Mush, get in the closet... Eddie Mush. He's the guy in "A Bronx Tale" that was eternal bad luck.

Worse than a black cat walking under a ladder on a sidewalk, stepping on every crack, and picking up every penny that was tails-side-up, en route to breaking 20 mirrors before seeing its bride on the day of the wedding.

If you were playing blackjack and were pulling aces and kings, and he showed up, you'd pull 4's and 5's and bust every time.

If you were playing craps and winning, he'd appear and you'd bust out everytime.

If you were having a great season - at 20-5 overall and atop your one-bid, mid-major conference - and he showed up for, oh, say Senior Night 2006, you'd lose that night...and then next night, even though he wasn't in the building but merely watched it on television.

I am Iona College's Eddie Mush.
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For the last three years, in the postseason Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) tournament, Iona College has lost three excrutiating games to Niagara University. In each of those three instances, I was right there.

In 2003, freshman phenom Ricky Soliver went 1-for-6 from the charity stripe down the stretch, as the Gaels dropped an 81-75 decision to the Purple Eagles.

In 2004, after racing out to a big lead that evaporated in the second half, Iona went below a screen and then-freshman Lorenzo Miles hit a three for NU that put the game into overtime, where the Purps would eventually dominate, 106-92.

And last year - 2005 - my final season with the Gaels, it was the worst one of the three. Down 67-66, head coach Jeff Ruland called a play that yielded a victory in a similar situation during the regular season.

At home - and down one - to the first-place Manhattan Jaspers, he put the ball in the capable hands of Steve Burtt the Younger (he's not a junior, he's got a different middle name than the head coach of the And1 ballaz). The play was to go right, around a screen from Greg Jenkins. Jenkins would then be screened (in a play the kids like to call "screen the screener") and cut for the basket at the same time that Burtt drove the lane. In this case, Burtt went to the rack, missed, but had a 6-9, 240 lb. guy going full tilt in for the tip-in and the W.

But in the MAAC's...against the Purple Nemesis...and with bad-luck sitting courtside...Burtt drove right, around the screen from Jenkins, then toward the basket...would luck finally bounce in favor of the Gaels?

Oh, there was a bounce. A bad one. An unlucky one. The ball bounced right off the Niagara defender's knee, then into his hands, and then he dribbled the ball down the court en route to a 69-66 victory.

It's a situation you practice hundreds of times. It's a situation that you plan for. It's a play that you run. It's just pure dumb, stupid luck that it doesn't work.

Or is it?
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Here's 2006. Tonight, the Gaels are once again facing the Purple Eagles in the MAAC Tournament. Only thing is, I'm an hour and a half away in Hartford.

This morning, I make a call to Hertz and reserve a car. I make another call and reserve a credential for the game.

I'm going. I want to see a Gael victory. Actually, I NEED to see one (but that's a different story for a different time).

It's 5:30 p.m. and I make an executive decision (I was a sleepy kid). I'm not going to the Capital/Adirondeck region. I'm going to stay here in the Rising Star of New England, maybe find the game on a television, polish off some tasty buffalo wings and a few equally as tasty Miller products.

Only problem is, the game is not being shown on television. Not on the MSG Network (yet another shampoo-up for the Dolans), not on Fox Sports NY, not on NESN, not on YES, not on Al-Jazeera, not even on Oxygen, Lifetime, or We (which is what I seem to be living everyday of my life know but, again, that's a different story for a different time).

It is being shown on msgnetwork.com. I have to watch it on my laptop. And I now officially really hate the Dolans.

So I ate my tasty buffalo wings at Houney's joint on Allyn Street, purchased six cans of Miller product at a bodega (don't have those in the MKE), and retreated to my plush Hilton pad for a little 21st century hoopin'.
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I don't get motion sickness, morning sickness or generally dizzy. And I've never taken mescaline or peyote.

But after watching five minutes of this soon-to-be-epic via my broadband connection, I had kinda wished I ingested a narcotic. Because at least then I'd have an excuse for feeling how I felt.

The Gaels raced out to an 11-0 lead., thanks to three-pointers from Burtt, lay-ins from big Kiril Wachsmann (who got abso-shampooing-loutely hosed with a snub from the 2006 All-MAAC team), and dunks from Anthony Bruin.

Of course, each one of those three exciting plays was pixelated and skipped like "my lou" or a DVD that you decided to play on a belt sander via my "telecast" on my MPC TransPort T2300.

But thankfully, by the second half, it became evident that the Gaels were going to win.

Handily.

Easily.

Finally.
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My cell phone rang. It was an old pal from the arena, who was sitting courtside. She informed me that my credential had been pulled and that I was barred from the building.

I'm the jinx. I'm the Billy Goat, Pesky-who-held-the-ball-too-long, Denny Galehouse, Steamer, Billy Buck, Bartman, and Grady Little.

With me not there, Iona cruised to an 80-54 win. And so it was.

I got banished to the broom closet, just like when Mush got sent away from Sonny in the basement of the Club in "A Bronx Tale."
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I want this Iona team to win more than any other team that's had my heart. More than the 1986, 2001, 2003, and 2004 Patriots. More than every Red Sox team in the last 30 years.

This squad of seniors - Ricky Soliver, Steve Burtt, Marvin McCullough, Kiril Wachsmann, and Kenny Dagostino have seen their fair share of ups and downs the last four years. More downs than ups, unfortunately.

This time of year, everyone becomes a college basketball fan. You're dazzled with stories of small-school kids with big-time dreams on the biggest stage possible - the Big Dance. The NCAA Tournament.

Those five kids are my African-American, Dominican and Italian brothers. They're my sons. They're my friends. They're what this whole thing is all about.

The NCAA make us write, speak, and say the phrase "student-athlete" when referring to the 400 or so individuals that make up the squad lists at our respective employers. In some cases, it's a farce. Not with these guys.

It's the truth.
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Tomorrow, they'll tip off at 8:15 p.m. EST. I'll be in the air then, begrudingly flying back to the Midwest from New England (once again, that's a different story for a different time).

For Jeff Ruland and the Iona Gaels, that might be the best news of all. The jinx is not in the building - or within ear or eyeshot of the game.

Should be a breeze now.
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Go get yours and, without beleaguering the point, take it to the next step.

One. (but two more to go for you, Gaels).

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For more official information on the MAAC Tournament, log onto www.maacsports.com.

For the best MAAC Tourney coverage around, check out Sean Brennan from the New York Daily News.

And for the best MAAC Tourney blogging, go no further than Scott's Shots.   ¶ 9:58 PM