[The Poet]

Just as I figured, the 49ers gave my Heels all they wanted and more, at least in the first half. But UNC wore them down and pulled away after the break for a 78-63 win to start their long roadtrip. A decent W against a scrappy team which broke their 23-game home winning streak, and hopefully was a good learning process for the young Heels.

A few things about the game NOT on the court. Seeing as how this was one of the biggest "names" to ever play on their court, LBSU raised ticket prices to $70, yet even though they added 2000 extra seats with temporary bleachers (thus shattering their attendance record), they still could not fulfill demand. More significantly for me, and one of the reasons I'm such a Tar Heel, is the fact that 49er coach Don Monson didn't expect the game to even happen. See, Roy adopted and continues a policy begun by Dean Smith, one of scheduling an away game close to a player's hometown, as a reward to the player and to more easily allow friends and family to see him play live in Carolina blue. Well, this one was planned to be the "homecoming" for the Wear twins, who left UNC to play for UCLA instead after their freshman year. Because of this, Monson just assumed Roy would not be showing up in Long Beach, and was thus shocked when a signed contract appeared in his mailbox. He call Roy to ask him if he was certain he still wanted to uphold this verbal committment, to which Roy replied he of course did, since if he didn't he would feel as if he'd done much the same thing the Wear boys did when THEY left, and he did not want to be that guy.

You don't like Roy Williams' "aww shucks" demeanor? OK, so screw you . . . you just don't get it. Realize this: The state motto of North Carolina is Esse Quam Videri . . . To be, rather than to seem. If we all lived by this, it would be a better world.