As sports fans, all we have is hope

Hope is a very powerful aspect of sports. It is what keeps the players and fans ticking in a perpetual feeling of desire and possible achievement. No matter how badly a team is down in a playoff series, how horrible a team's record is or how immoral its players are, there is always hope that maybe someday that team can climb out of that massive playoff abyss, escape regular season mediocrity and have a team that wins the right way.

USD basketball hits rock bottom

USD basketball has been on a tumultuous downhill spiral ever since their miraculous tournament run in 2008. I thought this spiral couldn't get any worse after this season's dismal 6-24 record, and that the current state of Toreros basketball could only go up from here. But I was wrong. The recent indictments of Brandon Johnson, USD's all-time leading scorer, Brandon Dowdy, a former Toreros guard, and Thaddeus Brown, an assistant coach at USD from 06'-07', from the recent point-shaving scandal has placed USD basketball at an all-time low.

Mid-majors still on the outside

While watching The NCAA Tournament championship game on Monday night, I couldn't help but root for Butler University. I am one to cheer for the underdog in every way, and Butler was probably more of an underdog than advertised due to their current run in the tournament. Maybe that was evident on Monday night. Or maybe it was Butler's horrible, Kobe Bryant-like 6-for-24 game 7 of the NBA finals shooting that exposed them. Maybe it was merely an off night for Butler, or maybe it was the University of Connecticut's defense in the low-post. In all reality, it doesn't matter. Butler did not get it done, and the world is still waiting for a mid-major college champion. 

NCAA excitement unmatched

Chris Hanneke, the associate editor of this paper, always argues with me about how college athletics is inferior to pro sports. And it just may be. The quality is obviously not as good because they are not professionals but "amateurs" who play with the support of their university's alumni and sponsors. But college athletics certainly is not inferior. Even though corruption may be rampant in the big-time universities, it's schools like Butler and VCU that have gone against all odds to provide authenticity in college athletics.

This authenticity, which schools such as VCU and Butler provide, is certainly not superior to the NBA. But it provides for more excitement in a three week span than the NBA playoffs. And I am a huge fan of the NBA playoffs, don't get me wrong. I just prefer the rawness of the NCAA Tournament. 

Stars aligning in the NBA

The NBA is succumbing to the ways of American capitalistic society. Its biggest stars are joining forces to vie for a championship, just as America's biggest companies are merging. The NBA's stars are leaving small markets to play for the league's largest markets, such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Boston, just as smaller companies are merging with larger ones.

Consequences of looming lockouts

Money has become the overarching variable in the world of sports. It affects everything in sports, whether we like it or not. This is the sad reality of professional athletics today, and it has had a negative effect on every professional sports organization in America.

The microcosm of USD sports

With 4.3 seconds remaining, USD's Chris Gabriel could have clinched the victory for the Toreros. One free throw. That's all it would have taken to sink the Pepperdine Waves this past Saturday. As Gabriel was on the free-throw line, I could not help but display my elation for a team that was on its way to earning its first "winning streak" of the season. As an avid Torero fan, I could not help but be hopeful for the future. Maybe this victory would lead to a substantial winning streak. Maybe it would propel the Toreros into a West Coast Conference Tournament run similar to the one they had in 2008. Maybe, just maybe.

The San Diego Syndrome

At my intercession abroad pre-departure meeting in December, our professor announced that while in Madrid, we would have the opportunity to attend a Real Madrid soccer game. I was ecstatic at the opportunity. As an avid sports fan, I could not wait to experience the atmosphere of a European soccer match. And it seemed as if the entire class was full of excitement for this opportunity as well. I was wrong.