Remembering That Spring
Okay, so 2013. Yeah, that March. Things were kinda nuts for me back then. Wasn’t really glued to the TV watching sports, not like usual anyway. I was deep into trying to make this little side project work. Pouring hours into it after my day job, weekends too. Felt like I was running on fumes most of the time.
Barely noticed the start of the tournament, to be honest. Then, all of a sudden, people start talking about this team… FGCU? Florida Gulf Coast? Seriously had to look up where that even was. Never heard of them. Sounded like a made-up school from a movie or something.
But then they started winning. Beat Georgetown. Okay, interesting. Then they beat San Diego State. Suddenly they were everywhere. Dunk City. That’s what everyone called them. Saw some highlights online – just crazy athletic plays, alley-oops, dunks all over the place. It was hard not to notice, even though I was buried in my own stuff.
Just a Distraction, But…
I didn’t like, rearrange my schedule to watch every second. Couldn’t afford to. But I’d catch scores, see the buzz online. It was this weird little sideshow happening while I was grinding away on my thing, feeling totally invisible.
And maybe that’s why it stuck with me a bit. Here’s this team, total unknowns, basically crashing the party and making all this noise. They played with this wild energy, looked like they were having a blast. Didn’t seem scared at all.
My own project, well, let’s just say it didn’t quite have a Dunk City moment. It sputtered out eventually. Lots of effort, not much to show for it in the end. That happens.
But looking back at that spring, I remember thinking:
- It’s wild how quickly things can change.
- Sometimes just having fun and going for it makes a difference.
- Even if you don’t win the whole thing, people remember how you played.
So yeah, 2013 FGCU. Didn’t follow them before, didn’t really follow them after. But for those couple of weeks, they were this bright, loud thing happening. A good distraction, maybe? Or just a reminder that sometimes the unexpected happens. Made my own little struggle feel a tiny bit less lonely for a minute there, seeing another long shot take a swing.
