The Struggle to Hold Back Big Blue Excitement

I make it a rule to never let myself get excited about anything. I know it’s negative, but it’s my only line of defense against extreme disappointment when things don’t work out the way that I imagined them in my flighty daydreaming head. The only really good example of this that I can come up with is an annoyingly girly one, so I apologize to the probable majority male audience reading this post: sometimes you get really excited about seeing “someone special”, so you wear a pretty outfit and spend a lot of time working on your hair and makeup. Then something comes up and you end up going to bed early and alone, without anyone to appreciate how bouncy your hair is. It feels awful. And it’s all because you let yourself get excited! This is why I don’t allow myself to do it. It’s a certain level of disappointment when something doesn’t work out ideally, but when you get really excited and have your heart set on the perfect outcome, you end up crushed with nothing but a cheap bottle of red wine to comfort you in your despair. This is, by the way, exactly how I found myself when Kentucky lost to UConn in the Final Four last year.
 
This is how I’m feeling about the Kentucky basketball right now. They look amazing. They don’t look flawless all the time, but they grow past their rough patches to find success. They’re living up to the high expectations fans and experts had set for them at the beginning on the season, often exceeding them. They’re surprising us everyday with their development and the execution of their sharp talent and athleticism on the court. Last night against Mississippi State, they trailed significantly at halftime, but stepped up big in the second half, on the road no less, and ended the game on top by nine points. There was a point last night when I didn’t think that was going to happen. When I see how this team clicks more and more with every game, It’s getting really hard to keep myself from getting excited about what these Cats can accomplish in March and April. Just think about what a game-changer it could be for college basketball for John Calipari to win it all with a team led in talent by mostly freshmen. The landscape of college basketball and what has typically been the formula for success will be turned upside down, and it will be done with the University of Kentucky name signed across its bannered legacy. Number Eight feels so close right now, like we can reach out and take the prize we’ve been longing for.
 
But anything can happen in the post-season. One loss and you’re out, and sometimes it doesn’t matter if you’re the best team. If shots aren’t going in and the other teams’ are, even if that lesser-skilled team hasn’t shot decently all season, that better team can easily see their hopes of championship glory dashed far too early. I know it can definitely happen to Kentucky this season just as it has in the past to other seemingly greatly-destined Wildcat ensembles. I have to keep reminding myself of this because I don’t want to feel the vulnerable sadness that I experienced with those other talented teams who deserved to go all the way but didn’t.
 
But if I were allowed to get excited, I’d tell you what my renegade optimistic instinct is screaming at me every time I try to talk myself down: 2012 is feeling a whole lot like 1996. It’s scary how much this feels like 1996. Is this 1996? 1996.