It’s that time again, one of my favorite times of the year. The best years in my memory for March Madness for me were 1982, 1993, 2005, and 2009. I would add 1957 but I was not born until September of that year, so I enjoyed that Tar Heel championship from the womb. 🙂  One of my favorite memories as a student at UNC in the 70’s was when the Tar Heels won the semi-final game against UNLV by one point to make it to the final game against Marquette. After that Saturday afternoon victory against  UNLV, thousands of students poured onto campus, and the mayhem was truly madness. I had a friend who owned a Triumph Spitfire convertible, and five or six of us piled into it to cruise down Franklin St. I ended up being the one holding onto the luggage rack, feet hanging off the back, toes wiggling in the breeze. That’s when I saw one of Chapel Hill’s finest making his way towards our car, and my first thought was, “Ok, great. We just won a final four game, and I’m going to jail.” But the policeman just smiled, gave me a high five, and kept walking. He was as excited about the Tar Heel victory was we were.

Unfortunately the Marquette team coached by Al McGuire was better than we were that year, and Dean would have to wait five more for Michael Jordan and James Worthy to cut down the nets and give the coach his first NCAA championship.

I don’t expect the Tar Heels to go all the way this year….but they could! That’s why they call it March Madness. Anything can happen.

Go Heels.