The Tease of the Maryland Terrapins
I found no other blog or journalistic source that put it better than East Coast Bias on the subject of the flailing Maryland Terrapins money sports.
I think it’s time for those of us who are Maryland alums in our late 20’s to accept that we attended the school during its brief two-sport heydey. Now we’ve returned to the muddled, mediocre middle of the NCAA Division I landscape, viewed alongside such schools as NC State and Ole Miss. Sure, we can put together a halfway decent season now and then. Perhaps we can even climb into the teens in the rankings. For the most part, though, we’re just filling out a schedule for the real powerhouses.
It’s going to take some time to adjust.
It’s almost poetic in its truth. Poignant and painful, all at the same time.
This is what’s frustrating about supporting, observing, or living in or around football and basketball in College Park, MD. The Terrapins are, without a shadow of a doubt, the biggest bunch of pretenders in Division I.
You visit their campus, and they look like a legit program. Facilities are nice, the area is supportive, and there’s no sense of separation between community and the fan base. They are one and the same.
And yet, their recruiting and their game day performances give you every reason to drown your sorrows in multiple combo meals at Cluck U Chicken. There is no redemption with this team if you are a fan. None. It would be better if they were like Temple University; occasionally surprising, but by and large, chronic underachievers who use athletics as a notable weekend distraction for the student body.
But that’s not College Park. That can’t be College Park for at least another 4-6 years. Not with the taste of national championships and bowl appearances in its not-so-distant past. Recent Maryland graduates know what its like to be nationally respected, locally heralded, and universally important. My alma mater, Morgan State University, hasn’t been a hotbed of athletic relevance for more than 20 years, and even we got more favorable local media play during March Madness 2008 than the Terps.
So did American University, so did George Mason University, so did the University of Maryland – Baltimore County. Sure, it’s likely because all three of those teams could’ve beaten the Terps on any given night last season, but that not the point.
The point is how starved the area is for a solid collegiate sports story.
God knows I want to root for the Terrapins. I want for guys from my neighborhood to desire to play for them, to represent the State of Maryland proudly at its flagship campus. (That’s if they are unwilling to commit to Morgan, but you get the drift) A good Terrapins athletic program is good for the state, because its what its fans yearn for. It’s what they need.
There’s too much professional sports history with the Redskins, Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals and Baltimore Ravens for the State of Maryland to be a college-centric sports town. But deep down, this state wants everyday to be Saturday, and for the springtime to mean hardwood glory. You could thank (or blame) the ACC and its uber successful, Southern college-town programs for showing Maryland fans what its like to bleed the colors of a local college, but citizens of the Free State have turned turnip for the Terps over the last few seasons.
Citizens want to revel with students in celebrating championships and big victories over heated rivals. I spent the majority of my teenage years hanging out in the heart of the campus, waiting for the days when I would be old enough to party with the Maryland girls on game day. The girls never quite panned out looks-wise, and I matured in another direction higher education-wise, but a part of me never stopped wanting to party with College Park.
And so they got there in the early 2000’s, and no one was happier than me. But eight short years later, they’ve returned to their fairly middlin’ ways.
Fairly middlin’ Maryland.
It’s so unfair.
 |  |
