30 Broad Leaf Ct, Chapel Hill

3BR/3.5BA/5400 sq. ft. – Huge Price Reduction!!

This home is brimming with appeal and warm livability! Stunning custom features include arched entryways, tons of windows, grand masonry fireplace, vaulted ceiling, wood floors, 1st floor master, and custom fixtures throughout. Cook your finest meals in the gourmet kitchen with gas cook-top, upgraded cabinetry, granite counters & stainless steel appliances. Breakfast room, custom wine rack & Butler’s pantry. Open flow to living and dining rooms featuring vaulted ceiling with view of 10th fairway.  Luxurious 1st floor master retreat with French doors to deck facing the course.  Generous secondary bedrooms with walk-in closets. Incredible basement with built-in wet bar offers a media area, recreation area, and sitting area by the fireplace.  You’ll also find a bonus area ideal for exercise room as well as another bedroom in the lower level with access to the patio.  Entertaining or relaxing will be a joy in this beautifully landscaped, well-designed home!  

The Preserve at Jordan Lake is a pristine, tranquil community with Estate homes.  The golf course is a Davis Love III Signature Golf Course. Community has Owners’ Clubhouse, Jr. Olympic Size Pool, Tennis courts, playgrounds, walking trails, soccer field, and is only minutes to the 14,000 acre Jordan Lake.  Home is also convenient to great amenities of the college town, Chapel Hill.  To view this fantastic home, be sure to check out the VISUAL TOUR!

Price $550,000

MLS #1655585

John,

Yeah, seriously,  I miss Chapel Hill.   Moving here has been a disaster, socially.  I quickly encountered an unprecedented level of weirdness.

Then again I don’t miss the Chapel Hill Cops.  They had it in for me.   I’ll never forget that night  in front of The Cave when they made me do the Gandy Dance.  I felt like the little Old Jew on the corner of the Warsaw Ghetto, dancing for the Gestapo.

The real Powers That Be in Chapel Hill control the Cops and the Schools.   That  is why academic achievement for Black kids in Chapel Hill has traditionally ranked near the bottom of the State.  That’s why the Elite call it “The Southern Part of Heaven” and the Black Folks call it “The Northern Part of Hell”.

I’m thinking about moving to Cuba and joining the Send a Piana to Havana Brigade. I’d be immersed in the Balm of a warm sea of Commies and Pinkos there.  Cuba is the country where Socialism succeeded best.  That is because their leader, Fidel, is truly a Philosopher King,  in the Platonic sense.

I’m gonna wait out winter here and see what the spring brings.   Might spend a couple weeks in Mexico with my friends Jim and Marta (you met Jim) in Mexico.   Jim is going to teach at the University in Morelia,  the downtown of which feels like New York City.

I have an Ultralite airplane in my garage that I’m gonna get ready to fly. And the Spectacular Sky here is waiting for my incredible Telescopes.

The Amish are eager to take rides in the airplane and look through the telescopes. I’d feel just like Wilbur Wright in Paris, 1909, when at age 40+ he finally lost his Virginity.  I like the Amish.  They are keeping the Old Ways, which are the Best Way,  alive.

But right now, it is 21 degrees out there, and I’m out of all but green firewood, which won’t burn.  Haven’t been past my mailbox in two weeks, although I have had some wonderful visits and music from friends.  But they don’t live around here.  Only Rednecks and Hostile Natives.

Yours Truly, Walter

Making a stop in North Carolina? The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers coupons for local businesses in the area.

So if you are stopping be sure to present these

coupons to local business to get some great savings.

This was the on windshield on Christmas morning.

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It was so cold! My blood is already Florida-thin.  It’s funny, when I moved to Florida, there was a cold spell happening, and the weather was, oh, about seventy-five degree or so, with no humidity.  At the time, coming from forty degree Washington, I thought it was heavenly, even though my coworkers were all complaining about how cold it was. I thought they were all nuts.

Then it got back up to around eighty, where it hovers for the most part.  The humidity fluctuates, making it feel much warmer or cooler, and then it dropped back down to seventy for the past week or so.  By the time it dipped to sixty-eight (two days before I left), I was freezing my tush off.  I was always cold. I turned off the AC in my studio and set it to 72.  One night, I had to run across the street to buy milk and I had just gotten done working out so I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and I had three separate people on the street holler at me, “Aren’t you cold?” And I was! I have officially turned into one of the pod people, I guess.

So the weather in North Carolina, (Elon/Burlington/Chapel Hill area), which has been about forty degrees, is kicking my butt.  I have dry skin and a sore throat from the lack of humidity, and my feet are in a state of perma-frost.  But when I went to brunch today with my cousins (one of whom goes to school at Appalachian State and the other who goes to the University of Maryland and was delayed three days from coming home by 21 inches of snow), think this weather is beautiful and nice!  I have always detested extremely warm weather and loved the cold, and now I can barely go outside in forty-five degrees. It’s so funny how quickly the body adapts to new climes.

__________________________________________________________________________

Wow!  How exciting.  We got to meet Annette and she has the best cakes….really simple to make, no mess, no fuss and they taste AMAZING!  Her product is all natural, and made with all North Carolina ingredients.  Annette heard about us because we were highly referred to her by Cathy Woods, of Miss Taffy’s Cheesecakes.  Miss Taffy knows the power of exceptional photography ~ and she passed on this information to Annette.  Annette came with 3 cakes, and an open mind.  She wanted clean, clear, crisp pictures of her cakes.  Nothing else in the pictures to take away from her cakes.  Annette has worked so hard to get her business growing.  She works for a local restaurant in Chapel Hill in their Accounting department, and has been in the restaurant industry really all of her life.  But, this is all hers.  This is her baby.  She wanted something simple for all types of “cooks” (even if you are not one!), yet something that would you could be proud of, no matter whether you are baking the cake for your self, your family, or your friends.  She is currently working on her website and with IWP Photography’s photos ~ people will surely see that this is a great thing!  www.iwpphotography.com

Just a quick update for any Allen & Son’s devotees out there.  (I’m talking about the Chapel Hill location, of course.) I visited for the first time in close to a year and discovered that their prices have gone up yet again.  Allen’s is now pushing $10 for a barbecue plate, which is a bit ridiculous but it doesn’t seem to be hurting their business so it’s hard to fault them.  As long as Keith Allen keeps cooking over wood and making everything from scratch, I’m willing to pay a premium.

As for the food, the pork was good as ever. I did notice a minor change to the hush puppies though.  They seem slightly smaller. I always assumed that one of the reasons the hush puppies often taste over cooked is that they were so large.  Well, so much for that theory, as the reduced size had no impact on the taste.  The puppies are also served with “butter” (margarine really) these days, something they didn’t do back in the day… and a waste if you ask me.  Finally, and most importanly, I believe the Allen’s slaw is a good deal creamier than it used to be, which is a disappointment because their old ‘cue was just about perfectly tangy and nearly mayo free.  Picky comments, and maybe my memory is failing me, but I’ve been going to Allen’s for 20 years so I take these changes personally!

The other day I did something that I have done before, but regret every time.

Now, before your mind starts wandering, I’ll just tell you. I commented on an online message board that was mostly an argument between UNC and NC State fans.

Now these types of things don’t keep me up at night. I don’t suddenly think about the perfect comeback I should have used, or a relevant fact I forgot to point out indicating that Carolina is superior – which it is.

No, when I post on these message boards it just frustrates me because I can’t believe I spent valuable time posting on them. I try to take a high-level approach. I try to just state something I’m confident about. Perhaps something like, “Yeah, UNC lost to State this year in football, but we beat Va. Tech and Miami and are heading to a bowl game. I’m OK with that.”

Here’s where the trouble starts.

Sure I said I’m “OK” with losing to State if UNC has a good season. Sure some might even take that as a Tar Heel admitting that yeah, UNC lost to State and that sucks, but hey I’m a fan and glad that UNC had a good season.

No, no, no, sir. These are NC State fans we’re talking about.

I have entered myself into their arena. I have been thrown to the wolves — pun intended. I have subjected myself to the rantings of fans whose sole purpose in life is to rebuke me, no matter how indifferent I am to their irrelevant school in West Raleigh.

I let them know this, of course, already hating myself for continuing this charade. I don’t really care if they think they’re our rival. I really don’t.  But for some reason I find the need to say something to the effect of “You are not our rival. Duke is.”

This is probably the single worst thing you can say to a State fan.

That’s when the name calling starts. I think the average N.C. State fan tries to come up with a new nickname for UNC every day. I’ve heard many: Pastel Pansies, Cry-o-whine- uh,  UNX (which I’ve only seen online and am still not sure what it means), Chapel Hell and my personal (and most State fans’) favorite, the Tar Holes. They’ll also send you pictures like this:

I’m sure an NCSU student somewhere happily spent hours on that picture.

Anyway at this point, the State fans are in defense mode in regards to why they are UNC’s true rival, and you will not hear any coherent argument, just their tried and yet untrue platform. Yeah, we’re both public schools, and yeah, both schools have mostly in-state students. But no, you are not our rival. You will never be our rival. There is a sacred rivalry on Tobacco Road, and the road leads to Durham.

They will not understand this. They’ll call you classless, though Dean Smith wrote the book on class. They’ll call you dumb, when many UNC freshmen also got into State and chose otherwise, as the joke goes. They’ll even insist that their gross, blocky, modern-looking bell tower is prettier than yours.

But mostly, they’ll say that they are your rival. It’s at this point that I once again realize the terrible mistake I’ve made by joining the discussion and go about my business doing something else.

I’ll check the board again to see what the State fans are saying about the Tar Hole who mysteriously stopped commenting on the message board.

“He’s a pastel pansy! He went to cry-o-whine-a to his mommy!”

Then I glance over all my “Beat Dook!”  and “UNC > Duke” and “Duke Sucks!” memorabilia, and I get this warm sensation.

I’ll sleep well tonight.

Butternut Squash
113e W. Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
website
919-943-3157
online menu? flash website, don’t know.
veganosity- over 50%

So, when in chapel hill i usually eat at the co-op or the mediterranean deli so i was very pleased to find a new place.

Butternut Squash is a quiet, slightly fancy, upper moderately priced vegetarian restaurant. My travelling partners weren’t in a sit down dinner mood so i got a vegan club sandwich and side of potato salad to go.

the simple verdict, delicious! The club was marinated tempeh and tofu, quite tasty. Fresh veggies and a nice stone ground mustard with a subtle vegan aoli. The bread was sort of a hearty herbed cibatta, it tasted homemade and complimented the sandwich ingredients rather well. The potato salad was well above average adorned with chives, i added pepper as i usually do to potato salad and it made for a great meal.

The service was fast and friendly, the price tag not terribly steep ($9.50 for my sandwich with side) and the food was very very good. I can’t wait to go back.

Rafters blogger Sam Wineka recently caught up with former Heels guard Dewey Burke, a.k.a. “Biscuits.” For those of you that might not know (and who are you?) Bojangles offers patrons of Carolina games two sausage biscuits for $1.00 in instances when UNC scores 100 points in the Dean Smith Center. Mr. Burke had a knack for pushing the Heels over the century mark and chatted with The Rafters about it.

Rafters: Tell us a little about what you’re up to. Are you in Philly? How are DBCamps and Sky High Basketball coming along?

DB: I am currently living just outside of Philly, where I grew up. I am building two different business that I have started. One is a basketball training company. Think personal trainer – but 100 percent basketball-specific. I do everything on the court. In the summer time I run camps for ages 7-18, and then in the Fall and Spring, I do individual and small group private instruction. Working on fundamentals, skills on both sides of the ball, shooting form, etc. Basically I evaluate the needs of the young players, and create a plan for improvement. So far things are going well and the business is growing nicely.

The summer camps have really been fun to do because I’ve been able to have my teammates come up and speak for the kids. North Carolina Basketball carries such prestige around the country, so when you can bring in a Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington, Marcus Ginyard or Bobby Frasor – the kids really enjoy it and are mesmerized by what these guys can do. (www.DBcamps.com & www.skyhighbasketball.com)

My second company is a small education firm. We specialize in after-school tutoring for students from low-income families. Our services are completely free to our students and their families – all of our funding comes from the state government. Through and educational grant my company has been approved to provide this supplemental education to students in desperate need of extra academic help. It is named the EYE Program, and EYE stands for Empowering Youth through Education. You can find out more here: www.EYEpartners.org.

Rafters: I was in the Dean Dome the first time you pushed Carolina over 100 and secured your nickname, “Biscuits,” by hitting a trey near the end of regulation. I have to say that in my four years at Carolina, it was definitely in the Top 5 loudest moments I heard the Smith Center. What was that moment like?

DB: There were a lot of special memories in the Smith Center, and that was a great one. Playing for Carolina is such a special gift, and the fans are the biggest part of that. The love we receive day in and day out is truly a blessing. It’s very, very unique to be a part of something that literally millions of people are so passionate about. I’ve always had a tremendous relationship with the Carolina fans, and I have so much love for the people of Chapel Hill. Even now, two years out, every time I drive up Franklin Street I get goose bumps. Chapel Hill will always be home for me. I have a lot of special feelings in my heart for that place. I think, too, that some fans see some of themselves in me. I’m not 6’8’’ and I wasn’t recruited out of high school to any big time schools. I just decided that playing for Carolina was what I was meant to do – nothing and no one was going to stand in the way of that.

Rafters: While we’re talking about great moments, what was your favorite as a Carolina player?

DB: My favorite moment was beating Duke in Cameron Indoor the first time (in 2006). The class of 2009 went on to do it 4 times in a row, but the first time was an incredible experience. JJ Redick and Sheldon’s last home game, senior night for them, they were # 1 – we had freshmen, etc etc. We just played so tough that night, and David Noel was the greatest leader you could ask for. The day before at practice, there was a sense and a feeling in the air that we were going to go over there and win. Coach talked about how there were very, very few people outside out locker room that believed we could win that game…but that was ok because we knew. And we were not just saying that. We came in so confident that night, we weren’t intimidate or worried at all. We knew they couldn’t handle us that night. It was an amazing experience.

Rafters: In the infamous Duke game when Gerald Henderson broke Tyler Hansbrough’s nose, you were one of the guys holding Tyler back. I have to ask, did you kind of (maybe deep down) just want to let him go?

DB: No. And that’s the truth. My immediate thought when he got up was “he’s going to kill someone.” All I was thinking was keeping him away from anyone else, because I didn’t want him to get suspended. It was the last game of the regular season. All we had worked for all year was about to be upon us (NCAA Tourney), and there was no way we were going into it without our best player. Truly, all I was thinking was keeping him calm. If you watch the clips, you can see me telling him “try to breathe, stay cool.” He was very upset. He took more beatings than anyone in college basketball since Shaq, and he never reacted. He would always say, I won’t care about it unless someone makes my face bleed – then it’s too far. Well, Gerald and Duke took it too far – but we took the high road. We won that game, the ACC a few times, and a National Title. That’s what matters.

Rafters: Follow up: are you in fact, the only person capable of stopping Psycho T?

DB: Well we both know that no one can stop him on the court… Off it, he’s a really a gentle giant. He’s quiet and reserved, and until you get to know him and get into his inner circle – he won’t say a whole lot. The real Tyler Hansbrough is a regular friend like anyone else. He laughs, jokes and enjoys life. He’s no different. He’s an intensely loyal friend and great example of what a Tar Heel player is supposed to be about. On the court he’s the most focused and driven person I’ve ever seen. Off the court, he’s just a regular guy and a great friend.

Rafters: What do you think about this year’s team? I think all Carolina fans expect their team to go really far.  Are your expectations higher or lower than a Final Four?

DB: This year’s team is going to very fun to watch grow. We have so much talent. We have everything you could want: speed, size, length, athleticism. Maybe all we are missing is a knock-down shooter, but Will Graves can fill that role if he wants to. We will be in every game because we are further along defensively than most teams are at this time. Marcus is the main reason for that. He’s so good on defense, people just don’t even begin to understand. Defense is so much more than not letting your man score. It’s about communication, and positioning, and timing and toughness and grit. Marcus is the best we’ve had in a long time.

My feeling is, people better beat us now. Come March, when Coach Williams has 90-100 practices with this team, look out. They’ll get the offensive end figured out and continue to get better defensively. We will learn to run better and better and get easier baskets. We are so young that all we can do is improve. We can be a force by March, and barring injuries – we will be.

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You can listen to more of Dewey’s take on UNC basketball on his podcast, Biscuit Briefs.

Meet Frank! That’s right, Frank – the new arts collective in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The press release from the Town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said it best:

“Frank has attitude. Frank commands attention. Frank speaks up and speaks out, letting the world know there is a vibrant arts community in the Triangle, whose epicenter just happens to be at 109 E. Franklin St.(in Chapel Hill).” (Source: Town of Chapel Hill Press Release, 12-14-09)

A Frank Explanation: The gallery is 3,400 square feet of space that will be operated by 25 member artists and include another 50 regional and national artists. The project was made possible through these 25 artists with support from the Town, the County’s arts and tourism directors and several leaders in economic development. The Town of Chapel Hill, in conjunction with the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, approved the $40,000 loan to fund the collective through its Small Art Business Loan Program. The gallery, expected to open in early 2010, will feature a diverse collection of varied art forms.

As part of yesterday’s ceremony, the group unveiled the logo and brand for Frank, which were designed pro bono by Jennings (that’s my company). We crafted  an identity that is bold and  highly representative of this innovative project to bring new energy and diversity to downtown Chapel Hill.

To access the Town of Chapel Hill’s press release announcing Frank’s birth, go to http://tinyurl.com/y97dkze.

Post by Dan Dunlop, Brand Expeditions

So I’m growing restless/frustrated with music again. It’s so tiring to put hope in new projects, in people you play with once who say ‘yeah let’s get together again, this could be good’…and then they flake, vanish, evaporate. no one seems committed to this and its hard to keep on hoping. it’s so painful to enviously watch friends’ bands only grow in success while i can’t make anything work. denny and i have already discussed the fact that if another year of this goes by and i’m still where i am, we’re going to have to try moving somewhere else and see what happens, at least for awhile. This is my career, period, and I’m not going to give up my dream just because Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Hillsborough is a bad place to pursue this. Too indie-folk hipsters, not enough post-rock. Maybe Austin? Atlanta? I hate to move so far from my mother, especially after the cancer. And Denny’s family, who are now so much like my own? I’d miss them terribly. As for Denny, she’s never lived anywhere else, how can I take her away from that? I have others I’d miss, too, of course. The friends in bands I love, Craig, Denny’s friends who are now my friends…I can only hope something happens this year. I’ll keep trying, plugging away, because I like it here, and I don’t want to leave. Denny and I take walks around this neighborhood at night and it’s so easy to picture raising children here. Please, please let this work.

Dampening my mood, too, is the healthcare debate, the fact that it will never pass with a public option. We are the largest, richest nation without universal healthcare, with an abysmal infant mortality rate among other things, and that is shameful. But, Obama has been a big disappointment. Like most Democrats, he has withered. He had a chance to be a strong progressive voice and  stand up for us liberals, but he’s proven spineless, sucking ass to the right wing like any liberal before him. Why are they so scared of the GOP? Those fuckers sure don’t stop to worry about reaching across the aisle, they do what they want and take no prisoners. Why can’t we have a president like that? It was revolting to hear him defend the wars today in his Peace Prize speech, when months ago he was promising to end them. ENOUGH.

Anyway, enough of the socio-politico ranting, it’s useless. So music may not be working so hot at the moment, but in the meantime I’ll try other avenues. Yet another novel attempt is unfurling, something I didn’t think possible. I’ve written nothing I’ve liked since maybe 2004, but this may be going somewhere. It’s autobiographical, and maybe that’s why it’s so easy, nay seductive. Dangerous, and I don’t want to hurt anyone with it, either. But we’ll see. I won’t spill too much about it yet, just in case it ends up abandoned like most of my other novel projects, in a flurry of sudden boredom and eager excitement to move to the new Grand concept. In other news though, getting excited about the prospects of more professional photography in the coming months, too. And the first batch of Super 8 was mailed off for processing and transfer yesterday (to Yale Film and Video in L.A., a place Tyler highly recommended to me after having used them in the past). Fingers crossed the footage comes out usable for the Durham doc I’m planning.

As for the two of us, well…what is there to say except to repeat it all? Denny is so good to me. I am so happy to have someone who sees my flaws but doesn’t condemn me or guilt me for them, only love me more for them. She sees who I am, not who I’m not. She loves me so much and doesn’t view me as a project. In my last relationship I never would’ve imagined feeling good enough for someone, to be loved just as I am, and feeling like who I was was enough. After someone destroying that in me, making me feel utterly worthless, it’s nice that the right person has come to make me feel ten feet tall, like such a GOOD person, so deserving of love, and deserving of this lovely happiness. I feel like I’m a good man now, and I think I deserve that, if it doesn’t sound too arrogant. Basicaly, she makes me feel like dancing. I’m happier each day as we learn more about each other and fall deeper in love. That’s all anyone can ask for.

At six months into my last relationship it was tears, shouting, damaged self-esteem and lonely isolation. Six months into this, I’m only falling more in love with her, in this domestic life we’ve built in this house together. I’m so comfortable, and loving her is like a warm blanket. She’s the one thing I’ve always wanted, someone to come home to.

I’m going to go join her now for some Six Feet Under.

Here’s some Okkervil River lyrics, from an album that helped me get through the crippling depression of my college and broken relationship years. Black Sheep Boy still means a lot to me, and of course I’m not alone since the album is considering a CLASSIC and all, but this song’s lyrics take on a whole new meaning these days -

“But the best thing for you would be queen, so be queen.
You’re all that I need.
Though I know that it never can be,
I’d be pleased to post your decrees,
to fall at your knees,
to name all your streets and to sit down and weep
when you’re carried back through them
and set down to sleep,
and to lie by your side for sublime centuries
(until we crumble to dust when we’re crushed by a single sunbeam).”

Classes are over and final exams loom over every students head. The good thing about fall semester exams means there are always fun Christmas-y activities involving free food and relaxation during this stressful period. Today, free gingerbread house building. Tomorrow, free Bojangles, Cookout, massages, and late night breakfast. Despite all my efforts to create a beautiful gingerbread house (really made with graham crackers), the strong wind gusts of our 70 degree day and my heavy roof led to the destruction of this sugary fantasy home. It’s OK though, because Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town is on ABC Family and my procrastination efforts could not be more exemplary.

Anoop Desai performs “For All We Know” (a Donny Hathaway cover) during the Homecoming concert on November 8, 2009 at UNC Memorial Hall, Chapel Hill. The music director of this concert, Pablo Vega, accompanies Anoop on keyboard. Anoop has said that this his “favorite song in the world.”

This video is from Anoop Desai Official YouTune Channel.

Download the mp3 files of this and other live performances at the Street Team mp3 archive page.

Some of you may have seen the original incarnation of “Jerseys in the Rafters,” which I believe you can buy at most apparel and book stores in Chapel Hill. But since that film came out in 2001, seven additional players have received the highest honor that you can receive in Carolina Basketball.

Well, I guess the Dean E. Smith Center is a pretty good one, too. But still.

In light of that fact, a newer, bigger, bad-asser version of the DVD has been released including players from the ‘09 championship run. Tyler Hansbrough even makes an appearance on the cover.

I’ve not seen the original, but I do own Jump Around, which is about the ‘09 team’s title season and is produced by the same company, but how could almost two hours of footage of Tar Heel greats be bad? The “Dean Smith: Coach, Mentor, Friend” feature sounds sick. I watched it three times in the first month I owned it. Let’s assume it’s pretty much awesome. Plus, it came out Dec. 1, just in time for Christmas. We have a copy coming so expect a review soon!

Buy it!

Business Week magazine has named Chapel Hill the top town in North Carolina to raise your kids. (A town or city in each state was chosen, with two runners-up.) I’m not sure how much credence you want to place on this selection, since they picked Cary and Jacksonville for the runners-up. The article cites “residents who enjoy a healthy lifestyle, cultural and historic attractions, and an intellectual environment.” They forget to mention ridiculously good schools funded by astronomical property taxes, resulting in over-achieving, high-anxiety kids burned out before they get to college.

I have more snarky things to say, but I am trying to be nice. Santa is coming, after all. Congratulations to our neighbor for this recognition.

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Last Sunday was momentous. A person I love was introduced to a thing I love, and I was lucky enough to watch the interaction.

Thanks to great tickets and a parking pass from a kind neighbor, Katie and I took Jackie to her first live sporting event — UNC vs. Nevada at the Smith Center.

I grew up with Carolina basketball, and I can’t help but think that Jackie will also find comfort and inspiration from the same source. Maybe it’s a player who scored pointing to a teammate to credit him for the assist after a fast break conversion. Maybe it’s blood, shed in sacrifice to victory, splattered on the floor of H.I.S. (Hansbrough Indoor Stadium, in Durham).  Or, maybe it’s the way Woody pronounces pistachio (pi-stash-see-oh).

On Sunday, we got to our seats about 15 minutes before tip-off. Jackie’s jaw dropped as soon as we started descending the steps in our section. The lights, the other fans, the band, and the sheer size of the building kept her mouth agape until about the 15:00 mark of the first half. After the initial shock waned, she seemed to be paying attention to the action on the floor. Katie put her in her very own seat early in the second half. Cracker in hand, Jackie’s behavior could have passed for any adult spectator in the arena, snacking and watching Larry Drew II dish out assists to Ed Davis. She was taking in the game (which was a little closer than I expected) like any other fan.

It was truly one of the best experiences during my short time as a father. On that night, happiness was sitting with my wife and daughter as Ol’ Roy got his 600th win.