Soft Pretzel Logic

I've been called out many times in my life for incorrectly using the word "irony," but I think I've come up with a correct case in which to use the word.

Commenter louis wrote this on Thursday night:

i forgot more about the big five then you will ever know,you stink.

Aside from the fact that I had just come out of the shower when I saw the comment, he makes a somewhat interesting point. I freely admit that there are a lot of people out there who have forgotten more about the Big 5 than I will never know, and I was reminded of that again today.

One of the reasons why I love the City Series as an institution is that it treasures its history unlike almost anything else I've ever seen in sports in this country. That ethic was on display this afternoon at the Palestra for the annual Big 5 Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

There's no way I can know as much about the Big 5 as James "Booney" Salters, Rap Curry, Claudrena Harold and Donnie Carr (pictured above from left to right), because they played in it and I didn't.

There's no way I can know as much about the Big 5 as Salters' old coach, Bob Weinhauer, who was in the house today, or Phil Martelli or Fran Dunphy, because they've coached in the Big 5 and I haven't.

There's no way I can know as much about the Big 5 as Jack Scheuer of the AP, because he has written about college basketball in this town since the first ever Holy War and I haven't even been alive for half the Big 5's existence.

It is for those very reasons that I treasure being at events like the Hall of Fame ceremony, because I get to connect to the Big 5's past in a way that isn't really possible with most other sports.

This video of highlights from today's induction speeches is just a small part of what it's like to be in a space with so many people that are so closely connected with each other not only in the past but in the present as well.

Baseball comes closest, but there's something a lot more personal in the connection between fan and player at a college than there is in a pro stadium. Maybe it's the proximity to the floor, maybe it's the ethos of playing for whoever will pay the most money. But there is definitely a difference.

So feel free to tell me that you know more about the Big 5 than I do. But don't be surprised if I come back at you wanting to learn something that you know.