I have written before about how I ceased being a sports fan when I became a sportswriter.
I think I’ve even mentioned how the one team in one sport that I never stopped caring about was University of Virginia basketball. I have lived and died with them — mostly died — since the mid 1960s. They certainly had a few great years, winning the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament out of the blue in 1976 and going to the Final Four in 1981 and 1984, but mostly they were among the mediocre teams forever chasing Duke and North Carolina,
But when Tony Bennett came to Virginia in 2009, everything changed. All of a sudden the Wahoos had one of the best coaches in the country and were perennial contenders. They went into the 2018 tournament ranked No. 1 in the country and suffered a horrible upset, but they came back a year later looking for redemption.
They got it, winning four games that came right down to the wire, including some that looked almost impossible.
They were the national champions.
I remember as that tournament neared an end, I said if they could just win it, I would be OK if they never won another game in the tournament.
They won in what was the greatest moment of my life as a sports fan, and guess what. They haven’t won a game in the tournament since.
COVID wiped the tournament out in 2020 and the Hoos didn’t qualify in 2022. But in 2021 and 2023, they suffered upset losses in the first round.
Heartbreakers.
They haven’t had that great a year this year (23-10 with a lot of bad losses) and they weren’t even expected to make the field of 68. They were one of the last teams picked, though, and they have to play an extra game in what’s called the First Four.
Virginia plays Colorado State tonight as an underdog. If they win, they play Texas as an underdog and go from there.
I’m more relaxed than I’ve been in years about it because I don’t expect anything. So anything good that happens is a bonus.
And someday I’m sure they will win again.