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A Smile That Says It All

"I used to dream about [this] when I was a little kid, in front of my home town, home fans, my family . . . it's indescribable," said Lamar Butler, center. (By Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)

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"Final Four, baby!" he said, as tears streamed down his face and he held his son tightly for about six solid minutes.

"Final Four," Lamar Jr. said.

"I love you and I'm proud of you," the father said, crying.

He had just been named the most outstanding player of the Washington Region, beating out Rudy Gay, perhaps the No. 1 pick in June's NBA draft, and a bunch of big-school ballplayers supposedly more talented and less susceptible to pressure in the final minutes of this scintillating game.

"Just pure joy, indescribable joy," the son said.

"I looked at my father; he was smiling, crying," Butler said. "My mother, they were all crying. It was like a dream come true. I used to dream about that when I was a little kid, in front of my home town, home fans, my family . . . it's indescribable."

A good 30 minutes after he had squared up, fired and his team pulled off nearly the impossible, Butler was still smiling.

Like that grin with seven minutes left, it was neither cocky nor disrespectful. It was knowing and sure. It said, "We got this," when no one believed George Mason did.

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