Yes, Georgia in December. I’ve already been warned about the traffic, which I remember reading stories about back in ’96 before the Olympics. I have to get a hot dog or eat at The Varsity, and I see it’s about 10 degrees warmer than it is here in the also considerably balmy D.C. area.
But the focus is hoops, many of them. I’ll be seeing 22 teams, 15 or 16 of which I’ve never seen before. (Have to check my records more closely on the Methodist men — I was at the USAC semis at Shenandoah a few years back.)
Here’s where I’ll be, day by day:
Dec. 29 at Piedmont: Maryville (Tenn.) men play Averett and Piedmont men play Methodist.
Dec. 30 at Oglethorpe: Roanoke women play Bowdoin and Oglethorpe women play Wilmington with men’s games featuring Oglethorpe and Mt. St. Vincent’s men playing either Trinity (Conn.) or Christopher Newport.
Dec. 31 at Huntingdon: Road tripping to Montgomery, Ala., where Sewanee’s women play U. Dallas and the men play Huntingdon.
Jan. 1 at LaGrange: The LaGrange men play Hampden-Sydney.
Jan. 2 at Agnes Scott: Agnes Scott (women only) plays Emory.
Jan. 2 at Emory: Emory men host Birmingham-Southern.
And so if I have brain left I should have a decent handle on the Great South men’s race, at least. Wilmington, Christopher Newport, Mt. St. Vincent, Trinity and Hampden-Sydney I have seen before. Thanks to Philip Ponder at Oglethorpe for putting this together and finding the confluence of all of these games, while I know other coaches had a hand in it as well.
I know fan turnout isn’t very high during these New Year’s type events, but hope to see people and spread the good word about D3hoops.com. And the like.
Bon voyage, and have a big plate of blackeyed peas on New Year’s Day.
Pat, herewith a caveat …
From some less-than-pleasant experiences, I can tell you that, without warning, a goodly number of metro Atlanta streets change their names, seemingly from block to block. (It must be a “Suthren” thing. ;))
And, yes, as David Collinge points out, blackeyed peas are absolutely necessary for 01 January down south. If you don’t cotton to ’em, just eat the grits, fried fried green pickles. If none of this turns you on, keep in mind that up here in Pennsylvania, one has to partake of pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day. 😉
http://www.seguingazette.com/story.lasso?ewcd=50a6990df9b8c858
The above is a story about the importance of black-eyed peas in Southern culture.
Enjoy! 🙂