The Rodney Dangerfield treatment
May 21, 2008 @ 12:24 p.m. by jlongYeah, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
No respect, no respect at all.
You hear that quite a bit during the postseason. Especially from teams that don’t have as stellar of a record as others. However, you don’t hear it that much from teams that will be the No. 1 seed. I mean unless your the Memphis Tigers.
Andover soccer coach Tracey Repp is pulling out his John Calipari act for the Trojans run at the ’ship. Despite going into the state tournament undefeated (19-0) and the No. 1 seed Repp has his Andover Trojans thinking, playing, and most importantly believing they are the underdog. And playing the role better than any beagle that has ever played Sunshine.
You might think its hard to have had the success that Andover has this season and go into the state tournament like that, but the Trojans have done just that. Their biggest issue this season has been having to play from behind early on. They deaded any of that on Tuesday jumping out to an early 3-0 lead. While they were favored to win the game, after the win they had an aire of non-satisfaction. Not surprising considering that the core of this team has a 3rd and 4th place state finish. Yet when talking to them it wasn’t about getting to the state tournament alone. They want respect. They want the people who supposedly know game to recognize theirs. They want for people to stop looking at them as if they’re unfamiliar.
Can they bring the title back with them from Topeka (said like it was one of the questions at the end of an episode of Batman), that will be answered this weekend. First they have to beat St. James Academy (15-3-1) on Friday at 5 p.m. The championship will be decided a day later at 2 p.m. against the winner of Kapaun and the favorite St. Thomas Aquinas.
Andover 2008 Class 5-1A state champs, I can’t call it. But i do know that if they play with as much intensity as they have determination they just might bring something back with them other than respect.
