Murray State Racer basketball primer...'cause bball season is ONLY 3 1/2 months away!

This ain't no iPhone-app polaroid:
Me and my sis in our old school
Racer sweatshirts, circa 1983(?)

It's July, and my team is still on the national radar. Whaaaaa?

PEOPLE. This is seriously exciting. I have been a Murray State basketball fan my whole life. Seriously. Whole life. And last year was the BEST SEASON EVER to be a Racer.

I mean, yeah, plenty of haters were all about hating, but whatever. We were where we wanted to be -- THE hot mid-major program in America. (What's a mid-major? A team from a smaller conference, basically, but here's a good explanation from The Mid-Majority.) One of those schools that people look at and say, "THEY really play basketball."

OMG. It's friggin' July and I'm getting all amped up again.

So, I don't know if you watch basketball or even if you care about basketball in any way, shape, or form. Because I'm not making you read this post. :) But I do think it's about time I talked about my Racers somewhere besides Facebook. (Although I have to tell you guys, I did create a couple of Racer converts this year...I'm telling you, my excitement is contagious. Whether it's contagious like laughter or like herpes...well, I don't want to know the answer there!)

So why are we so excited this year?
Well, my boys toiled in more or less basketball mid-major obscurity for years. And we had some KICK ASS teams, even when no one knew about it.

When I was in the third grade, the Racers were in the NCAA tournament and got a completely BS #16 seed. If you don't know what that means, check out this explanation of NCAA tournament rules, etc. Well, back then, there was no play-in game. Just #1 - #16 seeds and four regions. And we were a #16 and playing Michigan State, a #1 seed.

Even casual March Madness observers can tell you no #16 has ever beaten a #1 seed. But that Murray State team, with Jeff Martin in the post and Don Mann at point, took the Spartans into OT. We didn't deserve a 16-seed, but when they talk on TV about how the 16-over-1 upset has never happened, please in the future join me in yelling at the announcers who never bother to point out that Murray State did take Mich. State into OT.

But whatever, that was ages ago. Ages ago we knocked of N.C. State the year after the Wolfpack and Jimmy V made their miracle championship run. (To be honest, I don't really remember that year, I was too young, but it is a legendary victory among MSU fans.)

And we were sometimes a hot little upset pick when Bracketology rolled around in March, and in 2010, even President Obama went out on a limb and picked our Murray State Racers to knock off Vanderbilt.

Which we TOTALLY did.

It was awesome. If you want to know what total fantastic amazing indescribable exhilaration feels like for a mid-major team, watch this clip:




Or this one...which is actually my favorite, because it was filmed at the student center at Murray State (the Curris Center) where a bunch of students had gathered to watch it together. Go to about the 1:13 mark of the clip to start watching. If you care anything about sports, I guarantee you'll get goosebumps...



See? Sometimes loving a mid-major team can be painful, but sometimes...just sometimes...it's so worth it all. Like that.

Anyway, last year was epic. We were the last undefeated team in the country. Did we play the same schedule as a Big East or SEC team? No. But you know what? We don't get the recruits those conferences get, either. Or the money for facilities, or any of that other big-conference stuff. We also have guys who come and (generally) play for four years.

It's nice. It's what basketball SHOULD be.

So last year we lost an incredibly hard-fought game against Marquette, and we had three amazing seniors graduate. But our two best players are back. Isaiah Canaan (it's pronounced like BOOM! cannon) was an All-American last year.

Never happened at Murray State before. Freaking epic. Seriously.

And then there's my fave, Ed Daniel. Ed wears a fro and is a BEAST on the boards. At least he was at the end of last season, and I'm hoping that steamroller keeps flattening competition.

Oh, what's that, you say? You want another video clip? Well, okay. Since you begged. Here's Ed completely BEASTING OUT against Marquette, courtesy of Deadspin.


Well, I suppose that's enough for your crash course in Murray State Racer basketball awesomeness for now.

I'll leave you with this shot I took at the Bracketbuster game against St. Mary's in February of 2012 -- it's Dick Vitale dancing with the Murray State cheerleaders. Getting Dickie V to Murray was a HUGE deal for all of us, and this moment -- when he came out from behind the broadcast table to boogie down with the Racer cheerleaders -- was pretty much one of the happiest moments of my life. I mean, of course not the happiest -- I have my kids and my husband for those -- but I will say the happiest sports moment of my life. Better than beating Vandy, better than breaking into the Top 10 rankings, better than the Music City Miracle (I'm mixing sports, I know, but just go with it). Because this was the moment when we KNEW Murray State basketball had arrived. The game was in hand, the crowd was amazing, the whole mood was electric. This was the best. moment. ever.

Not a great pic, I know, but it's mine! I was THIS CLOSE! Best game of my life.