Basketballs

This year we failed to pack anything orange; no orange t-shirts, no orange sweaters, nothing orange. Orange never seems to be completely out of place in Florence; people wear orange here occasionally. We packed out suitcases in late February and the normal reason for our interest in wearable orange things, the success of the local basketball team, was at low ebb.

What a mistake!

The SU women made their tournament and the SU men squeaked into their tournament. Both teams surprised us.

Sadly, the women’s games were not available on TV here. The men’s games were.

Because the first men’s game against Dayton started early in the afternoon, we were able to view the game at a college bar called the Red Garter (formerly The House of Sizzle). The game was the day after St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday which passes by Italians without notice but which is celebrated by the American students in Florence with enthusiasm. Since the students were probably still recovering from their Irish-oriented celebrations of the day before, the Red Garter was quiet the next afternoon. We watched a close game in the first half that turned into a triumphant success in the second half.

A few days later we watch a similar game against Middle Tennessee State though this game began at 2:40am local time. Again Syracuse and their opponent played close games in the first half and SU dominated the second half.

The third and fourth games were similar in that they were played in the middle of the night but different in that both times SU found a way to a miraculous victory over a worthy opponent. And after both games we woke up the next morning confused about what had happened a few hours before. Had they really won? Really? How did they do that!?!

Fortunately, through the wonders of YouTube, we were able to review the ends of those games to make certain that SU had won each of them. And we were without any orange to wear. Shameful.

We’re leaving today to drive south. We’ll taste some wines, visit the home town of grandparents, and finally arrive in small town in Puglia Saturday afternoon. This morning (Wednesday) we emailed the owner of the apartment to make sure that the internet connection that had been advertised was actually functional. You can’t be too careful with the next big game starting at 2:45am Sunday morning.

Go SU!