I was looking for Erin this morning and couldn’t find her. Her car was still in the driveway, but she wasn’t outside and she wasn’t anywhere downstairs. I was going to ask her if she wanted to get Milly up, but it turned out that she was already in there with Milly. Amanda had thought Milly was just talking to herself louder than usual.
Erin left to go back to Rougemont to hop a ride to Gastonia with our parents. Amanda, Milly, Bruce, Harvey and I hopped in the car and went to Beulaville to have breakfast with Amanda’s grandparents plus Peggy’s sisters Patsy and Joanne. Today was the first time I heard someone call Joanne Jo, and I heard it quite a bit. When I remarked on that, Joanne said that’s what people always called her growing up. Karen was there too, as she is almost every Saturday. Today is Peggy and Patsy’s 80th birthday.
I wanted to get to Amanda’s parents’ house by noon to watch Duke play Washington, which promised to be a good game. We were having trouble leaving though, so I finally left by myself at a quarter of and let Amanda and Milly ride with Karen. Milly was fussing about wanting to ride with Nana anyway. I talked to Baba on the way. She fell out of her bed getting up one morning and her foot is swollen up.
I got to the house at exactly 12:00 and Phil helped me find the game. Duke’s lead hovered around the high teens for most of the game, but as they seem wont to do, they stopped playing for about seven minutes and won by six, although like in the Belmont game the opposing team hit a three at the buzzer to make the final score even closer than it was. A six-point game sounds challenging; a nine-point game somewhat less so. It also would have helped if Mason Plumlee could have shot at least 50% from the charity stripe. Or heck, even 25%.
Karen, Amanda and Milly arrived a few minutes after the game started. Amanda worked on making some jewelry for Patsy and Peggy and I put Milly down for a nap around 12:30. I decided to take a nap myself after the game, though I kind of wish I’d stayed up and watched more basketball. It was a heck of a day and I don’t know which news was bigger: the brawl that broke out at the Xavier-Cincinnati game that left one player with a bleeding face or the #1 and #2 ranked teams both losing. Probably the former. Ohio State lost at Kansas with Jared Sullinger out with an injury, though they may well have lost anyway. Kentucky lost at Indiana on a buzzer-beating three. It’s anybody’s guess as to what the rankings will be come Monday, though I think Ohio State should be above UK since Ohio State lost to a ranked opponent without their best player and Kentucky lost to an unranked (though improving ) opponent. Duke and Carolina should both still be ranked below them and Syracuse, who was ranked third and hasn’t lost yet, will most likely take the #1 spot.
Carolina also played today. After being down at the half to Long Beach State they rallied back and beat them by six at the Dean Dome.
Amanda put on the live version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas and the Frazelles arrived, followed not long after by the crew who was over in Beulaville. We had dinner and desserts and presents with me, Amanda, Hannah, Kirsten and a high chair sitting at the table in the sun room. We had a hard time getting Milly to eat anything until Anna gave her a Rice Crispie Treat. I took that away from her and told her she had to have a chicken nugget before she could have it. She took one bite, but I guess the skin was a little tough because it just kind of peeled off, so I told her she had to have some macaroni and cheese. She had all of one bite. With all the commotion and distractions though, we weren’t too tough on her about it. She did eat some cereal a little later at least.
After everyone took off I finished the night watching Michigan State play at Gonzaga. I was a little mixed on it, as I generally like Gonzaga, but Duke beat Michigan State earlier in the season, and the better Duke’s opponents do the better it looks for Duke come tournament seeding time. Michigan State ended up winning, but it was a very close, back and forth affair for a while.
Zach Dotsey