We spent yesterday wandering around the casino, trying out all the penny slots that looked like fun.  I think by the time the All Star Game started, we were all up a little bit.

At the arena, we found Eric Thompson, who played for Jay and Ron back in '93.

If Marauder Basketball had a Great Plays section in it's own hall of Fame, Eric would definitely have a spot.

In our first appearance at a State Championship game, we were playing Anoka Ramsey at Fergus Falls.
We trailed the entire game and were down by 1 pt with three seconds left on the clock and our big man, Johnny Kee at the line shooting two.
Johnny missed the first shot.
Jay called time out.
He told the huddle "don't worry, Johnny's gonna make it."  As the players went back onto the floor, Jay grabbed Eric and whispered "Be ready; he's gonna miss."
Sure enough, Johnny's shot bounced off the rim, time resumed and as the last three seconds ticked off, the ball bounced once, twice and Eric tipped it in for two, our first lead of the game and our first State title.

So it was awesome.

We all got dressed up for the banquet.  I wore my new Sapphire blue Calvin Klein dress and Katie wore her new frilly polka dot dress and everybody looked spectacular.  The even was held in a very lovely space upstairs at the arena.  There was a basketball clinic going  on down in the gym at the same time and although we could see the jumbo tron, it didn't distract from our party at all.

Flashback:
   When Katie and I were waiting at the luggage carousel yesterday,  there was a famous guy.  We didn't recognize him.  He was a nice enough looking middle aged guy with silver hair.  The only reason we figured he must be famous were the crowds of young men who kept coming up and asking to have their pictures taken with him.  As he and his buddies picked up their luggage, I noticed his had a blue North Carolina logo and the initials RW, all of which meant exactly nothing to me or Kate. Then we started talking about what famous person we cared enough about to approach in an airport and ask for a photo with.   We looked at each other and said "Buble."

Half way through our Hall of Fame dinner, I happened to look up at the jumbo tron in the gym.  I said "Hey Katie, isn't that the guy form the airport?"  she looked up and said "Yes."
The five guys sitting with us looked at the jumbo tron and simultaneously said "Roy Williams."

So we were right, he is famous.
And I still don't know who he is.

At the banquet there were honors and certificates for the All Star players, DI,DII and DIII.  Then there were awards for the players and coaches of the year (which Jay won last year) and the National tournament MVPs.  Finally, they introduced each Hall of Fame Inductee.  Each of them had a friend introduce them.  The lovely Mr. Curry introduced Jay and no one missed the significance of a coach being introduced by a referee.

Jay's speech was good, as always.  He thanked everyone, gave props to me, the kids, his friends and players and finally gave the Big Shoutout to Ron and Chris, his wingmen for almost the entire ride at MCTC.  He said the Hall of Fame award was as much theirs as his and truer words have never been spoken.

After the ceremonies were finished, we all wandered back down to the casino and wound up in the Mardi Gras Bar, where a couple of tables of others from the banquet also landed.  All in all there were maybe twenty of us, toasting the event.

At about 12:30, it occurred to me that I had been awake for the better part of 20 straight hours and that I didn't need Jay to accompany me back  to the room, so I said my good nights and came up and crashed.

It was a great day.

 

 

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