Yay for Peter

Peter is at his basketball camp this week. Today was the last day; they had the final free-throw contest this morning, then the all-camp free-throw throwdown!

Peter did not do so hot in the free throw contest today, but he had won the contest earlier in the week, so he got to be in the finals, and he won!

He was very psyched, and had at least a third of the kids pulling for him -- all the kids from the Chapel Hill area!

According to the coaches, camp will send him "Something nice" as a prize!

Kinda sad

I went to the Hurricanes game tonight. It was pretty much a blowout; they were playing the Islanders, who are not particularly good this year.

At one point in the 3rd period, we realized that the 'Canes had SIGNIFICANTLY more shots on goal than the Islanders:

The truly scary thing is at this point the score was 8-0, 'Canes. So they not only had more shots on goal, they had as many GOALS as the Islanders had shots on goal.

Fun game!

Oh, Clark...

Clark Kellogg is just an idiot. Here's a quote:

"They are the epitome of the spurtability team."

Clark. Seriously. Spurtability????

Tourney Time

Actual conversation today:

Me: What is up with Georgia Tech beating Clemson? They've done NOTHING all year!?!?!?!

Peter: It's the tournament!

I love my boy!

I have a good kid

Well, actually, I have two good kids! But I'm especially proud of Grace today.

As anyone with more than a superficial interest in ACC (perhaps even college) basketball knows, last night was the first of this years Duke-Carolina games.

The Duke-Carolina rivalry is a passionate one. We hate each other. Truly. And, yes, if it sounds like I'm repeating myself, I have blogged about this before.

But part of the fun of the rivalry is that we DO hate each other. Both fanbases are passionate about their school, and convinced they do it right, even though only Carolina really does. And we revel in provoking each other (witness that last sentence!).

Now, for the most part in Chapel Hill, folks are UNC fans. But not all, by any means. A few of the teachers at the kids' school are Dookies, while I'm saddened by their choice, I do applaud their undying loyalty; they wear their Duke blue and their Devils proudly, particularly on the days of the Duke-Carolina game.

Well, one of the teachers who's a Duke fan decked himself out yesterday; undoubtedly at least partially to egg on the student body. He not only had on the pants/shirt/hat/socks, he also draped himself in a Duke flag and ran through the cafeteria.

He was soundly booed. Goodnaturedly (I hope), but soundly. And, yes, Grace as a good Tarheel, joined in...

...until she saw her friend Grace T (who, for some reason is known as Baby Bob). Baby Bob, who's also a Duke fan, was really, really upset by all the boos, and had started crying. My Grace immediately stopped booing, and tried to make Other Grace/Baby Bob feel better.

As much as I enjoy sharing my love for Carolina with my kids, I am far, FAR prouder that Grace realizes that it IS just a game, and isn't worth losing a friendship over.

But, yeah, I don't know if I'd've posted this if Carolina had lost last night! ;-)
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Tyler goes 4-0

Tyler Hansborough just got his 4th win at Cameron.

Yep, 4th.

In 4 years.

Now, granted, lots of GREAT players have left college after three (or two or one) years, so there are some UNC players who haven't had the opportunity to win there four times.

But Hansborough stayed, and he and Danny Green are now the only UNC players to win 4 times at Cameron under the Krzyzewski reign (there are only two other ACC players who've done it -- Rusty LaRue and Tim Duncan from Wake).

Gratz, guys!

A good weekend

I haven't had many really, truly GOOD weekends lately; they haven't been hideous or traumatic (at least not TOO traumatic), but there have been high emotions, exhaustion, whininess, etc. And, yes, pretty much all from me, though some of the emotion (and certainly some exhaustion) has come from other quarters.

Anyway, THIS weekend was really, really good. Even great, I might say.

First of all, I had a lazy Friday evening of Pinewood Dery final steps and Rockband. Grace had a fundraiser at school for her drum line; Peter needed to get the wheels on his Pinewood Derby car, so came to my house to do that; we got the wheels on, glued on the figure, and then grabbed a bite to eat. Then David and I played Rockband! Nothing major, but a good, calm, non-angst ridden night.

Then Saturday was pretty much a red-letter day. Peter won first place in Most Original at his Pinewood Derby. Both kids lost their basketball games, true, but Grace learned to set a screen, and did it well! Peter had a great (personal) game: 10 points, 8 rebounds, a block and a steal (and a turnover, but we won't talk about that). After Peter's game, I headed to David's house where I watched UNC beat State (always a good thing), then we went to a Hurricanes game. The 'Canes played really well, and really HARD! Tons of checks, very aggressive play, and they won.

Today was milder again; I rang in church, which means getting up early (ugh), but putzed around with David, then made chicken wings, nachos and pound cake and watched the Superbowl with him and his kids. And the Steelers won, so Peter, and by extension his mother, is happy!

I like good weekends!
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Ouch! I'm Old!

David and I took Peter, Grace and Geoff (David's youngest) rock climbing this weekend (indoor, of course) at Triangle Rock Club.

It was tons of fun. None of us were certified belayers, so we could only free climb (up to about 12 or 15 feet), or use the automatic belayers.

Peter and Geoff had been before with their respetive Scout groups, Grace had never been, though she's wanted to for quite some time. All three of the kids had a really good time, but I have to say that Grace absolutely rocked. There were times when we'd hook her up to the auto-belayer, look away for a moment, then turn back and she'd be all the way at the top of the wall! She was even decent on the harder of the two auto-belayers (where the holds are further apart, and the wall angles out a bit); and by decent, of course, I mean got further up the wall than her mother did!

The only bad part came this morning, when I got out of bed, and OMG I'm sore! Mainly my triceps and quads, though I feel it a bit in my ankles (and, to be honest, my butt) too.

And, yes, it is a little depressing to realize that never, ever, in my wildest dreams, will I be as buff (or as limber) as the 20-something women who were scaling the walls yesterday!

College Game Day!

Peter and I went to the taping of ESPN's College Game Day today, broadcast LIVE from the Smith Center! It was tons of fun; much more than I was expecting.

I was assuming it would be very crowded, and that we would not be able to see or be seen. I was was pleasantly surprised, though. We got there at 8:25 ish, the doors opened at 8:30, but there was virtually no one in line, so we were still able to get pretty much center court, about 4 rows back. Peter's Dad even saw us on TV (though his Aunt Kathy didn't; she wanted him to take his shirt off to be easier to spot...).

Here are some pictures:

Peter waiting in line for College Game Day

Peter inside the Smith Center at College Game Day

"Duke Boy" (Jay Bilas) being a good sport and posing with the Tarheel faithful

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Meineke? I thought it was YOUR key!

(snicker)

Peter and I are in Charlotte for the Meineke Car Care Bowl; this is Carolina's first Bowl appearance since 2004 (same bowl). We're excited.

So, we dropped G off with Granddaddy this evening so she could have a sleepover, got a quick bite to eat, then bopped down I-85 to Charlotte. We're now ensconced in the Springhill Suites near Concord Mills shopping center and Lowe's Motor Speedway. More to the point, it's near Cindi's house! We're riding to the game tomorrow with her.

We got checked, and immediately ran over to the nearby Starbucks for dessert and drinks. I got a peppermint mocha (decaf, of course), Peter got a hot chocolate, and we split a lemon pound cake slice and a chocolate cake doughnut (though, honestly, the doughnut isn't that good, so I'm thinking it'll get tossed.

And now Peter is watching other bowl games (and Disney), I'm blogging, and serious considering my jammies.

2,291...

...and counting.

Go, Tyler!!!!!

Kenan at night WITH lights

And this is what it SHOULD look like!

Kenan at night

You may not be able to tell, but half the lights are out at Kenan right now. Not sure why, but they say they'll be on soon. Maybe someone has to run to the hardware store?

Yay Hurricanes!!!

No, not the hockey team (though they're cool, too, no pun intended).

Nope, yay for the Heritage Hills Hurricanes, the swim team Grace swims on.

This team is typically one of the top three in the Chapel Hill Summer Swim League (which has seven teams total), and they are duly proud of that.

And, like most youth sports teams, they stress that winning isn't everything, and that good sportsmanship and having fun are more important than the final score.

And they really mean it!

I commented to a couple of friends after one meet that I timed for that I could NOT move into a certain neighborhood in Chapel Hill, or at least not without retaining my Heritage Hills swim membership, because I couldn't let my child swim for that team. Grace's team is taught from an early age to stay in their lanes after a race until the swimmers on either side have finished the race, congratulate them, and THEN get out. Now, the little kids frequently forget this, but they're reminded every meet, and the parents are reminded every meet, and the coaches talk about it every meet, and the volunteers are asked to remind the kids every meet, all in the hopes that by the time they're older, they WILL remember.

I've never seen a Heritage Hills swimmer over the age of about 9 NOT stay in the pool. At the meet with the unnamed-neighborhood, I saw MANY of their kids get out of the pool when they were done without even glancing to the right or left, and more than once saw them get out when there was a kid right next to them with their hand stuck out to congratulate them. And no one seemed to care, which is what bugged me.

But, I think the swim team really showed their sportsmanship colors this past week. Grace's team had, we thought, and undefeated season as a team. However, one of our volunteers realized that in an event a couple of weeks ago, they had given us points for first and second, and the other team points for third, which was the reverse of what really happened.

Now, in the swimming world, representatives (i.e. parent volunteers) from both teams have to sign off on the score sheet. Once it's signed off on, it's done. The meet's over, the winner is announced, and it's done. And this score sheet had been signed off on.

But it was wrong. And we knew it was wrong.

So, they called the other swim team to let them know of the error, and called the league to let them know of the error, and it was corrected. And, rather than winning that meet by 10 points, we lost by 4, and are now tied with that team for the best record in the regular season.

Now, how many college teams would do that? Heck, how many HIGH SCHOOL teams would do that, and don't even get me started on the pros!

How many referees, knowing they made a bad call, would insist it be corrected?

For that matter (giving kudos to the other team), how many college or professional coaches, having been informed of an error, would work to figure out a solution rather than turning it into a sound-bite media frenzy?

I love how my team acted, because this is what sports, particularly recreational sports, are supposed to teach kids. Do the right thing. Play fair. Don't lie. Don't cheat. Along with, of course, do your best, try hard, etc.

But so often, parents SAY all of that, and then scream at a ref when they make a close call. Or DQ a kid. Or call off a shot because time has expired. So often parents blame someone else for a loss; a coach, a ref, a player. So often, parents show, by their body language if not their verbal language, that winning matters, and matters a lot.

And, yes, winning is fun. No one denies that, and when we thought we were undefeated, we loved being undefeated.

But it's nice to know that there are still people who really do believe that winning isn't everything.

Fun!

Tonight Grace's swim team swam against the Exchange Cyclones. Most of the pools have a coach's relay after the meet is over; Exchange takes it a step further and follows the coach's relay with a parent's relay!

Heritage Hills (our pool) managed to field 3 relay teams. That's 12 parents who were willing to get in the pool and risk making fools of themselves in front of their kids, their kids' friends, kids from the neighborhood, kids from church, kids from school, kids from sports teams.....

Yeah, tons of kids.

And, yes, I was one of the twelve! It was tons of fun; Heritage Hills won overall, and my relay team came in third (of 5 teams). Peter got some video with my phone (it's sad when your 10 year old knows how to work your phone better than you do), but he was across the pool from me, and it's dark, so I won't be posting it.

But now I'm hoping we start it at OUR home meets!

Our 15 minutes

Grace and I are famous!

So, we're not pictured in our fame, but famous nonetheless!

A Big Ol' Shout Out, and Whoosh again

So, various levels of thoughts sent through the ether:

• Ecclesiatical ongrats to Bruce!
• Long-time-coming (WAY too long, IMO) Congrats to Pete and Richard
• And good karma wishes to David

And, yes, that huge time-wasting pit of doom that I downloaded earlier this week is, indeed, just that. I started playing at 4:30; I looked up and it's 8:30, I've only barely eaten, Dazzle is hungry, its the bottom of the 4th in the UNC game, and Carolina's down 2-1.

But now having mentioned both the big ol' honkin' waste of time AND the UNC game (as well as sending good thoughts to friends and family), I can tag this post tons of ways. 'Cause it's all about the tags...

He's got chutzpah!

Peter is spending this week at UNC's basketball camp. The shirt he wore the first day pretty much sums up the experience: Eat. Sleep. UNC Basketball. They play about 6 hours of basketball a day, not counting pickup games, and there are no parents around to say, "No, don't eat half a large Dominoes pizza at 9:00 at night!", so he's pretty much loving it.

One of the cool things (besides the pizza at 9pm and easy access to Mt. Dew at Ken's Quickie Mart) is that many of the counsellors are current or former UNC players and coaches. I went to a practice last night; Steve Robinson (current UNC assistant and former FSU head coach) was there, as was Warren Martin (former UNC player).

Now, Warren Martin is a large man. Skinny, but tall. Really tall.

Martin was refing Peter's game last night, and made a call Peter apparently disagreed with, so he turned to Martin, all 4-foot 8 of him, and argued the call. With a 7-footer.

He lost the argument (for SO many reasons), but you've got to admire the chutzpah!

Oh, Puh-LEASE!!!

It's the 25th anniversary of the movie Bull Durham (one of the all-time great baseball movies), so the city of Durham, as well as the Durham Bulls, are kinda excited.

One of the things they're doing is bringing Kevin Costner, who played Crash Davis in the movie, back to Durham.

But not to do anything Crash Davis-ish. Nope, he's coming with his band to play a concert in the Bulls' stadium (which, incidentally, is NOT the one the movie was filmed in!). But, still, it would've been cool, and it was on the 4th of July, so it was followed by fireworks.

I briefly considered going, but decided I'd rather go to the ballgame the night before, when I'll have my kids, so I went out to the Bull website to buy tickets. Because of other people in the group, I needed 7 tickets. I've been to enough Bulls games that I now refuse to buy tickets unless they're under the roof -- there's always a really good chance of either rain or blistering hot sun, so the roof is a good investment.

So, I found the section I wanted, and there were three rows with open seats: Row Z had three seats, row Y had 5, and row X had 3. The automated progam gave me 3 seats in row X, three in row Y, and one in row Z. Not really what I wanted, 'cause who wants to sit alone at a ball game? So I went in and changed it to 5 seats in row Y and 2 in row X.

Nope, can't do that. The online ticketing won't allow you to buy seats if it will leave a singleton seat open.

Um, excuse me???? I got there first, I should be able to buy those tickets!!!!! You're going to charge my credit card immediately, before we know anything about injuries, rain, win-loss record, who's pitching, or ANYTHING, but you want me to re-arrange my seating preferences for a hypothetical couple who might or might not decide to come to the game at the last minute?!?!?!?!

Uh, NO!!!

Now, because tickets are cheap, I merely went back to the ticket selection screen and added another ticket to my order, and now I have a row of 5 and a row of three.

But still! This is stupid! Memo to Bulls: If someone wants to give you money for tickets, a month in advance, TAKE IT!

Sheesh.

YAY!!!!!!!

Peter's baseball team had 3 goals at the beginning of the season, in the following order:

1. To have fun


2. To improve their play


3. To win one game

Going into the last game of the season, they had had TONS of fun, and were definitely getting better each game.

Sadly, they were also have a total mental breakdown in at least one inning per game, with the result that the other team would score an average of 4 runs in that inning.

End result? They were going into their final game last night with an 0-8 record.

Because they played a late game, the Coach decided to hold their end of season party BEFORE the game, rather than after. There was pizza, Gatorade, lemonade, and brownies, and lots of rowdy 10 year old boys.

Apparently that's a good mix, because they came out and played THE best game of their season, and won 4-2! Their defense was outstanding, they got some great hits, and the final inning came down to our pitcher striking out three batters while still holding them scoreless (in that inning). Good stuff!

The boys were absolutely beside themselves, and I have to admit this cynical old Mom was taught a lesson about never quitting, because to be honest, I was pretty sure they'd go un-victoriou. Peter's coach has, in both sports he coaches, always had the goal to win "just one game". Once he gets that win, he changes the goal to get "just one more". Two years ago he took Peter's basketball team to a 10-1 record, and he's never, ever not gotten his one win. He obviously knows something about coaching boys!

WAY TO GO, PADRES!!!!