Friday, March 21, 2008

you done made clawed z. eagle and me proud


It was quite an experience to watch an NCAA March Madness game featuring the powerhouse of the University of Tennessee and hear the commentator say, "The American University is situated on Embassy Row in our nation's capital, Washington, DC." Had I entered some kind of alternate universe? With five minutes remaining, the game had been tied a few times, and AU was making UT work for their one point lead (49-50). While I still blame American University for poisoning me with their arsenic, and have never felt that my school pride extended far beyond the results of the multi-million dollar endowment dedicated exclusively to flowers on campus, - - today I was certainly cheering!

I actually live in Tennessee, a place where fans paint themselves orange and use all kinds of
crazy language like "dominate over" and "suck it." Even my sweet and soon-to-be ordained Divinity School friends Khette and Lillian, have already been ordained by the religion of UT and are the most loyal Vols fans I know. They have even been known to create fear in hearts with their subtle (i.e. orange striped socks) and not so subtle (i.e. "I BLEED ORANGE" t-shirts) displays of allegiance to their team. As you can imagine, this is quite a contrast to my relationship with my undergraduate experience. Perhaps AU might have had a little more luck in the end, if last night I had slept in my black Ann Taylor suit and US Congress ID badge: the uniform of my undergraduate University.


During the final two minutes of the game, when AU apparently forgot how to play basketball, the announcer said, "This will look a lot different in the newspaper tomorrow than it felt watching the game. American University has tenacity about them, don’t they?!" Maybe the tenacity comes from that fact that they are required to sit in class. The Patriot League: scholars, athletes, future leaders. . .

3 comments:

Lillian said...

That last comment just made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. The Southeastern Conference - drinkers, farmers, future republican party donators.

Kate Augusta said...

Lil - Love the SEC! Love it!

Killer K said...

Today was possibly one of the watershed moments for the AU community in the new millennium. Maybe not on par with the John F. Kennedy appearance that was the high water mark for the first 100 years, but certainly introducing, re-introducing or further maturing the unique bond an individual has to their alma matter. Once an Eagle....