you say you're a rudeboy?

Ahhh, home.  I've seen so little of it in the past few weeks.  Hotels, continental breakfasts, running around and flailing like a chicken with my head cut off, dinners at restaurants, and coming back to pass out in big hotel beds.  Then, the games of course.

Saturday night was an extremely early dinner by necessity: the team had to get up at 7 for walkthrough and pregame, so we were on the bus to the restaurant by around 5:15.  Our waiter was a highly overstressed fellow who spoke way too fast, attempted to squeeze himself between one wall and our table to take our orders, and actually skipped away to another table at one point.  Thank God the food was good, or else I would've been quite annoyed with the hastiness of this guy.  At the end of the night, we spotted him standing outside the restaurant chain-smoking as our bus pulled away.

During the dinner I kept track of the team scores from the men's side on my phone, since the rest of the team wasn't allowed to check their devices (cell phones aren't allowed at dinner).  It was great fun to see their faces as the games progressed.

Sunday morning, I woke up nervous.  I went to breakfast nervous.  I went to the game nervous.  And then the game started...and I wasn't nervous anymore.

That was more than a beating.  That was a shellacking.  Someone near me kept yelling "Assassin!" whenever Maya touched the ball.  I don't think that girl missed once.  Everyone was throwing it down.  And I've said this before and I'll say it again...how good is Kelly Faris?  She is just now beginning to show everyone what we've all known from the beginning.  Her stat line is consistently fantastic.  And of course, when Lorin hit that three from the right corner, we all went nuts.  It seemed like nobody could miss a shot, and that unfortunately did not bode well for Iowa State.

Another great thing about the game on Sunday was that it took place in Dayton, OH.  Dayton is only about forty-five minutes from Cincinnati, so Jamelle and Mel (Thomas) drove down to watch! I was so excited to see them, especially Mel who I haven't seen in quite a long time.  She's coming to the Final Four as well, so we promised to hang out one of the nights.

After the game, some people went to dinner with their families and some of us went to PF Chang's.  I, of course, went to PF Chang's.  I live for their lettuce wraps (however, the hot and sour soup tasted like hot barbecue sauce).  It's funny-I tend to eat PF Chang's the most when I'm out with the team or living through tournament time.  The last time I had it, it was last year after the Final Four.  It was Tiffany's first time at the place, and I think she'll be a regular customer.

Monday was pretty relaxed (and it was Lorin's 21st birthday).  I got a few things accomplished: I finished the book I was reading (Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan), watched the pilot of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, made the buzzer beater three at the end of practice, and found out that both Ricky Martin is gay and Anne Donovan is the new head coach at Seton Hall.  That's such a great get for that program.  Hopefully next year we won't whip them by 80.

On the bus before dinner, I felt the week of travel catch up to me.  I was exhausted and starving, and thought maybe if I closed my eyes, I'd relax a little bit.  We pulled into the restaurant and I shook off my doze, and met the gaze of a very sheepish Kaili.  "You're gonna be mad at me."

"What did you do?" I said, laughing.

Kaili, ever so sheepish, replied "Well, you were passed out...so I asked Tiffany to get me the camera (for The Climb)..."

Yes, that's right.  My passed out behind is now on video.  And it gets worse.  Kelly took a picture of it and sent it to my Dad, who gleefully showed everyone at dinner.

After our meal, we all went nuts about the end of the Baylor/Duke game.  So many times in basketball there comes those games where the lead seems locked up, then it just slips away.  The exact same thing happened with the Xavier/Stanford game (which was both exhilarating and heartbreaking).  Tina was devastated when Duke lost, as Joy Cheek is one of her good friends.  We all felt awful.

Once again, I was nervous when I woke up on Tuesday.  Florida State is a very talented, hardworking team, and they are well-coached and have a great game plan.  They gave us fits for some times when we played them back in December. Something that helped assuage my nerves was the offering of Chipotle for lunch after practice (which was business as usual, and Dad even cracked some jokes).  After two straight days where all I could eat for lunch was a giant granola bar, this was as a balm from heaven.

After hitting the gym, I traveled with the team to the arena.  I sat with my Mom, and we managed to remain calm until the game started.  There was a hilarious exchange before the game that I will try to transcribe:

Me: How was pregame?
Mom: Good! The chicken looked good, but I really just wanted a baked potato.
Me: Yeah, you love those.
Mom: Yeah.
Me: Ugh, I'm nervous.
Mom: *pause* You know, they're just so reliable and dependable.
Me: What? Baked potatoes?
Mom: ...No, the team.

Sometimes when I'm nervous, I have numerous synaptic misfires.

I was pretty good during the game...I only ran to the bathroom to hide twice.  That's a great record for me, since usually if the game seems to be going a little sour I'll run to the bathroom and stay there until we're up 20.  That's what my uncle still does, but I'm recovering from that affliction.  I won't even comment on the refing in the game, except to say that my mother was a total freak.  She kept stomping her feet, standing up, screaming her face off.  Five times I had to gently tug her and whisper "Shhhh".  She then would morph from Screamy McCrazy to Mom again and laugh out "Oops, sorry."

The game itself was pretty fantastic by the time we started ripping the Seminoles apart in the second half.  There was a moment in the first half, though, where Kalana hit a game changing three to stop a big run of FSU's, and I think that really helped us turn it around.  I think even Dad was shocked at how lopside the game ended up being.   Everyone talks about Tina and Maya but I want to sing the praises of  Kaili and Lorin.  Both of them came off the bench and provided stellar defense and awesome plays.  When Lorin got tripped up on a fastbreak and still managed to get a layup, Dad did something I haven't seen him do in a long long time: He fistpumped.  Then, when Maya hit a three from the corner (which is something we've seen a lot of lately), I actually stood up and yelled "Boom, goes the dynamite!" Which I hope to god wasn't captured on any cameras.

Speaking of cameras! I met a fan of the blog/Twitter at the game.  Her mom asked if it was possible to get a picture with her,  and I of course obliged.  I am horrible at remembering names but I'm pretty sure it was Valerie.  It was great to meet you, Valerie! I was so flattered you wanted a picture with me.

When the buzzer went off, we all went down to the court to hug and congratulate the team.  It was absolutely wonderful.  Mom and Dad even busted a move to the 'UC! O! N N!" song.  Then came the whirlwind of press interviews and celebration, which is always fun.  I hung out in the locker room and watched some game playback on ESPN.

Then came the late night flight back home to CT.  It was surprisngly smooth, considering most of CT is apparently underwater right now.  Our flight attendant was an extremely uptight British man who insisted on over-annunciating his words and woke me up twenty minutes before we landed to remind me to get my seatbelt on.  "You can still lay down, just put your seat belt on," he said crisply.  Um...then what's the point? my jackass brain wanted to reply.  But I shut up and buckled up.

Today was a lazy day, filled with laundry and repacking, Chinese food and the Easter Beagle.  Here's hoping my Easter Sunday is filled with happiness and chocolate, not tears and chocolate...

ally

Down goes Frazier!

A few things happened this week of monumental importance.  There were two birthdays this week.

1. My blog turned one! I gave it its bottle and promised it a slice of cake if it cleaned up its room.
2. My dad turned 29.  HAH.

In all seriousness, my Dad had a pretty good day.  He was forced to do the birthday dance by the team at shootaround on Tuesday morning, and then was presented with a slice of chocolate cake at pregame.  He ate the entire thing while I looked on woefully (I gave up dessert for Lent).  I gave him a card with a baby on the cover, as well as a book titled FU: A Journal to Destroy, Rant, and Rave Without The Police Getting Involved.  I thought he'd think it was stupid, but he laughed like crazy and told me it was awesome.  That made me feel so good, because usually when I get him a book for his birthday or Christmas, he's either already read it or he bought it already.


 Then it was time to get ready for the game.

That was probably the most perfect half of basketball I've seen us play in quite some time.  Dad is always after the 'perfect game.'  He's been quoted as saying we try to chase perfection, and if we're really good we'll catch excellence.  I think not only did we catch up to excellence, we ate it for breakfast and then had perfection in our sights for lunch.  I did feel bad for Tonya that we beat Temple so badly, but at the same time I couldn't feel upset that we were moving on.

By the way, I messed up in my last blog.  Stacey Nasser is in fact the Temple graduate assistant, not a manager.  She reminded me of this quite pointedly when I hung out with her before the game.  My apologies, Nasser! ;)

We flew home directly after postgame and the best part of the flight was when the attendant got on the mike and announced "Feel free to lean back like Fat Joe, and I'm like T.I., I'll get you whatever you like." We all lost our minds.

After a whirlwind 48 hours at home in which I managed to work two full days at the casino, we are back on the road in Dayton, OH.  Yesterday was a pretty eventful day with traveling, getting here to the hotel, a great dinner at a local chophouse, and back here to pass out in time for practice and interviews today.  I managed to watch most of the Tennessee/Baylor game today, and as happy as I was for Baylor to win that game (and you cannot deny: Brittney Griner is INSANE), I was even happier Tennessee lost.  And not for the reason you might expect.

With Tennessee out of the tournament, the focus shifts.  It shifts from the possible UCONN/Tennessee matchup to the other, much more fascinating matchups.  It shifts to the other teams who are just as deserving of coverage as the Vols and Huskies are.  What about Stanford, who has made such amazing strides over the past few months with their all-American roster (including Jayne Appel and JJ Hones)? Or Baylor, with Griner and her unstoppable length and agility? Or the up and comers out of Nebraska who have had such a fantastic season and have sadly been overlooked by other stories? It's a shame that the only thing people cared about was a matchup that was two games from now, and now won't happen.  And now the press corps here in Ohio and back in Connecticut are having conniptions.  Calm down, everybody.  Focus on the other matchups that are sure to be great games.  Maybe-GASP-become interested in teams that aren't colored orange and blue.  It wasn't meant to be.

To quote one of my favorite musicals, 'Move on.'


Another thing that gives me agita is the idea that our streak is bad for the game.  Really, Press of America? Our streak is bad? Why not ask the Yankees if they feel bad about their four billion titles.  Or 1993-era Michael Jordan about his Bulls and if they thought their threepeat was a bummer.  And damn, I bet the UCLA streak was a real bitch to those reporters in the 70s.

Give me a break.  This is something sports record books will be talking about for years to come.

This is good for women's basketball.  To think anything else would be...well...ridiculous...

ally

huskies and tigers and owls, oh my!

And welcome to the postseason, my bloggettes and bloggos! My apologies, again, for not updating sooner.  I forgot how whirlwind the postseason can be.  If I'm not out at dinner, I'm at shootaround.  If I'm not at a game, I'm at film.  And I'm not even the one playing!

We flew out here on Friday, at around 3:30.  It was a gorgeous day, so I was expecting a pretty smooth ride.  Well, once we reached cruising altitude it was smooth as glass.  The takeoff, however? Not so much. I gripped the seats so hard the fabric threatened to turn into mush under my hands.  Thankfully the entire flight was only about an hour, give or take ten minutes, so we landed in VA none the worse for wear.  I was pretty excited that we'd have Sirius Satellite Radio on the flight, however the provided headphones were horrible so I stuck to my iPod.  It's a shame; I was really looking forward to listening to the Broadway channel.  How are things in Glocca Morra, indeed.

Norfolk turned out exactly the way I figured it to be-warm, sunny, and very genteel.  Everyone here is so nice, it made me feel like all Easterners are hugely arrogant.  It's not that we're arrogant, we just don't know how to be that polite without seeming slightly awkward.  The hotel we're staying in has a very old, quaint quality to it, which I really like.  There's a lingering history to these walls which either make me think "Wow, what history is contained in this building" or "GHOSTS!"

After about an hour of settling into the hotel we headed out to dinner at a lovely chophouse, which made me laugh since it was Friday (it being Lent, half of us weren't eating meat).  I sat with some of the managers and Maya, and in between wolf bites of crab cake we debated 90s heartthrobs.  I personally was obsessed with Devon Sawa and Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez from The Sandlot. 

Saturday was a pretty simple day, and a good indicator of the craziness that will come next week and the week after for those teams lucky enough to advance.  Our locker room at the Old Dominion campus is pretty stellar: long leather couches, TVs, the works.  That day we all hung out in there before open practice, waiting for the media to come in.  Of course, we played charades and Pictionary.  My favorite was Tiffany getting down on all fours and mimicking a dog for Marley and Me, and I even got in on the action (which I didn't get to do last year!) . I jumped up and down a few times and pointed to the sky until finally Lorin and CD both guessed Up In The Air.

At the beginning of open practice, one of the girls got a ball stuck in the net, leading to the annual "balls stuck in the hoop" game.  I didn't think we'd get further than ten (our record from last year), but with luck and a carefully snapped wrist, we managed to get twelve balls this year.  I forget exactly who got the last ball in there, but I do know Kaili attacked her with a huge hug.

After open practice we moved to the ODU practice gyms for our official closed practice, and I expected us to be in there for about two hours.  Imagine my surprise when Dad sent the team back to the bus after only about forty minutes had elapsed.  I asked Dad "What's going on? I thought we'd be in here for two hours?" His response: "Are you kidding me? They know this stuff." Which shouldn't have surprised me...after all, that's what he said last year.

When practice was over, we all headed out to the bus.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day and part of me wished I could flop down on the grass near the ODU baseball field for a little while and just relax.  Someone was over there already, and it was making me jealous.  As I got a little closer to the bus and the supine figure on the ground, I burst out laughing.  It was Dad, flung out next to the bus, head on his briefcase, taking a little catnap in the afternoon sun.  Of course, I told the team.  And of course, they filmed it for The Climb.

Later in the day we all congregated in the lobby and headed out to dinner, which took place in a restaurant located in a converted church.  It was gorgeous, but the seats were solid and slightly uncomfortable.  I'm bony.  My butt hurt by the end of appetizers, I won't lie.  But the evening culminated with the entire team crowded around the bar television, eyes glued to Northern Iowa's victory over Kansas.  We were shocked.  Tina said she didn't like it, that it made her nervous.  In Dad's opinion, the more upsets that happen to other people, the less likely it happens to us.  But, I'll believe it when I see us hoisting the trophy at the end of it.

Yesterday was the game of course, and if it looked bad on TV, you should've seen it in person.  My goodness, that was chippy play.  Another problem was the court itself.  Dad had complained about the bounciness of the balls and the hardness of the floor during the open practice, so for a lot of the game he was moving his hands up and down, miming how difficult it is to bounce the balls on that floor.  Plus, it led to a lot of wipeouts in the first half, leading to a less-than-pretty performance in the first twenty minutes.  Some of his WTF faces in the first half were hilarious, but they were repeated by all of us in the crowd.  I was not able to view the technical foul against Southern, as I was in a very long line, waiting to get a turkey sandwich.  I knew someone was going to throw an elbow or act chippy, so i wasn't surprised someone on Southern got nailed with a T.  That said, it was still a pretty fun game at times.  I actually got reunited with a former member of Gampel security that I knew from almost twenty years ago.  I used to talk to him about musicals in the hallway and bounce basketballs up and down the walls with him.  It was such a shock to see him, but a delightful one.

Another highlight of the game was the Southern pep band.  They were one fantastic band, and engaged in some musical warfare with our band at times during the timeouts.  But it was all in good fun; at the end of the game, our band and their band saluted each other and applauded vigorously.

After the game, a bunch of us went to Outback Steakhouse for some food, which did not tide me over until bedtime.  At around 7, I was starving, and ordered some fruit and decaf coffee from room service.  That did not go over so well.  The decaf coffee I received wasn't decaf.  I didn't realize it until I had drank nearly all of a giant carafe of the stuff.  Cut to me, circa 230AM last night, wailing and bemoaning my existence.

It should come as no surprise to anyone, then, that I spent the entirety of today's practice passed out in the locker room, on the aforementioned comfy couches.  The only reason I went was because I thought I'd at least get some lunch out of the deal, but they refused to feed us anything more than chips and pretzels.  Thankfully, Rosie (our trainer) always has Clif Bars on hand, and gave me a Cranberry Apple Cherry bar, which I paired with two tiny bags of pretzels.  Delicious, eh? It was enough to get me through the afternoon, which I spent at the mall trying to find a good present for Dad, who turns a whopping 56 tomorrow.

Dinner was spent at a very nice steakhouse here in town, and the evening culminated with the most amazing display of the slap game "Numbers" i have ever seen.  Don't mess with Lorin Dixon in "Numbers".  She'll get you every time.

Tomorrow we play Tonya Cardoza and the Owls of Temple.  It's a little bittersweet.  I've seen her around a lot so far this week, and it's been really great to see her, but at the same time I miss her and it's so odd to play a former UCONN employee in the tournament.  We've never played Hartford in the NCAAs, so to play Tonya is so odd.  Plus, one of my really good friends is one of the managers.  I hope it's at least a good game, and of course I hope we win, or else it's going to be the longest hour of my life tomorrow night...

ally

Want your bad romance

I apologize for not posting yesterday (Erin go Bragh!).  The day sort of got away from me.  I had to run after work to Evergreen to pick up some needed last-minute supplies for the trip to Norfolk, and then baked Irish soda bread in honor of my Celtic brethren, eating it with stuffed cabbage and broccoli soup.  It was pretty delicious, I will not lie.  I got it from CookingLight.com, and the steel-cut oats gave the bread a nutty, hearty quality.  I've had it twice today, but I froze the rest so I can eat it when I return from this first weekend of the tourney.

This weekend I closed Bus Stop, and I want to thank the followers of my blog and Twitter followers who came to see it.  It meant a lot to me.  I returned home from closing night to find the team had come over to watch the selection show.  I wondered why, pulling into my driveway, the garage seemed to be lit up by megawatt bulbs.  I opened the doors and saw a film crew in there, interviewing Caroline.  Turns out they were using my garage as the backdrop for interviews that will be used in tomorrow's installment of The Climb.  I hope I didn't ruin the footage, although it was fun driving past the garage door and seeing Caroline in there.  When she saw me she poked her head through the door and yelled hello.

The team had a great time at the house.  When I walked in, they were watching the ESPNClassic rerun of our 1995 regular season matchup with Tennessee.  I wish I could tell you more about that game, since I was at Gampel for its duration.  However, I didn't watch any of it.  I was in the player's lounge, eating pizza, playing Super Munchers on the computers.

After the team left, my parents and I settled in with Cadbury Mini-Eggs to watch The Pacific (really, really good).  Mom tried to get Dad to head to bed, since he was dozing.  Dad responded by attempting to tickle Mom.  Now, I have mentioned Mom's aversion to tickling before.  It got to the point where Mom took one of Dad's shoes and was beating him over the head with it, and I ended up throwing myself over Mom's lap to divert Dad's attention because I feared Mom's screeches would provoke a 911 call from a neighbor.  Seriously, we should be studied by scientists.

It's March, and today was the best day of the tournament.  Upset City! I thought I'd address the activities in the men's games today first.  How about Murray State? I was on the way home from work when that happened, but I'm just glad it wasn't Villanova with the upset of the day.  I almost had heart problems while watching that game.  I knew a lot of people who would have watched their brackets implode had they lost in the first round.  My goodness.  How many 15 seeds have upset a 2 seed? I know a 16's never beaten a 1 in the men's game (we all know that Harvard beat Stanford in 1998 on the girl's side).  I had Nova in the Final Four, so my bracket would have been shot to hell too.  We had the game on down at work, and one man said to me (as I hid from the TVs out of nerves), "You only want Nova to win because you think their coach is cute." Which I thought was a bit sexist.  I wanted Nova to win because I think Scottie Reynolds is a huge talent, and I support any representation of Philly colleges in the bracketology reports.  My crush on Jay Wright only has about 45% to do with my favoring the Wildcats.

Okay, maybe 65%.  But I still think they're a good team! (Jay, I know you're married, but...)

Actually, my guesses are mostly based on what teams I want to lose, rather than teams I want winning it all.  I won't go into details, but let's just say Duke and Kentucky do not fare exceptionally well in my bracket.  Sorry, Coach K.  Your name is harder to spell than your bracket is to play in.

As far as the girl's tournament goes, I'm pretty pleased all around, although the whole 'UCONN/Tenn matchup in the semis' talks is giving me agita.  I would rather have flaming bamboo shoots stuck underneath my fingernails than see that happen.  What a total and utter disservice to Nebraska/Stanford, or Notre Dame/Texas A&M, or whatever other teams play in the other semifinal.  It will be a media circus, and I want absolutely no part of it.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good rivalry.  But a good rivalry, not a rivalry that's been dead and buried for three years.  Personally, I want us to play Nebraska.  I think that would be a brilliant matchup.  I watched a special about them during Selection Monday, and their popularity in Nebraska matches ours from 1995, when we were just beginning to skyrocket into the stratosphere.

Speaking of our history (and things that are ridiculous), that article by Shaughnessy on the SI website is absolutely the number one reason why women's basketball is ignored in the United States.  People don't care about it for no other reason than they think it's boring.  Nobody thought UCLA was boring, with Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton, and Gail Goodrich.  Nobody thinks the Yankees are boring (well, I just hate them on principle, but still).  Nobody thought Muhammed Ali was tedious.  We float like butterflies and sting like bees.  It's not our fault we're so awesome...or maybe it is...

ally

sometimes your dreams just aren't what life has planned.

Yesterday, I went to the post office, in the hopes of finding what I hoped would be a thick letter, addressed to me, containing all the parephenalia I would need to start my graduate training at the school of my choice (which shall not be named here but you guys all know where I applied to).

I flipped through the mail with eager hands, putting some of my magazines aside for later perusal, throwing out some duplicates.  And there it was.

It wasn't thick.  It wasn't bursting with information about the beautiful campus, the challenging programs, or the helpful teachers.  It was thin, and lonely.  And very, very small.

That didn't bode well.  I knew even before I opened it, but I had to be sure.  So I tore open the envelope with shaking fingers, right there in the middle of the post office.  I got through the first sentence...It is with deep regret that I must inform you...

And I was gone.  In the car, on the phone, shaking, to the sound of my mom's shocked voice and my own high-pitched incredulousness.

It was never an option that I wouldn't get accepted.  I had put all of my eggs into that basket, as well as the chicken, an ostrich, a duck, the freaking Cadbury Bunny.  All of my work spun ahead of me like a dreadful tornado.  The months of reading Rilke and Keats.  The hours of trying to figure out just what the hell Chaucer meant in his Middle English.  The sheer poetry of Goethe.  The temper tantrums I threw when I thought I would fail my Quantitative GRE.  And the joy I felt when I passed.

Now, I know some jerks out there are thinking I should place a few calls to my connections.  Hell no.  If I didn't get into grad school on my own merits, then that's the way it is.  I will not bribe my way to a Master's degree.  I was raised better than that.

There are options for me, however.  There are ways I can take courses this fall and spring to prepare me for possible acceptance into the 2011 fall semester.

I just want to write.  And write well.  I need the training to do that.  I have the books I'm writing, plus my blog, and so many opportunities to show my skills.  I hope I can back them up.

Life isn't fair.  It's just fairer than death, that's all. - William Goldman

we stand on guard for thee

My apologies for not posting during the last two weeks.  My brain was eaten by the monster that is the Winter Olympics.  As a humongous fan of all things Canadian, I was psyched for these Games already, but I had no idea how obsessed I would get with the stories and the athletes.  My personal favorite Olympians were almost all Canadian with one exception.  Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir have finally quenched my thirst for a pairs team to root for (the last time I got this invested in a pair was when Gordeeva and Grinkov were killing it in Lillehammer).  The fact that they aren't romantically involved is shocking to me.  And of course, who doesn't love Evan Lysacek? Well, apart from Plushenko.  I absolutely adored his programs and wanted him to win so bad, and Evgeni's behavior in the following week and a half was so gross.  You've got two silvers and a gold, Plushy.  Life could be worse.

But my favorite Olympian in Vancouver has to be the recipient of this year's Terry Fox Award, Joannie Rochette.  What that woman had to go through during these past two weeks I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.  And she stood up under it with grace and determination and walked away with a bronze medal for her efforts.  Did Mirai Nagasu have a better free skate? Maybe.  But that night, it was all about Joannie.

So, that's one reason why I have been MIA as of late.  The other reason is that my show opened on Friday! It went very well, and a few Twitter followers came to see it! I also got fangirled by some of my followers at the Georgetown game.  They sit directly behind me so it was really cool to see them.  I gotta say, I felt like a Jonas Brother.  Except, you know, my singing voice doesn't sound like a cat getting its tail pulled off.  I hope.

Now of course, I need to talk about our seniors and Tina breaking the record last night at Notre Dame.  I think I speak for all of us when I say how happy I am for her.  She got it the right way...on an offensive rebound, and the way the ball teetered around the rim before finally falling through.  I watched at my sister's house and when that shot was made, we leapt up and clapped energetically, yelling "YES!" Finally, a record that is achieved without controversy.  I wanted to die when the firestorm occurred during Nykesha's whole incident.  I remember sitting on my couch listening to sportscasters who had never even mentioned women's basketball before talking about how Dad's decision was bad for the game of basketball.  I remember my mom calling in and yelling at them, and me curling up into a little ball and crying.  I don't think there will be any of that nonsense happening.

Also, how great is it that Tina broke the rebounding record while the former record-holder, Rebecca, sat in the front row to witness it? It's a beautiful thing.  I don't think Tina will get Becca's blocks record, however, unless she suddenly starts averaging 14 a game.

I also feel really bad about all the stuff that's being said about Heather Buck.  Anyone would look tentative if they were called off the bench to replace Tina Charles.  For crying out loud.  Yes, she's had two years, but she's technically still a freshman.  She's tentative in that way.  Let her blossom as she should.

I also just realized that my blogaversary is coming up at the end of the month! Shall I bake cupcakes? I am craving red velvet...

ally

PS. Jake, you idiot.  Why did you pick the big boobed, extension-tressed, crazy eyed monster? Team Tenley all the way.
PPS. Although I'm looking forward to seeing you foul up on Dancing With the Stars.  Should be interesting.  Although not as much as I'm looking forward to seeing Kate Gosselin and her hair extensions.  What is it about reality shows and weaves? Let's hope her track lines don't show.