A Holiday Poem

Twas the night before Christmas
And in Cardinal Town
Everyone was feeling
A little bit down

“We lost to the Dukies
And those darned Lady Vols
We certainly don’t feel much
Like Decking the Halls!”

But Santa was ready
For such loss of spirit
“Don’t be so whiny!
I don’t want to hear it!”

“You’ve Ros, Jeanette, Jayne,
Lindy, Hannah and Mel
And you shouldn’t forget
Kayla, Jillian and Michelle!”

“Add Sarah, Ashley, Morgan,
Nneka, JJ and Grace.
Now that is a group
To bring a smile to your face!’

“You’ve got the best Coaches
In all of the land
And then not to mention
The Tree and the Band!”

“So do not despair
As all will be fine!
It’s not 2008 that counts
But April 2009!”

With that the skies opened
And all did rejoice
We can’t help but love them!
We just have no choice!

So get ready for wins galore
They’ll soon be in sight
Merry Christmas to All
And to All a good night!

Greetings from Charleston, SC

Have been spending a couple of days here in Charleston between games. It is 78 degrees here and 90% humidity--a fact I am all too aware of having packed a suitcase full of turtlenecks and sweaters. This is such a lovely city. What a difference from Durham, NC!

Durham was dark, foggy and depressing--and that was before the game! While I am sure it is lovely at times of the year, right now is not one of those times. Some of the buildings on campus are magnificent, including Cameron Indoor Arena. There is one major flaw for spectators, however, as there are no aisles in the lower stands so you are being crawled over continuously. This was no so bad when we were ahead, but my crabby quotient kept going up exponentially as the game moved on.

We had a hearty group of parents and FBCers on hand--we sat with Grace's dad and loved his upbeat attitude and major lung power. Cameron gets REALLY loud--think Mac Court loud, tin roof and all. The game was really ugly as you saw, though I suspect you didn't get to see some of the "finer" moments. Right in front of us, Jill shot a three and got clobbered--Dee Kantner was withing 3 feet of her, but was watching the shot and didn't see it. Jill hobbled down court and had to go out for a significant period of time--scary, scary stuff considering her back issues.

But the story was free throws, as we all know. So onward and upward. Off to Columbia to take on the other USC, a day in Asheville and then to Knoxville.

How'd We Do???

I have been remiss in reporting our Cardinal Nation Auction results--just that busy life getting in the way. I wanted to do a grand report with pictures and kudos and such, but am hopping on a plane in a couple of hours to head back east for a GREAT ROAD TRIP! So this short and sweet version will have to do for now!

Thanks to great donors, ambitious bidders and tireless volunteers, we raised

$35,515!!!!

Now this is a little less than the average of $40K that we have pocketed in the past, but with the current economic situation, who could feel bad about this FAB amount?

So off to the Southeast and will work real hard to bring home 3 wins and a bunch of stories!