I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Tag: coach dawn staley

  • STRONG IS THE NEW PRETTY: CELEBRATING MARCH MADNESS!


    I’ve never had any doubt about the different strengths of the women in my life, but it sure has been fun watching a team of young women who have proven their physical strength, endurance,  and mental toughness to the many fans who have had the opportunity to see them in person or have watched them on television during the 2019 – 2020 NCAA women’s basketball season. The University of South Carolina women’s basketball team has been rated Number One in the nation for the past 9 weeks. Last week they finished their regular SEC season with a perfect 16 – 0  to place first in the conference. This past weekend at Bon Secours Arena in Greenville, they won the annual SEC tournament championship as well.

    If strong is the new pretty, these young women are gorgeous!

    Senior leadership we will miss next year:

    Kiki Herbert Harrigan and Ty Harris

    Mad Kiki and Chill Ty – you girls have been the best – thanks for your guts and glory!

    Zia Cooke, Victaria Saxton, Destanni Henderson, Aliyah Boston

    They will be back – and they’re fierce!

    Winning is the most fun!

    Slo, Pretty, Gamecock G,

    with outstanding player Lele Grissett who had a great season!

    Hey, Ref, don’t mess with my team!

    The women who make our Gamecock basketball go round:

    Head Coach Dawn Staley and Associate Head Coach Lisa Boyer

    Huge congratulations to Coach Staley and the Gamecock women’s basketball program for a wonderful  regular season. As Coach says to her players, don’t flinch now. Onward.

    Stay tuned.

    (Clearly, I lifted most of these pictures from ESPN’s game coverage without their permission, but the picture of Lele Grissett with her fans courtesy Brian Murrell.)

     

     

     

  • starting 2020 with a spectacle or two


    The Kansas City Chiefs scored three touchdowns in the last five minutes of the game to surprise the San Francisco 49ers and win the Super Bowl last night. Congratulations to the team, Coach Andy Reid, and all those Chiefs fans who have supported the team faithfully at Arrowhead Stadium through the years when many of them must have felt they were wandering in a wilderness of lost hopes and dreams. (Memo to Agent Orange: the Chiefs are not in Kansas anymore, actually they never were. It’s Kansas City, Missouri. Maybe Mike Pompeo can find it on a map for you.)

    What a spectacle. I hardly knew what to focus on during the pre-game and half time shows.  As my friend Saskia from the Netherlands says, Americans know how to make a spectacle of themselves – or something like that. The Super Bowl brings our sports frenzies to new heights every year, and this year was no exception especially with the performances of Jennifer Lopez and Shakira who gave frenzies new meaning.

    Meanwhile, as fires continued to burn in Australia, the first major tennis tournament of 2020 was coming to an end. The Australian Open has been going on for the past two weeks during which time I appeared dazed and confused due to my strange hours of trying to watch the tennis matches live on my telly.  For any of you who are mentally making an effort to convert Australian time to Eastern Daylight time here, stop immediately. It’s impossible, and you will never even know what day it is, much less whether it’s a.m. or p.m. Trust me. I’m a veteran of that battle. Still, I feel like something will be missing in my life until the clay court season starts in Europe.

    Sofia Kenin, who was born in Moscow and whose family immigrated to the US when she was four months old, surprised herself and everyone else in the tennis world by winning the women’s singles championship at the Australian Open over the weekend when she defeated Garbine Muguruza in a blistering three-set final. In the semi-finals, Kenin walloped Australian Ash Barty in straight sets – much to the dismay of thousands of Australian fans watching in Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. Barty was the defending champion and ranked number 1 in the world by the Women’s Tennis Association while the 21-year-old Floridian Kenin was at #14. Hopefully Kenin can lessen the load the Williams sisters have carried for American tennis fans for the last 20 years. Is Kenin for real? Gosh, I hope so.

    The men’s singles championship trophy was won by Novak Djokovic when he defeated Dominic Thiem in a nail biter five-set final.  That was Novak’s eighth major title down under and not really a surprise to anyone other than Thiem’s mother whose hope springs eternal from the players’ box behind the court. Better luck next time, Dominic – your mother and I see trophies in your future. As for Djokovic, this puts his Open trophy total at 17, which is 2 behind Rafa Nadal at 19, and 3 behind Roger Federer who is at 20 and holding. Just in case anyone is counting. I’m counting because I consider myself privileged to have been a witness to what tennis peeps call the Golden Age of men’s professional tennis. At this point I take “golden age” any way I can get it.

    The Super Bowl and Australian Open weren’t the only games in town for Pretty and me this weekend. Our Gamecock Women’s Basketball team polished off a very tall and excellent University of Tennessee team at Colonial Life Arena on Super Bowl Sunday. Our team is coached by Dawn Staley who has assembled a super group of freshmen to complement several returning upperclassmen – they have quickly jelled to become something special this season with a record of 19 – 1 and are ranked number 1 in the nation according to the AP poll. Go Gamecocks! I can almost taste that New Orleans shrimp at the Final Four!

    Last, but certainly not least, another season kicks off today in Iowa. The Democratic primary in that state tonight begins the race for a president of the United States to replace the impeached one who will evidently continue to occupy the White House at the conclusion of the Senate “trial” this week. I wouldn’t want to live in Iowa today.  Those citizens carry a heavy burden to their caucuses tonight. I’ll be listening for the returns with much anxiety mixed with anticipation. That’s how I roll through a political quagmire.

    Finally, the ground hog that determines our weather forecast has predicted an early spring this year. That makes me happy for Pretty who has signed up for not one, but two, tennis teams for the spring schedule. She much prefers warm, sunny weather for her matches. My bionic knees much prefer warm, sunny weather, too for the sport of bending them to get up out of my recliner.

    Stay tuned.

    Totally unrelated photo of 4 month old granddaughter Ella

    with her NanaSlo, but I just love this picture of us so here it is

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • good luck to A’ja Wilson in WNBA draft!


    Coach Dawn Staley is ready to erect a statue honoring Gamecock women’s basketball All-Everything and All-That Wizard of the Hoops A’ja Wilson, and I say let’s put that marble statue smack dab in the front of the Colonial Life Arena asap. Coach Staley has offered to contribute the first $100,000, and Pretty and I would love to also contribute $100,000 toward any project that commemorates the fun we’ve shared with #22 over the past 4 years of her basketball career at the University of South Carolina.

    We’d love to contribute that much, but we can’t… so let’s just say we’ll add the next $100 which is given with a spirit much like the widow’s mite in biblical parables.

    Thursday night is the WNBA draft. Pretty, Susan, Chris, our Gay Boys Basketball Buddies and the rest of the Gamecock Nation will be watching to see which team will be lucky enough to pick A’ja Wilson.

    GOOD LUCK, A’JA! YOU GO, GIRL!

    You’re simply the best.

     

     

  • Maya Angelou and Coach Dawn Staley – the power of personhood


    American poet, author, civil rights activist Maya Angelou (1928 – 2014) and Coach Dawn Staley, head basketball coach of the University of South Carolina women’s basketball team – what’s not to love and admire about these women in March or any other month?

    https://thedrabble.wordpress.com.

    http://www.espn.com/espnw/feature/22732028/for-south-carolina-coach-dawn-staley-game-life-life-game

    Stay tuned.

  • A’ja, we hardly knew ye


    Tonight Pretty and I, along with 12,000 of our closest friends, will say goodbye to Gamecock women’s basketball senior A’ja Wilson who will be playing her final regular season game at Colonial Life Arena. We are carrying plenty of tissues with us because we don’t want to see her leave us just yet. A’ja, we hardly knew ye.

    A’ja Wilson has broken almost all the basketball records she could break in 4 years at the University of South Carolina, but tonight the young woman with the fabulous smile and wicked left hand will be breaking her countless fans’ hearts as she poses for senior pictures with her parents and Coach Staley before the LSU game.

    My goodness, it’s hard to believe four years have passed since the teenage girl from Hopkins who went to elementary and high school right here at Heathwood Hall in Columbia began playing for Coach Staley and the Gamecocks. That shy girl who joined the team has been replaced by a young woman who is now clearly the team’s heart and soul…and fearless leader.

    For those of us who have had the privilege of watching this remarkable young athlete step into the national spotlight with her superior statistics while never losing her love of her diverse fan base, exuberant dance,  sense of fun, competition and most importantly the game of basketball, we can only say thank you for the memories you leave.

    We wish you well at the next level wherever that may be and know that whether you are on a basketball court or a judge on the Supreme Court, you will always be a winner.

    Pretty and I will see you tonight and will wave to you from the stands. We’ll be the ones waving white towels.