Raleigh/Chapel Hill, NC
Today was incredible. I set foot in one of my ultimate places, the Dean Dome at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC.
I made the drive over to Chapel Hill from Greensboro, where after a tasty breakfast with my man Jeff, I rushed back to his house to shower and repack (thanks for having me). This packing thing is a pain. I have a bag for t-shirts, a bag for pants and sweaters, and a bag for shorts and nicer shirts. I’m going to need to fine tune that.
I left for Chapel Hill on a sunny 75 degree day. The music was right and the traffic flowed. I have been a Tar Heel fan since I was a kid, probably ever since Jordan hit that shot against Georgetown. For me to be at the place named for Dean Smith, I was “amped” – as Raymond Felton said to some kids while I was there. He was talking about the Duke/Carolina rivalry.
I was going to Chapel Hill to interview Woody Durham, the voice of the Tar Heels. Woody has been doing Carolina football and basketball games for 30 plus years. He’s seen the best there is. He’s called national championship games (the most exciting games he’s been a part of) as well as many Duke/Carolina games.
Woody told me a ton about him and how he got into broadcasting. I’ll get into that after I break down his tape. After we were done (and I told myself I was there to interview him, not talk about sports), we talked about sports.
That was so cool. Here I am, sitting in the Memorabilia Room at the Dean Dome talking to the guy I’ve heard on the radio for the last few years.
Name your all time 5?
Best game Jordan played?
Tell me about Dean.
Tell me about Roy.
Are they all going to stay?
Jordan -vs- David Thompson?
And on and on we went.
He was great. I’m sure he spent more time with me than he budgeted. We went down to the floor. I took a few pictures. We then parted ways.
As I left, the thought hit me. Dude, you’re at the Dean Dome, you better get on the floor. So, I waited for him to leave and I made my way back down (I wasn’t supposed to be there unescorted). I walked out and no one was there (earlier the trainer for the team was working some people out). I didn’t have a photographer. So, being the resourceful guy I was, I yelled up to a woman sitting in the bleachers. “Can I borrow you?” I seem to say that when I ask someone to take a picture. “Sure,” she said. One issue, the bleachers on the floor were pushed in. So there was probably 20 feet between me and her. I had to have a picture on the floor. So I scaled the bleachers. All I needed was to fall 17 feet flat on my back/head, but sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do. I made my way up to her and gave her my bag with the camera in it. She did not take it and run. I walked out to the floor, and after a little direction from me, she took a few shots.
I was on a high. I made my way back to the Memorabilia Room and took some pics of the National Championship trophies and some Dean pics. I kind of hoped I’d run into the Legend. But I was happy enough.
I made my way out to the car smiling as the sun hit my face. I got there and remembered something I learned in college: Parking sucks. I had a ticket waiting for me. I didn’t care. What a day.
I sit here in Raleigh at a friend of mine from high school, big Bobby L’s house. He and his wife are expecting their first baby in August. My back is stiff from typing. My email’s been acting weird. I responded to all emails tonight, but some have come back. I’m working on it. If you sent me one, I did respond, it just is lost somewhere on the world wide web.
Fun stuff. Holla later.
Andrew/Tar Heel for a Day
Now, don’t get spoiled by this, but I have set up some pics from the day. I can’t do this all the time, but I’m geared up.
Here’s what you do:
Go to: http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b371666e84df
Hit View Pictures
Select All
View as a Slide Show
You better like them. I’m one tired dude. Later