1. I woke up, all ready to enjoy a cup of coffee and pull myself together to drive to St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Coeur d'Alene and, with one glance outside, changed my plans. Snow was falling fast. Later in the morning, a westbound semi fell to its side on a curve on the Fourth of July Pass, closing it for hours. I hope the weather will be better and roads will be clear next Sunday.
2. At 2:00 I sat down to watch St. John's and Villanova basketball squads tip it off in Madison Square Garden. I hoped for a donnybrook, for an afternoon of disorder and uproar, with 20,000 hungry fans filling the palace atop Penn Station and St. John's at full health. Almost immediately, though, Villanova pounced on the Johnnies, opening up, at one point, a nineteen point lead. Yes, there was disorder, but it was the discombobulated ball handling and shooting of St. John's and all of the uproar belonged to the tenacious defense and sharp shooting of Villanova.
Then, a glimmer of hope.
Down by 17 points late in the first half, the Johnnies scored three points and then, at the halftime buzzer, Justin Simon heaved a 70 foot shot that dropped in the cup. Suddenly the despondent Johnnies were ecstatic. They'd cut Villanova's lead to 11 in a most uplifting fashion and suddenly the hometown lads believed in miracles.
The second half, for a St. John's fan like me, was a miracle. When the second half got underway, the Johnnies returned to the Garden's hardwood a transformed bunch, playing with energy, purpose, and, best of all, hope. With 20,000 beserk fans filling Madison Square Garden with thunderous support, the Johnnies forced Villanova turnovers, started dropping three point shots, sealed off the inside and would not let Villanova rebound their missed shots, and, best of all, and I could see it in the boys' faces, the Johnnies believed they could beat the reigning national champions, the defending champions of their conference, could defeat Villanova in NYC for the first time in seventeen years.
And they did.
LJ Figueroa, a community college transfer, by the way, began to scorch the twine, not tickle it, and the famously cool and collected Villanova Wildcats were rattled by St. John's aggressive defense, their born again belief in themselves, and the din in the Garden. They crumbled. St. John's rushed past them and scored an invigorating 71-65 win. This win, no doubt, clinched the Johnnies a slot in the NCAA national tournament, ending an eight year drought.
With him in Lewiston and me in Kellogg, Don Knott and I each poured ourselves a brandy and raised a toast 150 miles apart from each other to this great St. John's victory.
3. For Sunday dinner, Christy prepared a perfectly delicious and warming Beef Bourguignon. Before we dove into our steaming bowls of stew, though, we enjoyed a cognac and champagne cocktail and some cheesy crunchy wafers that I didn't catch the name of. Christy also served a chopped salad and bread and a delicious almondy Olive Oil Cake for dessert. We had so much fun at dinner tonight that we decided we'd head out to Pinehurst in the morning and have breakfast together at the newly opened Goose 'n the Tree Cafe.
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