UConn Players as Taylor Swift Songs

[UConNick]

Full disclosure - I wrote this up three weeks ago, felt it was not worth posting at the time. I settled on posting it when/if UConn needed a mojo post. Well, turns out it never became necessary, because we happened to be the best NCAA team of the last 20 years. So, I’ll post it now for posterity and memes. Reminder, everything was written on 3/20 - think that means much of it will prove to have been prescient.

I’m a 1L who doesn’t even have time to breathe most days. But as an unabashed Swiftie, that’s not going to stop me from embracing the mojo.

Now, Taylor is rightly known for her catalogue of break-up songs. But she’s also got dozens of legitimately awesome songs that aren’t about her motley crew of exes. I’ve scoured her albums (minus debut, it’s always been too country for my taste, and folklore/evermore, because I don’t know them very well) to try and come up with the song that best matches each player in our rotation. I was originally going to try to do the whole roster, but that proved to be too damn tough. I kept Solo on, at least, since he did spend a decent chunk of the season in the rotation and is still arguably on its fringes.

I can’t promise the results will be correct, or even understood, but given I’ve been here now for over a decade, it’s time I contribute to the mojo. I came to the Boneyard as a snot-nosed high schooler ready to enroll at UConn, and I’ve grown up here into the UConn student (Class of 2017!) turned legal professional turned law student now humbly typing a Dogmania-amount of words about Taylor freaking Swift. Some of these are stretches, some work pretty well. Without further ado…

Tristen Newton: Long Live

This is the comparison that sparked my idea for the post. Long Live is an absolute underrated gem and my personal favorite song from Speak Now. It sings of a time from the past, where everything was perfect. However it reminisces with happiness, not wistfulness. That is Newton to a T; when his career sadly ends soon, it’ll be a time for tears and a time for reflection. But it’ll also be a time for celebration; fortunately, everyone here has long come to the realization of how special our time with this player has been, and should he will us to another title, we’ll look back on these two years as the best of times.

Cam Spencer: Anti-Hero

Not so much the spirit of the song, but it’s clear Cam is a guy everyone else in the country loves to hate. It’s true, if he were wearing Duke blue instead of National Flag blue, he’d probably need a personal FBI hotline to handle all the threats. But instead, he’s ours, talking smack, winning games, and thankfully, being the furthest thing from a problem we could have on this roster. He’s the monster on the hill that’s got all the other teams worried. Our mini-Hurley bringing his same brand of fire onto the court.

Stephon Castle: Fearless

Because that’s how he feels when guarding the other team’s best player: fearless. Nothing shakes his confidence, and we’ve seen it time and again from him. Whether it be Desmond Claude, Scheierman (the first time…), or Richmond. A song that’s underappreciated despite being the titular track, for me just as important to the coherence of this masterpiece album as any of the big hits. Despite being perhaps the fifth-most-known song, it’s the straw that stirs the drink, just like Steph.

Alex Karaban: Mine

A song that despite its upbeat music has some rather deep lyrics about the ups-and-downs of life. To some extent, that’s been Karaban this season; between the finger injury and the recent shooting slump, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. But, just like the couple in this song, there was never any doubt he’d make it through, never any doubt he was perfect for this team. And just as the song ends on its strongest notes, so too will Karaban end with his strongest play – just like last year’s tourney run.

Donovan Clingan: You Belong With Me

Could it be anything else? The very song our native son belted alongside the student section several weeks ago to kick off this connection. Truthfully, it’s not a tremendous match for Clingan; he knew where he belonged the whole time, and we’ve been blessed to have him here for the last two years. Love Story would’ve fit here, too, because it’s been nothing but a storybook for the hometown hero. Hoping we send him out as a two-time title winner!

Hassan Diarra: Welcome to New York

Diarra, the NYC native, helped the team go 7-0 (hopefully soon-to-be 9-0 from Brooklyn instead of Storrs South) in the Big Apple. Everybody here at some point wanted something more from him, and this year, he’s brought it. And yes, just like any true love, he drives us crazy! But we know we wouldn’t change anything, and we’re lucky to have him this season (and hopefully next season!).

Solo Ball: 22

Upbeat and fun, just like Solo’s personality (anyone else remember those awesome videos from the summer tour?). But also the theme of the song is being young, is enjoying those times when your responsibilities are a little lower. As a freshman, Solo’s currently living that, enjoying his first year on the team, putting in some great highlights, but also doing a lot of growing and learning. The future is bright!

Jaylin Stewart: Enchanted

This one’s more about the song structure; it starts out very mellow and sensual. However, it builds to a crescendo, and is absolutely bumping by the time the bridge hits. Stewart’s been a slow burn; at times, it looked like he was moving in molasses out there. But now, he’s making his presence known. Please don’t be in love with someone else…

Samson Johnson: Sparks Fly

This one’s an odd fit, but bear with me – it’s loud, it’s a song you shout to sing, it’s got an awesome hook. It’s an explosive and bombastic song about being in love, and has there been a bigger love affair this season than Samson, his soaring alley-oops, and the rim? Truly, this larger-than-life song actually matches the play of Samson – it’s fun, it’s flashy, and it’s sometimes so erratic you’re not sure what it’s doing. But that’s the back-up big man we know and love.

 

[formerlurker]

You spent too much time on that

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

You spent too much time on that

Hater gonna hate hate hate ...

@UConNick

I'm glad that I'm awake to read your post fully, and then read the somewhat immediate, low-info, low-effort, low-thought, TLDR swipe with a sour edge that's quoted above.
Shake it Off.

It holds less value than if I were to tell the writer he should go back to lurking, which would be a crappy thing for me to say if he hadn't - as you've likely heard already this year - "opened the door." So, as to my being rude, sorry, not sorry.

That said, you probably made a good call not posting this back when you wrote it, because it might have been too great a distraction in its aftermath, whether it was swatted away like above or embraced.

I speak from some experience in the matter.

In March 1996, I was a 1L in my first semester of a January Accelerated Entry Program program that was designed to sync me up with the rest of the class of '98 by Labor Day by doing the first year during spring and summer, with literally a 3-day weekend between semesters, and then a week between second semester exams and the start of 2L.

That 'week off' from classes began with a 4-inch stack of reading & instructions that was distributed on the last day of exams, which comprised materials for the writing competition to secure slots on various Law Journals for those not invited on the basis of first year grades. Given the turnaround time as to determination of second semester grades for AEP folks, the writing competition existed to fill a number of final slots reserved for some percentage of those in my ~30-person Section.

I was so colossally wiped from, essentially, 7½ months of non-stop law school that I dropped the writing package into a recycling bin on my way out of the building, and took a week off. Doing so was a concession to self-care and a recognition & acceptance that I hadn't begun law school 20 years out from undergrad with any ambition to do it 'like usual.' A week was hardly enough rest & refresh, and, come to think of it, I moved into my own apartment that week as well, but that would be a digression upon the ones already in progress, so that gets shelved, lest I be told I've spent too much time in this.

And so, back to my time two months into 1L, when I found March Madness too habitually ingrained in me to ignore and suffered as you might imagine from giving it absorbed attention in the student lounge.

For reference, because I calculate that you might have been about my toddler granddaughter's age at the time, here's a Wikipedia link for that year's tournament.

1996 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Just a quick scan will reveal that it pre-dated ANY UConn NCs, and that it was one of the memorably fine mid-90s teams that fell short of the school's first Final Four. In this case, it was Ricky Moore's freshman year, when he was blossoming as a lockdown defender but suffered a first round (?) injury that eventually took him out of the Sweet 16 game that 1-seed UConn lost to 5-seed Mississippi State (who eventually lost in the Semis). Ricky's defense figures prominently in UConn's first NC during his Senior year.

And this brings me toward my closeout in response to your Taylor Swift/UConn Rotation matchup. I'll admit to/claim some upper percentile Swift-fluency in the mid-Boomer male sub-designation, meaning that in addition to having high familiarity with all of the players, I can form an internal listening memory of each selected song except for "Long Live." If I were to stream it, upon refresh, I might go, "Oh that one," but not now, as I'm hearing early bird songs and the pre-dawn ramp-up of UPS Worldport freight plane traffic.

I've perused your sketches of the songs & personalities, and can validate that it's an ambitious undertaking that has possibilities and appeal, even if it might not find a wide audience here. It surely falls successfully within your pre-claimed allowances that it's a provisional work, not fully polished, etc. That's fine with me.

I'll circle back and give it an additional look, just not now. In the present, I want to have inserted a note of informed encouragement for your efforts. If nothing else, I wanted to offer something more than what you received so quickly, especially because I'd seen it at about the same time and thought it deserved better. It just took me this long to tap out my own too-long, too-drafty missive.

Thanks for contributing here! It has to have helped the enterprise. That's the real message.

 

[Deepster]

Bravo! The Repeat Queen shall live in infamy here.