The Tidal Cats

Last year's house cleaning at the epicenter of college basketball set forces in motion the scale of which are only now beginning to become clear.  When the plates slipped the first casualty was Billy Gillispie, swallowed up by the shifting, buckling earth.  The fans meanwhile rose and shook off the brick facades of mediocrity which had been mortared onto their exteriors to reveal the true and solid wall of their expectations.  Unbeknownst to even the experts, a tsunami was triggered that has taken a year to break upon the shores of the college game.

As life continued throughout the season to imitate art, aftershocks occurred in nature's inevitable purpose to constantly and sometimes violently adjust the balance of the planet.  On January 26th, the President called to congratulate the team on their efforts vis-a-vis the Haiti earthquake, and an aftershock occured on the court following the call in one of two events that served to correct the minds of the Kentucky Wildcats.

February 27th, 2010 -- another binary event occurred as Tennessee volunteered to make the final correction in the tectonic sequence leading up to March, and Chile shook with dreadful violence.  Warnings were sent to the Pacific rim and heeded by that region, but apparently went unnoticed by NCAA schools as the larger, more catastrophic tsunami rolled with slow and powerful inevitability toward the shores of Indianapolis.

As the water became a shallow 64 feet deep, the powerful wave rose, and is even now sweeping life and property before it.  We are presently witnessing its devastation of regular tournament dancers and their Cinderella dates as well. 

Will the wave collapse in some sudden and inexplicable loss of momentum on the ever shallowing seashore, or will it roll onwards in its ghastly and awesome power?  The next two weeks will tell the story.  In my mind, no matter what happens, this team will forever be known as The Tidal Cats.  Let's all hope that April 5th will give a second spelling to the name.