Blue, blue, oh so blue
How's this for a sneak peek? This won't run until Tuesday in the Daily Dispatch:
Some things are better seen on TV than in person. Hot dog eating contests, golf tournaments and NASCAR races are good examples of afternoons better spent watching on the magic box instead of witnessing the event first-hand.
The same cannot be said for a Duke/North Carolina basketball game.
I had seen somewhere between 20 and 25 meetings between the bitter rivals on TV, but on Sunday, I sacrificed my day off and made the drive to Chapel Hill to catch the game in person.
Tough life, huh?
Anyway, after winding my way through Atlanta-style traffic on 15-501, making the turn onto Manning Drive and then finally ending up in a parking garage - thanks to the guys in the day-glow yellow vests - I found my way inside the Smith Center.
Only the sky has as many shades of blue as were on display inside the Dean Dome. I imagine the effect would have been even more powerful if I were not shade color blind, but even I was struck by the light-blue, dark blue and medium-blue hues on little kids, teenaged girls, their grandparents and everyone in between.
I wandered onto press row – after asking for help from two more people wearing yellow – and found seats for folks from the USA Today, New York Daily News and the Charlotte Observer.
“Where am I,” I asked yet another yellow-clad help giver. “Henderson Dispatch? You’re up there,” he said, pointing up to what looked like the top of Mount Everest.
It was a dark gray-looking area at the top of the first level, where I’m told the “other” media people sit.
Hey, I was happy. I had a chair at the end of the row. There were people sitting on stools close enough to tell time on each other’s watches.
Mike Sosna, our ACC columnist, introduced himself before tip-off before scurrying off to find a seat. I didn’t see him again. He could have ended up on the roof for all I know.
I’ve seen college basketball games before, but nothing like this. I’ve heard that there are more than 20,000 seats in the place. I’d say about half of them are decorative. Everyone on my side (somewhere near Section 112, if you’re curious) stood for almost the entire game.
Former Florida State guard and current NBA player Sam Cassell once referred to the Smith Center patrons as a “wine and cheese crowd.” With cups and small Domino’s boxes scattered around the vacated area at halftime, it looked more like a soda and pizza bunch to me.
There were lots of cool things you missed if you watched on CBS, like high school football players, complete with little football name stickers, taking in the game. I saw recent UNC signee Greg Little. He looks taller than 6-2, a fact that Tar Heel football fans might enjoy in the coming years.
Speaking of tall, I ran into Carolina radio announcer and former Tar Heel center Eric Montross in the media room.
OK, I didn’t really run into him. Sportswriters don’t “run into” guys who are seven freaking feet tall and live to write columns about it. Seriously, that guy is like a walking doorway. Only taller and much more polite.
Oh, there was a game, too. Duke gave a nice effort, but North Carolina erased the dark blues with a strong start and a spirited second-half run.
I wish I could tell you about the shirt I saw on the way out. Let’s just say that it provided a suggestion for what the present tense of “Duke Blue” might be if viewed through glasses of a lighter shade.
Can’t see that on TV, either.
I’ll leave the bloody nose analysis to the experts, but for me, a little red looked really odd in a place with so much blue.
Didn’t look intentional to me, though I doubt it made it hurt any less.
I’ll have to wait until next year to sample the rivalry from Cameron Indoor, but I learned one thing Sunday.
What used to be must-see TV for me, is now simply must-see.
Contact the writer at rcapps@hendersondispatch.com.
Some things are better seen on TV than in person. Hot dog eating contests, golf tournaments and NASCAR races are good examples of afternoons better spent watching on the magic box instead of witnessing the event first-hand.
The same cannot be said for a Duke/North Carolina basketball game.
I had seen somewhere between 20 and 25 meetings between the bitter rivals on TV, but on Sunday, I sacrificed my day off and made the drive to Chapel Hill to catch the game in person.
Tough life, huh?
Anyway, after winding my way through Atlanta-style traffic on 15-501, making the turn onto Manning Drive and then finally ending up in a parking garage - thanks to the guys in the day-glow yellow vests - I found my way inside the Smith Center.
Only the sky has as many shades of blue as were on display inside the Dean Dome. I imagine the effect would have been even more powerful if I were not shade color blind, but even I was struck by the light-blue, dark blue and medium-blue hues on little kids, teenaged girls, their grandparents and everyone in between.
I wandered onto press row – after asking for help from two more people wearing yellow – and found seats for folks from the USA Today, New York Daily News and the Charlotte Observer.
“Where am I,” I asked yet another yellow-clad help giver. “Henderson Dispatch? You’re up there,” he said, pointing up to what looked like the top of Mount Everest.
It was a dark gray-looking area at the top of the first level, where I’m told the “other” media people sit.
Hey, I was happy. I had a chair at the end of the row. There were people sitting on stools close enough to tell time on each other’s watches.
Mike Sosna, our ACC columnist, introduced himself before tip-off before scurrying off to find a seat. I didn’t see him again. He could have ended up on the roof for all I know.
I’ve seen college basketball games before, but nothing like this. I’ve heard that there are more than 20,000 seats in the place. I’d say about half of them are decorative. Everyone on my side (somewhere near Section 112, if you’re curious) stood for almost the entire game.
Former Florida State guard and current NBA player Sam Cassell once referred to the Smith Center patrons as a “wine and cheese crowd.” With cups and small Domino’s boxes scattered around the vacated area at halftime, it looked more like a soda and pizza bunch to me.
There were lots of cool things you missed if you watched on CBS, like high school football players, complete with little football name stickers, taking in the game. I saw recent UNC signee Greg Little. He looks taller than 6-2, a fact that Tar Heel football fans might enjoy in the coming years.
Speaking of tall, I ran into Carolina radio announcer and former Tar Heel center Eric Montross in the media room.
OK, I didn’t really run into him. Sportswriters don’t “run into” guys who are seven freaking feet tall and live to write columns about it. Seriously, that guy is like a walking doorway. Only taller and much more polite.
Oh, there was a game, too. Duke gave a nice effort, but North Carolina erased the dark blues with a strong start and a spirited second-half run.
I wish I could tell you about the shirt I saw on the way out. Let’s just say that it provided a suggestion for what the present tense of “Duke Blue” might be if viewed through glasses of a lighter shade.
Can’t see that on TV, either.
I’ll leave the bloody nose analysis to the experts, but for me, a little red looked really odd in a place with so much blue.
Didn’t look intentional to me, though I doubt it made it hurt any less.
I’ll have to wait until next year to sample the rivalry from Cameron Indoor, but I learned one thing Sunday.
What used to be must-see TV for me, is now simply must-see.
Contact the writer at rcapps@hendersondispatch.com.
posted by Randy Capps at 8:13 PM
5 Comments:
Randy -- another excellent, well-written column. This is the reason you are one of the top columnists in North Carolina. Keep up the great work.
You're a kind and wise man.
Agrees with Hanks ... very well written and portrays some of the same feelings I had when I covered that matchup for the first time.
I know the Mount Everest for which you speak.
Enjoy Cameron next year and good luck w/ the credentials. Unless y'all have a season pass and go to every game at Duke, it's tough for "other" outlets to get a pass for the Carolina game at Cameron. I never had a problem getting a credential for any other game at Duke, though.
What chain owns Henderson by the way?
I also recommend catching a game at Reynolds ... State usually plays one per year there in men's hoops.
How bout this tournament so far?
Here, here!
We're owned by Paxton Media Group, out of Kentucky.
We have a season pass, and our columnist goes quite abit, so getting in shouldn't be a problem.
This tournament has been amazing. I can't believe how well State is playing. I'm going to have to write a crow-eating column about Lowe very soon.
I've done volleyball at Reynolds (whoo-hoo), but never hoops. I'll have to sample it as well.
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