They say every man is going to get 15 minutes of fame before he dies! Yesterday, after I got off work, I was too tired to do anything else, except jump in the bed and watch TV, for the rest of the day! I had a chance to catch up on some basketball! I Clicked on the TV, and what do you know, my beloved Redbirds, from Illinois State University, was on national TV, taken on Northern Iowa University, for the MVC Conference Championship, and a automatic bid, to the "big dance" or the NCAA Tournament! Now let me back up for a minute, and give you a little story! As some of you may already know, I was a walk-on basketball player at Illinois State, when I was there! Walking on a D-1 college basketball team, is like next to impossible to do! Everything has got to line up for you! Anyway, back to the present! I have a 8 year old son, Cameron, who of course, is crazy about playing sports. He plays baseball, football, and basketball, right now! My beautiful wife, Lisa, and I, are trying to instill in my son, that college for him, is a requirement, not an option! My wife has two college degrees and I have one! So obviously, we both think college is important part for our son's future! And he's in tune with that! "Daddy, I'm going to play at Illinois University!", he tells me! I'm like, "Cool, son!! That's a great school!!" So, as a way to reinforce that thinking process, my wife and I like to, on occasion, take our son to different college campuses, so he can see and feel what college is about! Now, that's all he talks about, is college! So... so far, so good!
A few weeks back, my family decided to visit my old college, Illinois State University! Still looks the same, for the most part! We had a great time! While we were heading back to the car, to head back home, I noticed a Illinois State Redbird basketball poster. It had the team's schedule, and a picture of their "star" player! A funny looking kid, who was African-American, with a Mohawk haircut! He was in a game-action pose, and the kid just didn't look right! I took a good look at the picture, and said to myself, he sure doesn't look like a basketball player! And kept walking! Well, you know the old saying, Never judge a book by it's cover! This funny looking kid in the poster, was a perfect example! After watching this kid play on Sunday, I had a different opinion of him, to say the least!
Now, on Sunday, I'm watching this funny looking kid, with the Mohawk, play in a championship game, on national TV, for a shot to get an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament! Come to find out, this kid's name is Osiris Eldridge. And this kid can play! In the second half, he put on a show, that was a lot of fun to watch! Osiris went on a run that saw him shoot 3-pointers, from another area code, falling out of bounds, with defenders in his face, and anywhere else he choose to shoot! It was amazing! It made me flash back to my days back at Illinois State! Yo! That was first class basketball, right there! The first game I traveled on, we jumped on the bus and took off! I pulled out some homework and started studying! A few minutes later, my teammate and good friend, till this day, Scott, looked at me and was like, "What are you doing?" I was like " What does it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to get some of my studying done, while we are on this road trip to the game!" Scott was like, "We're not driving to the game! We're driving to the airport!" I was like, "Oh, Word!" He was like, "Yea Man, we don't drive to games, we fly!" I was like "Yo! That's what I'm talking about!" Playing for a D-1 school was like living like a King on campus! We ate dinner together, called training table! If we were on campus, we ate in a special section of the school cafeteria! If we were off of campus, we ate fine restaurants that served steaks and shrimp! We got "laundry money" that keep our pockets full of cash! The hotels we would stay in, were all 4 and 5 star, Marriott, type joints! We did everything first class! It was like being in the NBA, except you didn't get paid the big millions! It was some of the best basketball I've ever experienced! And I will always be thankful I was of a chosen few, who got to do it!
This kid Osiris, has started the clock ticketing, on his 15 minutes! The Redbirds would go on to loose the game, in overtime, to Northern Iowa, but Osiris has already made a name for himself! The announcers, for the game, were going crazy, every time this kid shot the ball! He was the talk of the game, and on all the post highlight shows! All they talked about was the show Osiris put on! And of course, the pro basketball prospects started chipping in! "He's going to make a great NBA player, Blah, Blah, Blah! But here's the catch! Illinois State was one of the better college teams this year! But they come from the MVC Conference. A place that usually only sends one team to the NCAA Tournament, and that's usually the team that wins the MVC Post-Season Tournament! This year, that was Northern Iowa! But I think Illinois State made a case for itself, to play in the big dance, as well! I think Osiris has peaked the interest, of the national audience, to see if he can do it again, in the big tournament, and maybe pull off a major upset or two, in the process! If nothing else, what will probably happen, is Illinois State will probably get overlooked, by the NCAA, get a bid to the NIT Tournament, and there, maybe Osiris can continue to build on his legend! He's in a great spot, right now, he a Junior who is expected to return for his Senior year, and it would be great to see him keep playing, for a little while longer! We'll find out in less than a week!
So, we are getting ever so close to the deadline registration for the Premiere Hoops Invitation! This NCAA Tournament will give you a chance to put on your best Osiris Eldridge impersonation! Have you gotten your 15 minutes of fame yet! Maybe the Invitation is your last/only chance to get it! You only gota win 5 or 6 games to win the crown! You'll be able to display a championship ring and title that can never be taken from you! Notice, I didn't say can never be stolen from you! But maybe you have an Osiris run in you! Maybe you could have a game that the other players in the Invitation will talk about for some time to come! You'll never know unless you register your team to play, and see what happens!
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