Viewings for Chicago-area alums

[Mr. Neutral]

Thursday's game v. Georgia--
11:20 a.m Central time.
Mother Hubbard's, 5 W. Hubbard
http://motherhubbardschicago.com/

Saturday's game-
Approx. 5 p.m. Central time
Merkle's, 3516 N. Clark (just south of Addison, west side of the street)
http://www.merkleschicago.com/

Be there or be extremely square!

[AlamoCity]

Oh Mr. Negative is not going to attend DC.

Going to wait and see if the team meets your expectations and then maybe make to Phoenix?

Nice

[Mr. Neutral]

(1) I can't get away from work right now, so it's a moot point either way.

(2) As much as I'd like to, I've rarely gone to X's NCAA games. I saw us lose to Duke in Indy, and get hammered by UCLA in Detroit. I think that's it.

It's like the A-10 tournament, where we historically are gone by our 2nd game. It's a long trip for not much reward, generally. When X was in the MCC and the tourneys were generally in Chicago or Indy, and we were always winning the thing, it was worth the trip. But driving/flying 1000 miles or so, just to come home pissed off after a disappointing loss?

[Wisexuowl]

<It's a long trip for not much reward>

You see, Mr Neutral (?) is a top notch fan ... but to go see his team play ..... he demands a "reward."

For everyone else, to see their team play in the Dance ... that is the "reward."

I will be for XU anywhere at any time and I don't expect "rewards." Now remember, you read it here first, IF, I said IF Xavier loses somewhere along the line, Mr Neutral (?) will be all over every shortcoming he can spew about.

I said he'd do it if we lost in the A-10, and sure as God Made Little Green Apples, he was on it like white on rice.

[Mr. Neutral]

You're somewhat correct, Wise, in that X played got outhustled and outplayed against SJU, and I said we got outhustled and outplayed (as did Joe & Byron on the broadcast). Sorry for calling a spade a spade. I guess I should have done what you would have done, and said that X played a flawless, intense game but the scorekeeper somehow cheated us out of a victory. What a doofus.

If X plays well and wins, I'll be very, very happy and pleased with the effort.

If X plays so-so and wins, I'll be very, very happy with the outcome but unhappy about/concerned with the effort.

If X plays well and loses, I'll be very disappointed but proud.

If X plays poorly and loses, I'll be very disappointed and pissed.

If we give away a big lead for the 3rd straight year, questions have to be asked. If we don't, then maybe the questions will have been answered.

[somebody]

Well I did choose the right one in 2004 and made the round trip to Dayton, Orlando, and Atlanta - if I count right I think that was 8 games. But I too went to many of the 1 & 2 out tourneys but while disappointed did not feel I was owed anything as I think good fans should feel. I remember Dayton, several in Indy, Lincoln NE, Minneapolis (may have forgot a couple). The ones I missed I usually wanted to go to but ran into complications.

Unfortunately health now limits my travel but I would be there if I could and would not avoid them because I figured they would just lose, as some seem to feel. I will be there in spirit!

[Xman95]

When X was in the MCC and the tourneys were generally in Chicago or Indy, and we were always winning the thing, it was worth the trip. But driving/flying 1000 miles or so, just to come home pissed off after a disappointing loss?

G, I'm often in your corner because I tend to take your approach of looking for areas in which to get better, instead of celebrating the many positives that already exist. It's normally a case of different views on something, although it doesn't mean we aren't fans and don't support our team.

When I was playing baseball, I might have gone 3-for-4 in a game, but I would think about what went wrong with the AB that wasn't a hit. Or I would think about the grounder that I thought I should have made a play on. It didn't mean I thought I was a horrible player, I just wanted to find ways to fix anything I could so the opponent couldn't take advantage of a weakness.

I think that's often your approach with X hoops, but it comes across to many as simply being negative and a hater.

That being said, I can't have your back on the above post. I haven't gone to X tournament games because it comes down to an issue of time and money...I don't have an excess of either! However, if I had the resources and were able, I would be at every possible game. I wouldn't be concerned about the result before they even played the game. X is my team, my school, my family. I would love to be in DC to watch them, even knowing they got one of the toughest #14 seeds the tourney has seen. If they got dropped, so be it. I would be disappointed, but wouldn't regret making the trip.

Look, I'm extremely nervous for Thursday's game, but I plan on catching every second of it even though I know there's a chance we could be upset. That's the way it goes. Someone has to lose. Hopefully it's not XU, but, if it is, I won't regret for a second that I plopped my rear in front of a screen and emotionally invested myself for those 40 minutes of gametime (more if we go OT again!).

PS -- Apparently the game isn't going to be on in the Cleveland area (Ch.19-WOIO) because we'll get the Michigan State vs. Temple affair. OUTSTANDING! I guess I'll be watching on the computer.

[Mr. Neutral]

95, I, too, would go to the game IF I could get away, but as I said, it's a "no can do" right now.

I will be joining other Chicago alums (I hope) for Thursday's viewing at Mother Hubbard's, and then again (hopefully) Saturday at Merkle's. My hopes are high, but my expectations are low. Maybe it's just my way of keeping from feeling even worse if we lose.

As I said, I used to make almost every MCC tourney, and had a great time doing so, but they were closer to (my) home and we generally did well. But in the A10 tourneys, with a few exceptions, we're almost always 1-1 and out in the semis, and I'm just not heading all the way to Philly or Atlantic City to go home early.

I never regret the hours I've spent watching our games on TV or the Internet, or listening to our radio broadcasts on WLW or WKRC over the years. Disappointed in the outcome sometimes, sure, but I really look forward to each and every game. Always have, always will.

[Xman95]

As I said, G, I'm usually in your corner. In fact, I probably enjoy your posts as much as anyone's. I really do think we have an "it's great that we won but what can we do to get better?" mentality and that often comes off as being negative. Others take the "it was closer than expected but we proved we can win tight games" approach. We might take that as being overly optimistic. Ultimately, we all want the same thing for X...success.

Now, after reading your last post, I think I understand what you were saying earlier in this thread. Maybe it just came across in such a way that made it seem like you felt winning was the only thing worth watching. Like in '04 the wins were great but the Duke game wasn't worth watching. Almost like it's not worth attending/watching if they don't win. I didn't think you really felt that way, but that's the impression the post gave.

OK, I'm going back to shaking like recently admitted crack addict sitting on a paint mixer. (Maybe that's a little much, but I'm already nervous and my legs keep bouncing/shaking whenever I think about the game...good thing it's an early one because I don't think I could make it to a Friday nighter!)

[Mr. Neutral]

Yep, I (and I'm guessing most of us) will be on edge until tipoff, and then we'll REALLY be on edge for the next two hours.

No, the Duke game wasn't a wasted experience for me, not at all. A big disappointment, of course, but I thought it was fabulous that we got the exposure from playing in that game, and I thought we played pretty well. Just not well enough, but, other than the result, that's not an NCAA loss I'm bitter or pissed about. We had a fabulous run against big-time teams, and showed we belonged. It was an exhilarating experience I hope gets repeated this year.

If X does that this year, and eventually loses a similar game, I hope I'd be just as proud of the program as I was in '04. Still massively disappointed, but proud. Other NCAA losses have left me feeling a lot worse about things than that one did.