One of my Christmas gifts to Pete was a pair of tickets to a Wake Forest basketball game -- in a box labeled "Date Night" so he would know he was supposed to take ME and not Strider or someone else. So it was a gift also (mostly) for me -- and thanks to a friend of a friend, the tickets were FREE. Can a gift get better than that?
Anyway, off we went to Winston-Salem Tuesday night to watch the currently ranked #6 team in the nation (!!!) -- who is undefeated, by the way -- take on Radford. As Strider said beforehand, if Wake didn't beat them, that would be a disaster for their ranking. But, true to form, the ol' Demon Deacs did keep the game... interesting, letting Radford keep the score very close, and even take the lead, for much of the game. It was exciting to watch, and the only drawback was a highly annoying and extremely critical redneck-sounding man sitting behind us who yelled throughout the game at the players with his make-your toes-curl Southern twang. Every time one of the Wake players made a mistake, he would yell stuff like, "C'mon Chase! [as if he was on a first-name basis with each player] You can't let them get inside like that!"
Other than that minor irritation, though, the game was a thrilling experience -- especially when Wake finally pulled out the big win at the end. We had great seats and the stadium was filled with pumped-up fans. The best part for me was the opportunity to feel like a student again -- I rarely missed a game when I was at Wake years ago. Pete and I even went to our favorite Winston restaurant (Village Tavern) before the game -- one that we had gone to many times back in the day.
It can be argued that Wake hasn't had a consistently excellent team since the years I was there -- also known as the Duncan Years -- so I'm hoping my attendance at a game this season will give them the boost they need this year to regain the superiority they once knew. :)
Go Deacs!
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