| Homecoming hoops on Saturday
By Mike Roorda
Sports Editor
Homecoming. The very word itself evokes images of games past wherein the team to which you are devoted to and love squares off against a rival in a game that is almost more about the people and time that you are having than the actual sport itself. In the tradition of such, high school memories of dances and sports shared with the people that mean the most to you come bubbling to the surface. Now, here in college and many years later, homecoming is upon us yet again. We now have an opportunity to forge new memories in a different place and with different people. Arguably, college homecoming is a far cry from high school. At the very least you won’t have to worry about who is dancing with the girl that you have a crush on and who will be going to who’s house for the post-party. Or maybe all those things still are true and you’ll just get a chance to replicate your high school memories with a different cast of faces. Whatever the case may be, the Saturday homecoming men’s basketball game between Calvin and Albion promises a chance to rediscover the pleasures of old.
It hasn’t always been the case that at Calvin that the homecoming celebrations also encompassed an actual game, for many years the festivities centered around other activities. However, things are different now and basketball is one of the first things that comes to mind when the homecoming is brought up in conversation.
A game that pits the number-three team in the MIAA against the number two team always promises to be entertaining and worth your while, with the added bonus of it being a homecoming game, this may be one that you don’t want to miss.
Calvin squared off against Albion on Albion’s home court in January earlier this year and came up holding the short end of the stick with the score at 64-76.
Albion also managed to hold down the number one spot in the MIAA for some time earlier in the season before being dethroned by Hope (who coincidentally left Calvin with their tails between their legs after a tense 70-74 loss in January).
So let’s review the setup: Calvin beat Hope, Hope beat Albion and Albion beat Calvin earlier in the season. If you can sort all that out, you’ll see that this game is very much up for grabs and could easily go either way. A win for Calvin would solidify them as one of the teams to tremble in front of for the rest of the season, and place them well within the boundaries of the MIAA title. However, in the event that Albion manages to work their own magic, the same attributes would apply to them as well.
Albion’s MIAA record currently stands at 6-2, while Calvin lags not far behind with a 5-3 record in the MIAA. Overall Albion is at 17-4 and Calvin is a still respectable 12-8. All things aside, Calvin will be playing Albion here on our soil and our terms.
Something special enters the air during homecoming games and this year we’re all hoping that it smells like victory. On Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Fieldhouse, come because it was so much fun back then and it can be so much more now.
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