PERSONALLY SPEAKING

For me, 1995 brought further detachment from the Wahoo basketball program – I probably saw fewer games that year than any previous year since coming to Wahoo.  The reason?  Joel was in his sophomore year at Morningside and was once again the backup point guard.  But he was getting a good deal of playing time and the team had a very successful season.  As mentioned in the 1994 “Personally Speaking” the Morningside schedule made it difficult to attend the Wahoo games – and in 1995 we were attending all the Morningside games.

I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised at the success of the 1995 team.  I knew they had a great deal of talent, but I thought it would take a little longer for such a young team to “click.”  I have since thought that their success was partly due to that inexperience – they simply didn’t realize the pressure they were under.  In some ways, they took the winning for granted.

From my family’s perspective, after Joel’s first season at Morningside, winning would never be taken for granted.  After the humbling experience of his freshman season, the Mustangs had bounced back in 1995 and played their way into the national regional tournament in Fort Hayes, Kansas.  The kicker was that the regional tournament was the same weekend as Nebraska’s high school state tournament.  Attending the Morningside games would necessitate missing a Wahoo state tournament game for the first time.

Fortunately, Wahoo played the early morning game on Thursday enabling us to attend.  But we knew we would miss the rest of the tournament.  I had not been able to video tape much of the season and was grateful at least to be able to get the first round of the tournament.  I had made arrangements for some students to do the videotaping of Wahoo’s other games.  Unfortunately, there were no other games.

Immediately after Eric Eddie’s three point attempt skipped off the rim we were packed into our van and headed to Fort Hayes.  The outcome for the Mustangs was a sharp contrast to the Warriors.  While Wahoo’s 1995 team was a heavy favorite to win the tournament, Morningside was the underdog in the Midwest regional.  But the Mustangs pulled off the upset and qualified for the national tournament in Louisville, Kentucky. (We were able to travel to that tournament as well – the Mustangs were defeated in the first round.)  Joel had an especially successful tournament and our mood the next week was a sharp contrast to the sad pall that covered the Wahoo basketball faithful.  The Eagles expressed it well – “There’s no use in asking why, it just turned out that way.  So meet me at midnight baby, inside the Sad Café.”

*The Sad Café by The Eagles