First off I would like to apologize, well not so much an apology but an explanation for the lack of content recently, and it starts with a long story. Let me take you back in time, that’s so raven— yes that was once a Jameis Winston pregame pep talk to his team in the Tompa Bay Buc’s season of Hard Knocks! The date was March 12th, 2020 and the Friars were ready to take on Butler in the second round of the Big East Tournament and as we all know they were riding a massive wave of momentum. I had planned my work from home schedule (Ironically I was already WFH 2-3 days a week before COVID) to be able to watch every game of the Big East Tournament and why wouldn’t I? The Crier Prophecy was Final Four 2020 and the stars were aligning just as I was foretold. The Friars at the very least were going to make the Big East Tournament Final and lose to Villanova on a suspicious call, regardless of a W or a L the boys would enhance their seeding en route to to the Final 4. I woke up that day feeling very anxious, Rudy Gobert tested positive for Coronavirus the night before and some tournaments were being canceled. Most of the big boys were still going to play as scheduled when I logged in that morning. After getting some work in I turned on the tube to watch St. Johns play Creighton. That’s when the bombshell of ACC and Big Ten canceling their tournaments came, I knew we were fucked. Frantically refreshing my Twitter no word came from the Big East that they would cancel, thought to myself we at least will get today’s session in, and MAYBE the rest of BET gets canceled but no way NCAA Tournament actually gets canceled. The SJ Creighton game tips and the small fan bases was actually pretty cool. You could hear a lot more chatter from the players and coaches, which was fascinating, and the great Fox Sports announcers made it still seem like the BET was business as usual. I then start to think a NCAA Tournament with no fans will be strange but I can deal with this, it’s the freaking NCAA Tournament for Christ sakes! SJ seems to be poised to upset an undermanned Creighton Blue Jay team and the Friars will get to play an easier opponent just like when Hall upset Nova en route to the Friars Big East Tournament title years prior. The halftime buzzer sounds and I’m overcome with nervousness and rightly so, the Big East Tournament gets canceled only for us to be left with the sad SJ mascot in the stands by himself.
We all know what happens next NCAA Tournament canceled, all sports canceled, stay at home order, masks, work from home forever, TikTok, Call of Duty WarZone, The Last Dance, Coach Duggs and life as we know it CANCELED! I was crushed… Not only for this Friar team’s seniors but for what could have been. I spent the Thursday and Friday of NCAAs playing video games because I had already had these days for vacation, as is tradition. I canceled my flight to Atlanta for a Final Four trip that the Friars were destined to accompany me on. I wanted to post content to the blog and record podcasts, had all the time to do so, but I was too bummed about the whole situation. I think that is a fair excuse, that’s why this isn’t an apology, however it is an excuse none the less and what brings me to this exciting news.
I am excited to announce that TheProvidenceCrier.wordpress.com is now TheProvidenceCrier.com! But wait there is more! Juggling work, WarZone, virtual poker night and the Crier had become a lot to handle and I need help. That is why you will start to notice a slew of new contributors to the blog. I’ve been in talks with my new contributors and we have a lot of good ideas for fun/informative posts covering recruiting, scheduling, game recaps, Friar news, Big East news and other CBB news . We have big plans for the Pod too! The first year was basically a trail by fire (or trial by Friar??) but I have big plans to make The PCP a must listen for any person that considers themselves a Friar fan. For now episodes may be sparse due to lack news to cover an hour of my blabbering but we will ramp it up as new season approaches. We may even try and get a Providence Hockey podcast too, negotiations pending.
My vision for the Crier was to provide Friar content from the perspective of a 4 foot tall passionate fan and that vision isn’t changing, just the height part. The goal? To DOMINATE the Providence Friars sports scene and consistently provide you all content because from my perspective there just isn’t enough. If you want in-depth film breakdowns and great X’s and O’s content still hit up Friarsbasketball.com (I know I certainly will) but if you want the fan perspective come to papa! The quest for Friartown content domination starts now and in the words of Ed Cooley “we will ABSOLUTELY set this place on fire and if you are late don’t come in”!
GO FRIARS
– Mike Surette (The Crier)