Looking around the Spectrum Center, I saw people who were already making progress on that journey. I also know these feelings will eventually be less intense, the cuts will eventually be less deep. These are people who have had Carolina basketball as a fundamental part of their lives for the last 30 years, and now it is irrevocably changed. I understand that people deal with this every day. And as the Tar Heels ran up and down the court, it was very hard not to think about them and how the way they watch these seemingly important games has changed forever. But at home there's a wife who lost her rock, and a son who lost his role model, and a daughter who lost her daddy.Ĭarolina Basketball has been their entire lives. Most of us are going to move on to Christmas now. And a basketball game didn't make that gaping hole go away. Because damn, it was a blessing to sit next to him, both at games and everywhere else. Maybe one and a half.īut that was totally fine. And you knew that if your seat was next to Eric, you weren't really getting a whole seat. These Spectrum Center chairs would have passed even his lofty standards. That's nothing Jones Angell has sat next to him for every single game, home and away, and he still managed to put together an instant classic Tar Heel Sports Network broadcast open for Wednesday night.Īnd look, don't let anyone tell you that sitting next to Eric was easy. For eleven years, I have watched every non-Smith Center Carolina basketball game sitting directly next to Eric Montross. What I really wanted, quite honestly, was to feel something other than empty.

Except that Eric wasn't there to chortle, 'He put him in the torture chamber!' I wanted to be frustrated when the Tar Heels didn't box out or frustrated at a bad officiating call or angry about a careless turnover. I loved it when Armando Bacot converted a gorgeous first half post move. Except that Eric Montross wasn't there to gleefully shout, 'HE GOT IT!' I loved it when RJ Davis hit what was essentially a game-clinching three-point shot with 2:44 to go. I tried very, very hard to enjoy that game. Maybe just seeing the Tar Heels and the argyle and RJ Davis and Armando Bacot and Hubert Davis would make it better.īut the game is over now. And there was, somewhere in the back of my mind, the hope that maybe those two hours of basketball would make it make sense again. You can read more about the basketball mechanics of the win here.īut life didn't make sense before the game was played. Carolina beat Oklahoma, 81-69, and this is not to diminish that victory in any way, shape or form.

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