Terps Losses: Not As Fun As They Used To Be

In March of 2006, the Terps suffered one of their worst losses in recent memory. Left to settle for the NIT, they earned as a #1 seed with home court advantage through to the quarterfinals. Instead, they managed to get upset by the Jaspers of Manhattan College. Not only did they finish their season with a loss a team that barely made the NIT, it was to a small little known college known less for basketball than for being an amazing example of false advertising, located not in Manhattan but rather Staten Island (no offense to the RZA, the GZA, Method Man and the rest of their friends).

All things being equal, a loss of that magnitude might have left me in a terrible mood for days. However, all things weren’t equal. When I caught news of the game, I was just pulling into a hotel in Panama City Beach for a week of Spring Break excitement. It didn’t take long to get over Maryland’s season coming to an early end.

Fast forward to Tuesday night’s miserable loss to Virginia Tech that all but ended another up-and-down season in College Park. Instead of laying on a sunny beach on the Gulf of Mexico, I was under a blanket on a couch in the dark (Maddie was in the midst of a signature post-dinner nap). Needless to say, I’m still reeling.

As my fifth season as a Terp alumnus nears its end, it is amazing how much the 2006 John would be dogging 2011 John for how I cope with the complete and utter failures of my alma mater. Case in point – when the Terps got traumatically bounced from the 2010 NCAA Tournament, I ran up a hefty tab in typical fashion, except this time instead of doing it at a local bar with shots of SoCo and Lime and fist pumping to 80s hits, I did it at Whole Foods. Instead of boozing away my pain, I made steak and shrimp fajitas. They were delicious. In retrospect, it wasn’t quite RomComs and non-fat froyo, but it was close.

The fact that my methods for trying to get past a Terp-induced broken heart have changed so much really only adds to how depressing it is that another year has prematurely come to an end. Where did the spontaneous “Hey you know what would make us feel better? Let’s play some wiffle ball” go? Or the “Alright, let’s just start a Madden Franchise and take out our frustrations on the NFC East”?

I wish I knew.

With that, another chapter in the Book of Terp Basketball has likely come to a close. Still, the weather is supposed to be nice this weekend. Shouldn’t we be putting this tough season behind us with some glorious wiffle ball? I say yes.

In the meantime, hopefully the NFL will have a lockout this year because I don’t want to see what new unexciting ways of getting over a loss I can cook up when the Redskins make a run for the first pick in the 2012 draft and Andrew Luck.