Roulette Memories and The Downing of the Demon Deacons

 
The Drive:
        The ACC continues to have about as much predictability as a Vegas roulette wheel—or Laughlin, Nevada, for that matter. One of my old friends, a weatherman named Steve Fishman, was playing roulette one late night in Laughlin when I witnessed what I can only describe as a “feeling”. Some people have them. That’s about as much as I can attest to. Anyway, we happened to be on the way out there the night comedian Sam Kinison died on his way to our hotel. He was a great talent gone way too soon. That’s another story. We had an NFL fundraiser golf tournament to play the next day. Anyway, he’s sitting there nickel and diming the thing, when he just turns…grabs my arm and squeezes the blood out of my forearm. I’m about to smack him when he looks at me with this stare,  this glare, this look of “you’d better listen to what I’m about to say…because it’s the cold hard truth”.  He says—Johnny…it’s going to be a four! I start to brush him off…but then I realize he’s serious. So I watch. He puts everything he has left on four. Like, 40, 50 bucks in chips. I don’t play roulette but I’m pretty sure hitting a number straight gets you 40-1 back. You know what happened next. You do the math.  Four. Bang. Right as rain. Anyway, that was the look the Hokies had on Wednesday night when they took down Wake. Or it was the conviction they played with.  This is a certainty. We are winning.  Listen—or just watch. Bang. Cash the chips.
  The Fairway:
        I knew it was asking too much. Dare I say it was being greedy. I’ve been a Philadelphia sports fan for my entire life, except for the Eagles. It took me a good long time to actually root for them. I saw the pain they brought my Dad in the 70’s and I swore them off for the class and calm of Tom Landry and the Cowboys. I later turned back to Philly after having to cover a couple of Cowboy Camps in the early 90’s. (the Jimmy Johnson Super Bowl years.) That deal totally turned me off to what the franchise had become. Not what I was about, that’s for sure. So I stopped rooting for them. Anyway, After the Phillies won the World Series, and my alma mater, the Florida Gators, won another National Championship, I knew it was asking a lot to have the Eagles join them in the Super Bowl. And so it was. There is a balance in life, and that was just the sports world correcting itself.

  The Green: 
      Finally, a note about a guy who actually can put it on the green, and in the jar. Chip Sullivan delivered one of the most exciting golf seasons I’ve had a chance to cover to our area. His 6 PGA tour exempts allowed us a glimpse into that world—-the incredible level of skill and dedication necessary just to get there. Then comes the shocker. Chip is without a regular job after Ashley Plantation eliminated his position as Director of Golf. Wow. Chip is a stand up guy, and returned my phone calls when the news broke. He’s got a full exempt on the PGA’s Nationwide tour. We wish him well as he attempts to pile up the cash and earn his PGA Tour card again. He’s about the only golf pro who I know who can play at that level AND hold down a full time job that doesn’t involving beating golf balls for 8 hours a day.
Tear it up, Chip.

  The Jar:
      We are staring down the jaws at Daytona, and what should be a wild NASCAR season. Changes, changes everywhere. Drivers changing teams, sponsors, rides, and on it goes. Our own Chris Whitley just got back from four days at the NASCAR Media Tour in Charlotte, and will be infusing us with information for the next couple of weeks. Look for plenty of NASCAR as we lead up to the Great American Race. Next time around, we’ll prognosticate, but for now—just one question—Has Joey Logano been to his prom yet?
Yikes!