To give you an idea of what insomniacs do, we point you to 1:58 a.m. Wednesday.
Insomniacs read message boards on longislandhoops.org to see what people are saying about Epiphanny Prince of Murry Bergtraum in Manhattan scoring 113 points in a single game.
Insomniacs scour Newsday.com and other Web sites in search of more information, hoping that a national record of this magnitude garners some 24/7 type pub reserved mainly for major professional and college sports.
Insomniacs stumble upon an AP story in which Prince delightfully said, “It was efficient. It wasn't like I missed a whole bunch of shots. That's what made it even better."
She was 54-for-60 from the field. She took 60 shots? Yes. She hit 54 of them? Yes!
Insomniacs laugh the impressive laugh when such a feat draws reaction from LeBron James. “It’s an amazing thing when an individual does that," James said to the AP when told about her performance. "I don't know who she is, but maybe we'll see her in the WNBA. For that matter, the NBA."
That’s why Nike annointed him “The Chosen One.”
Undoubtedly, the conversation will turn to a bunch of sportsmanship issues and a healthy amount of “How could the coach let that happen?”
Here’s the real question: How could the coach NOT let that happen?
Prince, a senior guard for the No. 2 team in the nation in the USA Today poll, had 58 points at the half in a 137-32 win over Louis Brandeis.
Prince has the rest of her life to be mediocre. Why not give a teenage girl a chance to be Queen of New York City for a few hours and bask in some national glory for a few minutes? Isn’t one of the laws of high school teaching students how to strive for their very best? Why should coach Ed Grezinsky stand in the way of a magical evening that young Epiphanny Prince will never forget when she’s old Epiphanny Prince.
Besides, the moment she makes her first mistake in practice at Rutgers next season, it’s a safe bet legendary coach Vivian Stringer will check Prince back into the Reality Hotel.
Some will argue that her performance wasn’t fair to the other girls on her team. Guess what, they will all enjoy being in school on Thursday when everyone is talking about what happened. Then there’s the fact that they’re the No. 2 team in the nation, one spot behind heated rival Christ the King.
A number of postings on the LI girls hoops message board ripped into the 113-point effort, calling it shameful and disgraceful coaching. One posting went so far as to say “Bergtraum and its coach should be suspended.”
That stuff is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S.
Why is this such a bad thing? Prince set a national record. Not just a school record, or PSAL record, or even a state record. Of all the girls to ever play high school basketball, no one ever scored more points than Epiphanny Prince.
Lisa Leslie likely would have on the Southern California afternoon of Feb. 7, 1990. She scored 101 – in the first half! – for Inglewood Morningside on a sub-Prince 37 of 56 from the field and 27 of 35 free throws. Morningside led South Torrance, 102-24. Leslie average 6.3 points per minute.
And then the opposing coach pulled his team off the court for the second half. Oddly, the South Torrance coach was later suspended for the final game of the season for violating the sportsmanship code.
Leslie was denied the chance to break Cheryl Miller’s record of 105.
"I was kind of heartbroken that I didn't break the record," Leslie told the Los Angeles Times that night. "I asked the (South Torrance) coach before they left the court if they would let me score three more baskets, and then he asked his team, and they said 'No.' "
At last check, Leslie turned out just fine. A free ride to USC, two Olympic gold medals, two WNBA championships, a modeling deal and several guest spots on various television shows.
Surely, the Brandeis players probably weren’t happy about giving up 113 points to one girl. But they can tell their families they were a part of sports history. Ten years from now, that will sound pretty cool.
In Hateration America, we’re trained to knock people down a peg. So when one girl accomplishes something no one else in history did, the public demands a negative outcry. That’s just plain silly.
So stop crying about poor sportsmanship and start repeating 54-for-60, 54-for-60, 54-for-60. That’s 90 percent from the field. When majesty is bestowed upon us, we must open our eyes and enjoy the view.