Well done, Matthew Tkachuk.
Jayson Tatum and Tony Vitello, come on home.
It’s the summer of champions here in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, and no one should be surprised to see this sports obsessed city celebrating with locals who recently reached their respective sports mountaintops. Sure, they did it somewhere else. So?
ºüÀêÊÓƵ is a big part of their success stories, and ºüÀêÊÓƵ loves a good sports celebration.
It’s been a while since a local team celebrated a championship. The last champs, the Blues, have missed back-to-back postseasons in their descent from the top of the hockey stratosphere. The Cardinals are once again in the mix for a wild-card spot, but they haven’t won a single National League Championship Series game since 2014. After impressing by making the playoffs in its first season as an expansion team, City SC is having a second season that looks more fitting of a first-year expansion team. The Battlehawks unfortunately fumbled their chance at a UFL championship by dropping the game before the big game.
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Hey, maybe the Cardinals and Blues surprise us. Maybe new Billikens coach Josh Schertz and Robbie Avila catch lightning in a bottle. Maybe Eli Drinkwitz’s Missouri football team speeds down its inviting lane toward a College Football Playoff appearance. The next championship is out there, waiting, and fans here are always hungry to celebrate.
Until then a trio of ºüÀêÊÓƵ sports products turned newly crowned champions have given their hometown plenty to buzz about. And it’s OK to catch that buzz. Ignore anyone who suggests otherwise.
Some people and some places don’t get it. I get that. When ESPN’s SportsCenter Twitter/X account sent out the regionally iconic photo of Boston Celtics champion Tatum and Florida Panthers champion Tkachuk as Chaminade classmates, some around the nation seemed confused. Random. Maybe there. Not here.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ is both big enough to produce big sports stars yet small enough to stay close to them. Those who launch from ºüÀêÊÓƵ tend to keep ºüÀêÊÓƵ in their hearts even as they ascend elsewhere. There’s something special about that. If it irks others, who cares?
Tkachuk this week used part of his short date with the Stanley Cup to brighten spirits at ºüÀêÊÓƵ Children’s Hospital. Maybe that would have happened anywhere else. But I doubt it.
Expect more powerful moments when Tatum returns as an NBA champion for a basketball camp, charity golf tournament or Boys and Girls Club event. We’re talking, after all, about a Boston Celtic who didn’t hesitate to create a ºüÀêÊÓƵ-themed signature shoe.
Tennessee baseball coach Vitello deserves his hometown moment, too. He should not be overlooked here. I’d like to see him throw out a congratulatory first pitch at a Cardinals game.
Since the ºüÀêÊÓƵ product and son of legendary former De Smet baseball and soccer coach Greg Vitello took over at Tennessee in June 2017, Tony V’s Volunteers have been to five consecutive NCAA Tournaments, made three College World Series and just won Tennessee’s first baseball national championship. His .773 winning percentage over the last four years ranks No. 1 nationally.
Please pardon a mini rant here.
It’s no fault of new Tigers baseball coach Kerrick Jackson that many will always wonder what could have happened if Vitello had gotten the Mizzou job when he interviewed for it before Tennessee made its grand slam hire. Attempts at revisionist history have tried to suggest Vitello would not have won like this at Mizzou. Who knows.
But I can tell you Tennessee baseball was on something close to life support when Vitello got that job. Now? You can find Peyton Manning hanging out with Morgan Wallen at UT tournament games. I always hear from Mizzou folks that the Tigers’ baseball stadium is its big problem. Well, Vitello’s program has secured nearly $100 million for baseball stadium renovation.
Tennessee won’t let Vitello get away now. I do wonder if a major league team will eventually try, though. When Max Scherzer and Bryce Harper are among your biggest supporters, there should be little question about if Vitello could inspire and motivate major leaguers. He’s already proven he can recruit and develop them, and his players will run through walls for him. That plays at all levels. If Nashville ever gets a major league team, would anyone move the needle there like this guy?
End rant. Thanks. I feel better.
All three of these new champs are stellar representatives of a ºüÀêÊÓƵ sports community that is as deep in determination as it is in cross-sports talent. As competitors, they are fierce and unrelenting. As teammates, they are loyal, lead-by-example leaders. As ºüÀêÊÓƵans, they are real-time reminders that no matter how the local teams are playing, sports greatness still grows right here.