Let the celebration begin!

It started off with a fellow Tar Heel and friend, NmymindCarolina, sending me an url using my favorite form of communication, Twitter. It was an article from ACC Now talking about the possibility that some of the members from the last two national teams that might be squaring off. From that I began thinking about what I could do to make this idea even better, even if I would be using a computer generated game and not the real players. But before I go on with that let’s get back to this game shall we? The event, which will be on September 4th, is going to mark the start of the of celebration of 100 year of basketball at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Once again, this is just part of the “giving back” that I keep talking about when it comes to the “Carolina Way” or the “Carolina Family”. In all there will be nine players from the 2004-05 team and five from last year’s squad lacing it up, along with another eight ex Heels who played in the pro ranks. There will be a second game as well, but in the first one only players that have made it to the professional leagues can participate. Overall, this is one heck of a way to begin what is going to be a year long celebration of a century of basketball at Chapel Hill.

The first of the two games will begin at 8:00 p.m. EST and the cost to see both games is $ 20. All proceeds are going to be donated to Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and UNC Children’s Hospitals, so you get to enjoy some fine basketball, get to be part of this event and help two great causes. And if you think I am exagerating all of this, well, the fact that Nike is making special uniforms for the event should make you see how important this is for the people that are organizing it and the ones that will be playing in it. I am pretty sure that the event will be sold out soon enough, but if you think I am pushing you to get to the Dean Dome for this, you are right. Anytime you can give to a good cause I am all for, when it’s about UNC, I am even for it, and when you know you are going to see some of the best that ever played for either head coach Dean Smith or coach Roy Williams it’s the cherry on top! This is 100 years of basketball at UNC, and unless your doctor thinks you are going to live like Yoda, this is probably the only hundredth anniversary you will ever see!

I think that Antawn Jamison said it best:

“One thing is certain: No matter how they divide the teams, we’re all going to want to win,” Jamison said. “But the most important thing is to put on a show for the fans and make sure everyone has fun.”

Imagine being able to see your UNC favorite players, present and past! Then imagine getting to see them going at one another to win this game, because you know that bragging rights will be flying after this game, cause as I said many times now, this is the 100th anniversary, and there won’t be another celebration for a while (aka 100 years). From the sounds of it, not just players will be present, but also ex Tar Heels who now coach could be at the Dean Dome, and they might just be the ones walking the sidelines in these games. As an old Tar Heel I definitely would love to see these games, and especially see the man that to me right now is UNC basketball, Dean Smith. I would love for him to be on the court presenting the players, to be in the spot light, but we all know coach Smith just isn’t that type of person. Hopefully he will be there to receive the standing ovation that he so highly deserves.

Now for my idea. I was going to take all the National Championship teams and have them play one against the other, but, unfortunately the program I used does not go that far back. It goes only 14 years back (plus a couple of other teams, fortunately both national champs teams from the 80′s and 90′s are there), so this is how I am going to do it: get the six teams out of that, have them play a round round (home/away type) and then the top 2 squads will get a bye in the first week of the playoffs, while the others will battle it up (best of three), second round will be a best of five and the finals a best of seven. Hopefully this will work and you will enjoy it and put your comments at the bottom of the games. The nominations of the six teams will be this morning in another post, with the first game being early afternoon or later on this evening. So make sure to check back to see how each team is doing and make sure to leave your comments underneath it.

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