No, now all the fans see is the blue eyes and rumpled little face of his or her sweet darling ickle team.
Long Beach State spent the season as another midmajor darling, a team that many suspected could advance deep into the N.C.A.A. tournament the way George Mason, Butler and Virginia Commonwealth had in recent years.
In the weeks before their setpiece confrontation at the Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow, Scotland's premier music and drama academy, Darling's team had been coaching the former chancellor at Better Together's wood-panelled offices on Blythswood Square.
What Collins deemed nonsense was a far cry from the beginning of the season, when the Sixers were the league's postlockout darlings, a team of mostly equal parts that was rising above the superstar-driven fray with a stellar defense and a sharing-is-caring offense.
But, to quote a hoary pre-election monition, Mr Darling and his team truly have no room for complacency.
But they also have to overcome the hometown darling, a Michigan State team making a downtrodden state proud.
With just a month to go until the Scottish referendum on independence, that's the big question being batted around inside Alistair Darling's campaign team: step up the heat or stay quiet.
All familiar stuff... 11.19am: Phillip Hammond says "poll after poll" shows that Cameron and Osborne, not Brown and Darling, are the team trusted by the voters to sort out the economy.
"It would have raised some extra tax and not been a disaster," says Bill Dodwell, head of tax policy at Deloitte, an accounting firm.Mr Darling and his team blundered, however, when they later introduced more burdensome requirements in the draft legislation, with a view to discouraging tax cheats.
While away, the weather cleared and play began with Darling leading a team of five Australians and five substitutes onto the field.
