The Popcorn Stand: (Siver and Blue) Flu season is back

I’m must report the University of Nevada is trying to spread a flu. And they’re succeeding at it. I must report that flu season, indeed, isn’t over. At first it would be shocking a major university would actually ask people to catch this flu.

But I must admit I’ve been overcome with this flu. I have no choice. It’s enveloped Northern Nevada. We have an epidemic on our hands. And for some reason the University of Nevada doesn’t want this flu to go away until after April 2. And the university enthusiastically wants this flu to linger through April, through the rest of spring and well into the summer.

I must admit, I would rather catch this flu than a fever. A fever is such a cliche. How many times in sports have we been told about a certain type of fever and to “CATCH IT!”

Of course I’m talking about the Silver and Blue Flu which the University of Nevada has been spreading because of the Wolf Pack men’s basketball team’s magical run through March Madness to the Sweet 16. Nevada plays another Cinderella at 4:07 p.m. Thursday on CBS.

I must admit, though, I pulled a Heidi on Sunday. That’s what I call it when I give up on a team in reference to the 1968 football game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets. The Jets were leading late in the game when at 7 p.m. Eastern time, NBC pulled the plug to show the children’s movie “Heidi.” The Raiders came back to win the game and much of the nation didn’t see the comeback.

When Nevada trailed Cincinnati by 22 points on Sunday I went to a meeting at my church and thought, to be honest, it was a great run, but the season was over. Then Elder Sam Martini got a call from his wife and announced Nevada had won 75-73. Even in church meetings, the Silver and Blue Flu can’t be avoided.

I’ll be at the NIAA Hall of Fame event Thursday in Reno while the game is on, but I can guarantee you somehow, someway, I will know what’s going on. I won’t pull a Heidi.

The Silver and Blue Flu won’t let me.

— Charles Whisnand