I'll Call It Like I See It – Page 30 – by sheila morris

I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

storytelling for truth lovers

You Win Some, You Lose NONE! (Parade Halt for this year)
The Parade was a huge success according to Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenman with the largest crowds ever seen for any parade he could remember in the city. Estimates placed the number at more than 20,000 people who celebrated from where the Parade began on North Main Street to where it ended on the steps of the Statehouse two hours later.

The following photos were taken by Alex Hicks, Jr. for the Greenville News at the 2024 Gamecock National Championship Parade in Columbia on Sunday, April 14rh. so full credit to him for the images I wish I could have captured.

You Win Some, You Lose None

Gamecock All Tournament Team Guard Raven Johnson greets “fams”

crowds waiting for pep rally at Parade’s end

Coach Staley and her team salute throngs of well-wishers

from South Carolina statehouse steps

National Championship MVP Kamilla Cardoso counts to three championships

Coach Staley delivers heartfelt thanks, inspirational words

following 38-0 perfect season and NCAA Championship

Finally, if you are an American looking toward the November general elections with fear and trepidation, Alex Hicks, Jr. captured this sign during the parade:

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P.S. Our granddaughters were among the 20,000 at the Parade Sunday, and although they had an awesome time, a couple of disappointments couldn’t be erased.

I never saw Cocky at the parade, four-year-old Ella told me

two-year-old Molly said, I never got ice cream

(last two photos by Upstate Dawne)
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April 18, 2024
2024 GAMECOCK WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP PARADE!
Deputy Coroner Susan Moore-Cooke, huge Gamecock women’s basketball “fam,” seen waving aboard this clever float from the Richland County Coroner’s Office

(each R.I.P. headstone had a score for every post-season game including championship game with Iowa which the Gamecocks won 87-75)

Let’s go, Gamecocks!

hand in hand

we’ll march later for world peace, world hunger, equal justice, democracy —

but today we march for Coach Staley and her Gamecocks

granddaughters Molly and Ella mesmerized by parade

Nina, ice cream! ICE CREAM!

Spurs Up!

Gamecock Brian and Ella having fun waiting for the next float

But where did ice cream truck go?

Go Gamecocks!!

More to come on Parade…stay tuned.
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April 17, 2024
don’t rain on my 2024 Gamecock Victory PARADE!
Sunday, April 14th. the city of Columbia welcomed thousands of University of South Carolina Gamecock women’s basketball fans to downtown Main Street for a two-hour parade that began at 2:00 o’clock under a bright blue sky and blazing sunshine with 90-degree temperatures to celebrate the third NCAA Championship under head coach Dawn Staley (2017, 2022, 2024). Coach Staley calls her Gamecock fans “Fams” because she has steadily built a culture of loyal followers in the community who have become family to her, her staff and the women’s basketball team during her historic sixteen-year career at South Carolina.

Our little band of “fams” had great seats in the shade thanks to positions staked out by the upstate duo of Pretty’s sister Darlene and Dawne who got up before daybreak Sunday morning to drive two hours, check into their room at the Sheraton and set up chairs on Main Street by 10 a.m. Pretty and I weren’t nearly so punctual but by the time we arrived downtown an hour later after a 15-minute drive from our home in West Columbia, parking places were scarce which added another twenty minutes of walking to meet them.

thanks to Darlene and Dawne (seated) for great spot on Main St

granddaughters Molly (2) and Ella (4) were shy when they arrived at 12:30…

…but soon got into the spirit of the day by playing on Main Street in front of us

Molly and Ella brought their parents Drew and Caroline along

to celebrate perfect 38-0 season on the road to the NCAA Championship

(Drew still recovering from ACL surgery, but wild crutches couldn’t keep him away)

Did this parade have actual floats, marching bands, marching Girl Scouts, Gamecock women’s basketball players current and alumni, sporty convertibles carrying occupants from politicians to princesses, pretend coffins from the coroner’s office, fire trucks, EMS vehicles, police cars, a Championship Trophy carried by Gamecock star player Kamilla Cardoso who was drafted third in the WNBA draft in New York City the next night, and even the great Coach Dawn Staley herself who stole the show as she always does? You betcha!

To be continued. Please stay tuned.
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April 16, 2024
can you name these three Black Sports Superwomen?
Hint: first names (l. to r.) A’ja, Serena, Coach

(thanks to Pretty for Twitter image)

WNBA Gamecock superstar A’ja Wilson at statue unveiling

(in front of Colonial Life Arena on MLK Day in 2021)

Coach Dawn Staley statue unveiling 02-24-24 downtown Columbia

(Gamecock women’s basketball coach won third national championship in 2024)

Tennis GOAT Serena Williams at US Open Tournament in 2013

Occasionally Pretty sends me an unforgettable image from her Twitter Scrolls – this one made my visual week highlights – three of my favorite Black women in sports.

Good start to Celebration Sunday with National Championship Parade this afternoon! Go, Gamecocks!
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April 14, 2024
the energizer bunny within us
Texting with a favorite cousin Nita in Texas yesterday about my post on the Gamecock women’s basketball National Championship – she shared a memory of my daddy’s coaching days in Richards, a memory that made me smile.

I remember your Dad in his shorts when he was coaching basketball in Richards, she texted me. Now that would have been a vision, I thought and laughed to myself. My daddy was a very short man with skinny legs in those days but I guess he wore shorts to practice with his team.

So few people left who remember him, I texted Nita.

He was an amazing man. Very strong and loving, she responded.

I wish I had had him longer, I said. He was my best friend. (He died from colon cancer at the age of 51 when I was 30 years old.)

You’re lucky to have had that valuable relationship, she texted. He would be so pleased to see you now in your happy place and all the things you do and experience. You’re the Energizer Bunny. You can knock her down, but she’ll pop up again. And keep going.

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My cousin Nita has known me since I was born nearly 78 years ago in Navasota, Texas. Because she lived in the much bigger city of Rosenberg, was a few years older, was beautiful, always kind to me and my family, was my mother’s first cousin – the stars aligned to make her a goddess to me when I was growing up. Thinking of her now always makes me smile; she lives in Austin today with her husband Joey who is a huge sports fan like Pretty and me. When the Texas Longhorns women’s basketball team was eliminated in post season play, Nita and Joey became Gamecock fans.

Many of my younger friends call me Sheila Slo because it takes me longer to get around when I’m with them. But my cousin Nita sees the Energizer Bunny side of me that she’s watched for nearly eight decades. I’ve had many knock downs in my life, gut checks happen at any age – it’s the “popping up” choices we make that may define us in the end.

Cheers to the Energizer Bunny in you.
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April 10, 2024