February 10, 2009
it is not the well, or the bell
2/10/09
Tonight's game puts it in sharp relief: Lucy's entire life has been spent growing up with Tyler Hansbrough. He came to Carolina the same year Lucy came to us, and he's become a talisman of sorts, appearing every year in the fall and thrilling us until April. For four years! "Tyler" was the first non-family name she ever learned, and probably her first nascent crush.
Lucy at a year and a half
I've already told stories about how she would - at the age of eighteen months - take her diaper towelettes and wipe his brow on the actual television screen when he appeared to be sweating. Whenever he dunks, someone in my family usually yells "Dere's Tyler dere!" in an early Lucy accent. Oddly, Tyler is perfect for a toddler: he almost looks like one, a perfect, blank protagonist upon which to project your wishes.
sophomore season
senior season
I'm not going to pretend she had a choice, really:
Tessa at about 36 weeks
summer 2005
winter 2006
Even as new cousins came around, they, too, were brought into the fold:
Lucy: 20 months. Barnaby: two days.
O, people from other schools: feel free to hate Tyler Hansbrough or the team. That's okay with us. Feel free to look at our Carolina brainwashing and gag reflexively; god knows if you're from Dook, we do it with you. Those who dislike sports and find the whole tribalism thing to be irrational, that's cool - we all need our religions.
As for tonight, we should throttle Dook into the putrescent snot-chasm from which they arose - but this is exactly the kind of game we lose. And while I'll probably douse myself with gasoline, I won't actually light it. Because win or lose, there's nothing like sharing a good dose of the heavenly irrational with the ones you love the most.
her shoes, which she chose, have a picture of Jordan hitting the jumper in '82 over Georgetown - that's my girl!
And the color goes so well with her eyes! 8-)
What a fun obsession to share with your lovely girl, Ian. My dad was a big sports fan. I grew up following the White Sox when we lived outside Chicago, then the Mets when we lived in Fairfield County CT. (Saw them several times when they still played at the old Polo Grounds, with my grandma, who had a crush on Casey Stengel. Fandom runs deep in this family.)
Things are so similar at my house. My youngest just turned 4. He has a UNC jacket, but it is known as his "Tyler Jacket." My oldest (7) has a UNC throw pillow on his bed, but it's his "Tyler pillow." Next year . . . I think these things will always be known as "Tyler jacket" and "Tyler pillow."
The brainwashig goes deep at my house too. Whenever I may try to turn the channel from their favorite Pingu or Scooby, I get howls of protest. But, if I interject that it is "time for Tyler", they take their positions on the couch.
From the first time that each boy could dunk on the little 3-foot Fisher-Price goal, they know the appropriate thing to say after any dunk is "In your face, dookie!" I swear to God that they say it every time and it makes my wife wince. She clearly does not appreciate good parenting. It's not like I taught them to pretend to tea-bag a dookie a la Paulus (or Obama's butt-boy Reggie Love).
My in-laws are from NJ and have never grasped the UNC-dook thing. They once asked me what I'd do if one of my boys insisted on going to dook and I told them I'd similarly insist on a blood test to establish paternity.
I was stunned when our 6-yr-old son announced, at the age of 5, that he was a dook fan. I told him on no uncertain terms that it was not acceptable, that we loved him too much to allow that sort of behavior in our house.
He has worn Carolina gear all his life, including a Tyler Hansbrough jersey that is a souvenir from his first game at the Dean dome.
During a game in December (Evansville, I think,) he was rooting for the Heels and I asked him whether he was still a dook fan. His response was "Yes, but I like Carolina if they aren't playing dook. And Tyler Hansbrough is my favorite player."
I followed up by asking why he liked dook. He said that he liked the color and the mascot.
I beleive that he will grow out of it. In the meanwhile, we will continue to dress him in Carolina gear and send him to bed early on nights like tonight.
In my house whenever something really good happens for Tyler or the Heels we say "Tyler Happy" in a Lucy voice.
I also treasure "We like the Carolinas and the Carolinas win"
Alas I can't follow it up with 90 seconds of sustained jumping up and down.
Lordy, we've been brainwashing Caleb and Grant since the womb. If you ask Caleb why would someone cheer for dook, he'll look at you with his big, (Carolina) blue eyes and say earnestly, "it's because they didn't listen to their mama."
(This is the same reason - in his mind - why bad people go to jail and why other people drive motorcycles.)
My wife went into labor the night Tyler scored 40 against Georgia Tech in the Dean Dome. Though my son has my first name as his middle name, I was ready and willing to change that choice to "Tyler" but my wife nixed the idea. I would still be happy if we had gone with Jacob Tyler.
On a completely unrelated note: Digg has a feed - Facebook Mystery -Who created 25 random things about me. Ian your a genius!
P.S. I meant to convey in my comment (first one, above) how much my dad's enlistment of me in his sports fandom meant then and still means now to me.
When I was a very little girl, most girls were not steered toward sports either as fans or participants, at least not overtly. (I'm talkin' bout the 50s here, kids.) My dad in the best sense treated me like a boy; I mean, without making any big deal about it at all, he assumed I would want to watch the sports that he watched, run in races, climb trees, and dress up as a cowboy. (--NOT a cowgirl with a frilly skirt; a cowBOY with boots, gun, and big ol' hat.)
I still cherish memories of watching the White Sox play on our little black/white TV in Illinois and cheering for Nellie Fox. I remember watching the Olympics with dad and marveling at the speed and grace of Wilma Rudolph. My favorite birthday present in my early adolescent years was a large framed print of Derby winner and come-from-behind whiz Carry Back and his jockey.
So, Ian: You are making these memories with La Luz, and I guarantee she will have a richer life for it.
So, in the interests of proper child rearing, what's with all the 9 p.m. games? My girls' bedtime is 8:30. We live in Raleigh so are surrounded by NCSU folk. We even belong to the NCSU Club (hey, it's close to our house & has a nice pool). I have to conteract these corrupting influences whenever possible but its difficult when they can't even watch the games!
Anne - You'll be happy to know that in my house, I'm the sports fan. I'm the one explaining to the girls zone v. man-to-man, pick and roll, etc. The only thing my husband watches is the Tour de France (really, ALL of it) and Auburn football.
http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/wright-crosses-the-aisle-to-congratulate-coach-k/
Ian,
Your seminal work on the topic, the most read thing today on dailytarheel.com.
Tyler lost some credibility with me last December. See below. But many of the other players on the team jumped way up on my list of Carolina's greatest people. Tyler will always be one of Carolina's greatest players (if not the greatest Carolina player), but I hope we are winning so badly tonight that JB Tanner gets to play and that I get to cheer for him.
were the carolina blue eyes a custom order?
We took our kids to that signing thing last year. It is a problem because everyone wants Tylers [or the other big stars] autograph. I wouldn't blame Tyler for them setting rules and time for the session. We stopped going because the adults go crazy trying to get their kids to get them autographs.
If you really want his autograph wait outside after a game near the lot behind the Natitorium. They park there and the crowd will be much less.
GO HEELS! BEAT dook!
I love that I just googled "why I hate dook" and the first two results were from our own Ian Williams. I posted the DTH article to my Facebook page and plan on taking a picture of the little dookie(child of MBA friend of James) I baby-sit with a UNC b-ball and send it to her dad. He's in line outside of Cameron as we speak.
My kids (4 and 6) are excited because the Dook games are the only times they are allowed to use the word *suck* (Dean - my husband would certainly wince as well but he is out of town - hehe!)They are every bit as rabid fans as I am and understand completely that they may need to change outfits repeatedly to improve the karma. If someone says *Dook*, they will shake their heads earnestly and say *we are not allowed to use potty words*.
Sharon - you could always move to the West coast. 6:00 PST is a great tip time. My nephew in Savannah calls PST *magic time* since magically we are 3 hours earlier.
My anxiety level has been building all day in anticipation of tonight. This state is buzzing from all the pre-game hysteria. This is sad, but I have to watch the game by myself. It is the only way I can concentrate all my negative, profanity-laced tirades on the rat and his rat-wannabes. How long before we see JJ Redick picking his nose as a Dook assistant?
Today's blog is awesome. I just love seeing these pics.
My 7 year old claims to like Wake Forest- but that is mostly pressure from classmates at school. I know that deep down he is a Tar Heel and he has expressed as much "when no one else is around".
I do not pressure him- he is free to choose who he likes as long as it is not DOOK.
I know we have match up problems- but if we play DEFENSE like I know we can- we will roll.
GO HEELS!
If this were facebook, I'd click on "like" for this blog today! ;-)
I had Graham all dressed up in his cute gamewear today for a baby playdate (had to impress the chicks) which got cancelled last minute.
So if you hear scandalous rumors of a cute baby in blue leading "Go to hell dook" and other cheers in the frozen aisle at Trader Joes, you'll know exactly who to blame.
Connor, of course, is acting like a teenager and insisting that he's both a dook fan and a State fan today. This is the kid who's been raised on Carolina since his in utero days and has attended all four quarters of every home football game since the age of two (he's been to two basketball games - harder to keep him occupied in the basketball setting). Threats of being disinherited from the family fortune don't appear to phase him. Apparently he's aware there is no family fortune at this point. Must cancel his subscription to the Wall Street Journal...
Erica, our workaround for Connor (he's 3.5) to say "dook sucks" is "dook stinks!"
One day, I realized just how closely he listens to and picks up my favorite expressions when he belted out,
"dook stinks...on crack!"
for all those DTHers out there, this year's bet letter is below. (for the uninitiated, the staffs of the DTH and the kronicle bet on who'll win. the losing staff has to deliver the paper, print the masthead in the other team's colors, and get a general beatdown.)
For the 1st time ever on Facebook, the Dook Chronicle bet letter. Enjoy.
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Today at 4:19pm
Feb. 11, 2009Dear esteemed, prestigious, illustrious bitches and hoes,
Fuck you. We missed you on the Pacemaker stage this year. And it is a
shocker that you weren't there. You brought us such earth-shattering
journalism as "Duke families not lacking for money." We can only
imagine what's next - "Campus has striking resemblance to medieval
dungeon," "Student shunned for buying BMW without leather interior," or
"Greg Paulus' breath still smells like Danny Green's nut sack."It is well known that Duke has a history of going down, but it was
quite a successful year for the Devils: Wachovia CEO Robert K. Steel,
Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz, GM CEO Rick Wagoner, Elizabeth Dole and
Ron Paul. Hell, even Juicy Campus couldn't survive the economic
downturn, and it was the most reputable media outlet ever to come out
of the stinking pisspool that is Krzyzewskiville.So, be it known on your lesser campus that we intend to dutifully
reinstate our yearly bet. When our NCAA player of the year leads the
Tar Heels to a Carolina Victory, we demand that the newsprint rag you
call a publication proudly put the masthead in a beautiful shade of
Carolina Blue. You also will print "Carolina beat our asses" in one of
your promo boxes and place a big picture of Rameses in one of your
editorial spots. We would also like to see a thick stack of 30
newspapers hand-delivered to our pristine campus by your beast-in-chief
at precisely 3 p.m. Try not to bitch out on the bet like you've done in
the past.If Duke manages to elbow its way to a flopping, flaccid, loveless
victory tonight, we will return the favor. Because it would be a favor
for your readers to see something worthwhile every now and then.Looking forward to seeing your trash at our front door tomorrow,
Allison Nichols
Editor
The Daily Tar Heel
Great posts! We started early here at the northernmost Tar Heel fan club, with youtube highlight videos over breakfast. 5-year old Eli watched wide-eyed as the fans storm the court after the 1998 dook game in the Dome (Cota/Vince/Antawn, the sickest missed dunk ever, you know the one), and he asked, "Dad, do thousands of people play against dook?" He had me speechless, again, until I answered with, "Yes. Thousands of us."
If anyone else is in Fairbanks, we'll be at Chili's at 5pm for the game.
It is such an advantage for young Tarheels to live on the West Coast. Lillie-Anne will be in Middle School before she ever gets to watch a game that starts at 9pm! What does the more conscientious father do? Fly out to visit Uncle Ian, to see the game at a decent hour, and miss two days of school.....or let her stay up until midnight for Duke games?
Sweet......
Awesome photos, in preview of an awesome game!
Ty, Tyler, Danny and the boys tagged 101 on the Devils. Beautiful. It has been nice having Tyler around for 4 years of dominance at Cameron.
Go HEELS!!!
This post is a thing of beauty. As is Tyler's 4-0 record at Cameron.
Nice kicks, Lucy!