Someday they will

Hoping to do for Night Ranger what some Arizona DJ did for Sheriff in 1988. (GOOGLE IT everyone except @NUHF!)

I am not paid good money to come up with words at times like this. But I am, contrary to what you might think reading my Twitter feed, just about speechless.

Several hours after coming agonizingly close to what would have been, by far, the biggest victory in the history of Hofstra athletics, I have no idea how to put the Flying Dutchwomen's flirtation with a berth in the Women's College World Series, and the pair of 2-1 Super Regional losses to South Florida Saturday that ended their season, into proper context.

Part of me wishes I could just give this the who-what-when-where-and-how wire service treatment and be done with it. But something that stings this much, and made Hofstra fans care so much, deserves more than straight wire copy.

In particular, the five Ws would do a disservice to the Flying Dutchwomen, who were so close to flinging their gloves skyward that we could taste the celebratory Tweets and feel the cotton of our College World Series T-shirts, and to the mercilessly cruel twists of fate that have them flying home this morning instead of boarding a flight to Oklahoma City.

A team that was as close to perfect as possible heading into the Super Regional—the Dutchwomen won 37 of 38 games in the 45 days leading up to Saturday—and needed to win just one more game to make the World Series instead saw its season conclude with two one-run losses in a span of six hours.

The Dutchwomen left an average of seven runners on base in 54 games prior to this weekend but stranded 31 in three games in Tampa. They left 11 on in Saturday's first game, when the Dutchwomen had the go-ahead run in scoring position five times, including one runner at third, in the first eight innings and had the winning run at second with one out in the eighth. After South Florida scored twice in the top of the ninth, the Dutchwomen twice loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning.

"If we could have gotten one key hit…" Dutchwomen coach Bill Edwards told reporters at the postgame press conference. "We were leaving runners at second and third, bases loaded, time and time again. It's obviously a credit to the pitching, but we've been here before and it's amazing how you get on a run and you win so many games because you're getting those key hits.

"And all of a sudden you get in a situation where we had the same opportunity today in both games that we've had in the last 40 games of the year. And it's amazing how this game—how we really have no control over the game."

It's also amazingly cruel that the one person who controlled Hofstra's fate, and did more than anyone could have possibly asked in order to get the Dutchwomen into the World Series, was the one who not only took both losses but made the final out in each game.

In 19 years of following Hofstra athletics, I have never seen an individual performance as gallant, inspiring and noble as Olivia Galati's effort Friday and Saturday. To simply write Galati threw all 27 innings this weekend doesn't do her justice. She threw all 11 innings of the longest Super Regional game ever Friday night, then another nine in Saturday's opener, then all seven in the elimination game that started 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.

Most of us will never comprehend nor know how tired Galati had to be out there as the sun beat down on her Saturday, yet her facial expression never changed as the pitcher Edwards calls the Dutchwomen's version of Secretariat willed her way through 328 pitches over 25 hours.

I am loathe to use the word heroic in the sporting context, but Galati this weekend came as close as anyone will ever come to deserving that adjective. It was an honor just to watch it, for those of us at home as well as in the Hofstra dugout: Edwards called it Galati's performance the greatest he'd ever seen in 44 years of coaching.

"Tops. Top," he said. "Championship games in hockey, football, softball. Tops, right here to my left. Number one."

If life was fair, instead of unnecessarily cruel, there would be four more days of wondering how far Galati could carry the Dutchwomen and marveling at how Edwards got the CWS trip he so richly deserves. Now we must wonder if the Dutchwomen will ever get this close again.

The last time the Dutchwomen were within one win of the College World Series was 2004. Long time ago. Galati is back next year for her senior season, which means the Dutchwomen will be very, very, very good once again, but the NCAA Tournament is a crapshoot. A run at the College World Series is as much about a draw as it is talent.

And as always, at some point, the advantages Everyone Else has are too much to overcome. But couldn't they have been too much to overcome later this week instead of yesterday, when South Florida was able to swap out pitchers Sara Nevins and Lindsay Richardson and utilize pinch-runners and benefit from the stellar defensive play of LSU transfer Jessica Mouse?

It is easy to lapse into what-if mode at moments like this, and kind of cathartic to do so. But it would not be fair, to either us or the Dutchwomen, to let sadness and disappointment overshadow what was derived from the run to the edge of the College World Series.

The softball team gave Hofstra 15 well-deserved minutes of fame. After the Dutchwomen were the subject of features in all the local papers as well as some national outlets in the days leading up to the Super Regional, New York sportswriters Steve Serby and Peter Botte and New York Giants PR man Pat Hanlon Tweeted about the three games.

"I told the team 'We gave Hofstra University more press in two weeks than they're going to get in the presidential debate, which is probably going to last a month,'" Edwards said. "But that's what athletics can do. And that's how proud I am of these kids and how far they've taken this program."

The poor people who follow me on Twitter now know all about Flying Dutchwomen softball (262 softball Tweets the last two days, give or take 5,000, will do that) and have hopefully boarded the bandwagon. We know of at least one new fan: The daughter of loyal reader and very good friend @NUHF declared Hofstra her favorite softball team because her Dad's alma mater, Northeastern, doesn't offer the sport.

And the flurry of text messages I sent and received after the second loss reminded me, once again, of how good we have it as Hofstra fans and how we make up for with our passion what we lack in numbers:

"I'm in tears."

"Never more proud to be a Flying Dutchman."

"I can't leave my laptop—still trying to get closure on Facebook, watching press conferences, etc. Once I shut down laptop, it's all over."

"Sometimes this game is unbelievably wonderful to us," Edwards said. "And days like today, it's cruel."

For now this joins the litany of near-misses that keep us all awake at night, from those we recall vividly over the past two decades to those that happened when we were barely out of diapers, such as the Flying Dutchmen basketball team's narrow losses to Notre Dame and UConn in consecutive NCAA Tournaments in 1976 and 1977, or those that happened when we couldn't have identified Hofstra on a map, such as when the football team saw its unbeaten season end in the Division III semifinals in 1990.

Someday, if my wife and I have done our job as parents, our unborn child will carry the burden of yesterday as his or her own. It is part of the collective experience, from newborn to ninety, that bonds Hofstra fans, allows us to absorb the stings of these crushing near-misses and unites us in the belief that someday, the result will be different.

Yesterday wasn't our day. But someday it'll be a Hofstra team flinging gloves or basketballs or lacrosse sticks skyward after slaying Goliath on the national stage.

Someday they will. Someday we will.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Of the rumours in the air and how Hofstra may benefit

A Night Ranger song relevant to the topic. Thank you realignment!

Let's hand it to the CAA, or whatever is left of it and its renegade Virginia-based core members at this early morning moment: It is an equal opportunity provider. Multiple times per week, news and/or rumors break that supply a chance to write with some clarity about this murky, messy, mucked up situation. And multiple times per week, news and/or rumors break that make it utterly impossible to write with some clarity about this murky, messy, mucked up situation.

Sometimes, both things happen in the same day. Like yesterday, when CBSSports.com's Brett McMurphy reported Conference USA is adding Old Dominion and five other schools for the 2013-14 season. The Virginian Pilot wasn't quite as declarative later Tuesday, when it reported Old Dominion to C-USA was not a done deal but that the conference wanted an answer from the school by the end of the week.

Regardless, the news/rumors brought a sudden end to the temporary tranquility the CAA was enjoying after the Daily Press reported Saturday VCU would remain in the league for at least another year and not immediately jump to the Atlantic 10. Of course, a one-year "commitment" recommended by an athletic director who will be calling Minnesota home later this month shouldn't have given anyone a long-term sense of security or stability.

Now? My guess is if Old Dominion leaves for C-USA, it will have done the dirty work for VCU and George Mason by giving them the opening they needs to spin their exits—exits that were probably going to happen anyway—from the CAA as a search for stability.

There's no way to spin this: It will be very bad news for the CAA as a whole if the three schools that have combined to win the last six CAA titles and 13 of the last 18 overall bolt.

But it'd be pretty easy to spin it as good news for the Flying Dutchmen, both in the short- and long-term.

If Old Dominion, VCU and Mason all leave, they will presumably be ineligible to participate in next year's CAA tournament. (I don't know if the CAA can bar a school from participating in the tournament if it announces its intentions to leave in mid-year—don't underestimate all three schools dragging out the decision-making process in hopes of keeping their NCAA hopes alive) Subtract UNC Wilmington and Towson—each likely to be ineligible for postseason play due to their APR issues—and there would be a grand total of seven teams competing for the title in Richmond.

This would be GREAT news for the Flying Dutchmen as well as everyone else sticking around. Hofstra would still not be a favorite in this scenario—that honor would probably be shared by Drexel and Delaware—but the path to the NCAA's is a lot clearer with the big three gone and only seven teams in the tournament.

In the longer term, Hofstra has been absent from the realignment talk (that we know of, anyway), as has the rest of the America East five (that we know of, anyway) and UNC Wilmington (that we know of, anyway), and, to a large degree, James Madison and William & Mary (that we know of anyway).

The irrelevance makes sense on multiple levels. As noted above, VCU, Old Dominion and Mason have been the conference's marquee programs (though UNC Wilmington is the only school still in the CAA to win a title in the last 18 years). They have the cache that other conferences want.

It's also appropriate the America East five and UNC Wilmington have been ignored as everyone frets over the future of the CAA, which can talk all it wants about the footprint but has made it abundantly clear it cares the most about the schools located inside the 10th of the original colonies (American history lesson!). Now that those schools may be the ones that end the CAA as we know it, and lead to a worst-case scenario of mass defections of core members, the CAA might find itself needing the AE5 to save its backside all over again. (Oh yes, we haven't forgotten)

Let's assume (yeah yeah I know what happens when you assume) that Old Dominion, VCU and Mason all leave. That drops the CAA to eight members: Hofstra, Delaware, Drexel, Northeastern, Towson, James Madison, William & Mary and UNC Wilmington. In order to maintain its automatic bid, a league must have at least six schools that have been in the league for at least five consecutive years.

At this moment—and again, anything can change at any moment—it looks like non-football schools Hofstra, Drexel, Northeastern and UNC Wilmington are the most stable. In that case, just ONE more school has to stick around—either William & Mary remains or one of the trio of Delaware, Towson and James Madison decides I-A football is a bloody awful idea—for the CAA to keep its NCAA golden ticket as it rebuilds around what is now its northeast-based core. After years of drawing the short straw, Hofstra, et al, would now be in a position of power—maybe even powerful enough TO GET THE TOURNAMENT ROTATED AMONG A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT SITES.

Who knew we might be able to get the conference home we wanted by hanging tight? And all it would take is anarchy in the CAA. Bad for the league, terrible for tradition, but pretty damn good for Hofstra. Unless what's happening to the CAA is what happened to the East Coast Conference, in which case this isn't good for Hofstra. We'll have more on that possibility later in the week. Unless there's nothing to write about. I'm not really sure.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

The correct alliterative phrase for Oct. 15--especially this year--is October Optimism

The real Midnight Madness! File photo from author's cassette collection, 1984. Make fun of me at your peril.

The first day of college basketball practice elicits from us great gratitude and anticipation every year. The off-season, which seems so unspeakably long when the final second of the previous Flying Dutchmen season ticked off the clock, is finally over, and there will never be more basketball to be played than there is right now.

There’s no room for pessimism on New Year’s Day, when every question mark is an exclamation point and every scenario is the best-case one. Especially today, when we welcome the fresh start October 15 symbolizes while also acknowledging how last April and May were reminders that progress does not come without pain.

Even before Tim Welsh made a career-ruining mistake in the early morning hours of Apr. 30, this coaching change was wholly different than the last time Hofstra went outside the school to find a new leader of the men’s basketball program. Back in 1994, there were no worries about star players transferring and no bruised feelings generated—internally or externally—by the exit of the outgoing head coach. Such was life on the fringes of Division I.

Life as a Flying Dutchmen fan is much better in 2010 than it was in 1994. But some of the innocence is gone, too, and was gone long before the Welsh incident. Yet today is about regaining some of that wide-eyed wonderment and believing in all the positives the season has to offer.

Sure, if all of the underclassmen who ended last season with the Dutchmen were taking the court today, Hofstra might be the preseason favorite to win the CAA. But this is a wide-open conference that has no obviously dominant team. The Dutchmen have the best player in the league and seem to have developed a great chemistry with new coach Mo Cassara. To borrow the three words used by just about everybody in every sport before the first practice of every season: Why not us?

Charles Jenkins’ final lap around the track isn’t what he or anybody else imagined, but he’s still got the opportunity at leading the Dutchmen to the NCAA Tournament berth that would cement his status as the best player to come through Hofstra in at least the last 30 years. Fellow seniors Greg Washington and Nathaniel Lester get their last shot, too, while Brad Kelleher gets his first shot, even if it’s far shorter than it should be. We are so optimistic today, we are almost in the mood to thank the NCAA for granting Kelleher 22 regular season games. Almost.

We look forward, as well, to seeing the future of the Flying Dutchmen in the sophomores who stuck around (David Imes, Yves Jules and Matt Grogan), last year’s redshirts (Mike Moore and Paul Bilbo) and the intriguing newcomers (transfers Dwan McMillon and Stevie Mejia, the latter of whom is redshirting, and freshmen Shemlye McLendon, Stephen Nwaukoni and Roland Brown) brought aboard by Cassara.

And we are glad the season will start with no fanfare. Just roll out the cart of basketballs and begin playing. As fun as a Midnight Madness would be, better to wait until next year, when Cassara and his staff has more time to put one together. Plus, imagine how cool it’ll be to raise the CAA banner a year from tonight. Hey, it’s October 15. Why not us?

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Do the Dutchmen need to have "Mo" fun this year?

Can Mo Cassara bust a move as well as Jay Wright? Hopefully we'll find out Oct. 15!

You’ve probably already read this, but that big ol’ meanie Mike Litos proved once again how much he hates Hofstra by picking the Flying Dutchmen fifth in his pre-pre-preseason preview. FIFTH!!! I was going to tell him he sucks, but then he said anyone who uses the word sucks falls below his Stupidity Mendoza Line and I realized anyone that uses the phrase Mendoza Line in a basketball story can’t be all bad. So you’re back in my good graces, Litos—for now.

In all seriousness, he makes a real interesting point about how it matters this season that the Dutchmen have fun under new coach Mo Cassara. Mike and I have debated this, and it’s something I’ll continue to ponder and discuss here over the next couple months, but I don’t think the Dutchmen were a joyless (my word, not Mike’s) bunch under Tom Pecora.

I think Pecora just tended to recruit stoic guys. He got max effort kids who were overlooked, kids who just put their heads down and went to work. I don’t think we’ll see Loren Stokes, Carlos Rivera or Antoine Agudio jumping on stage for Live at the Improv, but I never got the idea they weren’t having fun.

Don’t overestimate, either, the language barrier for the European players Pecora recruited and how that may or may not manifest itself in terms of on-court comportment. Miklos Szabo poignantly described last year how difficult it was to fit in as a foreign-born player who happened to be much older than many of his teammates.

Lately, I’d say Charles Jenkins is a grinder like his superstar predecessors, but a little more personable on the court. And there was plenty of personality on last year’s team displayed by Our Man Corny in addition to the dearly departed Halil Kanacevic and Chaz Williams.

Still, I can see how someone would look at the Flying Dutchmen under Pecora and wonder if they were having fun winning those rock fights. The style of play was gritty and never all that aesthetically pleasing. I’m sure teams that are running and gunning look like they’re having more fun than the Pecora-era Dutchmen.

Plus, there was certainly more of a generation gap between Pecora and his players, and who knows how that translated on to the interaction between the two sides? While Pecora impressed me with his knowledge of current movies, I don’t picture him listening to rap and R&B with Jenkins, Nathaniel Lester and Greg Washington, a la Cassara.

And remember that the new coach coming in—and being the good cop to the old coach’s bad cop—is as timeless as the sound of squeaking sneakers on the hardwood. There’s no doubt that Pecora was a hard-ass who demanded a lot, and that his softer, more compassionate side might have been tougher to see from October through March.

Remember this, too: Cassara is the same age Pecora was when Pecora arrived at Hofstra. A 36-year-old has a lot more in common with an 18- or 21-year-old than a 52-year-old. (Says the 36-year-old who goes to Night Ranger shows) And Pecora and Jay Wright came in and seemed at least as hip and happening—in comparison to the deliciously demanding, gruff and old-school Butch van Breda Kolff—as Cassara does to Pecora today.

I’ll never forget the first Midnight Madness (speaking of Night Ranger!) at Hofstra, when a student dared Wright—who was standing on stage at Hofstra USA—to join his group on the dance floor. Wright, who was just 32 at the time, jumped down and shamed the kid by showing off moves that could have gotten him a tryout as a backup dancer with (scanning Wikipedia here to see which popular concert draws in 1994 are still recognizable today) Janet Jackson.

I’m not sure if Cassara can Bust A Move—though I am sure he knows the words to it!—but just like 16 years ago, circumstances dictate he display a more easy-going approach than his predecessor. Doubly so, in fact, because of the unprecedented way in which Cassara landed the job. As I noted in July, the returning Dutchmen needed a friend as much as they needed a coach. Cassara had to save this season as well as lay the foundation for future ones, and the way to do that was to bond with the veterans.

If Cassara sticks around long enough, my guess is he, too, will eventually be replaced by the good cop. And it’d be a pretty darn good sign for the Hofstra men’s basketball program if history repeats itself and a bunch of us end up sitting here in 2026 and discussing whether or not the Flying Dutchmen are going to have more fun under the new coach than they did under the recently departed Cassara.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.