Roundball
The game was never really competitive since the Idaho Vandals really couldn't provide much competition. I don't remember the final score because frankly I stopped paying attention toward the end of the second half. Still, it was nice to get out and see the Pack, which is the closest thing Reno has to big-time sports. Right now Nevada is 13-3 and a top 25-caliber team, although they aren't actually ranked because of a rough patch these last few weeks wherein they lost 3 of their last 8 games. Last night, however, either the Pack was great or the Idaho Vandals really, really sucked.
I wish I could say I was more in to basketball. Of the major sports in this country, it's definitely the one that holds the least interest for me. I always enjoy a baseball game, and I doubt there's a guy in America that doesn't love football. Even the strange, quasi-import sport of hockey holds a little bit of fascination for me, particularly around playoff time. But somehow basketball just seems, well, too contrived. The officiating always feels arbitrary, and it's too easy for a team that's been outplayed the entire game to get hot for two minutes and catch right back up. I played the sport growing up and through high school, but watching it, either live or on TV, usually can't hold my interest long. The only real exception for me is the NCAA tournament in March, which is always fantastic.
I do, however, like Pack games for the simple reason that it's one of the few things that happen in Reno that give this city a real sense of community. Most of the time this town feels more like a collection of transients and transplants who happen to be occupying the same space than an actual city. The Nevada Wolf Pack is one of the few things that actually brings people together, and that's pretty nice.
posted by Yukon Sully | 7:48 AM
4 Comments:
I kinda disagree with the transients and transplants idea. Most of my friends grew up here.
Guess its the crowds we run in.
Perhaps my assessment is a bit harsh. Reno has well over a hundred years of history behind it and is much more of a genuine community than a lot of other places. But most of my friends and colleagues who live here are, like me, originally from somewhere else.
That's interesting about the transients and transplants thing. As someone who's been here for over 12 years now, basically my entire adult life, I feel like this is still a very small town. Whenever I meet someone new, they always know someone else I know. That even happens when I meet people who are relatively new in town. But a lot of that could come from being here a while and knowing more people than newcomers do.
That said, glad you enjoyed the game. I'm not big into basketball, either, but have really enjoyed Pack basketball for a long time. College hoops appears to me to be so much less arbitrary than pro, simply because in college the star factor isn't as big. Plus, March Madness.
I'll take college over pro basketball any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Post a Comment
<< Home