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Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks  Howard Bison  

Game #8-602: Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks at Howard Bison February 20, 2012 7:30 pm Burr Gymnasium BBState Stats/Recap

Last week, before taking in Howard's game against Bethune-Cookman, I had tweeted that I was taking in the "most lovingly disorganized sporting event there is." If you've been following along with some of the other recaps that have come out of Howard home games, you probably have some idea of what I'm talking about. Whether it was my experience with (maybe) free basketball or Thomas McCaffrey's adventures in poorly scheduled women's basketball games, going to a Howard basketball game has been an adventure this season. And that's not even mentioning the litany of other oddities that simply haven't made it into my recaps such as a pair of administrative technical fouls issued before each of the two games I've seen at the Burr.

Naturally then, as I was heading back to Burr Gymnasium tonight to see Howard's home finale against Maryland-Eastern Shore, my first thought was "what will go wrong tonight?"

If only I had any idea.

Having waited too long to buy a ticket online, I made certain to get onto the Howard University campus about 45 minutes early to ensure that I'd have a seat. Ticket in hand (which, by the way, stated that tip-off for the men was at 2 p.m., and the women at 6 p.m., when in fact the games were scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., respectively. Oh, Howard), I went to grab a bite to eat before the game, planning to get to Burr just in time for tip-off.

I walked into Burr to find a seat only to discover......that there were still 11 minutes left in the preceding women's game. Somehow, it had taken all of two hours to play 29 minutes of untelevised women's basketball. I had realized that I'd probably have to do some waiting -- it seems a bit wishful to think the second game of a doubleheader will start exactly two hours after the first one starts -- but this was a bit ridiculous. Then again, this was a Howard home game we were talking about. For those playing along at home, this was a game listed to start at 2 p.m. on the tickets, but actually scheduled for 7:30 p.m., and was now being delayed until roughly 8:30 p.m. Oy.

After about an hour of waiting through a pretty poorly played women's game and warm-ups, UMES and Howard FINALLY got things going. It was then that I realized that the worst was not yet over. Sorry Mr. Petty, but tonight, the waiting was definitely NOT the hardest part.

No, that would be the game on the court, easily one of the ugliest I've seen. Neither team could seemingly hit the broad side of the barn for stretches of the game. The box score says that UMES was the better shooting team on the night, hitting 33.3 percent from the field, but I'm legitimately surprised it was even that high.

Credit where credit is due: it WAS a close game down the stretch, with Howard squeaking out a 53-51 win. But by that point, after all of the waiting and subpar basketball, I think we were all ready to just see it end.

The Burr strikes yet again. I'm oddly curious to see what it has in store for my next trip. Thankfully (or is it unfortunately?), we'll have to wait until next year to find out.


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