“When it ends….”

"When it ends, you fall off a cliff."

Those were the words uttered by the losing coach in the "other" NCAA Men's Basketball semi-final after his team lost last night.

But will John Calipari's words foreshadow what will happen in Richmond, now that the NCAA magic carpet ride came to its inevitable end in Houston?

Long after Dickie V ate his crow and the memories of long lines at the VCU bookstore fade, we are left with the same public perception issues that we were dealing with three weeks ago.

Or are we?

That is now for us to decide.

Can we build on the fun we had at ESPN's expense and turn Venture Richmond's banner into a rallying cry for the future?

Can we turn this regional goodwill into progress in attracting new businesses and tourists to a community in great need of the revenue they will bring?

Can we take this excitement for sports and finally decide what new regional sports facilities will help fuel our next Cinderella story?

In a culture where people quickly have a hard time to name who made the Final Four last year, will we look back years from now and say this was the moment that it all turned around?

Perhaps that's too much to ask for two weeks of Black and Yellow magic.

Richmond is this our time to shoot for the stars?  Or will we just fall off the cliff?

It's time for our leaders to step up and Shaka the world just like the team they all adopted.

This was Our Team.  And our time is Right Now.