Sports
By Conor Wakeman
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February 10, 2009
For this sports fan, January is the cruellest month, dashing hopes against the hardwood, brooding losses beyond expectations, mixing memory and desire into one tough highball that brushes me back from the metaphorical plate.Driving home mid-December on Interstate-64 East, the trees without leaves like rows upon rows of silenced spectators, Virginia football?s four straight losses to end the season tasted sour in the mouth ? like shocking yourself as a kid, that metallic smoothness coating something not quite right.The fall semester had not gone as expected ? in part because of the football team?s off-field sideshow last January ? and after our last tailgate, cleaning the heap of beer cans and plastic cups and plates into a deep, black trash bag, I told myself, ?You?re not just a football fan anymore; now, there?s basketball season.? Pulling down last season?s football calendar, the tides of each churning season ? what team except the Cavaliers would win their fourth-straight game on the road at Georgia Tech in October as a prelude to collapse ? all dropped together suddenly into the din of pins collecting on the floor.