March Madness has come and gone, crowning several male and female champions amongst the various basketball divisions and giving us much to remember from the 2011-2012 collegiate season.
While the Wildcats, Jayhawks and Bears may be celebrated as the best of the bunch, the elite upper-tier programs in a game so seemingly fragmented by a disparity talent gap, it is the Cowgirls of Oklahoma State, who shine through as a team worth remembering, more than the rest, from this past season.
The Cowgirls cemented March’s most memorable moment on the final day of the month, capturing the Women’s National Invitational Tournament championship only four months after an airplane crash took the lives of head coach Kurt Budke and assistant Miranda Serna along with two others.
Budke’s widow, Shelley, was on hand to witness the team’s 75-68 victory over James Madison. She cut down the last string on the net, climbing the ladder and inspiring a national basketball audience with her courageous resiliency.
However, what makes this story unarguably the most compelling sports story of the past month, and perhaps the entire year, is not Shelley cutting down the net in Stillwater; rather, it is the team’s effort to play and to honor their fallen coaches after being grief-stricken back in November.
“I have never been more proud of a group of young ladies than I have this group,” said head coach Jim Littell, Budke’s former assistant, who took over after the crash.”They set the goal in November to pay honor, and I promise you they paid honor today.”
It was the program’s first championship at any level, assuring a place in Oklahoma State folklore forever. But, more importantly, the Cowgirls (22-12) story will be enshrined into the sport’s history book, which ensures its preservation through the test of time.
While the national media cameras may elect to show the big program’s holding up the big money trophies, it is times like these when sports fans across the globe have to stop and remember what’s important – sports are about perseverance and dedication; they shouldn’t be about money and greed.
Sometimes the message goes overlooked, but Oklahoma State’s victory on Saturday night reminds us there is something meaningful to why we obsess, watch and care about sports. They not only remind us about the great qualities of humanity, but also allow us to follow something magical; something that would be impossible to achieve without the platform of athletics.
OSU’s redemption isn’t about victory, or a championship; it’s about a community of people – players, coaches, trainers, administrators, fans, family members, etc. – overcoming the toughest moment many of them have ever experienced.
Cutting down the nets and hoisting a championship trophy may not achieve immediate closure, but it provides further foundation for a group looking to move on as much as it is trying to remember.
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