Basketball Diaries... er....Blogs

Hurray! UNC beat Duke 75-73 today!
Good thing, too. We are a much happier household when the Tar Heels win.

Now, you may recall that fateful game that UNC played against Santa Clara in November. It was UNC's first game of the season, and they were heavily favored to win.

Well, they didn't.
Between that game, and the UNC vs. Cal game that Dick took me to on one of our first dates (which UNC also lost - being heavily favored) Dick had since deemed me "bad luck" when it came to his beloved basketball team.

After the ill-fated Santa Clara game, Dick informed his entire family (all Tar Heel fans) that I am bad luck, and should never be allowed to watch a game live again.

Happily, UNC has had a great year so far. The best that they've had in 12 years. So far, they've only had 3 losses - the first being against Santa Clara, and the other two were very close games against ranked teams.

Generally speaking, this means that Dick "allows" me to watch most of the games with him. However, if it starts to look bad, he has asked me to leave the room, and will not permit me to watch the game until after is is over (we record it on our Media Center). Dick's sisters have both thought of calling me during particularly low points in the games to make sure that I am not watching, and if I am, to please leave the room.

UNC has had two huge games in the last week: UNC vs. Maryland (last Sunday) and today's game against Duke. These were two very important games, and it was obvious that they would be nail-biting. I was flat-out forbade to be in the room during the last 10 minutes of the games. (I tried to walk in a couple of times to see the score, and Dick would "shoo" me out)

Shhhh... here's a little secret
My sister called me today towards the end of the game. I told her that the big game was on, and that I had been banned from watching. She asked me what the score was. Since I "wasn't allowed" to go downstairs, I quickly flipped on my little TV in my office. There was only about 3 minutes left in the game, and the Tar Heels were down by 9 points. Uh oh. I immediately turned the TV off again, just in case I really am bad luck! Turns out that that was as high as Duke would score, and that UNC managed to come back from being 9 points behind, and win the game in under 3 minutes.

Today's win means that the Tar Heels have not only beat Duke (their arch-rival) for only the 3rd time in the last 16 games against them, but they also won the outright Atlantic Coast Conference title and a probable No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

See how much I've learned by dating Dick over the past 6 years? Honestly, before then, I didn't have a clue what "March Madness" referred to. Impressive, eh? Ah, what a girl won't do for her guy ;)

Dick is still bitter about the Santa Clara game. Several times over the course of the season, the commentators would say something like "How did Santa Clara beat this team?". Dick would yell back to the TV, "Two Words: Trina Chow!"

I spent the day with my parents yesterday, and didn't get home 'til late. Dick was out for a late dinner with our friend, Martin. Anyway, I came home, and saw the pile of mail on the kitchen counter. There was a Santa Clara University magazine on the top of the pile (my sister got her undergrad degree there years ago, and I've been receiving mail for her from SCU for years). Anyway, I came home, and saw a post-it stuck to the front of the magazine that read (in dick's handwriting):

Trina -
Thanks again for helping us beat UNC!
-Your friends @ Santa Clara

LOL. Very funny.