76 Days to Opening Day

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 76 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

Today’s book is A Season of the Brink by John Feinstein. A look inside Indiana University Basketball’s 1985-86 season with Bobby Knight at the helm. This passage covers the second half of an exhibition game.

“Let’s put them away quickly,” Knight said. “Let’s jump on them and get a big lead. Don’t let them get back in this thing.”

They didn’t. A Harris dunk really got the crowd wound up and built the lead to 55-43. The lead eventually was more than 20, and the final score was 94-74. No contest. Still, there were moments. When Morgan threw a foolish pass, Knight screamed in his face during the next time-out. The two were literally nose to nose, one giving, the other taking. Did Morgan resent this treatment? “I was thinking,” he said later, “that I screwed up again.”

The screwups were balanced, though, by the potential that showed in flashes. Alford finished with twenty-three points; Harris had sixteen and nine rebounds. Thomas also had sixteen. It was, after less than four weeks of practice, a good beginning. Knight knew this. He also knew there was a lot more to do before this team could beat Notre Dames and Kentuckys. But they were not that far off. As the players congratulated one another after Knight had reminded them one more time “November 9 to March 9, keep that in mind,” they had little idea that they were about to enter the most difficult three weeks of the season. Over the next twenty days, they would have one day off. They would practice twenty-four times, look at endless hours of tape, and receive absolute hell from their coach.

After that, if they survived, they would play their first game.

Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.