Happy 10 Year Anniversary To Gerry McNamara's Run Through The 2006 Big East Tournament
So the Daily Orange wrote up a fantastic oral history of Gerry McNamara’s legendary run in the 2006 Big East Tournament, which led me to watch the YouTube above another couple of times. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched that video from start to finish, but it’s definitely in the dozens. Those four games were the best. The running three pointer buzzer beater against Cincy, Boeheim losing his marbles in that press conference, upsetting the No. 1 team in the country, and beating good teams in Georgtown and Pitt. Just GMac swinging his Otto The Orange-sized nuts on the heavy hitters of the nation’s best conference. With a fractured pelvic bone. A fractured goddamn pelvic bone. Just one of those rare times when you expected the player to hit the big shot and his team to win the game. Definitely sports porn for Syracuse fans and residents of Scranton, PA. Plus the OVERRATED?!! shirt is my favorite Cuse shirt ever and still my go-to for any big Syracuse game (I went to Siena but I’ve been a Cuse fan my whole life).
I also cannot believe it’s been 10 years since those games. When someone says “10 years ago”, I always think 1998 or so. I imagine that’s what all old assholes like me think, but it’s still weird. It’s already been three years since the real Big East died, which absolutely sucks. That is part of the reason I hate college football. It killed the Big East and the Big East Tournament, which was one of the best events of the sports year. Being able to skip a day of high school and check out a TRIPLE HEADER of good basketball at Madison Square Garden was great. And this was before all the one-and-dones, so you actually watched players and teams that had an identity. The end of Requiem For The Big East is probably sadder than Requiem For A Dream. At least there was ass to ass at the end of Requiem For A Dream.
So hats off again to GMac. I truly hope none of those assistant coaches that voted you Most Overrated never became head coaches.
And since we are already talking about Gerry McNamara and Syracuse, here is the entire 2003 National Championship Game.
Goosebumps on goosebumps on goosebumps.
