The Last Dance - A Fan's Perspective

It was the last dance of the season, and it was a marathon.

A defensive marathon featuring two teams who heretofore had each owned the court defensively. The matchup was a good one, close all the way, each team frustrated the other, and though both teams made mistakes, both teams wanted it, both teams certainly belonged there, and both teams had a winner's heart.

Only one team could be victorious when the buzzer sounded, and this year it would not be the Orioles. Although they battled to the end, that end would be 28-27 and that single point difference...which brought so much joy just 48 hours earlier, now brought a flood of tears.

Emotion like that is tough to watch, because though the players may not know it (or believe it) the fans don't care so much about the trophy. They care about the players on the team.

There isn't much that one could say to console the second place finishers in a contest like this one...words always ring a little hollow in those moments following defeat. Still...

The truth ladies (and gentlemen) is this defeat was, in the grander scheme of things, really very small. A blip. Because the team is composed of real live human beings. Young women with bright promising futures, and full lives to lead. This was just one dance in a grand ballroom, and there will be so many more dances....some of which will be true defining moments in their young lives...and the game...well, it really was just a game, and not a defining moment.

A few years down the road, when life becomes more clear and the players are a bit wiser, they will better understand that getting to the dance, gliding across the floor, being one of those who got a dance card...that will be the really significant thing.....they are the Orioles who went to the ball....not once, but TWICE....and oh how they danced!

They will talk to their children, and their grandchildren, and the loss will not be a crushing blow, it will just be a small part of a grand story about being part of something really amazing and special. They will point to the posters, and the trophy, and the medals, but they will talk about the team. They will tell tales of the offensive prowess of Katie, Bre & Hailey, they will talk about the awesome rebounding of Callie & mad defensive skills of Carly, Sarah & Nicole, and they will remember Alison's fearlessness, and three point shots in crucial moments by Kalli and Rachel. They will remember being a part of something that as a whole, was larger than each one of them.

They will remember, and be proud.... of the team.

Oh the memories they have created, for themselves, and hundreds of others.

Come on home with your heads held high Oriole Women...you danced. You danced with grace, agility, speed, and joy. you danced with all your hearts, in ballrooms big and small, and you held your audience in rapt attention. You danced in the castle, and came away with the crown. You danced EVERY dance as if it were the last.

So know this...though the basketball dance is over, the bigger dances are still to come, and ...you...you are champions. You have brought nothing but good to yourselves, the school, and the community, for 4 years. You will go on from here to do many more important and defining things, and when you come back here, (and even when you are not here) you will always be the stuff of legend...our champions.

It really is all right now...

Our

CHAMPIONS will always be

IN THE HOUSE!