I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Category: sports

  • March Madness at Women’s Final Four: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

    March Madness at Women’s Final Four: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly


    Huge congrats to the UCLA Bruins for their spectacular performances in Phoenix at the NCAA Women’s Final Four basketball tournament! If our Gamecock Women couldn’t win it all, I was personally pleased that a team coached by another woman, Cori Close, who had pursued the trophy with 15 years of patience and persistence, was able to cut the net.

    Our Gamecock women overcame adversity during the 2025-26 season and were thrilled to make the Final Four for the sixth season in a row. Although the team fell short by a game during March Madness, I congratulate Coach Dawn Staley and her staff for perhaps, in my humble opinion, the best coaching job of their careers. Three of our players are headed to the WNBA Draft in New York City on Monday, April 13th.

    Ta’Niyah Latson Madina Okot Raven Johnson

    Gosh, I will miss these young women who have exceeded my expectations with their grit and determination to win. I wish them every success as they pursue the exciting paths ahead. Forever to thee – you’ve given us great joy during your time on and off the court at The University of South Carolina. Please come home to visit when you can!

    Finally, the spectacle created by UConn coach Geno Auriemma at the end of their loss in Game 1 of the Final Four showed his lack of respect for his coaching staff, his players, and the game of basketball itself. I felt the pain of basketball fans everywhere for having to endure what became a major distraction through excessive media coverage of a grown man’s poor sportsmanship.

    The young women who play basketball at the collegiate level make tremendous sacrifices to entertain their fans. We feel the energy and excitement when our girls win, the disappointments when they lose. Regardless, the game should always be the winner.

    Onward.

  • March Madness Memories: SEC Women’s Basketball 2026

    March Madness Memories: SEC Women’s Basketball 2026


    (l to r) Brian, me, Garner

    Thanks to our gay boys basketball buddies for taking care of me this past weekend in Greenville, South Carolina, during the 2026 Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament while Nana had her hands full helping to take care of …

    our six-year-old granddaughter Ella and four-year-old Molly

    Ella took a movie break while daddy Drew drove us to the motel. Molly wondered why Nana was sleeping with a smile on her face? Everyone wearing appropriate Gamecock apparel!

    We lost the Tournament Final to Texas (of all the luck) but won the regular season – still all smiles for another fun time to kick off March Madness in the SEC!

  • Elana Meyers Taylor: Historic Win in Women’s Monobob

    Elana Meyers Taylor: Historic Win in Women’s Monobob


    sons Nico and Noah run to Mom to help her celebrate her victory

    Meyers Taylor, 41, is the most decorated Black Winter Olympian

    three silver medals and two bronze medals in four previous Olympics

    Siobhan McGirl quotes Meyers Taylor in an article published yesterday in nbcphiladelphia.com

    “I really want a gold medal. I haven’t gotten it yet, so I feel like that is the one thing that I am missing from my resume, but besides that it is doing it for myself and doing it for my kids,” said Meyers Taylor. “To show them that I can chase my dreams and I can overcome obstacles and just continue to persevere through any obstacles that come my way and actually achieve my dreams.”

    Both Meyers Taylor’s sons, Nico and Noah, are deaf. Nico also has down syndrome.

    “I really want to show them that despite what people tell you… that you can go for it regardless,” said Meyers Taylor. “I also want to show them that it’s okay- you are going to falter at times, but you can learn a lot and you can continue to grow and you can fight through those hard times.”

    Congratulations to a black woman who endured obstacles, persevered through pain, defied the odds to represent not only her family but also her country.

    I don’t know nuthin’ about Women’s Monobob, but I was intrigued when I randomly watched awesome women flying around at warp speed in a tiny tube shaped like a hot dog bun this afternoon as part of the NBC coverage of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. I quickly learned speed was the goal, but the driver’s skills were critical to the win. These women meant business.

    Only one could win the gold, however, and I was thrilled for this wise woman who understood the importance of staying the course.

    Elana Meyers Taylor made history during Black History Month – perfect timing.

    *******************

    (the images belong to NBC – courtesy of my Smart TV)

  • Tennis, Anyone? Major Fun + Kitten Update

    Tennis, Anyone? Major Fun + Kitten Update


    Time ticking away in 2025 with three out of four Grand Slam events completed for the Women’s WTA and Men’s ATP tennis tournaments this year. From the hard courts of the Australian Open in Melbourne to the red clay at Roland Garros in Paris to the finals of The Championships at Wimbledon played today on the grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club in London following two weeks of fierce competition, the one remaining Major is the US Open in New York which begins on August 24th.

    Individuals and their families measure the passage of time through different customs, I’ve observed, but I have two constant measurements every year: (1)the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments and (2) the women’s college basketball season. For me, the year is 3/4 gone in July.

    The Ladies Singles Champion in 2025 was Iga Swiatek

    Swiatek routed my personal favorite Amanda Anisimova

    Jannik Sinner 1st Italian man ever to win

    Singles Championships at Wimbledon

    Sinner defeated my personal favorite Carlos Alcaraz who was trying for a three-peat in the championship this year

    Surprisingly, Sinner broke the jinx of the Pretty Preference by getting the best of Alcaraz in four sets to send Pretty to the winner’s circle.

    Meanwhile, in our backyard this morning while I was glued to the television set, Pretty practiced tennis with our five-year-old granddaughter Ella who has recently started lessons. One of the new baby kittens had fun trying to help Ella with her forehand.

    Ella wore one of Pretty’s dresses this morning after an impromptu sleepover last night following a pool party with her family and friends yesterday that was so much fun she decided to spend the night. Alas, Pretty’s dress didn’t help Ella’s tennis focus, but necessity is the mother of invention, right?

    There really is no smooth transition from tennis to kittens, so pardon the abrupt break from Wimbledon to two cats that still need forever homes.

    Having a snooze on Pretty’s lap this afternoon

    loving the open air on the screen porch

    The kittens will go for their first vet visit this week but no longer need to be bottle fed. Great progress, but my allergies persist.

    Congratulations again to Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek for Wimbledon championships – they provided Major fun for our family in the past two weeks!

  • Coach Dawn Staley: the stuff dreams are made of

    Coach Dawn Staley: the stuff dreams are made of


    My cell phone rang which interrupted pre-nap reveries, and I was happy to talk to my friend, Garner, who was one of my best basketball buddies ever. He invited me to go with him to the unveiling of the Dawn Staley Statue here in Columbia at 4 o’clock that afternoon. I couldn’t accept fast enough! The day was an unexpected treat.

    After lunch this past Wednesday, I settled into my large recliner for an afternoon of the Madrid Open tennis tournament, a tournament played on my favorite surface of red clay. I had fed Charly and Carl and looked forward to a helping of tennis mixed with my long afternoon snooze. Not so fast, my friend. The call from Garner changed that.

    the order of the unveiling

    my buddy Garner and me at the statue reveal

    Coach Staley’s words seemed to reveal more than the bronze statue behind her.

    “I agreed to the statue not for me, but for the girl who will walk by one day and wonder who I was,” Staley said. “Maybe she’ll look me up. She’ll see that I did some things in basketball of course, but I hope she sees much more.
    “I hope she sees that I was a champion for equity and equality. That, in my own way, I pushed for change. That I stood proudly in the space God called me to inhabit, not as someone perfect or extraordinary, but as a regular girl who used her gifts to open doors so other girls wouldn’t have to knock as hard.”

    Indeed, her statue stands as a symbol of resistance, resilience, and representation. Only 6 percent of statues in the United States depict women, according to UW-La Crosse art professor Sierra Rooney, and even fewer depict Black women. (Curtis Rowser III, BET News, May 01, 2025)

    Thanks, Coach, for three national championships, seven Final Fours, and nine SEC championships. We have been starved to have a top tier team at the University of South Carolina – you have put us on everyone’s radar now. More than that, thank you for what you give to this community, to your basketball “fams” and followers, to all who support you in your efforts to give a voice to the voiceless in an unwavering commitment to equality for all.