Nothin’ Could Be Finer

I’m just gonna throw this out there at the beginning and get it over with. If I don’t find a way to move to North Carolina before I retire, then that is where I will retire. I spent a good part of my childhood visiting the state in the summers and sometimes Christmas because my mother was born and raised there. I think it may very well be my favorite state in the country with the exception of Duke University and its surrounding city of Durham. So, whenever the opportunity presents itself for me to go back, I jump at it as was the case this past weekend.

UNC opened a new museum honoring its basketball program that will be 99 years young this coming season. It’s been open since January, and how I’ve been able to hold off visiting until now, I’ll never know. I posted the pictures from the museum in my previous post, so check that out. It was really incredibly well done. The time and energy that must have gone into collecting all this memorabilia was off the charts. There is something in that museum from every single player or coach in the history of Carolina basketball. From the center court slab of the 2005 National Championship game to radio announcer Woody Durham’s headset to Vince Carter’s graduation gown to Lennie Rosenbluth’s jersey. Coach Dean Smith gave every bit of his personal collection so it could be put on display and that includes his championship rings. Coach Roy Williams gave his entire suit from 2005 National Championship game complete with that awful tie he wore. (Nothin’ but love for you, Coach.) But that’s not even half of the collection. They have places on the floor that show from where memorable shots were made. They have shoes and basketballs encased in the floor with glass over top. The entire museum floor is a replica of the Dean Dome court. You can listen to radio announcements and videos of classic plays as well as see video from former players and coaches describing their own Carolina basketball experiences. The March Madness room, which has the lights dimmed to near darkness, holds all the trophies from ACC tournaments to NCAA regionals until you get to the end where the five National Championship trophies are on display in their own cases. Walk up to any of them and a video screen pops on to show you the headlines from the win. All of this is great, but the beginning of the museum is really what grabs you.

There’s a short video about Carolina basketball that literally made me cry. Former players and coaches comment throughout about their experiences on game day, but first you get to follow the team out on the floor. Imagine walking behind Tyler Hansbrough from the locker room to the tunnel where your pace is picked up to a slight jog and once you exit that tunnel and step onto the hardwood just seriously think of what nearly 22,000 people screaming in a dome sounds like and you’ll know what the roar was like. As the video progresses, players will tell you how they feel about running out of the tunnel. The one that stuck with me the most was Antawn Jamison who said that he has never felt the same way in his entire career as he did when he ran out of that tunnel at Carolina. “Incredible” and “phenomenal” are the only two words that remotely do it justice. Plus, the whole dang experience is FREE.

So that was mid-day Thursday, and after we left the museum I wanted to go over to the basketball office to see the current ACC tournament trophy (They keep the most current trophies in there.). We got a treat because Tyler’s Wooden Award was in there, too. As we were exiting the Dean Dome to go back to our cars, on the other end of the sidewalk I saw what appeared to be Tyler Hansbrough himself walking into the Koury Natatorium where the athletic training room is located. I was within earshot, but I was so stunned that it was him I couldn’t actually get myself to yell his name. Following closely behind him were Marc Campbell, Bobby Frasor, Wayne Ellington, S&C coach Jonas Sahratian, Jack Wooten, and Danny Green. By the time Danny Green was bringing up the rear, I was able to snap myself out of my trance long enough to hug him and tell him welcome back. Though I would have supported Danny, Ty, and Wayne in the NBA if they’d really gone, I prefer to see them in Carolina blue for as long as possible. I’ve been to Chapel Hill more times than I can count and NEVER seen a basketball player. This is mainly due to the fact that I usually to go in the summer when they’re not in an accessible location, but I’m still kicking myself that I wasn’t capable of yelling at Tyler enough to get his attention and meet him. My mother did manage to ask Bobby how his knee was doing (He was just cleared to play 5 on 5 after tearing his ACL in December).

After our team sighting, I spent the rest of the day saying, “I saw Tyler Hansbrough” until I drove my parents crazy. I swear I felt like a 12 year old kid who’d attended a basketball camp where he was a counselor. I could hardly believe my luck. In any case, we moved on to Franklin Street where I spent WAY TOO much money on Carolina shirts and stuff, but I have a new stress ball that looks like a miniature basketball with the interlocking NC printed on it. And, I think I now have enough shirts to wear one for the first two weeks of the season without wearing the same one twice.  My favorite is probably my Psycho T t-shirt that says Man, Myth, Legend on the front and He’s BAAAAACK on the back.

So, after all that, we headed to China Grove. My mother grew up in Kannapolis, home of Dale Earnhardt, Sr., even though my mother was born there first. China Grove is just down the road a spell from Kannapolis. There we spent the next few days with my mom’s best friend and her family as well as visited with some of mom’s cousins and my uncle. On Friday we went to Charlotte Motor Speedway (it will not and should not ever be called Lowe’s on this website). I’ve been there before, but never took the tour. That was great fun because they take you around the track in 15 passenger vans, and they start off at the highest point on the banking (24 degrees), so that it feels like you’re practically parallel with the track. We topped out at 85mph (probably would have time travelled if we’d gotten to 88), and our tour guide (a recent Carolina graduate) said to add another 100mph to that and we’d have the actual race speed. NO THANK YOU! I thought we were going a bit fast at 85, but I can tell you that’s the fastest I’ve ever gone a mile and a half in my life. We also visited Hendrick Motorsports just about a mile and a half from the speedway where they have two of Jeff Gordon’s Daytona-winning cars on display as well as his inaugural Brickyard-winning car. I got to see all his Winston Cup championship trophies and noted that there was a space next to the last one where another one would fit quite nicely. 

Then, Sunday came and I had to snap back to reality and come home, but not without one more stopover in Chapel Hill on my way back up 85 to Virginia. I had a few reasons for going back: (1) I wanted to go to the Student Store, which I discovered was open on Sundays, (2) I wanted to see the Boshamer Stadium (baseball) construction site to see how it was coming along, and (3) I wanted to see if I took a different way back from Chapel Hill would it take more, less, or the same amount of time as it took us to get down there on Thursday morning. Ok…and, yes…secretly I was hoping to see Tyler Hansbrough, again.

I made it to Chapel Hill with about an hour to kill before the store opened, so I just drove around the campus. I saw Boshamer. It looks really great and is coming along nicely. I found the student store, so I’d know where I needed to go when it did open. I drove around the Dean Dome a couple times because I can never get enough of that place. There were a bunch of camps going on, so lots of kids and parents and counselors.

The UNC business school is right by the Dean Dome, so I decided to just drive around there as well since I had the time. I must say, I went to one of the most beautiful campuses in the country, in my opinion, at Alabama. Even the new buildings still feature the antebellum architecture of the old south. It’s quite picturesque. That said, I have never been jealous of someone’s business school until I drove around the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. I mean there are no big columns out front or gigantic sweeping staircases, but it’s massive and regal just the same. With the exception of the giant hill I’d have had to climb every day to get to class, I think I would have enjoyed going to school there. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t decide on Alabama until I saw the campus. Had I done the same with UNC, the campus would have sold me on them as well.

Moving on, I finally used up my time before the Student Store opened. I walked around in the store for about 20 or 30 minutes. I bought a few things, and then I got back in my car ready to go home slightly bummed that I had pressed my luck and didn’t see Tyler, again. Now, I must preface this next part by saying that only because I subscribe to Inside Carolina Magazine do I know what kind of vehicle Tyler drives. A couple months ago they did a feature article on him, and a lot of the pictures in the article were of Tyler standing next to his big black truck which had, of course, a Missouri license tag seeing as he’s from Poplar Bluff, MO. Not truly believing I would actually see him out driving around, I was jokingly looking at every black truck I passed while I was in Chapel Hill, but after going to the store, I was ready to head back to the interstate. However, when I got stopped trying to turn left on one road because pedestrians were walking in front of me, I noticed a big black truck at the stop sign on the street I was trying to turn on to, so just for laughs, I looked down at the license tag. Wouldn’t you know it was a Missouri tag, and just at that moment the truck turned the corner and drove passed me. The driver’s side window was rolled down and there was Tyler in a Carolina blue t-shirt talking to whomever the heck was in the car with him and me with nowhere on earth to turn around. The latter, in hindsight, is probably a good thing. I certainly don’t need to go chasing a college kid down in my car in a town where I don’t really know my way around. Oh well…maybe one day I will get to meet Tyler, shake his hand, and tell him how thankful I am for him giving us all four years of his NCAA eligibility. That’s really all I want to do.

Of course, all of this really hacked me off because now I had seen him twice and couldn’t put myself in a position to meet him because I was so stunned that I saw him in the first place. The traffic on 95 didn’t help my mood, but overall it was a great weekend in North Carolina, a place where I wish I actually lived.

Oh well…a girl can dream, can’t she………….

Carolina Basketball Museum

My pictures from the new Carolina Basketball Museum.  It was phenomenal.  More stories about my time in Chapel Hill and North Carolina in general to come.

RAFA!

It finally happened.  I believed he could do it.  He believed he could do it.  But the latter was the only one that mattered.  Rafael Nadal did more than just win the 2008 Wimbledon Championship yesterday, and although I would have loved seeing Marat Safin defeat Roger Federer in the semis on Friday, Rafa finally winning a grand slam championship on grass and against Federer turned out to be even sweeter.  I kind of felt yesterday the way I felt when the Colts finally beat the Patriots in Foxborough.  In celebration of Rafa’s triumph, I’ve put together a top ten list.

TOP TEN REASONS I’M HAPPY ABOUT RAFA’S WIMBLEDON WIN AND YOU SHOULD BE, TOO:

1. Roger Federer is a pompous jerk.  In Sunday’s Washington Post, when asked about his less than perfect play in earlier tournaments this year, Roger Federer responded by saying, “I’m on an incredible winning streak on grass.  First, somebody has to be able to break that, you know, before we start talking differently.”  To me, this is just more evidence of the arrogance that Roger Federer typically espouses.  I realize he’s partly stating fact, but he didn’t have to practically say he’s unbeatable. 
2. Roger Federer has had a four and a half year long strong hold on the men’s singles #1 ranking.  That puts him in the category of “we’re just plain sick of seeing you dominate the sport.  Give someone else a chance, you big bully.”  That four years coupled with his winning of the last five Wimbledon championships is enough to pull for any of his opponents even when it’s not sweet Rafa.
3. Rafa’s reaction to the win was priceless.  Rafa may be one of the most humble athletes around.  Sure he’s excited when he wins, and he displays that in ways that are really fun to watch like yesterday when he dropped his racket and collapsed to the ground, spread eagle with exhaustion and disbelief that he’d actually held on long enough to win Wimbledon.       

   

   And after all his time of competing with Roger, I wondered how much was excitement over winning and how much was excitement over defeating Roger on grass.  When asked about defeating Roger, Rafa said simply, “He’s still number one.  He’s still the best. He’s still [a] five-time champion here. Right now, I have only one.”  Even during his post match press conference, Rafa said that while he was elated to win, he was sad for Roger because if anyone knows what it is like to come in second at Wimbledon after playing your heart out, it’s Rafa.  After the trophy presentation and about a million pictures, Rafa gathered his belongings to exit the court, but an usher came over to tell him that one of the Wimbledon staff would be carrying his bags off the court for him.  He just needed to carry the trophy.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he slept with that trophy last night considering the way he cradled it ever so tightly to his chest.  Even after that, rather than going straight to the locker room and his awaiting press conference, he stepped outside to sign autographs to about a dozen fans.  I kind of think he didn’t know what to do with himself.
4. He just won the biggest championship in tennis and all he wanted was a hug.  Instead of sitting on the sidelines awaiting the trophy presentation or thanking the crowd following the match (which he did a little later), Rafa climbed up to his family’s box in the stands to hug his mom, dad, and uncle/coach Toni. 
    

   

   His uncle has been his coach since Toni introduced Rafa to the sport at age three.  In this sport where players seem to change coaches as often as they change socks, I have to commend Rafa for sticking with the person that got him where he is now.  Rafa was born and raised on the Spanish island of Majorca.  And though he’s 22 years old and has earned nearly $20 million in prize money over his career, he still lives at home with his family.  It is his family that has kept him grounded, has kept him humble, has kept his focus on being the best tennis player he can be (after his schoolwork was completed).  Plus, he’s been able to accomplish something that no one in Hollywood seems to be able to do: he’s had a girlfriend for the last three years that no one knew about until recent photos of them swimming together in Majorca were published.
5. The boy is a beast.  The Washington Post describes Rafa as ”a left-handed slugger, who punishes the ball like a heavyweight boxer.”  He is incredibly muscular, sporting, in my opinion, the best arms in all of tennis. 

   

   I enjoy watching tennis, but I enjoy it more when the players move into the net.  Rafa likes to play this aggressive style and provides more action than say the Roger Federer’s who hate moving away from the baseline.
6. His name is now mentioned in the same breath with Bjorn Borg.  No matter who won yesterday, Bjorn Borg was going to be part of the story.  Had Roger won he would have taken sole ownership of the record for consecutive Wimbledon championships at six and be only one championship behind Pete Sampras’s non-consecutive total of 7.  However, since Rafa won, Borg and Rafa become the only two men in the Open Era to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. 
7. He didn’t let tennis buy and sell him. Rafa was well on his way to the masterful player we see today by the age of 12.  When Rafa was 14, the Spanish tennis federation wanted him to leave home and train in Barcelona.  But his parents and uncles, worried about his education suffering, turned them down, which meant losing financial support from the federation.  Instead, his father paid for his training. Some claim that the decision to stay at home was crucial to his development into the player he is today because he took his training much more seriously playing at least twice a day and competing regularly.  As a result, he was ranked in the top 50 worldwide by the age of 16.
8. He cleans up rather nicely.  Now, personally, if there ever was a 22 year old that at my age I was allowed to think was HOT, it would be Rafa.  Even when he’s playing and he’s all sweaty, which is not a turn on for me, he’s still downright adorable.  However, Sunday night, Rafa attended the Champions Dinner in a tuxedo.

   

   He may have long hair, but don’t let the long hair fool you.  Long hair DOES NOT equate to delinquency.  He’s a very intelligent, normal kid who just happens to play doggone good tennis.  Over the last couple years, tennis fans have watched as his grasp of the English language has developed.  He still says, “no,” at the end of most of his statements, but that to me is a great testament to who he is.  He may learn our language, but he’s still going to be Majorca’s golden boy.
9. He never stopped believing he could win.  No matter how many of us said, “I think this is Rafa’s year,” or “I think Rafa can beat Roger,” we all still had our little doubts in the back of our mind because there’s always some part of us that says, “but, it’s Roger Federer.  He will not go quietly.”  I’m as guilty of it as the next guy.  When the first rain delay hit, I was certain that it would give Roger a chance to regroup and come back from his two-set deficit, and I was right.  I was thankful for the second rain delay because I thought at that point Rafa needed it more.  When the daylight was fading into the dusk and darkness, I didn’t think they’d get to finish the match.  And I truly believed that if they had to come back on Monday, Rafa wouldn’t be able to pull it out.  But Rafa never really showed any doubts.  He never seemed to be shaken by Roger holding serve and winning two tiebreaks.  He just kept going as if to say, “no matter what it takes, no matter how long I have to be out here, I am going to win this match.”  Psychology in sports is more than half the battle, and Rafa won that one easily Sunday night in the longest match in Wimbledon Championship history.  Rafa’s critics believed that winning on grass for him was still years away, but four hours and fourty-eight minutes of playing time later (with two rain delays and nearly 8 hours from when the broadcast actually started), he proved them wrong.
10. He was proud to make his country proud.  It has been 42 years since a Spaniard won the Wimbledon Championship.  Manolo Santana beat sixth seeded R.D. Ralston in three sets in the 1966 Wimbledon Championship, and until Sunday night, the well had been dry.  “It’s impossible to describe,” said Nadal. “It’s a dream. When I was a kid I dreamed of playing here. But to win here? For any player — but for the Spanish especially — it is a dream.”  After he climbed into his family’s box for that hug, he walked across the roof of a media box to Spain’s royal box to shake the hands of Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia.

    

    They greeted him with open arms just like he was their own flesh and blood.  After 42 years, I’d say that’s not far from the truth.

Many of the commentators and analysts have pronounced Sunday night’s match as the best display of tennis competition they’ve ever seen.  I can’t argue with that, especially if it means getting to see Rafa finally mow over his grass demons.

Jazzed for July

I don’t know why, but I woke up this morning incredibly excited that it was July.  Maybe it’s just because I happen to like the start of a new month or maybe I’m just a freak.  I’m leaning towards the latter.  Either way, I thought I’d throw out a little fun lovin’ tidbits and things I’ve been thinking about.  Now that I have my friend Sammie back at work, I have someone to bounce these things off of before I publicize them to the world-at-large.  Here’s some of what passed:

• McDonald’s recently introduced their knock off of the Chick-fil-A sandwich.  I was a bit skeptical at first because it was a knock off and really there is no substitute for Chick-fil-A.  That said, I decided to try it anyway because I can’t hate a food unless I’ve tried it, and I’m actually a McDonald’s girl when it comes to choosing between them and Burger King or Wendy’s.  Their fries are the best and every now and then (not often) I just get a craving for a quarter pounder with cheese.  Anyway, the McDonald’s chicken sandwich really isn’t half bad, and qualifies as next best thing when there is no Chick-fil-A around.  Here’s my theory: Chick-fil-A is not open on Sundays for reasons that I completely agree with.  However, even as a Christian, I get cravings for Chick-fil-A on Sundays.  Next time that happens, I’m going to McDonald’s. 
• Lincoln had a check up at the doctor yesterday.  He is now over 29 inches long, which is in the 95th percentile for height…Well on his way to being giant sized to go along with his giant personality.
• Traffic during my commute has gotten considerably better since the last day of school.  Even though it’s summer and lots of tourists who REALLY don’t know how to drive are on the roads (on top of the people who live here and STILL don’t know how to drive), it’s been ok.  Until yesterday.  At the Pentagon, they have a police officer who directs traffic at the intersection where cars come in and out of the parking lot from I-395.  In the summer, I think the Pentagon employs rent-a-cops for this duty because the line of traffic getting off at the Pentagon can back up a good 1/2 a mile or more.  And though traffic isn’t at a stand still, traffic can be stop and go from where I get on (10 miles away) all the way to the Pentagon because of the line.  If I wasn’t trying to get to work, I’d probably stop and tell the cop that he’s backing traffic up those 10 miles, but I have better things to do with my time.
• My parents arrive on Thursday afternoon for a week.  They’ll be here for the 4th.  Dad is going to the AT&T National (sans Tiger) Golf Tournament on the 5th.  Perhaps ole Lefty can make the cut this year, and Dad can follow him around instead.  Mom and I will be shopping that day!  Can’t wait.  Then on the 10th, the three of us are driving down to North Carolina for a visit.  We’re stopping in Chapel Hill for a visit to the new Carolina Basketball Museum.  I CANNOT WAIT!  Everything I’ve heard about it from people who have been there is fantastic.  I even found one review from someone who said it was better than the Louvre.  Since I haven’t been to either, I’ll take his word for it.  :)  From what I understand, the museum experience starts out with a behind the scenes look at getting ready for tip-off where the camera acts as a player and the viewers get to “run out on the court” with the team via the footage.  After that, we’ll stop where my mom grew up and visit family and friends, and I’ll come back on Sunday when mom and dad leave for home.  It’s a mini-vacation for me.
• Speaking of Carolina…Tyler Hansbrough wins the WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM award for this go around.  I was reading this article on ESPN.com about how this year’s NCAA basketball teams will have more upperclassmen than we’ve see in college basketball in years.  Tyler Hansbrough is, of course, one of them.  Andy Glockner (who wrote the article) spoke with Tyler about why he chose to return:
  • “I really enjoy going to school and being around my teammates, so it wasn’t necessary for me to leave, and I didn’t feel like I needed anybody or anything,” Hansbrough said. “I love the situation here. It’s going to be tough to beat that, so I figure I can wait one more year and improve on a lot of different things and hopefully be in a better situation next year for when I do have to go.”
  • So I ask you, what planet are you from that makes you think graduating from college and moving on to the NBA is best described with the phrase “HAVE TO GO?”  I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: I LOVE THIS KID if for no other reason but that he publicly admits he has no use for the NBA.
• Yesterday, New York and Bon Jovi announced that the band would be giving a free concert in Central Park as part of the MLB All-Star game at Yankee Stadium.  I wish I could go, but (1) you have to pick up your ticket from Yankee or Shea Stadium and (2) Central Park is not exactly my cup of tea…at least not at night with that many of my closest Bon Jovi brethren around me.  It will be pretty awesome though, and I’m hoping that at least a little bit of it will be televised on the All-Star coverage.  Perhaps Bon Jovi will put out a DVD of the concert like Garth Brooks did when he had his free Central Park concert. 
• Also on the music front: Mr. Telephone Man’s got the right stuff, baby.  According to People.com, New Kids on the Block and New Edition cut a track together for the upcoming NKOTB album.
• So Shaun Alexander was cut by the Seattle Seahawks at the beginning of the off season, and now the Orlando Sentinel is speculating that the reason he can’t find a team to pick him up on the free agency market is because he’s a Christian.  As a Christian myself and a football fan, I dearly hope this is not true.  I’m leaning more towards the 30+ year old running back being the issue.  However, Shaun Alexander has never failed to sign every single one of his autographs with Psalm 37:4 (Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.).  More than that, Shaun has lived that verse every day of his life, so regardless of what the reason is for NFL teams shunning this spectacular athlete, I choose to believe that where ever he lands in life is exactly where the Lord wants him to be, which is all Shaun has ever asked for. 
• Finally, thoughts and prayers go out to my friend Lynden’s mom who is having surgery for ovarian cancer today.  So, if you have a moment and you pray, please lift her up.  Thanks!

Legacy

So, the North Carolina baseball team lost last night to Fresno State and along with it were eliminated from the College World Series sending Fresno State to the finals.  I was sad last night as I watched the players do everything they could, but falling short on nearly every attempt.  Personally, I think Fresno State should take that homeplate umpire out to a nice dinner because he is partly responsible for them making the finals, but that’s neither here nor there.  I was sad still for the seniors on the team who had been to the College World Series the last three years and played their hearts out every time.  And then, I did what I always do after a Carolina win or loss.  I went to the Carolina Athletics website and I read Adam Lucas’s article about the game.  Adam is the publisher of Tarheel Monthly, the official periodical publication of the University of North Carolina athletics.  He’s written four books on Carolina Basketball alone, and they are four of the best books I’ve ever read in my life.  (I minored in English in college.  I’ve read a lot of books.)  So, by the time I get to Adam’s article, it’s late, I’m irritated, and I have no idea what on earth Adam could possibly write to make me feel better. 

I suppose I should have known better.  I’ve been reading Adam’s work for several years now and he never fails to enlighten me of the brighter side of losses and the minute details of wins.  He has made me cry and laugh all in the same article several times.  I don’t find many people in my life who actually find their calling and know they have found it.  Adam has without a doubt found his calling.  So, when I clicked on the article, Lucas: Brave New World, I could only imagine what that title had in store for me.  His titles are ridiculously poignant.  What I got was yet another look on the brightside article.  Adam managed to turn a three time trip to the College World Series that came up short all three times into a look at the program that these seniors built because that is something that will last much longer than any National Championship.  And it’s true.  National Championships last for a year and then there’s a new one.  But, those seniors took the Carolina Baseball program from unknown and laughable to nationally ranked and respected in four years.  Of course we all wanted them to bring home the trophy if for no other reason but as a fruit of their labor, but what Adam wrote is that a trophy isn’t what defines them.  It’s the fact that Carolina Baseball is now capable of contending with Carolina Basketball in several aspects not the least of which are fans, fundraising, international prominence.  Those seniors believed that wearing the blue meant something more than leaky ceilings and old stadiums, and they believed in themselves enough to make a difference. 

For that, I can be nothing but proud and grateful that they have built a legacy that stretches far beyond the diamonds in Chapel Hill, Cary, and even Omaha.  And I’m really thankful to Adam Lucas for showing me the big picture.

Grandly Underestimated

It took 28 hours and 35 minutes for North Carolina to eliminate LSU in Game 10 of the College World Series, but it was worth every second.  Sure I was frustrated Thursday night and Friday night when not one, but two lightning and rain storms passed over Omaha postponing and delaying the game.  But after all that, to have the Tar Heels win the way they did made all the stress of the situation worth it.  Even with my friends telling me that I could just turn off the TV and make the stress go away, I just couldn’t leave the boys.  I couldn’t give up on them.  Even when it was tied 3-3 for what seemed like an eternity, even when Alex White had to pitch himself out of a hole, even when the talking heads had to put up the stat about Carolina being hitless the last eleven times with runners in scoring position, I just couldn’t and wouldn’t leave them.  So, 28 hours and 35 minutes later, they rewarded themselves and their fans for hanging in there.

It was the 9th inning.  The LSU pitcher on the mound had been pitching a great game and didn’t appear to be interested in giving up anything to Carolina, but then he pitched himself into a corner.  At the beginning of the inning, the bottom two of Carolina’s batting order were up to bat.  Seemed simple enough, get those two out and you’re pitching to the top of the order needing only one more.  But, Ryan Graepel wouldn’t let that happen.  Ryan Graepel had sat through two storms trying to keep himself busy and warmed up for whenever play resumed.  Ryan Graepel had watched along with his teammates the night before a recap on the jumbotrons at Rosenblatt Stadium of the 2007 CWS where Carolina lost to Oregon State in the finals for the second straight year.  So, Ryan Graepel got a double on a hit to deep right center field leaving the LSU pitcher to contend with Dustin Ackley and only one out.  LSU’s strategy: intentionally walk Ackley and try for a strike out or a double play with the next batter.  Ok.

Mark Fleury came in to hit for Kyle Shelton, and LSU gets its wish: a strike out.  Now there’s two outs, but coming to the plate is Carolina’s .401 averaging Tim Fedroff.  What do you do?  Well if you’re the LSU coach, you tell your pitcher to intentionally walk Fedroff and load the bases because on deck is Tim Federowicz who based on stats is no where near as good as Fedroff, so the LSU pitcher should be able to strike him out like he did the last time Federowicz was at bat.  Ok.

Now remember the bases are loaded and the guy at the plate has hit only 4 home runs ALL SEASON LONG.  More than that he’s 1-11 so far this CWS and 11-61 in his CWS career.  Furthermore, the LSU pitcher has only given up one home run in 55 innings.  Oh yeah, and a grand slam hasn’t been hit in a College World Series game in Omaha since 2001.  No biggie, right.  Ok.

I tend to talk to my TV during sporting events.  It makes me feel better.  So, I kid you not when I tell you, Tim Federowicz is at the plate and I say to my TV, “You don’t even have to hit a home run.  You just have to hit a long drive out of the infield so that at least one run can come in and we can be leading going into the bottom of the 9th.”  I finished that statement just as the LSU pitcher’s 1-1 slider left his hand.  And all my begging in the previous 28 hours for someone in Carolina Blue to freaking knock one out of the daggum park was finally heard.

It wasn’t Chad Flack the senior leader who is arguably the best loved Carolina baseball player of all time and is known for hitting home runs in post season play to lift his team to victory.  It wasn’t Dustin Ackley who has a ridiculous on base percentage who was moved to the top of the batting order during the season to see how he’d do and ended up keeping that position.  It wasn’t Tim Fedroff with his .401 batting average and actual dirt from Yankee Stadium in his back pocket (he grew up in Jersey, forgive the kid).  It was Tim Federowicz.  The catcher.  The one that LSU was certain they could strike out.  The one with a .180 batting average in his CWS career.  He was supposed to be the goat.  He was supposed to play right into LSU’s hands.  He was supposed to increase Carolina’s number of hitless at bats with runners in scoring position.  He WAS NOT supposed to hit a home run resulting in a grand slam, something he’d never done in his career until last night.  But he did.  He hit that ball so hard, I pity the person in the left field stands who caught it.  And the best part about it was that Tim Federowicz seemed to know the instant it left his bat.  The way he flung the bat down and started running with a confident swagger in his step, you could tell he just knew that LSU had sorely underestimated him and that he was making them pay big time for it.

Last night, my friend Ashley and I talked a lot about judging and not judging a book by its cover.  Stats don’t tell the whole story of a player in any sport because stats don’t measure calm during adversity or a passion for the game that wills you to do things extraordinary or a heart of gold that says my team needs me to bring this home for them right now.  Carolina has to play and beat Fresno State twice now to reach the CWS finals, my only hope is that Fresno State reads the same stat sheet LSU read and perhaps underestimate another Carolina batter right into a grand slam.

Postponing the Inevitable

Last night, I got home later than usual, and the Carolina/LSU baseball game had already started.  Carolina was up 1-0 in the top of the 1st, and second baseman Kyle Seager had just been hit by a pitch.  This loaded the bases and brought senior third baseman Chad Flack to the plate where he was the recipient of four straight balls to walk in a run making the score 2-0 with the bases still loaded.  Then the lightning struck and the rain poured.  And for three hours, Carolina and LSU sat in the dugouts at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, NE hoping it would stop so they could get back to business.

This is an elimination game in bracket 2 of the 2008 College World Series.  One of these two teams is going home at the end of the game.  I’m hopeful it’s NOT Carolina and that the rain didn’t wash away Carolina’s momentum.  It took three hours for the NCAA to decide to postpone the game until tonight at 7pm where the top of the 1st will resume, but really all the rain did was postpone the inevitable for one of these teams.

Portraits of a Champion

I’ve watched a lot of championship games in my lifetime.  I’ve seen pretty much every reaction a person can have to “winning it all.”  The smiles are never more broad.  The tears are never more free flowing.  The hugs are never more bountiful.  There’s the yelling, the screaming, the jumping up and down, the dancing, the high fives, the words of encouragement to the runners up, and the congratulations to the winners that never seem to end.  Last night, I finally saw something new. 

A Gatorade shower at a basketball game.  Really, I sat there and tried to figure out if I’d ever seen that before.  Of course there’s a reason I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.  Basketball is played on hardwood floors that get slick if they’re wet.  Football (the typical venue for Gatorade showers) is played on a more absorbent surface.  But this…this was meaty.  I was incredibly impressed with Paul Pierce’s guts and Doc Rivers’s thankful reaction:

I fell asleep during the 3rd and 4th quarters.  Apparently, so did the Lakers.  I woke up with 2 minutes left and the lead at near 40 points.  I can’t honestly remember a win that lopsided in a Finals game.  Boston really wanted this one, and I’m really happy for them.  I have a soft spot for talented people like Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen who spend the better parts of their careers on teams with no help.  Basketball isn’t a game that can be won by a single individual (unless you’re playing one on one or against yourself).  It’s a team sport.  Let me repeat that for all the Kobe Bryants and Lebron Jameses out there.  IT’S A TEAM SPORT.  And when all the pieces of the puzzle come together, interlocking just perfectly, you get what I saw last night: a cohesive group of people that wouldn’t for one minute let the lights go out on their dream.

Then you get a celebration that is almost beyond compare.  You could see in their celebration how much they all wanted this, how they had worked their entire careers in order to come together for this one year for this one goal.  It’s not supposed to be this easy.  Organizations aren’t supposed to be able to trade and draft the kind of talent the Celtics have and make it work the first time out of the gate.  It’s supposed to take years to identify team leaders, to understand everyone’s work ethic, to adjust attitudes, to get everyone on the same page, if you will.  But these guys didn’t buy into that.  They believed in what every single one of them came to the NBA to do: win a championship, and that is what carried them through, what gave them the strength to come back from a 24 point deficit in game 4, what enabled them to put 2nd and 3rd string players in the game in the 4th quarter because 30-40 points was a strong enough cushion that the starters could take a load off. 

The celebration when the final seconds ticked off the clock was incredible.  It wasn’t so much about the storied history of the Boston Celtics as it was about what each of those players had been through to get to that point.  I still remember the Chicago Bulls’ 1991 championship.  It was the first of the first three-peat and Michael Jordan’s first.  He clutched that trophy as if he would never let go with his father sitting by his side as proud as a father could ever be. 

And then I remember the 1996 championship, which was the first of the second three-peat.  Michael’s father had been killed three years earlier and the Bulls won the 1996 championship on Father’s Day.  Michael laid face down on the floor of the locker room for what seemed like an eternity sobbing and shaking.  And every one of us who knew anything about that man knew exactly what he was thinking.  ”I want my daddy.”  Michael and Scottie and BJ and Steve and John and Bill and Phil and the rest of the Bulls went through a lot together for those six championships, but those two are the ones I remember the most from the six.

Last night, a new memory was made.  I’m hopeful that sometime in the next two or three weeks Kevin Garnett will be able to gather his thoughts and say something coherent, but until then, I completely appreciate the rambling of this interview with Michelle Tafoya.  I often say that the way I feel after a team I follow wins a championship can’t be put into words, and this just seems to prove that there actually are no words for that feeling after all:

What is missing from this clip on YouTube is Kevin’s embrace with Bill Russell.  Kevin simply said, “I got one of my own.  I hope we made you proud.”  Yes, the Boston Celtics are world champions of the NBA.  And they managed, throughout the playoffs and the finals, to Become Legendary:

Drying Off

Well now boys that wouldn’t be y’all returning to Chapel Hill with your tails between your legs after having “tested the NBA waters,” would it?

Now personally I think at the very least Danny Green and Ty Lawson should have to run around the Dean Dome from now until Late Night with Roy Williams in October. Danny for his and his father’s shenanigans and Ty for his underage drinking and driving and disturbing the peace. Wayne, well, he just needs to learn how to resist peer pressure.

I guess we shall welcome you back with open arms even though apparently the information Coach Williams and his staff gave you to help you decide whether to stay or go was the same information you gathered during your water testing. Perhaps next time you’ll listen when Coach speaks.

Now dry off and let’s get to work.

(On a different note, Tiger is one lucky guy that Rocco missed that putt during sudden death.)

Monday Musings

I haven’t done a catch up list or newsworthy highlights in a while, so I thought I’d go that route today.

• I saw/watched some movies this weekend. 
  • I’ve been Netflixing all of Alex O’Laughlin’s (Mick St. John on the now cancelled CBS show Moonlight) other roles.  That man has done some WEIRD movies, but he’s not half bad in them.  So, far I probably would only recommend August Rush where he plays the brother of Jonathan Rhys Meyers’s character.
  • I watched the second installment of the National Treasure movies.  It appears they’ve set it up for a third.  The second one was pretty good although I didn’t much care for Ed Harris playing a bad guy.
  • My friend Jessica and I went to see Iron Manon Saturday.  I’m a sucker for a Robert Downey, Jr. movie where he plays a sarcastic, smart a$$.  Oh wait, that’s all his roles except Chaplin.  In any case, this movie was really good.  I know ZERO about comic book super heroes.  My knowledge of super heroes was learned through movies and not the comic books they were based on.  I didn’t really like that everyone knows he’s the Iron Man.  I like it more when there’s maybe one of two people who know who the super hero is like Bruce Wayne/Batman has Alfred and Lucius.  Can anyone who has read the comic book on Iron Man bring me up to speed on that aspect of the character?
  • I watched The Holidayon Sunday night.  It was on one of the 800 Encore channels I get.  I was a little reluctant because I’m not a Jude Law, Kate Winslet, or Cameron Diaz fan.  So, basically I was watching for Jack Black, which in my opinion is plenty reason to watch anything.  However, I was pleasantly surprised.  The story was on the surface a bit predictable, but it was a cute little romantic comedy that had an underlying theme of finding and standing up for yourself.
• Summer has come early here.  I grew up in Florida where it pretty much stays hot all year long except for those 2 weeks in December when it’s 40 degrees in the morning, but I gotta tell you, this weekend in Virginia was ridiculous.  It was so hot outside on Sunday afternoon when I was running errands that I got nauseous.  And the kicker is that it was cooler in Florida this weekend.  One of my co-workers sent me this little tidbit today:
  • It’s 6pm in Baghdad, and the heat index puts the temperature at 94 degrees.  It’s 10:45am in DC and the heat index puts the temperature at 99 degrees.  Now granted most of us are not outside holding automatic weapons and trying to stay alive, but still, DC is not the desert.
• The College World Series teams are almost set.  North Carolina is through for the 3rd straight year.  They made it to the finals the last two years, so I’m hoping this is the 3rd time’s the charm deal.  This is the only time of year when I actually pay pretty good attention to baseball.  I LOVE college baseball.  I don’t really understand how I can watch college baseball and then be bored to tears watching the major league, so don’t ask me to explain.
• Is it just me or are the number of DUI arrests of “celebrities” going up?  Now these may have been off your radar, but in the last week, Ty Lawson (UNC Basketball player), Cedric Benson (Chicago Bears football player), and Kenny “the Snake” Stabler (Former Alabama football player) were all arrested and charged with some form of driving under the influence.  Now my thought is that if you’re going to drink, please be responsible enough to NOT get behind the wheel.  Call a cab, hire a car, take a designated driver with you, but for crying outloud DO NOT GET BEHIND THE WHEEL.   
  • In Ty’s case, he’s underage and apparently his breathalyzer didn’t register over the legal limit, but he was arrested for other stupid things relating to the traffic stop he found himself in.  Just a thought, but maybe you oughta go ahead and hire that agent, dear. 
  • Cedric is on his second DUI arrest in the same month.  I’m thinking his days as a Bear are numbered.
  • Kenny…well I don’t know what to think there.
• Tomorrow I will be two months out from my 30th birthday.  Yesterday, I told someone I was 30.  I died a little inside when I said it.  The bonus is that I talked to my best friend last week and she told me that she’s getting married.  The wedding is August 8th (two days before my birthday), so YEA…I’ll have something to preoccupy my thoughts!  Congratulations Angela and Rob!