Nerves

I know this is a hunting blog, but tonight I'm deviating a bit from the topic of shooting four-legged woodland creatures. I'm going to touch on another topic of interest that is near and dear in the hearts of the Bryson Family: Tarheel Basketball.

As I'm writing this, it is currently Halftime during the UNC/Villanova NCAA semi-final game. The winner of this game advances to the NCAA Championship Game against Michigan State. We're leading at the half, but that doesn't give me much comfort. I've seen the Heels squander large halftime leads a couple of times in this year. Once Halftime is over, I'm about to endure another twenty stress-inducing minutes, which really sucks. As much as I love Tarheel hoops, I really hate games like this. I would love to be enjoying a nice, relaxing evening with my family, but instead I'm pacing the floor and screaming at the TV.

To me, watching an important Carolina game is like experiencing a bad case of turbulence while on a trans-continental flight. Allow me to expound.

It's 1AM, I'm on a red eye from LA to Atlanta and somewhere over the Rockies at 30,000 feet, the 747 I'm on his a pocket of rough air. The aircraft begins to buck and shake ferociously. Now for some seasoned air travelers, this doesn't affect them at all, but for someone like myself who HATES flying with a capital H, suddenly my stomach is in my throat, I begin to shake erratically and my breathing becomes shallow. I literally begin to stroke out. I do my best to take my mind off the turbulence and calm down, but nothing works. I can't read, I can't watch the in-flight movie. I can't listen to my iPod. All I do is fidget and worry.

This is essentially what it's like for me when I watch an important Heels game. And on a scale of 1 to 10 of important games, this one is a solid 9.5. And now that we are just minutes away from playing in the Championship, my imaginary aircraft has just entered into a category 5 hurricane.

I've been pacing the entire first half and doing odd jobs around the house (mopping, vacuuming, dusting) anything to take my mind off the Heels lack of offensive boards. Danielle loves games like this-it's better than having a maid, she says.

Dad is the same way. He has a hard time watching games of this caliber, and often he won't even watch. He forces himself to go to sleep so he's not walking the halls all night like me.

I'm really hoping Roy and the boys can win this one and redeem last years performance against the Jayhawks.

Let's GO HEELS!