All about basketball

The adventure du jour was taking the TeePee to Tallahassee for a couple of basketball games.

During football season we attended an Alumni event where Frank won a couple of the silent auction items, one of which included a "Behind the Scenes with the Women's Basketball Team".

We were able to schedule it when there was a women's game one day and a men's game the next.

What an experience!  We got to tour the basketball facilities, watch film with the team and coaches, observe the 'shoot around' practice, enjoy a pre-game meal with the team and then sit courtside during the game!

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Building for Women's and Men's basketball

Practice court

Hard to see because of the reflection, but the practice court floor is cushioned with ground up Nike shoes!

(Now that's repurposing!)

FSU Basketball history

Watching film with the team, led by Coach Sue 

Inside the locker room

Stretching before the Shoot Around

Lots of practice, strategy and scenario review

Crossed legs, backwards, nothing but net.

Normally I'm the tall one in the crowd....not around these ladies!

Getting their grub on.

Warming up before the game.  

(Our seats were courtside - butt level.)

The girls were the half-time show.  Notice the little girl toward on the right...it seemed she was just barely out of diapers, but she kept up with the big girls and was full of sass and swagger!  :)

Sadly, the ladies didn't beat UNC but they sure played hard.

A team tradition - the entire team (coaches included) head to the band to sing the fight song.  And then everyone of them came by our seats and jugged/thanked us all for attending.  

We had a great experience and left with a better understanding of the game as well as all that is involved with being a player and coach.  Thank you Lady Noles!
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The next night was the Men's basketball game against Virginia Tech.

Ran into the usual suspects (Tim, Jamela, Donna, Jon) before getting settled in our seats.

I like our regular seats quite a bit better than being courtside!

Shawn Powell (Punter) receives Performer of the Year award. 

Half-time show included a game between local mascots.  :o)

What a game!  It wasn't pretty, and many fair-weathers left early.  (Too bad for them because they missed an amazing finish...and WIN!)

Michael Snaer's three point shot in the last 2.6 seconds of the game put FSU in the lead, by one and VT's miss in the last second causes pandemonium in the stands and on the court!  (Click here for Gene Deckerhoff's color commentary of the game/shot.)

Way to go Noles!

Two Theories

This post was from May, 2010.  Somehow an update got made and has now moved it to the top of the list.

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As you may have gathered from the lack of posts since the Ladies Tournament last Saturday, things didn't turn out the way I hoped.  But it wasn't for the lack of preparation and effort.

Frank rigging the ballyhoo bait for the tournament.

This little fellow appeared before we pulled away from the dock.  Good luck charm?

Leaving the condo at 6:30am.

Sunrise on the St. Lucie River.

 

Interesting cloud formation.

Our friend, Capt Pete had to cancel at the last minute. 
So Frank was both Mate and Captain.

And that's it.  We caught a bonita (which wasn't one of the qualifying fish).  That's all.  Very disappointing fishing, but it was a beautiful day on the water.

The next day was Mother's Day so we didn't fish.  However, we had plans to fish on Monday, although we agreed we'd start a little bit later in the morning. 

We tried for bait, but no luck.  Not to worry, we were prepared for trolling.  The seas started out a little rougher than the weatherman forecasted, but thankfully settled down around lunch time.

We had several knock downs and more pesky bonitas.  We did get a dolphin bite, but it was so little it couldn't even take any line.

So, here's my first theory.  Before we leave the fish camp to get on the boat, we slather up with sunscreen.  I've had very good luck in the past with Target brand sunscreen.  When I bought a new bottle, the picture was the same on the front and it was the right SPF so I just threw it in the basket.

But today, I realized that (if you look closely) it says "Compare to Banana Boat brand".  What's the big deal you ask?  Well, bananas on boats is a BIG no-no!  No banana sunscreen/lip balm, no banana muffins/bread, no banana hammocks, no Fruit-of-the-Loom underbritches, and no eating a banana before getting on the boat!   No Bananas!

So, in my humble opinion, that explains the lack of fish the past two days.

Yesterday's seas report gave all indications today was going to be PERFECT!  (1-2 feet).  But when we looked at the report first thing this morning, it increased to 2-3 feet.  No problem, that's still within my comfort range.

We got out the inlet and it was a little choppier than I expected.  (On a side note, in my next life, I'm going to come back as the NOAA weather person where I can "predict" the winds/seas every 6 hours - at totally useless times like 3AM, 10AM, 3PM and 10PM - and not be held accountable when it doesn't turn out quite as forecasted.)

We were prepared for drifting and/or trolling and we decided we'd work the northern part today as we had been spending a lot of time toward the south the past fishing trips.  We trolled for a while and got a bite right off the bat.  But, it threw the hook as Frank got it closer to the boat. 

We went back over the area hoping to find it or its buddies but no luck.  So we continued our trolling to a spot where we've had luck before.  There we decided to set things up for drifting. 

The winds had started to settle down (and the seas too), but without the wind, the *&^% love bugs swarmed the boat.  Keep in mind it's not like when you're driving and the bugs smash against your window or grill.  They are attracted to white (and there's a lot of that on the boat), and they just fly around or walk around on everything!   It was pretty annoying!  We tried to shoo them away with towels.  We sprayed them with water (numerous times) but they still wouldn't go away.

After not having any luck with drifting, we decided to go back to trolling.  We heard some chatter about dolphin and regrouped. 

During our time on the water we saw lots of weeds, turtles and a lone bucket.  (All signs that there may be fish around.)

No sooner had we put the baits out, than we got a hit!  A nice big dolphin!  Finally, the curse of the bananas broken!  We continued to troll for a while longer and got a small blackfin tuna. 

Kind of nice to have something in the fish box for a change.  But the love bugs continued to swarm and we couldn't get away from them.  So we decided to pack it in and head home.  We had fish and a boat to clean!

My second theory is that the lovebugs and fish are in cahoots!  The lovebugs drive the anglers crazy, so much so, the anglers pull in their lines and get the heck outta there leaving the fish to do what they do.

My 15-18lb dolphin.

Our first blackfin tuna. 

The next few days aren't going to be very good for fishing but we have plenty to do to get ready for our trip.  :O)

Reporting in

For the past 10 days, we've been at the fish camp in Stuart.  Sadly, the weather is reminiscent of last year...very windy + huge waves = not many days of fishing.  But we did get out two days.  We got skunked the first day and caught only two Spanish mackerel the next.

But in the meantime, Frank had several continuing ed classes he needed to attend and we had a couple of opportunities to get together with friends for dinner.  We've also spent quite a bit of time in the planning stages for our cross-country trip in the motorhome that will begin April 15.

We celebrated Don's birthday with he and Barbara at their condo.

Barbara, Lynn, Don, Don and Frank

Lynn, Barbara and Leann

It was time for the Annual Gathering of the Wining, Dining and Chatting Society!  We all met at Bonnie & Ray's in DelRay and we agreed to 'keep it simple' when it came to the menu.

Bonnie, Barbara and Bob

Terry & Frank catching up

Leann, Bonnie and Barbara

The 'surf' star of the dinner.

Standing room only for enjoying the stonecrabs imported that day from the Keys.

Yep, all the guys are hanging at the grill.

Bonnie always sets a beautiful table!

The 'land' star of dinner - brontosaurus-sized steaks, perfectly grilled by Frank!

Don 'the entertainer'.  :o)

Barbara says she was using Frank as a tripod for pictures or providing Frank some earmuffs.  

Frank says he was turned the wrong direction.  :o)

It is always guaranteed good food, comfortable atmosphere and endless laughs when the 10 of us get together!