Florida State Wins the ACC Basketball Crown - We Were There

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This is the final play of the game and the party afterwards

This is the presentation of the trophy.

As we were jumping up and down behind FSU's bench - confetti and streamers falling all over - yeah FSU is the ACC champion - but we still have to drive 5 hours to get home. It reminded me so much of our trip to the Orange Bowl in 1994 when FSU won the Football National Championship. Even though we had great seats for cheap - we still had to drive 24 hours home to Pennsylvania.

Honestly - when we left Tallahassee Thursday morning - I never expected to win the championship. In the next three days - the Noles had to play Miami - Duke - and North Carolina. The championship always has to go down Tobacco Road. Things always have to be in their favor. The Seminoles are a bunch of misfit toys. They would have to beat National Champion Carolina and National Champion Duke - two teams filled with blue chipper athletes - choosing the easiest path to the NBA.

So when Lulu insist that "we be there" - I decided to make the most of it. I could enjoy the trip in my "new" Prius - visit a few brown sign historic sites - stay in a fancy hotel - and spend some time with Lulu's brother. The weather in Atlanta can't be that much worse than Tallahassee.

The sun shone brightly on the Georgia Capitol Dome and the Seminoles on Sunday.

On the way up - we decided to take the back roads of Georgia to see Jimmy' Carter's Plains home and Franklin Roosevelt's Warm Springs retreat. The Prius pleased us with 55.5 miles per gallon - but the best part of the car is its silence. You can talk at a normal speaking voice and not be drowned out by engine or tire noise. The weather was fantastic - 70 degrees and sunny all the way - great for walking around the two quaint little isolated tourist venues. We had the places to ourselves and your mind can wander back to those historic times when presidents spent lots of time among the people.

We arrived in Atlanta to a very nice hotel suite - downtown - an easy walk from all the action. We parked the car in the underground lot - and never saw it again until it was time to go home.

Lulu and I had a quiet walk through Olympic Park right before tipoff. Just on the other side of the CNN building was an arena packed with 20,000 fans - mostly Tar Heels.

The Seminoles first game was against a good Miami team that had just beaten them a week ago by about 10 points. On a neutral court it was a toss-up. Lulu found cheap - though high - seats on Craigslist for $22 each. After sitting there for 5 minutes - we decide to find some lower closer seats. We settled into some seats at half court behind some guy from Virginia Tech that looked and acted like Larry David from the "Larry David Show." The whole first half he whined on about what a horrible coach Leonard Hamilton was. I had promised Lulu I would NOT hit anyone on the trip - even if he was an old bald bespectacled Hebrew - so I shut up. He left before Hamilton's FSU team trampled Miami - the team that eliminated his Hokies. One down and two to go. We realized that FSU would have to beat Duke and Carolina within 24 hours to win this tournament. Hopeless I thought.

It was around midnight when we got back to the suite. We were all so tired and drained - we fell asleep immediately. Jackie and Tami had the living room - we had the bedroom in this old hotel. We had windows on two sides in our corner room - but the windows were painted shut - to prevent any Carolina fans from jumping out.

Saturday morning - we had a nice breakfast - and had plenty of time to kill before the evening games. Lulu and Jackie decided to go to an early game - I guess to scout out the opponents. While they were at the game - I got an email from an FSU friend - a very good friend. He said he had two spare tickets in the FSU session for the rest of the games. He would leave them at the "will call" window for me - FREE. Since the tickets had $90 face value - it quickly added up to a $360 savings. This trip was now making more sense to me - $$$$$. Maybe I shouldn't tell Lulu about the tickets and just sell them.

Yes - FSU beat Duke - unexpectedly. As we crawled into bed after a late supper of Varsity chili hot dogs - chili hamburgers - onion rings - french fires - and orange soda - visions of possibly winning this thing appeared in our heads. We all slept well - and were up early. The breakfast room in our hotel was packed. We decided to do a little needling of the Miami fans that were giving us crap two days ago. These are the guys that told us Bernard James's kick looked a little wide right. They would spend the rest of the weekend and their money watching all the other schools play.

On every trip we go - Lulu likes to visit a library. this was across the street from our hotel.

A note about tickets. All tickets are sold in booklets of 6 tickets that cost about $300 - $600 depending on the seat location. It seems that Duke and North Carolina are given favored treatment because most of the fans were from those two schools and had the best seats. The sidelines were mostly people wearing blue - the redheaded step children wore their colors in the end zones. That was okay because when Duke and North Carolina were losing to the Seminoles - it was very easy to identify their blue backs as they left the arena early. None of them wanted to stick around and join in any reindeer games with Rudolph when it was all over.

The big game was set for Sunday at 1 PM. Jacki and Tami had left for home - she had to work the next morning early. We had a pair of fantastic tickets in hand. We took a nice quiet walk through the Olympic Park and had the place to ourselves - a little picnic snack before the big one. At game time - we walked to our seats - nice - but in the end zone - second level. The game started and FSU built a small lead. We noticed 6 seats right behind the bench - surely they needed our support. We bolted. What was nice about the arena is that no ushers were challenging seat snipers. You were able to sit in a vacant seat - if the person came with a ticket you got out. By the time we got down by the FSU bench - 4 of the 6 seats that were empty were gone. But right in the middle of the player's families and girlfriends - there were two empty ones. We excused ourselves and moved in like we belonged. We had bright FSU shirts on and Lulu even had her giant flag. We sat down - took pictures and enjoyed the action. We were in with the "in" crowd.

This picture shows our view from the seats behind the bench. Just to the left of Bernard James's shoulder you see our friend Brandon Mellor. He is wearing the garnet and gold shirt - covering the game. You can read his take on Seminoles.com.

The place was filled with about 90% Carolina fans - maybe 3% Seminoles - and the rest cheering against the Tar Heels - Dukie fans in street clothes. The Duke fans quietly admitted they were happy to lose to FSU yesterday so they would not lose to Carolina today. They reluctantly cheered for the Noles that beat them twice this year. The deck was really stacked against the Noles.

As the game wore on and FSU built a 13 point lead - the Carolina fans sat on their hands. Could it be possible that this team of misfit toys could beat the 10 NBA lottery draft picks on the Tar Heel Team? Nah - they were just saving their energy for the final stretch when FSU would crumble. Surely they owed the Noles something for embarrassing them by 33 points in Tallahassee. That could never happen again.

Near the end Carolina had a rally - the fans had plenty of energy saved up and they really rocked the arena. The FSU Golden Girls seemed to help stave off the onslaught. But the hearts of the FSU Renegades did not crumble. They got the rebounds - hit the foul shots - and were not denied. When the smoke cleared - and the streamers and confetti fell from the sky - the Noles were the REAL ACC Champions. For the first time since they joined the premier basketball conference 20 years ago - they were wearing the basketball crown.

The baby blue fans were out of the arena in an instant - all that was left was a rag tag band of FSU fans and a few ACC officials that begrudgedly stuck around to hand out awards - their work done for another year of living off the sweat of these young men that ended up with a hat and a t-shirt.

There is always hope - but with 6 seniors - and only one McDonald's All-American on the team - I doubt that Leonard Hamilton will adjust the headband on the crown. Duke or Carolina will probably get it back next year when they move the tournament to their backyard in Greensboro. Life will go in Tallahassee.

Walking to the game - Lulu is posed before our Residence Inn hotel. Our windows are on the 13th floor - good luck for the Seminoles.

For one shining moment - the Florida State Seminole sits on the throne of basketball's most storied conference. Dick Vitale and the other talking heads have already been making excuses - how Duke and Carolina have bigger fish to fry down the NCAA road. Surely the wheels will turn and nature will arrange things in the proper order and the Noles will go back to playing to an empty house in Tallahassee. Or will they?

Me - I'll be waiting for an ACC Championship ring to appear on ebay.