I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Tag: ty harris

  • 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.)

     

     

     

  • SHOW ME YOUR FOURS!!! GO COCKS!!!


    Okay, my daddy always told me, She who tooteth not her own horn, the same shall not be tooteth. Here’s my horn, and I’m tooting it today…

    GAMECOCK MEN AND WOMEN

    BASKETBALL TEAMS 

    IN THE MIDDLE OF MARCH MADNESS!!

    GO COCKS!!

    Gamecock basketball fans can’t figure out where to make their Final Four reservations this week – the men are going west to Phoenix and the women to Dallas for the final weekend of March Madness in 2017. Question: How much “madness” can the University of South Carolina stand in one wild, wacky, wonderful basketball year? And the answer is Ding, Ding, Ding the Daily Double – both teams are Regional Road Warriors and Winners.

    As PJ Dozier said at the Welcome Home celebration for the men in Columbia Sunday at the Colonial Life Arena,  Gamecock Fans, Show me your Fours!

    The names Sindarius Thornwell, Notice, Silva, Dozier, A’ja Wilson, Davis, Gray, Cuevas-Moore, Harris, Cliney are household words in the homes of South Carolina fans who revere the round ball and will now take their deserved places in Gamecock basketball lore as they have led their respective teams into the record books for the school and the SEC as well.

    A’ja Wilson – 1st Team All American

    Congratulations to # 22 A’ja Wilson, the junior from Hopkins, South Carolina who was named to the All American 1st Team. The honor couldn’t be more well-deserved because Wilson has been not only the spark plug for the spirit of the team but also the checkered flag- waver to help her team stay focused to cross the finish line of every game this season whether on the bench or on the game floor. This girl has spunk, and I love spunk. You go, girl.

    Last night Pretty and I plus our dogs Spike and Charly who had been rescued from the Doggie Day (and night) Care in New Orleans stayed in Patchatoula, Louisiana off I-10 to see if our women were Final Four bound. And so they are, and so we will continue our love affair with Coach Dawn Staley and her team and turn west toward Texas to make sure we are there to support them in person this final weekend of the season.

    Whatever the scoreboard says in Dallas or in Phoenix, our young women and men are winners and for us personally have provided more than enough entertainment to lift our family from a self-absorbed political pity party we have had since November. For that, we say a huge thank you and good luck in the next games.

    P.S. I couldn’t believe we would leave New Orleans without once hearing When the Saints Go Marching In and Sunday night at the very last possible minute, a wedding party parade outside our hotel had a very loud band playing the song while everyone danced in the streets. Magical moment. Memory Maker, as Granny Selma would have surely said.

    New Orleans version of a wedding party

    Pretty documented it for us

    Say goodbye, New Orleans and Hello, Big D, little a, double l, as.

  • Auburn Breaks Pretty and Slow’s Road Trip Chicken Curse!


    The Lady Gamecocks rolled into Auburn, Alabama with their game faces on and had an amazing first quarter that led to their victory in a gorgeous Auburn Arena which held two bus loads of loyal Gamecock fans and a few of us who made the trip on our own.

    auburn-trip-22

    Next one to miss a free throw…

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    Lord, I can’t watch – makes me too nervous

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    Davis in deep, deep concentration before the game – 

    (she scored a USC record 19 points in first quarter) 

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    Pretty before the game – feeling optimistic

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    Elaina Coates ready to play

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    Captains Confab with refs before game

    (better known as Let’s All Play Nice)

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    Star-Spangled Banner

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    Gamecocks didn’t quite maintain the first quarter intensity and points but played well and managed to score 73 points before all was said and done. Auburn struggled in the first quarter but came back to score 47 points as their defense held our Bigs to the fewest points they’ve had this year so very good effort from the Tigers. Unfortunately, our guards were On Fire and hit 14 of 28 from the three-point line which was another record night.

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    Everybody happy as they left the battlefield

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    Pretty happiest of all – Road Trip Curse broken!!

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    Coach Staley hugs Lady G Road Warriors

    Pretty and I discovered why War Eagle Nan loves her Auburn University – it’s a special place. We even got to see the War Eagles themselves when they posed for celebrity photos prior to the game behind our seats. They look ferocious but were tolerant of the paparazzi.

    All in all, the Auburn experience was a Memory Maker, as Granny Selma used to say when she was in her right mind.

    But…we were all dragging by the time we got back to the motel…Spike and Charly stayed in the car while we went to the game, and Charly destroyed her leash to punish us. Oh, well.

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    Road Trip continues as we make our way to Gainesville for the Florida game Sunday afternoon.

    Stay tuned.

  • It’s Raining 3’s, Hallelujah!


    The basketball leaves Kaela Davis’s hands as she stands behind the line that separates the mundane from the magical; it seems to be suspended at the top of a long slow arc toward the rafters and then swish! comes down cleanly through the rim with the sweetest sound in basketball, the ball passing through the hoop with nothing but the grace of the shooter surrounding it.

    Wow – Davis was on fire yesterday for Coach Staley’s USC Lady Gamecocks as she was responsible for six 3-pointers to lead the 3-point parade of a Dawn Staley – era record of 16 during the Gamecocks win over Minnesota at home in the Colonial Life Arena. Allisha Gray had four more, and Ty Harris added three to help erase our memory of last week’s performance against Duke at their storied Cameron Indoor Stadium. We were six of twenty-three from the 3-point range in that less-than-stellar loss.

    Ugh. Pretty and I traveled to the Duke game last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on our first visit to Duke University – loved the campus.

    duke-diversity

    We Believe in Diversity

    What’s not to like about a school that embraces diversity?

    morris-williams-sign-at-duke-2

    Morris Williams Stadium

    Or what’s not to like about a university that names a stadium after me and Pretty? Have mercy – our first stadium namesake.

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    Cameron Indoor Stadium

    Or a major university that refuses to cave to commercialism and leaves its basketball court just like it was when the pilgrims played on it?

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    The smiles of our selfie were before that game when we were still having fun “oohing and aahing” over the bleachers inside Cameron blissfully unaware of the dangers of another “away” game for us. Our record is not good with our favorite Lady G’s when we take to the road with them.

    Our first road trip was to the Final Four in Tampa Bay, Florida in 2015 where we played Notre Dame…and lost.

    Our second road trip was earlier this year to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the Round of 16 game against Syracuse…and lost. That was a LONG ride home.

    Which brings us to last weekend’s shorter trip to Durham, North Carolina for the Duke game that, as I said earlier, we lost.

    Three road trips…three losses…we were talking yesterday about going to Savannah, Georgia next week for the game against Savannah State, and our Basketball Buddy Garner threatened to take away our car keys. Please don’t go, he said. I just can’t take it any more.

    Hm. Something to mull over.

    In the meantime, It’s Raining 3’s, Hallelujah!