There are several story lines to this national title game and none hit closer to home to guys like myself than a bunch of "mid" major guys up against the juggernaut that is Duke Basketball. I played mid major basketball and had the privilege of working out, and it was a privilege bc Coach K is a class act, at Duke during the summers and taking lumps from there star PG jay Williams throughout my college summers. I remember being the same age if not older but looking at them as if they had made it to the promise land which they had and thinking, I wonder what it would be like to play MAJOR D1 basketball. Butler, George Mason and several other giant killers through out the years have given guys like myself a renewed sense of pride in our "mid Major" status which has all but been erased. In todays game, it has gotten to where passion and know how surpass raw talent and stars. Teams beat draft picks, and love stories are written in gyms that only ESPN affiliates have directions to. Tonight's game will be one for the ages before the ball is even tossed up. Many of us will watch and route for a team we have no direct connection to but feel a closeness to all of their players bc at one point in time, that was us, that was me, and that was my dream. I thank Butler for making my dream although passed, a realization that hard work surpasses boundaries and the norm of tradition. In closing for this inagural venture into online blogging, all I have to say is Go DOGS......
Graham Bunn
Appalachian State University Class of 2003
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