"This year's Saluki basketball team reminds me a lot of a girl I used to know in high school. She was pretty and liked to flirt, but in the end, she always left me hanging."
Granted, I'm used to penning those kinds of ledes in regards to my beloved Chicago Cubs, who year after year build me up before breaking my heart and taking a bunch of my hard-earned money in the process. For example, check out this blog after the 2008 disaster.
I've always compared being a Cubs fan to having a difficult relationship.
She's cute. She has moments where she makes your day and then there are days where it gets a little rough, but it's OK because you still love her.
She promises she'll take you places you've never been before, and you believe her.
In the end, she's just a tease.
We don't stop there.
Here we compare Kevin Gregg to the girl we were forced to go on a blind date with. We felt like a jilted lover after the Bears decided to show up for a one-night stand against the Vikings on Monday Night Football. Lindsey Willhite played us almost like every other girl named Lindsey/Lindsay that we've known. Heck, even the Bulls had us trippin' over something we thought was special.
If anything, I have finally come to the conclusion that I either need better taste in women or better taste in sports teams.
As for my alma mater, I feel as if what the SIU men's basketball team is doing to Saluki Nation has reached another level of ridiculous.
It once looked like this.
But now looks like this.
Is that the correct portrayal of Saluki basketball? I think so.
In fact, this might be the most apt analogy anyone has been able to come up with for Southern Illinois basketball this year. I mean, it is not as if the cupboard is bare in Carbondale.
The Salukis feature a former All-Big 10 performer in Tony Freeman, who is looking to make good in what will be his last season as a collegiate athlete. Then there's a manchild in the middle with the 6-foot-9-inch Eugene Teague, who scored 11 points in 11 minutes even though he was saddled with foul trouble. Kevin Dillard is the kind of combo guard that gives opponents nightmares when he has the ball, but his defense in recent games has been equally nightmarish at times.
In fact, this might be the most apt analogy anyone has been able to come up with for Southern Illinois basketball this year. I mean, it is not as if the cupboard is bare in Carbondale.
The Salukis feature a former All-Big 10 performer in Tony Freeman, who is looking to make good in what will be his last season as a collegiate athlete. Then there's a manchild in the middle with the 6-foot-9-inch Eugene Teague, who scored 11 points in 11 minutes even though he was saddled with foul trouble. Kevin Dillard is the kind of combo guard that gives opponents nightmares when he has the ball, but his defense in recent games has been equally nightmarish at times.
That triumvirate of talent, along with the likes of Justin Bocot, Anthony Booker, Carlton Fay and a two-time Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year at the helm should be in a lot better shape than 13-11 overall and 5-9 in conference action.
And despite this heap of talent, SIU just can't close ball games.
Lots of talent. Limitless potential. Failure to close the deal.
Or as Tom Weber so eloquently put it, "The talent is there — the confidence is not."
And suddenly, the Southern Illinois men's basketball team just made me have a flashback to every Valentine's Day fiasco I've ever had.
Pretty girls and lack of confidence included.
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