Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Lucky Charms

Hello from the Hotel Grand Victorian in Branson. I'm checking in with a short post before Coach Hemenway and I have to run over to the College of the Ozarks for our respective S.I.D and coaches' meetings in about a half-hour. I'll check back with more later, including pictures and thoughts from today's practice and more.

So it's no secret the Tigers enter the National Tournament with the nation's longest active winning streak at 16 game. To the casual fan, it may appear that the team's talent, balance, coaching and cohesiveness are the factors that have led to such a remarkable run. But that's where the Tiger Talk blog can take you behind the scenes to the REAL answers. There are two much bigger factors that have come in to play to make this winning streak happen.

Earlier this season, assistant coach Matt Culhane deicded to wear a a chain with a St. Christopher medal on it for the road game at Morningside, which the Tigers won. He donned it again for the big home win against UW-LaCrosse. However, Cully didn't have the chain for the team's December games, which included losses at Sioux Falls, at the St. Xavier Christmas Tournament, and at the Tigers' home classic against Cardinal Stritch.

After the calendar flipped to 2010, Cully made the lucky charm part of his every-game wardrobe, and the Tigers haven't lost since. If you're scoring at home, St. Chris is 18-0.

The other huge factor is assitant coach Andrew Duffy's hair. Early in the season, Duffy was bringing some serious class to the Corn Palace with a slicked-back Pat Riley-style hairdo. After a loss, Duffy re-evaluated his look, and its affect on the team, and he's been au natural ever since.


That loss that made him make the swtich? To Cardinal Stritch on Dec. 29. Since the slick disappeared, it's been 16-straight Tiger victories. As you can see above, Coach Riley is pumped the Tigers are winning, and he's happy to have his hairstyle all to himself again.

Feel free to ignore this and give all the credit to the players and their hard work if you want. I just know I'm not going to tell St. Christopher he hasn't played a part in the streak, and I'm definitely not giving Duff a tube of hair gel. Let's hope the team can continue to ride these ridiculously good omens Wednesday night and beyond.

2 comments:

Logan Anderson said...

Couldn't he have started this after the M-side game?

Leah Rado said...

Sorry LA, it just wasn't in the stars.