Basketball Heaven

We went out to Champps at Southpoint Mall for the game. My brother-in-law and another friend were out there about 7:30pm and the place was packed. For about an hour, Wei Yan and I were driving around, scoping out alternatives - to no avail. The only other viable options had small TVs and in the time that we were driving around, went from a table for 9 to a table of 4 with a few tables for 2 that we could all squeeze into. Yikes! Already stressed and we hadn't even started the game. BIL tells us to go back to Champps, we might have a table soon. We all converge, and wait for 30 min. Game is starting. A few now head across the street to Firebirds. No sound there, and they close at 10pm. A few more of us head over there. They'll turn the sound off and let us stay til the end of the day. We contemplate pizza and heading to Daniel's apt at half time, but people are trickling in, taking seats at the bar. We sit down & try to call the stragglers to tell them to come to join us. 2 min into the game already! Carolina is down. But they say that we now have a table over at Champps. Forget the drink orders the waitress is literally in the middle of. We slip the waitress a few even though she says it's cool and run over to Champps. 5 min already by now! We sit down, takes forever to get drinks and orders in. So, yes, it was stressful already, but we all couldn't relax until 5 min left in the game. When Carolina finally pulled ahead and then 40 sec left, yes, maybe we can just start relaxing. It is college basketball, so you never know, but the buzzer rings and we are all cheering. As we leave, see Simon Chao - from the HSLL hall at Carolina, in town for the game. Sweet, someone else to celebrate with.

So, maybe I will not watch another game out on the town - unless I have my radio broadcast in my ear, drink in hand and food ordered like an hour before the game. It was fun to have the Tar-Heel cheers going throughout the bar, and a few Duke fans in the crowd to heckle, but definitely stressful. Need reservations early next time.

So, I'd lose to NC State everytime if we can beat Dook at Cameron. All worth it. Congrats to the Bruins for beating USC. Boo to Kwame Brown being out for another 4-6 weeks. I'll miss my Heels in Hong Kong, but kudos to Wei Yan for excellent planning in missing game that were most OK to miss.