Border Country Sports Blog-March 20th
When You're a Sports Fan, Your a Sports Fan!
When you're a sports fan, you're a sports fan! When you are at the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in Greenville, South Carolina and it is a dark day at the arena with no games you can't just sit in the hotel room and relax. Yes, I know there are a lot of games on television, but we are in the south where it is warm outside with beautiful blue skies and green grass. You have to take advantage of it.
So, my brother Ken, nephew Kaleb and I went out of our way to find some sports action in the area yesterday here in Greenville. And we ended up having quite the day.
First we walked to the local Walgreens and grabbed our snack foods. Ken and Kaleb are huge North Carolina fans so we watched the Tar Heels against Baylor in the hotel room. It was kind of fun for this Duke fan to watch them agonize as North Carolina blew a 25 point lead to the Bears. And a riot watching them jump around as the Tar Heels made big plays in OT to pull out the win. At one point Ken even jumped up from the bed and was high-fiving the TV screen.
Then we found a high school baseball game to attend. Yes, spring sports games have already started down here. The local pro stadium, Fluor Field which is the home of the Boston Red Sox Class A affiliate was holding a high school showcase. We attended the third game of three. They have a mini Green Monster in centerfield so that is where we sat. I expected the quality of play to be much better than it was. I have know idea what classification the teams were, but Greenville is a big city so I assume they are a higher class. The game was not well played. The first two innings took an hour and a half and the score was 9-2. We had seen enough.
However, before we left, as we were sitting out in left field we did entertain ourselves during the boring game. e had two phones going. Kaleb's phone was on the NCAA Tournament so we could keep an eye on that. My phone was on NYRA Bets as I had one of the horses I own shares of racing at Tampa Downs.
The day became even more special when my horse Psychedelic Shack in his career debut ran away from the field, winning easily in his career debut. Shack as we call him is an interesting story. He is four years old and just beginning is racing career. He went through multiple injuries and illnesses and it took almost two years to get him ready to compete. The fact that trainer Christophe Clement didn't give up on him and he blew away the competition was an incredible thrill. It was win #6 for me as a race horse owner.
Once we had enough of the high school baseball game we check to see how far away the Clemson campus was. Since it was only 27 minutes we decided to venture there. It was great! A beautiful campus. We visited the football stadium known as "Death Valley," the baseball stadium, the softball stadium and Little John Coliseum, the basketball arena. Cross another thing off my bucket list.
We ended the evening by going to a sports bar for some dinner and to watch the NCAA Tournament on the many big screens. Then before hitting the bed, caught the end of the New York Class D state championship girls basketball game and watched Copenhagen, the team that eliminated our beloved Hartford Tanagers win it all. I have to say, there was a bit of satisfaction watching the team who beat our team win the championship. It verifies just how good Hartford's team is and how close they were.
So there you go. No NCAA games at Bon Secours Wellness Arena yesterday, but we still made a day of it. And it was a male bonding day with my brother and nephew that will not soon be forgotten. Now its off to the hotel breakfast, more game son the television, then this evening back to the arena for Miami vs. Auburn and Duke vs. Michigan State. We're you're a sports fan, your a sports fan.
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With the Border Country Sports Blog, I'm Keith Harrington.
