For someone again who had been a long-time season ticket holder left a lot of games where we came up short, particularly in the Big East, against, you know, Beheim, Syracuse and Pitt and in Georgetown.

You know, I had definitely experienced that sort of Red Sox fan crushing defeat and was hoping that, you know, I wasn't going to have to sort of cope with that emotionally

one more time.

It's March 99, Yukon Duke National Title.

This is Remember That Game, the podcast about sporting events that take you on a journey

and maybe start the path of the zeitgeist.

I'm your host Thomas Semerick, and my guest is Representative Joe Courtney of Connecticut's

Second Congressional District, including Stores and Yukon Huskies basketball.

The men's side reaches their first final four here after the program went through quite the

evolution at the turn of the 90s.

Right as you started out nearby in the state legislature, what was the early Calhoun era like

as a fan in that area east of Hartford? Sure. So first of all, thank you. Having grown up in

Connecticut, you know, lived there my whole life. My family goes back actually three

generations. You know, Yukon basketball was always, you know, something that really brought the

state together. We had one brief shining moment with a professional sport team, the Hartford

Whalers, but, you know, that's been pretty much it. So, you know, Yukon men's basketball, which,

you know, pre-Calhoun, you know, was still

very popular.

My law firm where I was working back in those days, we had season tickets.

So, you know, I used to go to all the games, women too.

And but anyway, Calhoun showed up, you know, it was, it really was a really pivotal moment for the program because

by then Yukon was in the Big East, but was always, you know, kind of the second tier level

...