BYU Vs. Vermont: "The Jimmer Game"

Its a very special night for the Glens Falls area tonight. Tonight, Jimmer Fredette, everyone’s adopted local hero is returning for one more game at the Civic Center. Anyone familiar with me knows Jimmer is my favorite player because he’s kind of from the same area as me. His family has ties to my hometown. He won Section II titles in the Civic Center. I got bounced from the Section II tournament in the second round at the Civic Center. We’re practically related!

The villain tonight will be played by the Vermont Catamounts and the mustachioed Evan Fjeld. Vermont is only making a leisurely 2 hour drive to get to the Civic Center, but they should be walking into a very hostile environment to take on a team traveling more than 2,200 miles from Provo, Utah to Glens Falls, New York. It should be fun.

With Jimmer returning for one final game, everyone who experienced Jimmer’s high school career is feeling nostalgic. The Post Star’s Ken Tingley perfectly captured what it was like in the area during the winter of 2007. It became a sickness in the area. I tried to fight it back when he was touring the area breaking scoring records, but my family was infected. Once he started doing it on the college level, I couldn’t fight it any longer. The kid that I had watched play in live in high school was doing the same thing to collegiate defenses. The scoop layups that worked when he still looked just like George Michael Bluth were still falling.

People camped outside the box office the night before tickets went on sale. Jimmer was on the front page of 3 sections of the local paper on Sunday. Another local paper put out a special 8-page edition on Jimmer. This is probably the biggest collegiate basketball game to ever be played in the area. (If you ignore Albany being a previous regional site for March Madness…)

So tonight it’s going to be a mad house. The homecoming of Jimmer Fredette is something we’ve waited years for. Now its here and for one more glorious night our hometown hero is home. Oh, and Jimmer’s brother TJ is scheduled to preform at halftime. There’s no way this isn’t a memorable night.

[ESPN]