I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Tag: coach dawn staley

  • March Madness on the Road with Pretty and Carl from South Carolina to New York!


    Our family road trips following the Texas years have been far and few between as my cousin Martin used to say, but March Madness brings the passions that are often an impetus for wild yearnings to be a part of something bigger than our living rooms. Before you could say Go Gamecocks, Carl and I were passengers in our Grannymobile being driven by Pretty to watch our Gamecock women’s basketball team play in the Sweet Sixteen in Albany, New York, a mere 853 miles from our home in West Columbia, South Carolina.

    We were welcomed by North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York on our trip – but Virginia’s Blue Star Memorial Highway pet rest area was Carl’s personal favorite. Pretty and I oohed and aahed over the beautiful Shenandoah Valley in Virginia between the Blue Ridge mountains to the east and the Alleghenies to the west while Carl slept in the back seat. He missed breathtaking vistas during that 140-mile portion of the trip but didn’t seem bothered when he woke up in West Virginia.

    Gamecock mascot Cocky cheers with fans at team send-off in their Albany hotel on Game Day, Baby!

    Associate Head Coach Lisa Boyer and me in hotel lobby

    (hm. I possibly had cocktail before this picture was taken)

    Head Coach Dawn Staley leads team through hotel lobby to bus

    basketball buddy Brian, me and Pretty in MVP Arena on Game Day

    basketball buddy Robert with new Gamecock friends we met at game

    Brian, Robert, me and Pretty thrilled as Gamecock women wins in Albany send them to 2024 Final Four!

    Consider the 2023-24 South Carolina Gamecocks women’s basketball team which at the end of the regular season + the SEC tournament + the first two games of the 2024 NCAA women’s basketball tournament + the Sweet Sixteen + the Elite Eight = the only undefeated team on the road to Cleveland, Ohio, for the Final Four. Go Gamecocks!

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    We’ll be watching March Madness this weekend at home from our living room – still trying to catch our breaths from road trip – catching up with laundry, too.

    (Thanks to Robert, Brian, and Pretty for photos used today.)

  • March Gladness


    wishing our friends in cyberspace March Gladness!

    particularly nine-day-old Penelope a/k/a Penny

    Penny is the newest addition to our good friend Susan’s farm in Elgin – Susan loves her Gamecock women’s basketball team almost as much as she loves Penny.

    Here’s to new life in the spring, renewed hope in a future that includes another national title for Coach Staley and her Gamecock women in the NCAA tournament starting today in Columbia!

    Go Gamecocks!

  • USA TODAY 2023 Women of the Year South Carolina Honoree: Dawn Staley

    USA TODAY 2023 Women of the Year South Carolina Honoree: Dawn Staley


    Quannah Chasinghorse. Roberta “Bobbi” Cordano. Goldie Hawn. Maura Healey. Nicole Mann. Monica Munoz Martinez. Michelle Obama. Sandra Day O’Connor. Sheryl Lee Ralph. Grace Young. USA Women’s Soccer Team. Women of the 118th. Congress. Who are these women, and what do they share?

    These women have been named as national honorees in USA TODAY’s Women of the Year project that honors local and national heroines “who make a positive impact in their communities every day…across America USA TODAY readers submitted their nominations for national and state Women of the Year honorees.” (USA TODAY March 16, 2023 – updated March 20, 2023)

    In addition to the national honorees for the Women of the Year project, each state has an honoree who “lifts up people in their communities…showing up and speaking out for those who may not have a voice…” (USA TODAY March 17, 2023 – updated March 20, 2023)

    Not surprisingly Dawn Staley has been named the South Carolina honoree by USA TODAY.

    The South Carolina women’s basketball coach is a titan in sports. A three-time Olympic gold medalist as a player and one-time gold medalist as head coach of Team USA, Staley’s led the Gamecocks to two NCAA women’s basketball championships in the last six years. They’re the heavy favorite to win their third title, seeded No. 1 overall in the NCAA Tournament and boasting an undefeated regular season.

    Her reach extends far beyond the court though. She is not just the face of women’s basketball but the conscience [sic]of it, a passionate advocate for racial justice and equal pay, and a public figure who used her platform to draw daily attention to Brittney Griner’s wrongful detainment until the WNBA superstar was home. And she encourages women everywhere, athletes and otherwise, to use their voice – and speak loudly. 

    All of this is possible, Staley says, because of her mom and the lessons she instilled. Estelle Staley was a South Carolina native who moved home when her daughter, the youngest of five children, took over the Gamecocks program in 2008. 

    Staley’s rise from the projects of Philadelphia, where she honed her game, comes with great responsibility though. The 52-year-old calls herself “a dream merchant,” determined to show everyone, especially children who look like her, that starting from the bottom doesn’t mean you’ll finish there.

    For her achievements, Staley is the USA TODAY Women of the Year honoree from South Carolina. 

    —–Lindsay Schnell, USA TODAY (March 17, 2023 – updated March 20, 2023)

    —-Greenville News

    Yesterday afternoon in our little microcosm of Gamecock women’s basketball fans in the stands – shout out to Section 118 – a buzz went up and around about Coach Staley’s attire for this second game of the post season, the final game at home for the Gamecock women at Colonial Life Arena in the 2022-23 season. The biggest question away from the action, the excitement we feel every time we watch our girls play, whether or not we will make the Sweet 16 in Greenville next weekend – yes, those are important questions. But the first one we asked was what is Coach Staley wearing today?

    And the answer was a white and blue Cheyney University jersey – Cheyney is the nation’s first and only HBCU to make it to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament in women’s basketball. Coached by basketball Hall of Fame Coach Vivian Stringer in 1982, the team lost to Louisiana Tech in the championship game.

    Coach Staley responded to questions regarding her choice of attire for the win that sent her team to the Sweet Sixteen next weekend in Greenville: “For them to be led by Coach Stringer, who opened doors that now I walk through, it was truly an honor to wear this jersey and to represent them.”

    “Yolanda Laney, who wore this (jersey) … She actually started leagues for us,” Staley said. “When I was younger, we played in something called the DBL, and she was very much a part of creating that league to give younger players an opportunity to just come together and play in the summertime, so I have fond memories of that.” —-Emily Adams, Greenville News (March 19, 2023)

    Dawn said it. I believe it. That’s all, folks.

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

    Congratulations to Coach Staley on this honor – we are proud of you, and what you stand for.

  • March Madness starts Women’s History Month for Pretty and me

    March Madness starts Women’s History Month for Pretty and me


    Women’s History Month for Pretty and me begins with March Madness every year. While we fall woefully short of being perfect card-carrying lesbians in areas like do it yourself home improvements and/or knowing all the lyrics to Brandi Carlisle’s music – no disrespect to Brandi Carlisle whose songs we do love – we get better marks for being lesbian in two unrelated categories: devotion to our dogs (and now cats), obsession with sports (particularly women’s college basketball and professional tennis).

    This first March weekend we kept I-26 hot driving a hundred miles north to Greenville, South Carolina from our home in West Columbia and riding the same hundred miles back on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to watch the University of South Carolina Gamecock Women’s basketball team play in the 2023 Southeastern Conference Tournament. We rode with two of our gay boys’ basketball buddies who cheer with us in our very loud Section 118 of the Colonial Life Arena during the regular season for every home game.

    (clockwise) Garner, Brian, Pretty and me

    standing in line on beautiful day in Greenville at Bon Secours Wellness Arena

    Garner and me with Carolina logo featuring our

    Gamecock mascot The General

    Garner took this pic of me and ESPN analyst Holly Rowe on College Game Day

    (Holly Rowe is the person in pink – Gamecock fans behind me)

    Pretty and I love our Gamecock women’s basketball team

    the smiling faces of Champions – 2023 SEC tournament

    (2022-23 regular season Champions, too with perfect record of 16-0 in the conference)

    Photo by DWAYNE MCLEMORE, The State Newspaper

    Head Coach Dawn Staley also happy as she cuts the net

    photo by DWAYNE MCLEMORE, The State Newspaper

    Head Coach Dawn Staley was named SEC Coach of the Year for the sixth time in 2023 as she completes her 15th. season with the University of South Carolina; the 2023 Tournament Championship win marked the seventh SEC title in the past nine seasons. Coach Staley’s Gamecock teams have won National Championships in 2017 and 2022, but the best team may be her current one which has an overall record of 32-0 staying in the #1 spot of the AP Poll every week from the beginning of the year. The 16-0 regular season record for the Gamecock women made them conference champions for the sixth time under Coach Staley. This team is one for the record books, but what is a remarkable team without great players?

    The names of seniors Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke, Brea Beal, Laeticia Amihere, Victaria Saxton, Kiera Fletcher, and Olivia Thompson will leave behind a stellar history for women’s Gamecock basketball not only for their team championships on the basketball court but also individual records that set high standards for the players who come after them. These young women have been inspirational in their dedication to their craft, community, and loyal fans who look forward to following their futures.

    Thank you, Coach Staley, for guiding your teams to greatness – it’s been such a fun ride for your fan base which includes Pretty and me. More than that, however, thank you for preparing your players for making our world a better place.

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

    Slava Ukraini. For the children.

  • winning it all – losing everything

    winning it all – losing everything


    ESPN image

    Coach Dawn Staley and her Championship Team

    The University of South Carolina Gamecock flag flew atop the South Carolina State Capitol building Monday following the victory of the Gamecock women’s basketball team over UConn Sunday night in the NCAA Division I championship game in Minneapolis, Minnesota – the end of the 2021-22 season that saw Coach Dawn Staley’s team begin as the Number 1 team in the nation and remain there for the duration. Truly a magical season for the Gamecock Nation which includes Pretty, me, our 2.5 year old granddaughter Ella and 12,300 of our closest friends for every home game.

    Even as we celebrate, though, we remain constantly mindful of the crimes against humanity in Ukraine. Those images yesterday from a suburb outside Kyiv are seared into our consciousness with the force of a blunt instrument attacking our innate sensibilities.

    As my friend Ellen Hawley wrote recently, “…grief is a funny thing and will pour itself into any container it finds.” In this upside down world, my words have always been my container of choice. I weep with the people of Ukraine today and ask for accountability for their losing everything.