Syracuse lost, and I'm not feeling so good myself

Tyler Ennis' three-pointer clanged off the rim -- to my mind the second bad decision he had made in the last two possessions -- and with it Syracuse's season had come to an end at the hands of Dayton.

And I proceeded to yell profanities (OK, only one in particular) in combination with "chokers" and various other forms of low regard, all while pounding my fist into my thigh multiple times hard enough so that I think it frightened my wife.

As it's one of the few parts of my anatomy with any muscles, my thigh was fine, not even a bruise, yet my rage remained unabated.

"Ennis needs to go to the NBA right now so he doesn't screw up anymore," I thought. "And take that overrated C.J. Fair and his disappearing act with him. And I'm so happy to see Trevor Cooney remember the scrub that he is. Maybe I should have called on Big Orange"

Rested and ready for a regional final that never came.

I even allowed myself some sacrilege.

"Maybe Jim Boeheim ought to retire. He hates being in the ACC, anyway."

In fact, I was so upset at how horribly Syracuse had played in a game they would have won going away if the Orange had even been mediocre, I even let a few bad calls slide, which isn't something I normally do.

@MichaelPawluk They couldn't overcome not being able to make shots and making stupid decisions.
— LastHonestSportsFan (@LastHonestSport) March 23, 2014

@MichaelPawluk Shameful officiating was Aaron Craft manhandling Syracuse's guards two years ago. Tonight was 0-for-threes and bad decisions.
— LastHonestSportsFan (@LastHonestSport) March 23, 2014

My pal FortyFourist (and by pal, I mean guy I sometimes converse with on Twitter, since we don't actually know each other) has been trying to keep the angry masses at least somewhat at bay since last night, although I don't know how much success he has had.

Tyler Ennis made about 4 bad plays ALL SEASON. If you want to crucify the kid for last night, you're missing the big picture. Badly.
— FortyFourist (@fortyfourist) March 23, 2014

I eventually calmed down long enough to watch Wisconsin complete its comeback against Oregon, and then had a good night's sleep. I still think Ennis messed up royally at the end, but he did have a great year in what I'm sure will be his only year in Syracuse, and while I think being in the ACC will cause Boeheim to retire earlier than he had planned, I don't actually want it to happen.

However, I'm not backing off Fair's disappearing act, and Cooney has to figure out a way to do something on offense if teams actually ... what's the word I'm looking for ... guard him.

And I'm reminded again that one game, played by people I don't know and will most likely never meet, can cause such fervent emotion. (I'm sure Dayton fans are feeling the same level of emotion, but of joy and not anger).

Is it irrational?

Sure it is.

But that's sports.