sherri coale

I never really had any interest in Oklahoma basketball until Stacey Dales-Schuman took the team to the championship game in 2002. The OU coach, Sherri Coale, started doing diaries on espn.com during that season... sometimes she writes more often than others, but it usually keeps me thinking. This year her team lost to Stanford in the sweet 16. Very few teams ever end a season on a win, but no matter how much company you have, ending on a loss is never easy. Some highlights from today's diary...

"Hemingway once said that 'Life is filled with sobs, sniffles, and smiles -- with sniffles predominating.' I believe him in my bones but this business balks. I love the way participation in athletics forces one to disdain mediocrity. I love the push the rush I even in a twisted sort of 'never-want-to-be-there-again' way, love the bottom so made of solid rock. I would even go so far as to say that I feel blessed to be a part of a profession that lives in such extremes. But I don't think mediocrity is the stuff of which Hemingway spoke. Even if it is, that is not his point."



"Hemingway was right. Rare are the times we climb the ladder, cut the nets and dance the night away. We did that twice this year -- lucky, lucky are we. And rarer, still, is the devastation we feel when the ball goes square and the wings of destiny flap over someone else's jerseys. That happened last Saturday [a 88-74 loss to Stanford on March 25]. Most of our year was somewhere in the middle of those two emotional explosions. That was his point. Life is what happens to you while you aren't looking. So keep your eyes open, Ernest urges. Don't miss it. That's what I want my kids -- and my staff -- to know. Enjoy the days. Replay the stuff. Wallow in the wins we walked to as well as the wins we wrestled for. And don't let one set of 40 minutes define a year. You become in the middle. And at the end of all your days, the middle better be worth remembering or you won't have much."

Coale Diary - http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?page=diary/coale7_200506

She goes on to talk about the impact the seniors made on the team and how the players are moving on from this past season. It takes me back to when I was competing and that period of mourning that always followed the conference tournament. It never seemed like we fulfilled our potential. In some ways, that's comforting because at least you know you could be better, even if it wasn't until next year... but after your last game of your last season... there is no next year. Losing sucks... but it pays to appreciate the experience regardless of the result. One game should not define a year... or a career.