Do Legends Begin Here, Or What?
The story - and it could not be immediately verified Saturday night - was that a ticket holder for Gonzaga’s last game actually had to park at Safeway.
The one on Northwest Boulevard. Only kidding. But the store at Hamilton and Mission might want to consider alerting a tow truck. Or sponsoring a shuttle bus. Urban legends - and urban lies - continue in the making at Martin Centre. The heat, the humidity, the free hamburgers and the home-court advantage are by now legendary. The lie is that there are no tickets available. From the highest authority - ticket manager Gayle Clayton - comes word that a couple hundred seats for the Feb. 11 game against St. Mary’s are still not spoken for, that being a Thursday night during the Nielsen sweeps and all. Must See Night. You don’t want to miss the episode where Frasier and Niles pose as a couple of priests in an attempt to sneak into the upper deck of The Kennel. Not that such a masquerade would fly.
“Even the Jesuits don’t get in if they come late,” said Chris Standiford, the Martin Centre director who has had to explain that once or twice this year. “And they own the building, so you’d think they ought to.”
Coming late is just not an option any more in the little universe of Gonzaga basketball. Tickets for Saturday’s 78-52 hoopectomy of San Francisco became unavailable last Tuesday. Clayton personally handled more than 100 unhappy callers and every athletic department staffer has become a pro at saying no. Every January game except Loyola Marymount has been a sellout, and the building is running at 99.975 percent of capacity.
“I tell them I have a key and they’re welcome to come early with me,” said coach Dan Monson. “I don’t have any tickets, though. But what a great problem, and what a great atmosphere.”
The Kennel has always been a little slice of hell for strangers, though frankly as the Bulldogs got better as the decade wore on it seemed as if the upgrade in quality of play distracted the patrons into a relative reverie. Like going from table wine to blowing the dust off a special bottle from the cellar.
Maybe it’s more TV or maybe it’s the responsibility of having a team knocking on the door of the Top 25, but the crowd seems to have elevated its game, too. USF’s zoot-suit riot of a warmup was suitably mocked, the referees were presented with baggies of fresh-baked cookies by way of a bribe and there were the requisite Barenaked - to the waist, anyway - Gentlemen mugging for the cameras.
“The Kennel has always been special, but it does have a certain electricity right now that I haven’t seen in 11 years,” said Monson, who we forget has been around that long. “I don’t think I’ve noticed the Kennel Club five times in 11 years, but I looked over the other night and thought, `Those guys are crazy.”’
Of course, Monson has more of an opportunity to notice now. During a 9-0 January, the Zags outscored the opposition by 20 points a game. It’s that second number which has interested parties wondering whether the Bulldogs can run the WCC table. “It’s not a priority - not as much as winning the league,” Monson said, “though we may have to go undefeated to win it, the way Pepperdine is playing.”
Indeed, since losing to the Zags by 31 here earlier in the month, the Waves haven’t stumbled. A Feb. 19 date in Malibu is shaping up as the WCC version of Tyson-Holyfield, hopefully without the appetizer.
“Until we get beat, we’re going to expect to win,” Monson said. “That’s an attitude that’s taken this program a long time to get to.
“People are after us. And if we were to get in the Top 25, the bounty on our heads would get even higher. So all we can do is keep working to get better so they can’t catch us. Right now, I think we’re the best team in the league. Somebody’s got to improve or we’ve got to get worse and what made me happy tonight was that we played the best basketball we’ve played since the Pepperdine game.”
After the first nine minutes, anyway. The Zags managed to squeeze eight turnovers into that span and though they still led, the sardined natives were plenty restless.
“Somebody dunk or shoot a 3, man,” groused one.
Not long after, Mike Leasure did the latter and Casey Calvary the former, and the Zags were off. “I sometimes wonder if our confidence is a little too good,” said center Jeremy Eaton, who virtually didn’t touch the ball in the first half but managed to wind up with 12 points. “We just haven’t started well the last few games and at home this weekend, it’s almost like we were too relaxed.”
Their fans can relate. Time was, they could walk up at tipoff and find a seat - like the GU student who showed up at the Portland game with a phalanx of buddies and told Clayton he was on the pass list of the Pilots’ Ryan Jones.
“Sorry, your name’s not there,” she said.
“Then I’m sure Jason Calvary has me on his list,” the kid bluffed.
“Jason Calvary?” Clayton said. “Jason does? Sorry, we only have a Casey Calvary. His list is the same every game - and you’re never on it.”
Tough break, but it could have been worse.
He could have had to hoof it back to Safeway for his car.