Posted by Michelle on Nov 18, 2005 in Hayley, Michelle
We had a great time at the UNC Kids Club men’s basketball private practice and autograph session. They gave the kids UNC basketball goal and ball for their rooms, then we got to watch an hour of practice, had free drinks and Hayley and a bunch of people took a ton of free cups – like 30! So we’ll have those plastic blue cups from this season for a very long time.
Then all of the players signed autographs for awhile. Hayley had them sign her basketball jersey from this year (her league jersey) and her basketball. I could have had her do something more organized but let her have fun and be silly.
Pizza and ice cream for dinner out on the steps of the Dean Dome, we played catch and she goofed off climbing stuff … until we were the last to leave. Reminded me of when I was a kid hanging out around UNC, just playing.
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Tags: fun, sports, unc
Posted by Michelle on Nov 2, 2005 in Hayley, Michelle
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Posted by Michelle on Apr 11, 2005 in Hayley, Michelle
We hit the Rat after a day of shopping for Final Four gear. I was reminded of my days of being there with mom and her stories from eating there as a kid.
So for her, we scribbled on the walls, ate garlic bread and I had the lasagna aka bowl of cheese. I took some photos with my palm but this place is way dark and shady, so they came out bad. And unfortunately, the cave part is closed.
Tags: family, fun, photos, unc
Posted by Michelle on Apr 8, 2005 in Hayley, Michelle
Carolina won the 2005 NCAA Basketball tournament! NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!
Hayley and Michelle went to the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill Tuesday night to welcome back the Heels. We had tons of fun and the Dome folks were smart enough to leave half the floor wide open for kids to run around… cheer for the players, run play, cheer, run play. An IC friend of mine was there – she actually saved us great seats!
I took a ton of photos but they are kinda grainy and out of focus at times – which is what happens when you are in the stands as opposed to media section, plus you getting tons of heads interfering with focus – being short stinks. The quality of the photos wasn’t that big a deal since they are just for us and the real fun was welcoming them back!
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We Are The Champions – a photo slideshow with music that someone made that rocks.
InsideCarolina Championship game chat – I ran the in-game chats for IC all season and running chat for the championship game was an honor. We had been chatting all season and posting on the boards with some of these people for over six years. So it was a really warm, fun time and I was really excited to find that someone saved the chat from the game and sent it to me. I watched in 1982 and 1993 but my 2005 experience was even better, running the chat with my online community and having my young daughter watching and sleeping on the couch. (this R rated – normally I don’t allow cursing but I gave up when UNC won).
By DAVE HART, N&O Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL — “How great is it to be a Tar Heel today?”
The response to UNC Chancellor James Moeser’s simple question was a roar about 15,000 voices strong. It filled the Smith Center and the ears of Roy Williams’ returning basketball heroes, bringing home the 2005 NCAA Championship trophy.
The fans were a sea of blue and white Tuesday afternoon under Dean Dome scoreboards lit with the final score of Monday night’s game: Carolina 75, Illinois 70.
Ethan Bunch, wearing a big grin and a bib that read, “Next Stop — Carolina,” bounced a miniature basketball with his dad, Corey Bunch. Ethan, 18 months old, showed a deft touch. “Hopefully, he’ll be out here dribbling a real ball in about 2025,” said Corey Bunch, a 1999 graduate of UNC. “That’s the plan.”
Waiting for the Tar Heels to arrive, three times the crowd erupted in cheers. Three times they died down. False alarm. Finally, though, a roar grew and just kept growing.
Sean May was the first player out of the tunnel. Dressed in a sharp black suit, the most valuable player of the Final Four filmed the scene with a hand-held video camera. Climbing the steps onto the temporary stage, he was followed by the rest of the team, Williams and the assistant coaches. Forward David Noel carried the trophy.
“Just in case you missed it last night when Sean grabbed that last rebound,” said Woody Durham, the voice of the Tar Heels on the Tar Heel Sports Network and the emcee of the celebration, “Carolina has won the national championship!”
Williams’ voice, already raspy with exertion, caught with emotion as he talked about the three senior Tar Heels — Jackie Manuel, Jawad Williams and Melvin Scott — who had suffered through the Tar Heels’ 8-20 season three years ago and had now climbed to the pinnacle of their sport.
“After the game, Jackie and Jawad and Melvin were hugging and saying a little prayer,” Roy Williams said. “They allowed me to join in that. That — and I mean this from the bottom of my heart — that was the greatest moment as a coach that you could possibly have.”
Shari Stewart remembers that losing season. But she kept her head up and continued to wear her Carolina sweats and T-shirts.
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“People made fun of us,” said Stewart, a UNC alum who lives with her family in Pikeville. “But I told them a true fan wears the colors through the bad times as well as the good ones.”
Now, the times are very, very good. Stewart, with her husband and three children, made the two-hour trip to Chapel Hill on Tuesday afternoon to join thousands of other fans in welcoming the Tar Heels and their trophy home from St. Louis.
Almost every member of the team said a few words of thanks and encouragement, and the crowd roared the same back at them.
May, a junior who turned 21 Monday, was treated to a ragged rendition of “Happy Birthday” and a chant of, “One more year! One more year!”
He gave the fans what they were asking for. “Y’all don’t have to worry about me staying,” he said. “I just have to try to get some of these other guys to come back with me.”
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Junior Rashad McCants, who was reported earlier Tuesday to be headed for the NBA draft, said nothing about that report — although for those looking for signs, it might be noted that he was the only player not wearing a jacket or sport coat.
After the Tar Heels thanked the crowd — and treated them to a quick song by what forward David Noel called the Traveling Tar Heel Basketball Championship Choir — the players, coaches and fans all watched a 13-minute highlight video of Monday’s championship game.
Then, to yet another roar, they filed back off the stage, carrying the championship trophy.
“Thank you!” one fan yelled over and over. “Thank you! Thank you!”
Tags: fun, photos, unc
Posted by Michelle on Mar 20, 2005 in Hayley
Hayley and I headed over for the women’s NCAA opening round game. We lucked out – we sat next to a wonderful older lady who knew my mom and then met another fan with a son around Hayley’s age.
So we watched a great game, has some fun and some wonderful chats about my mom when she was younger with a lovely Lena Cherry. Mrs Cherry made some very cheeky comments that had me and Hayley howling with laughter.
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Posted by Michelle on Mar 11, 2005 in Hayley, Michelle
When the UNC women’s soccer game was canceled, Hayley and I wandered around Chapel Hill. We shopped and got her shirt at Shrunken Head with her name on it, we went to Gimghoul Castle and goofed off.
Gimghoul Castle in Chapel Hill on a cloudy rainy day
Ivy on a stone wall
Path with ivy and leaves
Hayley on a rock with her new purse
Hayley on the stone bench
Hayley on the stone bench closer up
Hayley on the stone bench, looking out and seeing the view
The view over the city
Hayley in her UNC shirt (21 on the side is for Jawad)
Hayley in her UNC shirt (21 on the side is for Jawad)
Back of her shirt
Tags: fun, unc
Posted by Michelle on Mar 9, 2005 in Michelle
A sportswriter I know from our old prep days emailed me a request about Rashad McCants’ mother, who is suffering from breast cancer. McCants as we all know is a UNC player and his younger sister Rashanda is one of the 10 best HS players in the country – and signed with UNC over TN.
The sportswriter had written a column about Brenda Muckelvene’s battle with cancer and thought it would be wonderful to run a response column with emails from people sending good wishes to her. He wanted her to be overwhelmed by them, which is wonderful!
So he asked me to post on the IC board about it, which I did. And he got flooded by them. You know how we do it at IC – full out.
I too sent in a message for her … and it made the cut, whoo hoo!
The following letters are in response to Wednesday’s story by Andrew Pearson in the Citizen-Times that gave details of Brenda Muckelvene’s battle with breast cancer. Muckelvene is the mother of University of North Carolina basketball star Rashad McCants and Asheville High School All-American Rashanda McCants. Many basketball fans who wrote letters to staff writer Andrew Pearson addressed them personally to Ms. Muckelvene.
Read the rest: Brenda’s fan club
And in case the archive there expires, what I said:
Dear Brenda,
Please know you are in the prayers of all Tar Heel fans. Breast cancer is something that seems to touch so many, and our hearts are with you on your journey through this.
Know that by allowing your struggle to be public, you remind all women how important breast self-exams are to catching this early. You will save lives because you have opened up.
Take care of yourself – we know you are a strong woman and a survivor.
God bless you!
Michelle Hillison
Cary, NC
I’m please to be able to say something special to a woman who has given a lot to UNC basketball but is also just a woman struggling with a disease that affects so many women.
Tags: good deeds, in the news, unc
Posted by Michelle on Feb 25, 2005 in Hayley, Michelle
A chance to watch the UNC women’s basketball team run all over UVA was too much fun for Hayley and Michelle to pass up when Hayley’s soccer practice was canceled.
Hayley got to pose with Ramses, get Raymond Felton’s autograph on her Felton jersey, meet Camille Little (who Michelle awarded the 3A Miss Basketball a few years ago) and cheer with the UNC cheerleaders for the final 10 minutes of the game. Can’t beat all of that plus a 29 point win over the Cavs.
Tags: fun, sports, unc
Posted by Michelle on Jan 27, 2005 in Hayley, Michelle
Hayley and I went over to Chapel Hill to see some friends at the NCHSAA offices and after headed over to UNC to the end of women’s basketball practice.
I had a good long talk with the women’s SID and they again mentioning have Hayley be a ball girl next year. Hayley was SO excited about doing that and she was just dying to run all over the court then and there.
Coach Hatchell came over for a bit and we talked about the win over Duke and how happy she is Alana Beard is gone.
So Coach asks Hayley if she is coming to camp and I said, she’s too young. Coach asked when her birthday was (she’ll be 7 in April but camp is 8 and up). So she then tells us that she’ll make an exception for Hayley as long as she can get a shot up there. I’m so excited and Hayley was thrilled.
And the coolest thing – they dropped the age for me in 1978 too! The minimum age used to be 10 but my folks asked several times for the former coach to drop it down to 8, which she finally did … but I still was only 7 and a half. They took me and kept an extra close eye on me, which meant I got to know all the players and coaches extra well. Now that’s a family tradition!
Hayley is already practicing her shot!
Tags: fun, photos, sports, unc
Posted by Michelle on Jan 2, 2005 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle, More Family
Photos from the trip up, during the game and afterwards at Grandma Sharen & Grandpa John’s house.
Sorry I’ve been so slow in getting these up!
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Tags: family, fun, sports, travel, unc
