Happy Birthday!

To Me! Received an early birthday present last night, courtesy of the mighty Terrapins: MD wins in Durham. AGAIN.

Here's my review of the game, in Terrapin Red, naturally:

What can I say about the game, it was incredible! The Terps overcame the hostile drone-like synchronized cheering of the teamfromDurham's student fans and the biases of the officials to win yet again in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Nik Caner-Medley, playing like a first-team all ACC player right now, absolutely abused Redick in the second half. Abused might not be the right word. Let's just put it this way, it wouldn't have been legal in Texas a few years ago, before the Supreme Court struck down certain state laws. Those two long three-pointers were especially nice, since those are usually Redick's trademark.

I was most impressed by how smart and composed the team was. No dumb fouls, lots of ball movement - which is essential against the teamfromDurham since they always overplay on defense. And of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the excellent officiating. Even Vitale had to admit there were several obviously blown calls. Maryland did get a few back, but the balance still went to the teamfromDurham. I especially enjoyed Randolph's shove-to-the chest clear-out of a Maryland defender before a slam dunk late in the game. Way to stand up to the man, zebras! And once again Shane Battier reaches out from beyond the grave - aka his NBA career - in the form of ridiculous charge calls directly underneath the basket.

My favorite part of the game had to be the long, panning shots of the student drones, um, fans, with about 3 minutes left in the game. They could feel their chances slipping away, and looked so devastated. It was as if someone had taken away their BMWs, or shot their purebred dog. Yes, drones, the terps shot your poodle (figuratively of course, I LOVE dogs! Even poodles. Well, poodles aren't my favorite, but it's not their fault they look like they do. Anyway, rest assured no poodles or any other dogs were harmed during the writing of this review). Again. Since it's almost an annual occurrence these days, they should be used to it by now, shouldn't they?

I personally think there's also a form of political Karma at work here: Krewsiwooski's Republican fundraising efforts simply aren't healthy for the Chi of his team!

For anyone who's counting, that's two wins in a row against these guys. And there's at least one more match-up this season, in College Park next month, plus the ACC tourney is at MCI center this year. Stay tuned...