I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Tag: university of south carolina women’s basketball team

  • which anniversary is this? better ask Pretty


    fun with friends at DeBordieu, 2007

    So Pretty and I are having dinner with our friends Nekki and Francie after the South Carolina women’s basketball game last night, and the conversation turned to our anniversary which is this Saturday, February 9th. I had invited them to go to dinner with us on our anniversary but that wasn’t working out so we opted to eat after the game.

    Nekki asked what everyone always asks about anniversaries – how many years are you celebrating?

    Nineteen, I answered quickly because I am the numbers person in our family who keeps up with birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, etc. Every family has a designated scorekeeper, and in our family I am known as the go-to person for important dates. Pretty is generally unreliable in these areas.

    Oh, Nekki said, nineteen years is really great. Pretty and I both nodded, although I noticed Pretty displayed a hint of eyes rolling at my answer. Then she said, no, it’s not nineteen, it’s eighteen to which I responded no I specifically remember the year was 2001 when we got together so anyone could plainly see our anniversary was definitely for nineteen years. Case closed, I added for emphasis.

    For those of you who can do “high math,” I will let you do the numbers or you don’t really need to bother because February 09, 2019 is our 18th. anniversary, and don’t you forget it. Please enjoy a few highlights of the past “on the road to nineteen” with us.

    family civil rights tour – Alabama, 2018

      SC women’s national championship, Dallas – 2017

    Number One Son Drew’s rehearsal dinner – 2015

    South Carolina Pride – 2016

    signing copies of Committed to Home at Francis Marion – 2018

    OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

    the hideout, Wyoming, 2009

    in the beginning, Cancun, February 09, 2001

    family vacation – Gettysburg, 2012

    Valentine’s Day Poinsett Bridge with family – 2015

    Texas, 2013

    Happy Anniversary, Pretty – how do I love thee? I can’t begin to count the ways…or the years evidently…but my love will always belong to you. Thank you for every day. Case closed.

    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.

  • Experience the Power of a G.I.R.L.!


    Sunday afternoon, the 9th. of April, 2017 was an absolutely gorgeous spring day in downtown Columbia, South Carolina. The weather was perfect with temperatures in the mid 70s and cloudless blue skies. It was a great day to be outdoors which is where thousands of people gathered on Main Street to celebrate the good times of bringing the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship trophy home to the University of South Carolina with a ticker-tape parade minus the ticker-tape.

    Yahoo – we party!! Pretty and I were there as were our Gay Boys Basketball Buddies and #1 Fan Gamecock Matt. Without realizing where we were sitting, Pretty plopped our small folding chairs right next to a local TV news team which was covering the parade so not only did we have great seats, we also were interviewed by a TV newsman and once again made local news. (That interview can be viewed on social media if anyone is curious.)

    We watched every car carrying VIPs,  every motorcycle, a live rooster (Sir Spur, the Gamecock) riding in a small driver-less motorized vehicle, a deputy sheriff on a real big horse, A’ja Wilson’s DJ brother playing festive music, dancing troupes, Cocky the Gamecock mascot and tons of floats – green ones, red ones, silver ones, gold ones – truly any color imaginable in the midst of a caravan of colors as they passed by us on Main Street which was their route to the State Capitol grounds for the closing ceremonies.

    I love a parade – Pretty will vouch for me. I just love a parade. But I particularly love a parade that celebrates women and their achievements. I took 129 pictures at the parade and worked on them last night while Pretty was talking on her cell phone with the Apple Help person for two hours trying to figure out how to make her Mac happy again. Poor Pretty.

    As I cropped and re-cropped the images, I was struck by the power these basketball heroes gave to the little girls, teenage girls, grown-up women and yes, even us eat-up-with-elderly older women as we celebrated their victories in one grand final gesture of appreciation.

    If I could, I would put all of these images in my post today, but alas, I know that’s asking for a lot of attention which won’t happen. So, as a compromise, I’m choosing my favorites.

    The G.I.R.L. Power float

    Bring the babies, too – even when they nod off

    It’s a Family Affair

    (photo courtesy of Pretty)

    Dancing in the streets

    Women on motorcycles – 

    rev ’em up, Sisters!

    I spy Cocky!!

    Gamecock Legend Sheila Foster is jubilant… 

     other basketball alumni enjoy the ride with her

    Our Heroes: The Stars of the Show

    Kaela Davis, A’ja Wilson and Allisha Gray

    These girls and the team made basketball history

    Coach Dawn Staley high above the crowds

    where a true basketball Queen belongs

    along with the Team that made her the Queen

    I’m afraid I was too short to see the action on the Capitol steps as the parade came to an end, but that was okay. I found my sights away from the stage.

    This little girl had a bird’s eye view

    This one did, too

    a Pretty face in the crowd

    taking a break to tie her shoes

    a teenager tweeting her pics

    an older woman rode her bike to celebrate

    Gamecock colors – complete with pom poms

    These girls are champions, too

     Which one of these girls will be our next Congresswoman, Olympic medalist, astronaut, teacher, preacher, policewoman, Forbes 500 CEO, President of the United States? The mind races with the possibilities for their futures…and for ours…because we’ve experienced the magic of G.I.R.L. power today.

    Whew! We are exhausted – time for us to ease on down the road to Casa de Canterbury where we should be p-a-c-k-i-n-g instead of partying. Oh, well. You only go around once.

    Go Gamecocks!!

    Pretty and our parade chairs heading home

    it’s a wrap for this unforgettable season 

     

  • SOUTH CAROLINA: WHERE CHAMPIONS LIVE!


    Sixty-four women’s basketball teams were invited to the NCAA Division I post-season tournament in 2017 in the annual ritual that is known as March Madness in the USA. But after two thrilling games in 16 different host cities around the country the Sweet Sixteen winners of those first two games were scattered to the winds like a bag of M&Ms with peanuts spilled on the floorboard of a moving vehicle into the 4 Regional host cities of Bridgeport, Connecticut; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Stockton, California; and Lexington, Kentucky.

    The hoop dreams of the young women on those Sweet Sixteen teams, their coaches and their fans were riding high as they battled it out in the regionals – but when the dust settled and those two elimination games were finished the Final Four teams were decided. The University of Connecticut a/k/a UConn, Stanford University, Mississippi State University and the University of South Carolina were the regional winners that would emerge from the Elite 8 to move on to Dallas, Texas for the Final Four. The race was on as fans began to scramble for tickets to the semi-finals and finals in Dallas.

    Pretty and I were in New Orleans at a literary conference when South Carolina’s women played their regional games in Stockton, California so we were confined to watching the Quinnipiac and Florida State victories on TVs in sports bars in between the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival events and the Chris Rock concert. As soon as the Florida State game was over, though, Pretty joined the scramble for the Dallas tickets through the Gamecock Club…and the rest, as they say, is history.

    The National Anthem view

    from the Gamecock section on Sunday night

    (we were there when the doors opened at 3:30 Dallas time)

    The Beginning

    The End!!

    The hysterically happy fans!

    The hysterically happy team!

    All-Tournament Team Member Allisha Gray

    Gray, Gray, Gray – you are Pretty’s favorite

    (and have been her favorite since the season began)

    All-Tournament Team Member A’ja Wilson

    Tournament MVP, All-American in 2017

    All That to the Gamecock team and their fans since she rolled out as a freshman three years ago and helped us get to the Final Four in Tampa her first year. This girl lays it all on the line every game every season and is, in my humble opinion, Number One. She ignites and inspires her teammates to play their very best by her example, and that, my friends, is the mark of a true champion.

    Champions beget champions, and no one is more responsible for the victories in Dallas than Head Coach Dawn Staley.

    Cut ’em down, Coach

    and may it be your first of many

    Alas, the team and most of the fans had left the building, but Pretty and I found one solitary remaining security man to take a final picture in the American Airlines Arena.

    And then we were done.

    Yep – the last car standing

    By the end of the game and festivities, I was worn out and ready to retire to the La Quinta king-sized bed to reflect on the events of not just the day but the past two weeks of our ride from Columbia to New Orleans and on into Texas. What a country…what an experience…what a way to end my 70th. year.

    But Pretty was having none of it. So off we went to our old stomping grounds the Nodding Donkey where we met Super Gamecock Fan Matt Tischler who we’d seen Friday night at the Stanford game. He flew to Phoenix for the men’s Final Four game on Saturday and then flew back to Dallas Sunday for the women’s game. Whew! I was exhausted just thinking about how tired he must be, but he wasn’t too tired to meet us for a beer to celebrate. The Nodding Donkey patrons cheered us when we walked in.

    I wondered how I knew all these people – and then realized it was the Gamecock gear they were cheering. Fabulous.

     Matt was holding me up by the end of the night

    When Pretty drove me back to the motel, we saw the Dallas skyline one more time, and this is what we saw…

    Thanks, Dallas!

    And thanks to Pretty for taking most of the pictures in the blog today, driving us all over the country for the past two weeks, lugging the suitcases in and out of motels, walking two very bad dogs who loved to annoy her by getting out of their leashes in the most dangerous locations – and still having the energy to sing country music songs with me when we were lucky enough to find the classics on the radio in the car. Pretty is Number One in my book.

    We’ll be back in Columbia today. Stay tuned as we are no longer able to procrastinate packing.

  • Final Four Faces of Victory


    Gamecock Women Win 72 – 63!!

    And THIS is the face of victory!!

    Pretty’s smile says it all

    Congratulations to Coach Dawn Staley and the entire Gamecock women’s basketball team for their amazing win tonight in the Final Four semi-finals!

    We will meet the OTHER SEC team in the Final Four Final this Sunday – congratulations to Mississippi State for their remarkable OT victory over UCONN to snap their 111-game winning streak. Thank goodness.

    P.S. Will somebody please help Pretty and me keep ET and CT straight? We thought we were an hour early for the game tonight until I walked in to the music of a woman singing the national anthem. Pretty was even later than me – she made it just under the wire at the end of the starting lineup introductions. We ain’t right.