End of a Dream (more sports rant)

2 hours of an emotional rollercoaster. And when it was over, I could only just stare at the TV screen. It was done, it was gone...it could never happen again. That was probably the saddest part of Oregon's loss today against Florida. I'm not Oregon's biggest fan or anything, but I could sort of emphathize. It was a different sort of feeling than what I'm used to, because it's not quite like the Olympics but it's also not like the championships of the other sports I follow. By following mostly individuals instead of teams, the whole "this team will never be the same again" is somewhat of a new concept to me. And the whole college aspect of this tournament means that the team has only 1 year to be together, which is more like 4 or 5 months together, and that's it. It's just crazy...and despite the lingering sadness, the whole experience was worth it. I am definitely following the tournament again next year.

For figure skating, I have decided on Yu-Na Kim. She looks "stronger" than Mao Asada...it's not really anything I can explain. They are both skinny as hell and also young-looking (both are only 16) and they are both East Asian and it's not like one is a power skater or anything (e.g. Emily Hughes). So I don't know...Mao randomly reminds me of Kimmie Meissner...whoa... Anyway, Yu-Na Kim's amazing form did not carry over to her free skate program. She feel at least twice and just seemed not at her best. I was sad for her, but she still medaled (bronze). Mao got silver, and Miki Ando got gold. The surprise win was kind of cool, but poor Mao! Almost everyone thought she would get gold after her solid performance, but she ultimately lost because of her short program.

Tennis is going well, except that Ana lost early again and Gael needs to stop losing. And this weekend was EURO 2008 qualifying and Croatia won. So Croatia is on top of their qualifying group, which is sweet considering their group has England, Russia, and Israel. Well at least Niko gets good minutes in the Croatian national team if he doesn't at Portsmouth.