WE'LL HAVE A GAEL TIME!

(Thank you, Hanna-Barbera)

The Knicks played last night (nice game, Mr. Crawford) and the Nets are still out west having their hearts broken (tonight at Denver). They've lost three games by a total of three points.

So what's going on in New York City, then? Well, there's a hipster happening in Brooklyn, the Idiotarod, which is a five-person, one shopping cart race inspired by the Iditarod.

http://cartsofbrooklyn.com/

There are two checkpoints and a lot of beer involved, and this madcap event will continue being cool until people like me begin to cover it. And then the hipsters, I'm sure, will move onto something else. Something, perhaps, such as Pillow Fight Club.

http://www.pillowfightclub.org/

The other happeing sports event is college men's basketball, Loyola at Iona, live from New Rochelle. I don't know what the opposite of a bandwagon is, but I've jumped on it. The Iona Gaels are 0-19, the last winless men's hoops team in Division I, and my editor (and former friend) Barry has dispatched me to cover them until they win.

To which I can only reply, "Why can't Hawaii-Hilo be the last winless team in Division I?"

Anyway, I'm here in New Rochelle (not to be confused with "Rochelle, Rochelle"), NY, for the game. I'm hoping that my presence here will bring the Gaels some luck (though it didn't the other night in Bridgeport). Barry tells me that Loyola is only a 2.5 favorite, despite their having won 11 of their 19 games this year. Then again, the Gaels have a 19-1 record record against Loyola here at the Hynes Athletic Center. Oddsmakers, they know their stuff.

As for luck, I have this bizarre habit of being present when teams end streaks. A quick summary:

October, 1992: Covering Williams College men's football team, owners of a 24-game win streak. The Purple Ephs lose to Trinity on a touchdown scored with no time remaining on the clock.

January, 2001: In the span of 48 hours I witnessed (or put a double-whammy...as opposed to the much less hyped "single whammy") on the nation's two biggest women's college hoops win streaks. In Division I UConn falls at Notre Dame, 92-76, ending their 30-game win streak, the longest at that level. The following night I found myself in St. Louis covering Washington U., which at the time was threatening UCLA's legendary 88-game win streak. Wash. U. had won 80 straight and were taking on literal next-door neighbor Fontbonne College, which had a .500 record. Fontbonne won and afterward Washington U.'s coach, Nancy Fahey, looked at me and sighed, "You're just bad luck."

April, 2004: Long Beach State University had this amazing pitcher, Jered Weaver (now with the Angels), who was 12-0 in 12 starts for the Dirtbags. Weaver's strikeout-to-walk ratio was 11 to 1 and he was rolling in yet another game, with his team up 4-0 in the bottom of the 7th inning. Then he walked a batter. There was an infield error. Then Weaver struck a batter. The next batter up put one into the rightfield stands to tie the game.

The Dirtbags lost in extra innings, after which Long Beach State's sports information director, with a smile on his face, asked me never to return.

So here's my question: Am I a streak-buster or, as is more likely the case, am I just bad luck? Or is it all a coincidence?

Loyola leads 16-11 at the 12:47 mark of the first half, by the way. Please, Gaels, please, put something together.