I want to smell like the smoke from Franklin Street. I want to keep the sound of the bell tower, chiming constantly for an hour after the game, in my ears forever. I want to feel the rush of the wind again, see the clouds over the moon as I walked up from the Dean Dome. I want to remember dancing to Jump Around in the Dean Dome as people rushed the court in front of a screen playing a game so many miles away. I want to remember cheering at the beginning of every Carolina possession starting at the 1:30 mark. I want to remember screaming for Bobby as he made his basket of the evening. I want to remember Tyler hugging Roy. I want to remember dancing and screaming and cheering and looking as awkward as Tyler when he came out of the game. I want to remember this forever.
This is redemption. This is seventeen points worth of victory that sprang out of twenty-eight points of defeat. Sports writers said that this game was as heart-warming as a demolition derby, and they're probably right. That didn't stop me from jumping up and down every time Wayne and Danny hit threes and screaming every time Tyler made a basket. It wasn't a gorgeous game and I'm sure some people turned it off because they could only take so much punishment. Everyone wants a close game, a good game. This is what I expected out of my team. They have worked too long and too hard for this and after four years of running sprints up and down that court, these seniors deserve a game won their way.
I'll miss them all- Mike, Tyler, Danny, Bobby (and Patrick Moody, among others). I'm sure I'll be missing Ty come this October, and maybe Deon or Ed. But tonight, they are my team. When, years down the road, someone asks me which was my favorite Carolina basketball team, I'll smile and say, 'The 2009 National Championship team.' I'll tell my kids that I was at Carolina when Tyler Hansbrough won player of the year and came back for an extra year, when Danny Green danced to Jump Around (and when he didn't), when Ty Lawson raced like a light beam across the court and when Roy Williams led a team to a National Championship four years apart. I'll tell stories. I'll inform everyone of the amazing and unappreciated of Bobby Frasor and I'll recommend that they all read whatever glorious piece of writing Adam Lucas puts out about this team. My team.
So forgive me if I talk about this for years to come, even as Roy recruits a new class and I learn new names and Carolina basketball moves on. Forgive me if I wear this Jump Around shirt to pieces and forgive me if I show off every time I wear my national championship shirt for this year. I'm not trying to be haughty or proud or stuck up or anything.
I'm trying to remember this forever.
Addie Jo, I saw your note on facebook and decided to procrastinate some more by checking out your blog.
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful! I, too, want to remember that night forever. And not just that night, but this magical season. I worried so much about every game of the tournament (besides perhaps the first one) that I was a nervous wreck at tip off, but each game I discovered that I'd worried for nothing. Roy told the seniors in the LSU game that if they wanted that to be their last game, then they should keep playing like they were.... and that was the last time any team was even close.
The t-shirt that says: "We Jumped; We Played; We Dominated; We Won; We Celebrated" pretty much sums up the 6 games that will make such an amazing team enshrined forever at the University of North Carolina.
I think I was such a wreck before each game because I knew that, should we lose, I could not bear to watch the hurt and disappointment of our team. I've felt since the beginning of the season, and probably even before, that they deserved it. Tyler came back, and, even though he broke too many records for me to remember them all, he never made it about himself. The Oklahoma game was supposed to be a Tyler vs. Blake match-up, but, instead of taking him on, Tyler did his part, allowing the TEAM to get the easy win. Roy said that when Danny, Ty, and Wayne (who we will probably also be missing next year by the way) decided to return he sat down with each one of them and made sure they knew that he would not be trying to help them beef up the NBA resume and that he expected them to understand that he would always do what was best for the team. Then Roy said that what made him so happy was 1. each player looked at him like: "what the heck are you talking about coach? I don't want to be the star; I want to help the team win it all" and 2. not once did any of them do anything less than what they were asked to do for the good of the team.
I love the "One Shinning Moment" song that's played for the Champion. The lyrics are so true.
"No one knows just how hard you've work, but now it shows.... In one shining moment, it's all on the line"
I can't stand to watch people hurting, so watching Ty, so clearly in a lot of pain, playing in the LSU game almost ripped my heart out. No matter how much someone hates Carolina, I don't think anyone can honestly say that they didn't work for it. Watching the team celebrate.... so happy that several players were in tears makes me a little sad when I think about it now because, even if we win it all again before we graduate, I know that it won't be quite as good. I'll never be quite as happy as I was celebrating that night; I wasn't worried about anything because nothing else seemed to matter.
If you haven't noticed, I'm a very sentimental person. I love seeing dreams come true, and being a part of it makes it even sweeter! Well, I'll stop rambling about my unfailing love for our basketball team on your blog now. But if you ever want someone to reminisce with about the legendary 2009 Carolina Basketball team, I'm will always be more than happy! This is one story my kids and grandkids are going to hear A LOT. I'll probably be in a nursing home with Alzheimer's not even able to recall my own name, but I'll remember that time I rushed Franklin Street when North Carolina was the 2009 National Champions.