Ball Talk

Charlie Maricle

SDSU vs. USD. Bush vs. Gore. Iraq vs. the rest of the world. Epic battles are part of our life and always will be.

Thursday night the SDSU and USD men’s basketball teams continued their epic struggle.

Epic battles naturally have their dramas. Bush vs. Gore had the hole-punching drama. Iraq has the Sadaam-is-hogging-the-oil drama. And, USD vs. SDSU has the dead-animal-throwing drama. This drama asserted itself at the beginning of Thursday’s game.

Most epic battles have their critiques. I will attempt to critique the USD vs. SDSU, Jan 16, 2003, game. The critique will include; the two teams and coaching staffs, the crowd, and the security.

First, the SDSU team gets an A. The primary reason for such a good grade is they won. However, during the dead-head-throwing drama. They kept their cool. They neither laughed nor cried. Very nicely done, gentlemen. But, I was unable to add the desired + to that grade because the final score was not 100-10.

The SDSU coaching staff also receives an A. The game was brilliantly coached. And, like the team, the coaches did not overreact to the coyote skull rolling onto their floor. This is commendable because the act could have cost them two points. The + is again withheld for the same reason as it was from the team. It’s all in the score.

Now the USD team gets a measly C-. They lost but also when they were given a chance to go up by two before the game started they didn’t capitalize. Their grade was raised by giving SDSU a pretty good game.

The USD coaching staff receives a C. The game was fairly well coached. But a key to successful play is being able to win on the road.

I give the SDSU crowd an A. The major reason is for the sheer volume level that was reached during the game. Major points were tallied by smuggling a coyote head into the arena and the accuracy of the coyote toss. It takes talent to hit center court from the student section. But, the act could have cost SDSU two points, also it shackled the bench with a technical. Plus it is a little insensitive and made the floor dirty.

I find the USD crowd deficient in all areas. The lack of volume, poor execution of cheers and excessive use of the middle finger merit a low grade. Granted, I am sure it is different when USD is at home, but if you’re going to come, come strong I say.

Since nothing drastic happened at the game, i.e. USD winning or a jackrabbit being tossed from the balcony, I give the security detail a B. Now this is good since the UPD and BPD are not the most liked people in this town. And they did miss the one thing they really were looking, the coyote. They did keep the red rage under control allowing the rest of the crowd to enjoy the game.

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