Terrapin Pride

I'm proud to be a Terrapin supporter, and last night's 75-70 comeback win against Miami only made my passion stronger.

What's it like to always win? To be a top five team every year? To get all the blue chip recruits?

I imagine it would involve wearing some shade of blue, having a lame mascot like a devil or a heel with tar on it and more than likely part of your soul would have to be compromised.

I prefer Red, and mediocrity with a sprinkling of never say die. Being a Maryland fan means screaming at your TV for 35 minutes, then calling your brother to wax poetically about how you knew they were going to gut it out. Nothing makes sense in this world, some nights they're world beaters, other nights they miss free throws and forget to show up in the second half. Whatever the night brings, you know that for 40 minutes it's us against the world, screw the multiple national championships and all the prospects, all I want is effort and class. That's what being a Terp fan is all about.

Tuesday night in College Park was class personified.

Seeing Mark Turgeon, who only had seven scholarship players to start the season, sprinting down the court to jump for joy when Padgett hit the 'and one' to take the lead for good, was inspiring. Watching Mosley, the only senior on the team, step back and calmly hit a three to cut the Miami lead in half, I knew it was no-quit time. Ever since I started watching the Terps, in the early nineties, they were always the underdogs, Gary thrived in that situation. That may not be the coach that Turgeon becomes, but in his first year he's channeled the fire and back against the wall mentality that made me proud to be a Terrapin fan.

The prospect of a tournament bid is bleak, but it does exist. Now 6-7 in conference you would love to see Maryland finish at least 8-8, 9-7 would be incredible, but two tough games loom, UNC on the road and Virginia on senior night. If somehow the Terps can go 2-1 down the stretch and win a few games in the ACC tournament, we may get to see Turgeon and company dance, dance. More realistically we'll see the Terps at home in late March in the NIT, but don't count them out, Miami did and we all know how that turned out.

The future appears bright, Turgeon we're told does what Gary couldn't, he recruits. So as the years go by and Turgeon begins to make his mark on the program, there may come a time when wins are guaranteed and not earned. One day, we may be like the teams in blue, but even if we reach that peak we'll always have nights to remember like last night, a night when a team with seven scholarship players, who lost their point guard for the season, scratched, clawed and fought for the logo on their chest that reads MARYLAND.