FanNation - The Republic of Sport

It's late February. And I should be excited. Actually, excited is the wrong word. I get excited when a good episode of Seinfeld is on, I get excited when Jennifer Connely smiles. The month of March is rapidly approaching, a period of time when everything seems to stop and 100% of my focus is devoted to college basketball. I should be elated, ecstatic, jubilant, PUMPED!

And I'm not. 

Why? Because I'm a Providence College Friars fan. 

For those unfamiliar with my Friars, they are a part of the 16-team Big East Conference, where they currently dwell in the bottom quarter of the league standings next to teams like Rutgers and South Florida. I've been a life-long fan, going to games at the Providence Civic Center (now known as the Dunkin Donuts Center, the "Dunk") with my father and older brother since I can remember. We've had some great players in my lifetime, some who made names for themselves simply by having memorable names, like God Shammgod, our ankle-destroying point guard who led PC to an Elite Eight in '97 (the last PC team to win a NCAA game). We can also brag about Austin Croshere, Ryan Gomes, Dickey Simpkins, and Eric Williams, players who have enjoyed mildly successful professional careers in the NBA.

But times are tough now in the Ocean State's capital city. PC came into this year with a great deal of promise, making the NIT the year before with a team full of sophomores and freshmen. This year, with a team full of battle-tested vets, was determined by many as an NCAA tourney or bust.

Bust for whom, you ask? That would be Tim Welsh, our head coach/whipping boy/scapegoat for everything that goes wrong in the city of Providence. Welsh is booed by fans during introductions at home games, so much to the point where Dunk officials blast music almost simultaneously and the PA announcement sounds like "The Friars are led by head coach Tim Wel--BOOOOO". Welsh is in his 10th year, and doesn't have too much to show during his decade. The Friars have 2 NCAA trips (both 1st round L's), 2 NIT's, and 1, count 'em, 1 win in the Big East Tournament. 

This is the last year that the Big East will be excluding the bottom four teams from the conference tournament in Madison Square Garden. Come the end of the season, my Friars will once again, for the second time in three years, be one of those four teams to not even have a chance to participate in March Madness. PC is currently 4-10 in league play, and has four games remaining to try and qualify. Am I optimistic? Always. But the realistic side of me says to throw in the towel, to pray to the Gods for a new coach at the end of the season, so that maybe one day PC can restart a program that once used to be a proud winning tradition. 

So it's days away from March. Days away from Madness. And I'm just mad.