THE STUFF OF LEGENDS / GEORGE MASON
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Seven foot bronzed statue of George Mason, one of Americas founding fathers, draped with a basketball jersey and the school colors. As legend has it ~ a student will do well in their test if they kiss one of his toes and the team did precisely that before last weekend's games. |
From out of nowhere in a grim world of chaos and confusion comes a basketball upset of such immense proportions that it already has ascended to the stuff of legends.
Yes, a true cinderella team, in America's most eagerly awaited college sporting event THE BIG DANCE, has mowed down Michigan State, North Carolina and now mighty Connecticut in its improbable journey to the final four.
But to add to the drama ~ George Mason is a cinderella commuter University in Fairfax, Virginia ~ which has only been around for 39 years .
Pity poor Florida ~ who meets George Mason next Saturday ~ for George Mason's sixth man is now millions of Americans, including myself, who want to see the plucky patriots go all the way to the national championship.
Life will never be the same at George Mason University ~ home of the Giant Killers.
Liz Clarke, Washington Post, fully captures their delirious moment of victory.
Allen L Roland
George Mason Is a Giant-Killer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 27, 2006; Page A01
Jai Lewis hung the shreds of what remained of the basketball net around his thick neck. Lamar Butler, flashing a smile as wide as he is tall, tucked the string he had clipped from the net under the bill of his cap. Coach Jim Larranaga, 56, shimmied into a freshly printed T-shirt emblazoned with "Washington, D.C. Regional Champions," while delirious George Mason fans, their voices raw from screaming, snapped photos of the wild celebration with digital cameras and cellphones.
All of the detritus, no doubt, will be preserved for decades to come as mementos of the greatest day of their lives: The day the school in Fairfax pulled off one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history by toppling top-seeded Connecticut, a two-time national champion, to earn a trip to the NCAA men's basketball tournament's Final Four.
" They don't measure heart by inches," Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun said afterward. "They don't measure courage; they don't measure basketball instinct and intelligence. I tip my hat to their courage and to their conviction to staying with what they have, to the incredible coaching job that Jimmy [Larranaga] did and to everybody at George Mason University."
Patriot Will Thomas celebrates another unexpected win.
Photo: Getty Images
19 year old George Mason student Loren Parks said it all ~
" We just shocked the world ! "
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