CCath 83, Mon. Donovan 42

What I'm listening to: They Might Be Giants... Van Morrison... Bruce Springsteen... West Side Story... Johnny Cash... Tori Amos... Ben Folds... the Shins... Parliament... Young Gunz...

I decided to break today's action up into two posts because, 1) I went to two very different games, in two very different frames of mind; 2) the task seems less daunting that way; and, 3) an inordinately large part of my self esteem is tied to the number of posts that appear on the site(s).

I'm just kidding about the last one, sort of, but I'm serious in saying that the games felt very different. i'm not used to watching basketball at the early hour of 2 p.m. and I was a little sleepy at the beginning of the Spirit game. The action woke me right up, though. On the other hand, I walked into the Camden Catholic gym jazzed, having just finished the Spirit-RBC story, and the game put me right to sleep. I guess it was nice for the Irish that they put the game away early, and it allowed Rashidat to get her 2,000th point in front of the home crowd, but after the classic I'd seen earlier, it was like a cool down.

Which is not to say CC played badly or that MonDon didn't play hard, because that's not true at all. The Irish were very efficient, and the Griffins did all they could. I do wonder what Bishop Ahr must have been like, however, since I think Holy Cross would have given MonDon a nice game.

For the most part, the overall experience was a good one. I like Chris Palladino a lot, and have to resist taking the bait when folks badmouth that program, because I believe it's a good one. So many folks dump on CC for "recruiting" but its easy for those people to count up the players that have walked in those green doors and forget the players that have walked out. Now I'm not saying that better players haven't come through the door lately, but that team is pretty good and pretty deep. I remember one moment in the second half, when most of the MonDon starters were on the floor, and -- if I recall correctly -- the Irish had Gallagher, Sharpe, Plakis, Lane and Mahon out there. I thought to myself, "That's a CC team," meaning those are the kinds of players the program produces in vast quantities, like a factory. No matter what happened, the Irish always had and probably will always have them.

And that team was still galloping away from MonDon. Junaid, Crew and Matera were all chilling on the bench, and the Irish were still kicking Griffin ass and taking Griffin names. Send Matera back out there -- since she's as CC home-grown as they come -- and you still have a solid Top 10 team in SJ, which is more than most of the program's detractors can muster.

So that was one thing. But my visit "across the street" (as we say in the C-P newsroom) wasn't all flowers and cheer. One little thing has stuck in my mind, and reminded me why this job can be so infuriating.

I was milling around after the game talking to folks. My CC ties are well-known to a lot of people, starting with the fact that practically my whole family graduated from there (thought I didn't). And I've done a lot of stories about CC teams and athletes over the last several years, so there's a convivial pre-existing rapport, and I have maybe four or five casual two-minute conversations in between interviews with Chrissy, Ra and Jaz, who were all great.

Anyway, I'm walking through this loose crowd and I hear off to my side, something like "So the Reilly Factor didn't work out so good for you, huh?" referring to the pre-playoff feature on the three Reillys of Paul VI. I couldn't tell exactly who it was and I thought it best not to respond anyway, so I didn't. I guess some people thought that, by writing the story, I was pegging the Eagles to go a long way. People can read into things what they want, but it wasn't that way at all. I did think the Eagles had a chance to give Spirit a better game than other people did, but that doesn't even matter. And to some extent, I can understand a little school-rivalry bitterness with Paul VI, especially since two of the Reillys did leave CC.

But the thing that gets under my skin is the smallness.

Your team is undefeated and ranked No. 1, it just kicked the crap out of some poor squad to get into the sectional final. You have three of the best players in SJ and a bunch of others who would start for the rest of the T20, and a style of play that is both exciting and effective.

You're on top of the world, relatively. If ever there is a time for magnanimity, this is it. But it's not possible for some in CC land. You're worried about Paul VI's ranking, and the attention that Paul VI got last week. It's petty and small and it doesn't make sense, and I could more easily dismiss it if it weren't in line with other stuff I've seen "across the street" over the years. At least when it comes to its major sports teams, CC can be more than a little provincial.

In other words: There are other points of view out there, Irish. It would be nice if all the members of the CC family could enjoy their incredible and much-deserved recent success in a way that inspires the rest of us to be happy for them.

That's all I've got. I'll post the new T20 sometime Sunday.