Settling down with the laptop as sidekick, I was making my way, virtually, you will perceive, around the virtually active world of our cybering space, as I moved surreptitiously through the daily routine of visitations to web-sites unseen… Well, at least since a previous day!
Little did I know of the humourous and historical real-life observations that one would be swept along with, as events long centered from the Land of the Long White Cloud, would encourage adrenaline-induced bloggers to get a little sport-giddy, while us visitors were able to read on from afar!
Regular Readers will perceive this bloggers disease with the sporting pursuits around this privileged planet, and so it was the context of this digression that first peaked my curiosity, in the context of a Facebook-ing friend, my ex-Principal, Tom Golding…
… at the College where I completed my undergraduate (BTW, while he is a saint in the Biblical sense of the term, the photogenic glow is slightly too iconic… no protestations!), with the following words…
Go Panthers! Can they hold on?
Suffice it to say, while the words were typed to the Golding Tom, one did not make the connection, particularly the link with a number of excitable bloggers, until things were getting near the business end of the “Go Panthers” event.
The context for these words was made many moons ago, as Tom and I would often talk shop… sport… at College, and I do remember his reflections about his small University struggling to make a B-Balling impact on the National scene… or such sounds suitable for this blogging purpose, as that historical context, is making much in a present contest.
Providentially, the Twitter page was also presenting its very usual living updates, where further “Go Panthers” information began to take shape, which is where a band of few bloggers came to the fore (having ESPN on cable also helped in this regard, as one could also see what the few bloggers and the words to a Principal were virally unfolding)…
The first blogging sign was from the proprietor of takeyourvitaminz, one Zach Nielsen…
… with the following affirmations coming forth from his Twitter page…
Northern Iowa and UNM play very soon. If they both win I will spaz.
UNI looking strong right off the top!!!! Wow.
Northern Iowa is literally shooting 80
80
Sorry, 80% from the field. Unreal.
If UNI wins it will be the biggest win in school history. So good. If they keep shooting like this they will win.
UNI Panters!!! 12 more minutes!!! Oh my word!!
UNI Panthers I mean.
Already, any sporting fan worth their fair share of seasonal heartache, can see the tell-tale signs of adrenalin-induced, seeing-the-potential-of-victory overdosing, beginning to take its effect, as Nielsen was even fumbling the delivery of his own team.
Still not putting five-and-two together… that’s a converted Try in Rugby Union… the theater of the moment was still very enjoyable to behold, with even a little chortle or two, as this blogger has also practiced the pursuit of grown men going silly with delirium and delight of events on a given field/ hardwood of dreams!
If the header has not illumined exactly what I am on about, let me make this more explicit (at least through a “kiwi” explanatory paradigm).
Presently taking place in a US context, is the process to find the Collegiate National Champion for Men’s Division I Basketball… or, more simply, to find the best College Men’s Basketball team, through what can be described as the elimination play-off process (or words to that effect).
Therefore, the game in question between, the University of Northern Iowa… Who?… and top-ranked, the University of Kansas, would result in one team continuing on in their quest for College Basketball glory in the year 20-10, with the other team, the loser, freeing up their calendar of commitments to concentrate more fully on their educations… Season Over!
The Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner (Thanks Sportscenter), would go on… so, it was a sport-important kinda moment…
With all this in mind, another blogging proponent entered the conversation… He also has a day job (not suggesting Nielsen is a blog-bum, but I am aware of Perman’s position), which we will get to, but, without further fanfare… Introducing Matt Perman, who blogs forth at What’s Best Next…
… Who also has something to say in the “Go Panthers” context, via his Twitter page, with the following reverberations…
Amazing–UNI, my alma mater, is up by 9 over Kansas.
Let’s go UNI.
As noted, Perman is not a one-blog-trick-pony, as he is also the senior director of strategy at DesiringGod, and while you will see-to-feel that he is less enthused than Nielsen, the significance of the moment was surely being experientially inculcated… maybe even through the grid of an administratively savvy guy!
It was also around this time that one began to realise the inbreeding, I mean, the interconnectedness of what was taking place, which was further underscored from the Z’s blog, with a post that details certain strange manifestations from a certain roommate at College… at the “Go Panthers” University of Northern Iowa… this certain roommate being none other than the blogging 7-11, one Justin “the Source” Taylor, which is humourously detailed… HERE!
Nevertheless, getting back to our timeline, the clock was running down in our Basketball contest, and the Nielson was Tweeting On…
This could be the greatest upset if they can hold on. You know KU is going to make a huge run right now.
UNI could actually do this!!! Oh my.
Could they? Would they? The plot-line was beginning to up the ante, where only one… team, that is, could survive!
This is where the “mo” of the moment began to take even more than a mo-mentary effect, as decreasing levels of oxygen descended from the brain, as the “out-breathing” of Zach began to encourage weird-out-loud mo-ments of tomfoolery, as the following words explicate…
I am doing flips in my room right now
Oh MY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t deal with this
And Nielsen thinks Taylor’s squealing escapade in College would have been worth its price in video gold! If only the walls had zoom lenses!
Although, as all sporting neo-phytes will empathise, it is all too easy to lose face on the sporting yellow brick road, where getting caught in the moment, can spell Kansas on the pursuit to victory! With this moment nearing the end, with the scores tightening, clock ticking, anxiety rising, Perman would exclaim…
It didn’t look like he stepped out of bounds.
No, this isn’t line-dancing, as Perman was noting, what could very well have been, a pivotal Northern Iowa mistake!
However, just when you thought this could not get more Twitter-liciously exciting, thinking you had read it all, Nielsen drops the ball, and begins to talk about… stones?!…
Please, Ladies, avert your eyes, as the gutter will ensue…
I can’t believe he took that shot!!!! Huge stones
If one is to invoke the culturally used and abused imagery of this reflecting a context of David and Goliath proportions, one can genuinely ask, How Does This Reference Relate to the Sling? Mmmm
While thinking about this theologically, Perman, showing admirable restrain, unwittingly completed identity theft, by commenting on the identical moment, with much more reasoned words…
Way to take the shot!!!
That’s the way to do it. The chance is there, take the risk.
This is no Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, as such a chance, is definitely worth the risk! You can bank on that one!
And Banking on Farokhmanesh yielded three-fold.
Nevertheless, with time running out, and the victory in their grasp, the only question worth asking is, would they steal defeat from the jaws of victory?
Nielsen keys us in to what is transpiring…
They make free throws and they win
Got to handle the pressure this last time and they win with one free throw
One free throw and it’s over!!!!
Do you get the point? There are plenty of positives in rote of repetition!
Was the free-throw made… twice? Would Northern Iowa hold on, would something go terribly wrong, like shooting the free-throws the wrong way?
Enough from me, it is over-to-out, to the two tweeters… Nielsen will take the mike…
YESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yesyesyesyeyseyesyesyeysey CRAZY!!!!!!
My alma mater!!!!! YES!!!! Biggest win in history!!!!
If you think VitaminZ was getting a little giddy, Perman notes this moment with a stoical and simple…
Yes!!!
Yes, the University of Northern Iowa had just rewritten Collegiate Basketball history. If you think that the previous descriptions were nothing more than words, consider the following from Nielsen…
I am shaking right now.
And after some good-natured ribbery to the opposition…
Panthers love to eat Jayhawks
Nielsen would go on to further exclaim…
Still shaking. Can’t believe he took that shot.
Yes, that shot sent both bloggers into lad-hood, and when there is a sporting contest, the lad can very often present himself!
The final word goes to the lads who finish off, with some eerily prophetic words, No?!
Perman: Kansas goes down. Next, Obamacare
Nielsen: Obama had KU winning it all. I wonder if health care will go down in flames too?
However, the very sort-of final words in this sporting epic, proudly bought to you by the powers endemic in social networking, will be left to Principal Golding, who had been silent on the Facebook front throughout these unfolding festivities, but who would not stay silent forever, and could not resist a…
UNI Panthers!
… which, very simply, and very explicitly provides the connection for this band of unknown Northern Iowa brothers, from differing generations, domiciled on different continents, who are none-the-less, chosen to be brought-together-brothers in Christ, with such as a sporting moniker bringing together this moment!
Just when you thought this was just another mo-ment in time… Have a random guess of the subject matter of their latest posts?
Zach Nielsen… You Can’t Be Serious With That Shot!!!
Justin Taylor… How Bout Them Panthers?!
Matt Perman… Well, He Will Probably Get There, in an Understated Way!
You can also read this report in the NY Times!
Who would have thought a blogger in the city of some 80,000 people, in the land of New Zealand, would be making comments about the lives of individuals, one from an educational past, and three, who are merely figments on a computerised page, all completing their activities on an individual basis, in the privacy of their own existence, but thanks to the wonders of this present world, the ends of this very Earth, can join in the celebration?!
The wonders and potential in this social networking world (there are pitfalls as well), leads me to ponder certain things… but these must wait… If you would like to taste and see, I have some thoughts in another context… HERE!
While these words must wait, it is not for the next University of Northern Iowa victory, as such is merely hope, and in this context, such may indeed disappoint, but these words await the commodity of time on another day, where what I type on my screen, may even make it to Cedar Falls!
Its Been Special… and Until Next Time (a Double Portion indeed)
I am Jonny King
Recent Comments