Tuesday, September 11, 2007

BLEEDING TRICOLOUR: TOO MUCH, TOO SOON

With tongue firmly planted in cheek, a terrible fear has come to pass: Our Queen's Golden Gaels are in the CIS Top 10, debuting at No. 10 thanks to a 2-0 start.

This is not helping advance the cause of playing the no-respect card. Sports is one outlet for a Queen's alum can feel like a gritty underdog.* How dare the national media, in its Toronto wisdom (wait, aren't 60 per cent of Queen's students and living alumni from the GTA?), actually notice the Gaels? Besides, 1-1 Calgary might have a stronger team.

It's supposed to be all about feeling slighted, ignored and isolated. (Or am I just projecting?) Don't worry, by tomorrow there will be some new slights dredged up. Six years later, McMaster's Ben Chapdelaine being the Hec Crighton nominee in 2001 over Gaels uber-slotback James MacLean -- who, by the way, never lost to Western and had some 200 more yards that year than Andy Fantuz did in his Hec-winning 2005 season -- still grates a little bit.

(* This is part of an elaborate fantasy of how some mythical graduate lives -- the condo, the career, the late-model SUV, the very blond fiancee -- that helps us get through some very long nights.)

3 comments:

Greg said...

Neate man, I think this is a good thing. It's about damn time the Gaels got a chance to show the rest of the OUA they mean business. I think we should be excited by this move into the Top 10. Being the underdog might be safer and more comforting in the event of dramatic defeat in the playoffs, but really, the Gaels are an excellent team and this is as good a time as any to show that to the CIS.

sager said...

No way. It's always better to be underestimated... think Butch Coolidge in Pulp Fiction.

Besides, Calgary should be ranked ahead of a third OUA team.

Tyler King said...

It should be indeed. Seeing "the #9 Marauders taking on the #10 Golden Gaels" just doesn't properly set up a regular season matchup that last year ended in a lopsided crushing victory for Mac.

But doesn't it just perfectly set up the nail-biting win over McMaster to catapult Queen's into Yates Cup-contending levels of media recognition?