The Year Of The Nail

With all the talk about rivalries between the Red Sox / Yankees and UMass / UConn being decidely one-sided over the years, there was lots of discussion about the use of the word rivalry considering one team had dominated the series.

That led to the anology between the hammer and the nail and how the nail never wins that battle.

Well in light of the Sox triumphs and the UMass win last night, I'm christening this 'The Year Of The Nail'. Here's Matty V's take. He got Lappas' classy quote on the whole thing... that's why MV is great!

As Lappas' wife Harriet shed a few tears of joy in her seat behind the UMass bench and his 14-year-old son Pete raced into the celebration on the floor, Lappas hurried into the locker room, not wanting to steal the moment from his players.


''It was great for our guys who came here wanting to bring this program back,'' said Lappas, whose hair was disheveled from the locker room celebration. ''I was reflecting on how happy I was for them.''


He thought about beloved former UMass coach and radio broadcaster Jack Leaman, who died in March.


''Jack Leaman was knocking a couple of their shots away from that rim. Jack was a defensive guy and he was playing a little D for us tonight,'' Lappas said. ''He always wanted this game so bad.''


In a season of highs for sports in the Commonwealth, this ranks far behind the World Series win by the Red Sox and the Super Bowl title for the Patriots. But around Massachusetts, quite a few fans have UMass gear sharing closet space with that of the Red Sox and Patriots. The Minutemen ending 21 years of Husky-fueled frustration provided a tasty dessert for a happy sports year. Before Thursday, UMass last beat UConn in 1983.

Hopefully more UMass stuff to follow the next couple of days...