PRICELESS ARTIFACTS OR LEFTOVERS LIKE GONZAGA

Priceless artifacts cast a spell. But it’s a good spell, not some doomsday end of the world sort of spell.

The feeling is more about sharing a world with the most amazing things ever made, invented, or found.

I’m not saying “Sharing with the world,” but sharing a world, like being alive at a time when amazing things happen, miracles discovered, like the Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl teams with Jimmy Johnson coaching kind of miracle.

With every expert sharing their wisdom with the world, something is missing.

I was in Berkeley during a 49er game in the Joe-era. I didn’t like the 49ers for a few reasons, ‘The Catch’, but their greatness was undeniable. But something was missing.

I felt the surge of excitement in the community, the same surge I felt in 2010 when the Oregon Ducks were set to win a national championship game against Auburn.

I imagined what it would be like for the rest of my life going to Eugene, Home Of The National Champion Oregon Ducks. But something was missing.

Priceless artifacts get tagged for the reality they invoke, and Eugene would have been one.

I saw a Colorado game at Autzen. Their bus advertised a co-championship in 1990 with the Washington Huskies. Good for them, but sharing a championship doesn’t feel like the right thing.

Priceless Artifacts In Sports? Fan Memory

Gonzaga basketball was set for the big stage made even bigger with their undefeated record.

They were the right team with the right coach and the right plan.

Baylor, from Waco Texas, had other plans for the night: shoot the long ball and pound the middle.

While I wanted to see Gonzaga run the table and send the Baylor Bears back to where they came from, it was not to be.

The Bulldogs played a finesse game of timing and position. Their guys looked like college basketball players, slim and fast.

The Baylor team looked like grown men playing an exhibition against high schoolers.

It wasn’t a stomp down at the end. Wait, yes it was, if a twenty point win qualifies as a stomp. And it does. Every time.

Afterward, one of the commentators said, “It looks like Baylor has a weight room.”

With guys as thick and strong and skilled as any team to ever show up in the finals, it’s time to dial up the importance of showing up big and strong.

In the past basketball players were warned off weight training for fear of becoming muscle bound and lose flexibility. But, like diet and rest, weight training evolved. Turns out you can add muscle to the chest and arms and legs and still play.

Pass that along to any players you know who might want to improve their game. Or show them game video of Baylor to drive the point home.

What happens to the memory of an undefeated season at Gonzaga? They had a nice run.

How To Store Priceless Artifacts?

First gather stuff up and assess which are priceless.

The wrong answers are “None” and “All.” This is like comparing depression and anxiety, another all or nothing deal where everything is important, or nothing is important.

Go ahead and show good mental health by going 50/50. After that put everything back where you had it. Now your priceless artifacts are socially distanced for the win/win.

That’s not how it works with sports memories. We only make room for winners, unless it’s that homer you hit in PeeWee Baseball and trotted the bases for the first time.

Who would remember The Miracle On Ice at the 1980 Winter Olympics when the U.S. team beat Russia in the semi-finals if they hadn’t finished for the gold in their next game?

Would the ’72 U.S. Olympic basketball team be more memorable if they had won the gold in Munich? Instead, they were cheated out of the win by sketchy refereeing and refused their silver medals. They even refused to attend the medal ceremony.

In the same Olympic Games, would we remember Dan Gable going unscored on if he had lost his last match?

Sports fans want it all, and they want it now.

What Happened To Gonzaga?

After a last second nail-biter desperation shot win over UCLA the game before, the Bulldogs came out slow. How slow?

The near twenty point final score started in the first quarter. The Zags turned it over under pressure, the sort of pressure Baylor kept up all game long.

Besides being big and strong, their guys were conditioned to go flat out all game. They looked ready for another game at the end, like they were just warming up.

Baylor forced Gonzaga to do things they weren’t used to doing, and it showed.

Bringing the ball up unchallenged? Make a pass unchallenged? Rebound unchallenged? Not last night. They were challenged at every step and showed how hard it is to function under that kind of pressure.

Gonzaga played with what seemed like the free flowing spirit of the game and made it look like fun; Baylor came in with a different demeanor.

They had what I call the ‘Lillard Face.’

Named for Portland Trail Blazer Damian Lillard, It’s an impassive expression.

I saw it when he’s been mobbed by teammates after a last shot win.

He wore it during a Scott Van Pelt stare-down on camera.

It’s a “Do you know who I am” reminder.

I expect Gonzaga to show more of this next year

What else?

That weight room. Get those guys in there and give them something to flex about.

Lastly?

Do a big recruit job on Jalen Suggs to stay one more year and join their next biggest of all time recruit for another run. Just one more time.

Jalen Suggs and Hunter Sallis? Yes, and it counts, babeeee.

With an extra year of play, practice, and lifting, I predict a return to the top with a different outcome.

Be like Baylor last year when March Madness was canceled. Some of their guys skipped going to the NBA Draft for another shot at a title.

Can Coach Few keep his guys on the court for one more year? Just one more?

They are the players who create priceless artifacts in fans minds that will stand the test of time, a Gonzaga national championship team.