At the end of Grinnell men’s basketball game against John Carroll University, I stood at the baseline by the Pioneers bench, with tears starting to fill my eyes. Some of those tears stemmed from sadness that Grinnell was losing a game I hoped it would win and that it was the last Grinnell game I would both attend and report on as a student, but the majority of my crying was due to pride.
In the week before the March 6 game, I had seen things in Darby Gymnasium that I had dreamed about since I started here and even mentioned in an earlier opinion piece of mine. A week previous, for the Midwest Conference semifinal on Feb. 27, I saw an entirely full student section, almost all dressed in black, which fulfilled a wish of mine I thought impossible.
The basketball itself was amazing, and I felt it was one of the greatest Grinnell games I’ve seen.
The final the next day really encapsulated what I wanted from students earlier this year. In Grinnell’s dominant win, the students were just as rowdy as I wanted, heckling and cheering at all the appropriate moments.
For the first time, I saw pure elation coming from both the players and the student section alike, culminating in a throng on the court where hugs and screams came in droves. It was the perfect finish to the greatest season of Grinnell men’s basketball, but also a perfect finish to my time as a fan and a reporter in Darby.
It was never a question if I was going to make the trip out to Grinnell’s first National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament game. I did it last year, and I was dead set on doing it again. While driving to Bloomington, Ill. was a little long for my liking, I was nonetheless committed.
And so I am brought back to the final minutes of Grinnell’s game against John Carroll. I was proud. I was proud that I was a part of a school that created such a great team, I was proud that I was able to see this team grow and I was proud of the students and fans who supported the team and got them to that point.
I was very proud of the players, especially the seniors, whom I have watched for four years. I was grateful that I had the opportunity to watch the games, to report on them and to make this my job on campus. So thank you, everyone, and let’s do it all again.
