Memphis chokes, saves us from an annoying argument

Memphis lost last night. They committed five turnovers on their last seven possessions, including one by Willie Kemp with 4.3 seconds left as Memphis had a chance to tie. The UTEP win snapped the Tiger's 64 game winning streak in Conference USA.

Maybe that was a good thing.

Don't get me wrong, I have no rooting interest in the Memphis Tigers either way. Win, and I'm happy for them. I like Josh Pastner and want to see him do well. Lose, and well, Memphis fans saw 64 straight conference wins. That's four years. I can't feel too bad for them about a loss.

Anyway, that's besides the point. Its a good thing that they didn't break the record because as soon as the NCAA denies the latest appeal by Memphis, their entire 2007-2008 season will be vacated, meaning that the Tigers will have officially set the record only to see it erased from the record books.

Personally, I think that's ridiculous. What's the point of "vacating a season"? You can't erase memories, you can't change what happened in the past, and frankly, no one gives a damn in a season is "vacated." Part of the reason you punish a crime or a violation is to provide an incentive not to commit that crime or violation. If you levy a punishment that no one really believes is a punishment, where is the incentive not to commit the crime? If the punishment for stealing a TV was that I had to vacate the memories I had from watching that TV, I'd never buy a TV ever again.

But that's all legal mumbo-jumbo, and this is a college basketball blog. Do you really care all that much about my opinion?

No.

No one wants to read that.

And had Memphis set the record only to have it "vacated" from the record book, columns exactly like this are all you would have read for days, weeks, or even months.

So thank you, UTEP, for sparing the college hoops world thousands of columns just like this one: boring.

Besides, is winning 65 or 66 straight conference games really that much more impressive than winning 64?