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Post by irishlion on Dec 15, 2009 21:32:46 GMT -5
OK - so I've been out of pocket for a week. Did I miss anything? lol
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Post by LIONS90045 on Dec 15, 2009 23:51:40 GMT -5
Nothing out of the ordinary irish. You weren't in South Bend were you? Welcome back!
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Post by irishlion on Dec 15, 2009 23:54:31 GMT -5
Well, as a matter of fact, I was....
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Post by LIONS90045 on Dec 15, 2009 23:55:34 GMT -5
Wow! What did you feel there? And how did he fans react? Etc?
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Post by irishlion on Dec 16, 2009 0:20:53 GMT -5
well, let's see. It was one of the more exciting things I've experienced.
The arena holds 11,000 people. There were 8500 fans there. 8480 were Notre Dame fans. 20 were LMU. Kind of out numbered. The pep band was there in force, and pretty large. They were loud the whole game.
The interesting thing was that the noise, in my opinion, helped our boys. It raised the energy, made it more exciting, and who knew what they were yelling. For example - late, late in the game - Notre Dame was coming down on offense, and the crowd was going crazy. But our boys were feeling the energy, and got pumped up on defense. The crowd could just as easily have been yelling for LMU to play defense - you couldn't tell.
Great memory - The last time out by Notre Dame - our players were coming to the huddle, and I saw one of our starters grinning. GRINNING. it was a tied ball game. Little time left. And those lions were having a blast.
The few LMU fans that were there were hugging and cheering through the whole game. It was funny watching the injured freshman - their eyes were big as saucers for most of the game. AO was too busy giving Luke fresh bruises to notice - but Edgar and Given were taking it all in. Kelsey and Kevin were also there, and smiling as big as can be after the game.
After the game, the security personnel, the ushers, the arena staff - everyone - was gracious and very complimentary of our players and the team. I honestly saw/heard/felt NO bad feelings generating from Notre Dame.
The boys have been thiiiiiissss close to winning every game they were in this year. I truly believe this game maybe the missing piece to their understanding of what is needed to close a game. Because they needed to:
1) Hit their free throws at the end (good job Viney) 2) Get a stop (great steal Vernon) 3) Get another stop (great defense Viney and Vernon on the 5 sec call) 4) Hit the big shot (great decision Larry, nice bucket JD) 5) Play 8 seconds of defense to close it ....
We did an interesting job on Harongody, btw. We played AO on him, wearing his ass out physically. We put Ash on him, pestering him with strength and quickness. Then, to close the last 10-15 minutes, Viney guarded him. Did you guys see that at home? We put our scorer on their center. And he held him to 2 points. We played 3 guards and 2 SF's the majority of the second half. Again - it was a great team effort, just fun to note that Viney's defense was critical .... (hi, jelloman)
I'm still tired. My throat still hurts. I'm out a gazillion dollars. But damn was it worth it.
Go my freaking Lions.
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Post by fanblade on Dec 16, 2009 2:31:07 GMT -5
Thank you for sharing your experience.
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