Oftentimes when one event seems to complete a previous occurrence, we refer to it as coming full circle. Over recent weeks, my spectator role has put me directly in the path of various full circle moments:
When exiting Brooklyn’s Barclays Center following an exhilarating second round of March Madness, I remarked at how great the last game had been. In what now seems like light years ago, Notre Dame and SFA had gone back and forth, then ultimately down to the wire….with the Fighting Irish narrowly escaping with a “w” at the buzzer. The first game was not nearly as suspenseful. The hands of Iowa’s Hawkeyes were beyond full with the Villanova Wildcats. Shaking my head as I recall how mild it was compared to the way they manhandled my beloved Sooners in route to a NCAA Championship. Congrats to the Wildcats on a job well done!
A forty plus point loss is not how Sooner Nation had hoped to end our season…yet trust and believe, our pride extends to this year’s phenomenal team. Amongst them….Buddy Hield was rightfully awarded this year’s Naismith Player of the Year Award. While the loop has closed on the circle of his outstanding college career, his professional career has the foundation to be boundless….
Hard to believe I’d been watching Kobe “Black Mamba” Bryant showcase his super talents under the bright lights of Staples Center for twenty years. I sure don’t remember the first game I watched but I’m quite certain many would agree….the last was nothing short of epic!! I’m also certain the dynamic duo of Kobe & Shaquille O’Neal could have captured at least two more championships for the Los Angeles Lakers had they remained together. We all know how that show ended. Nevertheless, it was full circle indeed to see the two fellas have friendly exchanges as Shaq sat courtside ready to escort his former teammate off to retirement.
In what seems like a season made for a “Groundhog Day” movie, the Golden State Warriors posted a mind blowing 73-9 record. An entire season with losses in the mere single digits guarantees a place in the record books not to be outmatched any time soon.
Much has been made by the fatigue the team must’ve endured day in and day out as they actively pursued the previous record set by the Chicago Bulls. In perhaps one of the grandest full circle moments of them all….Steve Kerr’s name was already inscribed in the books as a player on that ‘96 Chicago team….only to have the team he now coaches, nudge them by a single game. No time like the present to be able to lean on a coach’s experience of having been there, done that!!
In lighter sports news….the scene was set…..at the Big 12 Pub Games in the downtown area of our nation’s capital. An afternoon that began with some light trash talking with a Texas Longhorn group….began to close with losses handed to them by our Sooner ping pong master…only to come completely full circle with my team’s stomping of the ‘Horns in Corn Hole. It.Wasn’t.Even.Close!!
