorghieverse, we were more focused on important things like sports. The cancellation of the NCAA Tournament meant that all we had left were the memories. So as a reminder of that bygone and damned time and a celebration of what we have back that we took for granted, today we re-up a post from March 2020. Do enjoy.

Big Besiktas fan here. Go Black Eagles.

It's increasingly likely that we'll not see anything resembling the live sports to which we're accustomed for an extended period of time. The television/radio listings in this morning's Washington Post, which usually run to eight column inches of small type, offer us a meager two entries today: a Turkish Super Lig soccer match between Besiktas and Galatasaray at noon, and the World Series of Bowling Storm XI at 1:30.

If you think I'm not watching that soccer game from Turkey that features two of the country's big three, you don't know me all that well.

But if the games must not go on, we do have the benefit of the memories of the games that did to remind us why this time of year is often such a thrill. 

Thirty-nine years ago yesterday, and I remember it as if it were, like, 20 years ago. The shot Arkansas' U.S. Reed hit to beat Louisville is one of my earliest NCAA Tournament memories. The Razorbacks, seeded fifth in the West, fell behind fourth seed and defending National Champion Louisville with five seconds to play on a Derek Smith jumper in the the lane. The Cardinals' press had bothered Arkansas all game, so coach Eddie Sutton instructed his team to just get the ball as far up the court as they could.

And then this happened:

Sports was pretty cool.