Fortunately for the Tarheels, they are finished with the turmoil. They don’t have to listen to Dick Vitale, or any other basketball analyst, go on and on about how bad they’re playing in the conference this year. After the N.I.T. tournament, they can start focusing on next season. Hopefully, it will be an improvement over this year. One thing is for sure, it can’t get much worse.
It's been a long, tough journey for Carolina fans. Back in August, I'd have never guessed that the season would have gone so poorly for my beloved Tarheels. After all, they had won the National Championship last year and they were blessed with two returning seniors. With Roy Williams’ expertise in coaching, I thought another 20-win season would be a breeze.
As you know by now, I was dead wrong. Every team in the ACC, with the exception of the Wolfpack, beat up on Ol' Roy's boys. They couldn't even muster a win over the College of Charleston, a team that is in a lower NCAA division.
I'm not the only one in our home who is glad the season is over. Our dog, Hershey, is happy that it's finished too. He served as my blood pressure relief value during the games. When the ball wasn't bouncing right for Carolina, which was often this year, I would hold Hershey in my lap and rub his head in an attempt to lower my heart rate and blood pressure. It seemed to help, but Hershey is ready for a break. He'd much rather harass the cats than sit in my lap.
No matter how agonizing the season was for the Tarheel faithfuls, it was 20 times worse for Coach Williams. I've never seen a face turn so many shades of crimson as his did on the sidelines this season. In more than one game, his face looked like it was so hot that it would actually melt like the villains’ faces do in horror movies sometimes. Of course, I'm sure Coach Williams felt like he was starring in a horror movie considering the way his team performed on the court most nights. It didn’t matter how much he would rant and rave from the coach’s box; there was nothing he could do to stop his team’s bleeding.
You might find this hard to believe, but I did gain something positive from this dismal season. I learned to handle losing with dignity. I managed to smile at the Duke fans' ribbing about the Tarheels’ plunge from the top of the basketball polls. I even chuckled when I heard the joke about Dean Smith spraining his ankle when he slipped off a ladder trying to take his name off the Dean Dome. That joke would have made me mad in years past.
You know, I've come so far with controlling my anger that I think I'll pull for Maryland in the NCAA tournament this year. I use to despise Maryland. Why don’t I pull for Duke, you ask? It's my anger that I need to work on, not my mental state. I ain't crazy for Cameron nor the team that plays there.
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