Cold Turkey

It's just different. I was listening to a podcast the other day between Bill Simmons and Chuck Klosterman (two writers I enjoy reading) and Klosterman was making the point that this is the first national story that has ever directly impacted his day to day life. The three big national events since I turned 18 were:

1. 9/11
2. Hurricane Katrina
3. 2007/ 2008 Financial Crisis

I am not including elections in the above list, but you could include the 2008 and 2016 elections if you wanted to expand this to 5. Regardless those 5 events changed how I thought about certain things / people and certainly had a major impact on our country....but my day to day life was essentially unchanged. Now I understand that by writing that I am highlighting my good luck and privilege, but it is also the truth. Nothing really compares to this current moment. It's just different.

There are so many differences that it's hard to even know where to start. I keep going back to the feeling like this is just one big "cold turkey" experiment. What would happen if we gave up dining out, traveling, sports, school, working in the office, etc? If you had asked me to give up any one of those things for Lent, I would have immediately balked at the suggestion. And now we are giving all of those things up all at once? It's been quite the life change (my daughter is brushing her American Girl doll one foot away from me as I write this) that brings up more questions than answer. Here are the top 5 questions:

1. When will this end?
2. What will post-corona-virus world look like? 
3. How many people will die? 
4. Will there be an analysis on what we as a country did well and what we could improve upon next time?
5. What are the big things that I am not even thinking about? 

I don't really have a good answer to any of those questions. There is an ongoing debate between continuing to practice social distancing versus reopening the economy. People engaging in this debate seem to be very confident about their argument. I am much less confident. I am extremely worried about both the health aspects of the virus (and thus the need for proper social distancing) and also the economic and mental health issues that come from social distancing. I don't know the right answer for and just hope that leaders (ex. Governors, CEOs, etc) are getting accurate information and are making decisions that appropriately measures risk. (I purposely didn't include our current President, because he seems completely ill equipped to deal with this crisis. Every single day he does or says something that boggles my mind.)

In terms of our family, M and I have gotten into a routine and we have no plans to change that in the near future. I go on a long walk every day while listening to either book or a podcast. We generally watch a movie at night. We try to get the kids to go on a bike ride or a walk. During the week we both work while also trying to entertain / teach L and J. This is tricky. We have 3 meals a day from home...breakfast is normally cereal, lunch is either leftovers or sandwiches and then we try out a meal for dinner. I feel like our cooking has been pretty good and I am pleased with how that is going. As a treat during the weekend we order out (pizza, sushi and tacos). We have seen a few people from 6 feet apart, but really our interactions with people are much, much lower than in the pre-quarantine world. We are acting like we have the virus and basically are just staying at home.

Now how will I think about this in 10 years? That was another interesting perspective in the Simmons / Klosterman podcast. Klosterman brought up that in 10 years we will be getting all these opinion pieces in 10 years about how the quarantine had many benefits since families got spend a lot of quality time together. In some cases we don't even have to wait 10 years to get some articles like this one from The Atlantic: My Family Needed A Reset, Quarantine Gave Us One. I wonder how I will think about this. Will I look back on this fondly? Will this be a pivot point where so many things change? (Examples that have been brought up: universal basic income, more working from home, medicare for all, change in retail / restaurants) Will this be just a minor blip and we as a country and individually as a family revert back to normal? As of now there are just significantly more questions than answers.

Life during the Coronavirius

Time for another update! Not much has really changed, since my last post. We are still in quarantine, which means work, play, home cooked meals, bike rides, movies, etc. I can't tell if time is going quickly (it's been a full month of this) or slowly (is it only 9am?). In some ways time doesn't really exist besides the fact that Monday - Friday are still work days for the grown ups and school days (well at least partial school days) for the kids.

Anyway, I've been reading a baseball writer from New Albany named Craig Calcaterra a good bit. He is very active with twitter and is doing a daily Pandemic Diaries. I can't come close to keeping up with a daily diary....despite the fact that I am not doing anything away from home, I still feel plenty busy enough with work, playing with my daughters, cooking at home, going on bike rides, movies, etc.  Anyway, I liked the question and answer portion from his post last week and thought I would play along:

When was the last day you went in to work?

Monday, March 16th. The week before was one of the strangest week's of my life and I tried to go with the day to day recap in my last post. L Brands hadn't officially made the call for all of us to work from home, so I was at work on that Monday. I had an idea it might be my last day at the office, and sure enough when I left work that day I took my monitor and my docking station, so that I could set up a proper home office.

When did your state or city order everyone to stay at home?

March 23rd - but by that time nothing really changed for us....we were already home quarantined

Has there been a particular change to your lifestyle that has been difficult to make or accept? 

So the options would be travel, sports, dining out, working from home and hanging out with friends. I feel like the decision comes down to the final two. I miss traveling with our family (and canceling our Spring Break trip wasn't fun), but this just feels like one of those times where we in between trips. Dining out is also something I miss, but I enjoy cooking and sometimes with young kids it is just easier to have meals at home. Sports is obviously a huge part of my life, but I can watch old Duke games and read plenty of articles on the NFL draft and retrospectives on favorite players, games, etc. So it comes down working from home and hanging out with friends. All things considered working from home has been the most difficult to accept. I generally like my job / coworkers and miss the normal work life. Also, it is tough to do my job, support M with her job and have both of us try and teach / play with the kids. 

What do you miss the most?

I definitely miss hanging out with friends. Bexley is a close community and it is really tough not having dinners and time with our friends in the neighborhood. It is hard for the kids to tell them to be socially distanced from their friends. I would give up travel, sports and dining out before I gave up just normal interactions among friends. 

What is the most unusual thing you have noticed since this crisis began?

I am not sure if this is the most unusual thing, but a random observation is seeing how my kids handle the situation. My 3 year old will sometimes lead the family prayer before dinner and almost always ends it with something like "and I hope the coronavirus doesn't get us." Also, she will talk about how she wants to travel to the beach "on the first day the coronavirus is gone." She doesn't seem to be negatively impacted by this quarantine, but she definitely has an understanding that something unusual is happening now. I find it fascinating how she is processing this situation. 

Do you know anyone who has COVID-19?

Yes - someone I went to high school (and the brother of a friend) as well as someone on my K Academy team. When I found out about those two people having it, it really hit home more than just reading about the virus. 

Do you know anyone who had died from complications related to COVID-19?

No

How long do you think it will be before the stay-at-home order is lifted in your community?

No idea - I would be thrilled if life was back to normal by Memorial Day.

Will you immediately return to your normal routine after the stay-at-home order is lifted? Or will you wait before returning to normal? If you’ll wait, how much longer will you do so?

I can't imagine any of this will be like a light switch, where it goes from abnormal (or the "new normal" as so many people keep saying) to normal. I feel like it will be gradual. 

What’s the first thing you want to do when the stay-at-home order is lifted?

I am going to cheat and say 3 things: 1) go on a date with M and without the kids 2) plan a new trip using some of the credits we got from Delta 3) go play basketball with friends - I had been on a pretty good routine playing basketball 1-2 a week and would love to get back to that.

Have you been ordering food out from local restaurants (carry-out or delivery)?

No. We have thought about it, but haven't ordered any food out in a month. Normally we have enough food from our large grocery store trips. 

How often have you been going to the grocery store?

Once a week. We generally buy a lot, but still feel like we need replenishments after about 7 days.

Will you wear a mask when you go out?

Yes - I didn't the last time, but would like to try and be cautions

Do you think other people have been taking this crisis seriously?
Yes - there seems to be some people who have downplayed the virus initially, but most people seem to be taking it seriously. Of course I talk to a lot less people that before so who knows if my sample size is large enough.

Do you think people have been over-reacting to this situation?
I'm not sure, but I don't think so. When so many different people and organizations come to the same conclusion it seems like either one big example of group think or everyone is reacting appropriately.

How many people do you think will eventually die from COVID-19?
I don't really want to guess that. 

Do you think schools will re-open yet this year?

I just found out that they wouldn't....but we kind of have been anticipating schools would be closed for the year. 

Do you think that summer sports like baseball will occur?
Yes - in some capacity. There will likely be games with no fans first.

What is one thing you have done since this crisis started that you don’t usually do?
Good question....I still do a lot of the same things I used to do (cooking, walks, playing with the kids, etc) but now I just do more of it. Essentially any home activity has increased.

Is there anything that has changed in your life since this crisis began that you hope to keep after the crisis ends?

Our personal budget is pretty amazing from a spending perspective, and I would love to keep that going in the future. I am hoping that this slows life down a little bit and that we can find a happy medium between our old life (trips + dining out) and our new life (saving more money, but with less experiences). It's going to be tough to balance because experiences are really fun (and presumably could be good for the children), but I do like the idea (at least in theory) of running a tighter budget.

Coronavirius - day whatever

I've never really been one to sit still. As a child I loved and would go to every camp my parents would send me to. I think one year I went to 5 basketball camps (Millsaps, Mississippi College, St. Andrews, Jackson Academy and NC State if memory serves me correctly). It wasn't that I didn't enjoy home....I enjoyed my parents, my older sister, watching TV, video games, etc. It's just I never really sat still much.

The first big decision I ever made for myself was where I would go to college. I applied to 7 schools with only one of them being in my home state and only a couple within a short drive. My top two choices were both 12 hours away and I finally settled on a mid-sized school in the middle of a cornfield.

Miami University was a wonderful school to attend - one with amazing teachers, a perfect campus and a lot of truly great friends. To give you an understanding of my love for Miami, I've done some college recruiting for them after I graduated. One key trait I always make sure to talk about to high school students is the study abroad program at Miami. I was fortunate enough to travel to China, South Korea, Japan and Hawaii during a summer abroad program that is and will always be one of my most favorite things I have ever done.

Not that I had many choices out of college, but I ended up accepting a job even farther away from my home state and going to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Much like the transition to college, I didn't know a single person when I moved up to Minnesota. Now I am forever thankful for that decision because without going up to Minnesota I wouldn't have met my wife.

M and I have loved traveling and are lucky enough to have gone both to place far away (Spain, England, France, etc) and close by (my friends make fun of my love of going to random Midwest cities to check out the BBQ and minor league baseball). This spring break was going to be our next great adventure - we had booked flights / hotels / train tickets to visit Paris and Switzerland partly to visit a college friend (one from the study abroad program mentioned in the 3rd paragraph) who lives abroad permanently.

Spring break was canceled this year because of the Coronavirus pandemic that has been spreading across the United States. It wasn't the only thing canceled....here is a quick timeline of a very strange week:

Friday, March 6th - M and I got a babysitter so we could go out to eat and go see a comedian (Iliza) we really like. It was a fun night.

Saturday, March 7th - we took the kids to LegoLand at Easton - overall we found it to be a little disappointing

Sunday, March 8th - we organized a playdate with Julie's best friend.

Monday, March 9th - we canceled our trip to Europe. That was a running conversation topic the previous 3 days, and we finally made the call that we didn't want to be stuck in Europe if the Coronavirus got worse. M and I talked about possibly booking another Spring Break trip to Utah or Tampa or some place within driving distance. We thankfully didn't book anything

Tuesday, March 10th - nothing big happened - just a normal day at work

Wednesday, March 11th - I went to my weekly basketball game and during that game the following 3 things happened: 1) Trump canceled flights to Europe, which made our decision on Monday irrelevant 2) Rudy Gobert (one my favorite basketball players) tested positive for the Coronavirus right before the Jazz / Thunder game was about to start 3) The Nba season was canceled. All of this happened during the 2 hour time period.

Thursday, March 12th - The NCAA tournament was canceled. It is amazing to me that this went from something I would have never even considered to something that barely surprised me. Also, Governor DeWine canceled school for 3 weeks. At this point we have all realized how serious this has become.

So in a week we went from going to a crowded comedy show to everything being canceled  / postponed. Since that time we have used brand new phrases like "social distancing." M and I have done a pretty good job of limiting exposure to everyone and an adequate job of managing working from home (we are both are still employed) while taking care of two kids. I know it is overused, but it has just been crazy. Restaurants have been forced to close dine in options and currently only have takeout available. Every day we get a new state and federal update on what is being closed and how the coronavirius is impacting our daily life. Through this all I have been asked to do something that isn't familiar to me - to sit still.

So here I am sitting. Not moving. Not planning a trip or a ballgame (all sports are canceled) to see. Not even planning a date night for M because we don't feel comfortable having a babysitter watch the kids....and even if we did there is no place to go. I would like to say that this sitting still has made me into an uber productive person, but the three pictures I got for my birthday are still not hung and my Dad's taxes are still not completed. I have learned to be a little bit less frenetic. There is no where to go, so I can sleep in and go on long bike rides with my two children. I can spend time with my family without much outside pressure (you know minus the work that I need to do during te week). I can watch movies - pretty much every night we have family movie night with Tarzan, Frozen, The Parent Trap, etc. I can try out new recipes - I made chicken fried rice and I might be wondering why this wasn't a staple during my college years.

Things aren't perfect - I still can get distracted with the news (yesterday Dr. Fauci predicted between 100,000 and 200,000 people will die in the United States). I also can be short with M or my children.  I have periodically just shut down and gone to bed for a few hours just to try and recharge. I am not making as much progress with work as I wish I could. 

Still I move on. Still we go through this. There is no real end to this post besides just writing my thoughts down on a time in my life where I am just sitting still.

7 Up

Inspired by the Tommy Tomlinson post (which was inspired by a "famous British documentary series called the Up series, where director Michael Apted started following a group of 7-year-olds and has returned to them every seven years to see how their lives have changed") I decided to do my own 7 Up review:

7 Up (1990)

After a few years at Beth Israel pre-school in Jackson, MS, I started my first grade year at a new school. I didn’t know it at the time but I will spend the next 12 years (grades 1 through 12) at St. Andrew’s Episcopal school. I didn’t know that at this place I would meet my best friend, play basketball and even be employed at for many summers. Besides school I have a nice, stable family life with my two parents and my older sister. I thought (still think) my sister knows everything. It’s kind of nice when things don’t change much over time. Other than that I don’t really remember too much in terms of issues or notes. I live in a nice home (the same home my parents still own) and have a great life.

14 Up (1997)

I’ve caught the sports bug, which is pretty common growing up in Mississippi, but people keep telling me that my obsession is even more pronounced. Mississippi has zero professional teams and the state’s college programs only have modest success, so that means I went around picking my favorite teams based on seemingly random things. In the NBA I loved the Utah Jazz after getting a John Stockton card and then later seeing him on TV. I thought (still think) he was such a smart, amazing player and I wanted to play basketball just like him. In the NFL I picked the Miami Dolphins because their QB (Dan Marino) seemed to be the perfect player. While other teams were running the ball, the Dolphins seemed to pass the ball on every single play. For college basketball I loved Duke for winning back to back titles in 1991 and 1992. This was an especially good year in college football as my favorite team the Nebraska Cornhuskers won the National Title after beating Peyton Manning’s Tennessee team. The one sport missing was baseball, but I had fallen out of love with the sport after the 1994 MLB strike and didn’t have a favorite team.

21 Up (2004)

Junior Year at Miami University was one of my favorite years of all time. I loved the school, my classes and I had a solid group of friends + a girlfriend I met my sophomore year. It had been tough my freshmen year moving from the only place I had ever lived (Mississippi) to a medium sized college in the middle of a cornfield in Ohio, but by my Junior Year I was very comfortable and happy with the change. My life consisted of studying, playing Madden, hanging out with friends and going to bars. This year I had my first big trip as I did a study abroad program through the school of business where I went to China, South Korea, Japan and Hawaii. This trip was truly amazing and is hard to describe in the appropriate words. I am grateful that Miami offered the program, my parents paid for it and my girlfriend helped convince me to go. Also, at this time I started following politics a little bit closer. The more I read about the President (George W Bush) and the Iraq War the less I liked. I was convinced the rest of the country felt the same way, and was shocked in 2004 when John Kerry lost. It was strange going from not caring about the 2000 election at all to being so disappointed in the 2004 election.

28 Up (2011)

These 7 years were pretty key in establishing my life. After graduating from college I took a job at Target Corporation and moved farther north to Minneapolis. I will forever be grateful for the 2 years at Target because they gave me my first job and it’s also where I met my spouse. A 2006 date that started when we met at the Mary Tyler Moore statue in downtown Minneapolis eventually led to an engagement (2009) and a wedding (2010). Anyway, this time period is a little easier to look back on because I was active with my blog (68 posts this year!). One thing part of a post that stuck out was this:  “For a variety of reasons, I feel like my life is now focused on what I do not have and what has been given up. M and I do not live close to our family. We do not own a home. We do not have children. We don't even have a dog. We have jobs we like, but I can't say that we have the absolute best career ever. We are newly married 28 year olds, who are focused on improving our finances, job skills, experiences and basically preparing for the next stages in our life.” One big change we made in 2011 was the decision to move from Minneapolis to Columbus. We wanted to buy a home, start a family and we felt like it would be easier to do that closer to M’s family. The next step was interviewing for jobs (both of us at the same company) and then actually getting the job. Thankfully we both were lucky enough to get jobs (one day apart) and we made the big decision to move at the end of 2011.

35 Up (2018)

So all the preparation led to something….no other 7 year time period produced more change than this. After we moved from Minneapolis to Columbus we bought a home (2012), had our first child (2013), had our second child (2016) and had a few internal job moves (including a promotion in 2013). Also, my life now becomes more of a “we” situation. I guess that is natural with a family, but it is interesting to see how this compared to other checkpoints in my life. Overall I like my job – it is challenging (in a good way) with smart coworkers and a great work / life balance. I’ve been at the same company for all 7 years and that comes with more vacation days and a certain level of professional confidence. Overall the biggest thing about this 7 year time period is adjusting to being a Dad. Having L hit me hard – not in a bad way, but just in a way that it completely changed my life in a way that greatly exceeded other changes (graduating high school, moving, new job, etc). There is nothing like being a first time parent and adjusting to the lack of sleep, new schedule and someone completely dependent on you (and M).  One thing I found out was that I loved being a parent. There is a real sense of accomplishment that I get in being a father and I can’t imagine my life any other way. 

Written (but stuck in my drafts and never published) 1.5 years ago:



There was exactly one Mississippi fan happily picking up confetti after Notre Dame's stunning victory in the Women's National Title game. She was the same person who excitedly responded to my somber "We need to go" after Arike Ogunbowale with a "Yay! We get to go on the escalator again." She was my companion for the Final Four game a couple days before, where Mississippi State was the lucky winner against Louisville. She had just gotten into basketball (every day I was asked who won the previous, who was playing tonight, who I was rooting for and who was going to win) and even filled her first bracket (96% of people entering an ESPN bracket finished with a better bracket than her). She is my nearly 5 year old daughter Lucy.

I knew Mississippi State was going to win. The strange stuff that all came together to make it happened seemed too perfect.

1) They were playing 10 minutes from my house
2) They had a dramatic win over Uconn last year before losing in the title game
3) They were returned all their key players and had one of the best teams in the country
4) They won a dramatic game (needing a 3 pointer and two point blank misses by Louisville) in the Final Four
5) The best team in women's basketball (Unconn) lost to a good (but statistically not as good) Notre Dame team....which meant State went from being a huge underdog in the title game (if they played Uconn) to a 2 point favorite
6) Lucy - she was at the right age. A year ago would have been too soon and it would have been difficult to sit through an entire basketball game. This year at this age was close to perfect. She didn't fully understand what was going on (it didn't help that our seats were literally in the last row), but was attentive and cheering with me

I knew Mississippi State was going to win going into the game, at halftime when they were up 13, with under 2 minutes to go when they were up 5 and even at the end when it was tied. There was no way I could have expected to see what is easily one of the greatest shots in basketball history. I have watched the video too many times and each time I can't believe it actually goes in. We had seats in the last row on Notre Dame's side (for the second half) and could see the ball stay in the air for much longer than a normal shot and then fall in. The worst thing about having seats in the last row is that there is a moment where you don't fully know if the ball actually went in or if your eyes are deceiving you. At that moment, I looked around and started to see Notre Dame's players celebrating and it finally sunk in. Mississippi State lost.

In the end the game didn't go as well as expected, but still this will be one of my favorite memories with my daughter. She was a wonderful fan and I am thrilled I got to experience this with her.

K Academy (Day 5)

Just a few weeks delayed on this post, but after the 5th and final day ended I went to the airport and flew back to reality....and unfortunately back in reality I don't post as much on my blog. Now I have a little bit of a break and I am ready to write my last daily entry. (I still need to do one big final recap of K Academy, but as anyone who has already talked to me already knows I struggle properly conveying how truly amazing this trip was because worse like "great" or "amazing" just don't seem strong enough.)

Anyway, day 5 was tournament day. The night before we received another bag with a shirt, sweatshirt and two jersey / short combinations. (I had to check two bags home. I did a very poor job of packing for this trip.) Thankfully our team went 5-0 and was the #1 seed, which meant that we would be the "home" team all tournament and only had to worry about wearing our white jerseys. The day started off with an early morning game against a team we had played before. I was a little worried because I thought our team might be over-confident since we had already beat this team before, we were 5-0 and it might be tough with an 8:30am start time. We started off slow (halftime we were down 9-8), but really turned it on in the 2nd half (winning that 24-13) and won going away. I made one 3 pointer that felt like a gift from above. (Later that shot would make the "One Shining Moment" video they played after the title game).

Anyway, we won our first game and I really felt like our team was going to win it all. It didn't happen that way. We played Team Seattle at 11:30am in the Final Four. Seattle was good (5-2 going into the game) with a strong point guard. We were tied at halftime 17-17, but really I felt like it should have been a large lead for us. Seattle's defense against us was to pack the paint and let us shoot open 3 pointers. I felt like this was going to be my "Natchez Cathedral" game and I was going to hit about 6 3 pointers. Instead I hit half that amount finishing 3-10 on 3 pointers. The rest of the team didn't shoot better and we finished 8-30 from 3. Coach Duhon talked about how we got a little 3 happy, which was clearly the case when 30 out of our 42 shots were 3 pointers. I felt like we were open and I would have loved another chance against the team. Anyway, we lost 45-33.

One of the interesting things from the game was that JJ Redick came in town and was sitting next to Coach K and our bench. There was a moment in the game where I was checking in and it was just Coach K, the greatest shooter in Duke history and then me all occupying the same 10 foot space. I just couldn't help but smile because these were my heroes about to watch me play at Cameron Indoor Stadium. That made it even more unfortunate that I didn't shoot better and our team didn't win.

With the game being over I hung around Cameron for the rest of the day and saw the title game between Team Seattle (the team that just beat us) and Team Minneapolis (a team we beat a few days earlier). It was a very close game that Team Minneapolis won. After that game they got to cut down the nets, got a trophy and celebrated a title I felt like we should have won.

Regardless of winning or losing those the day went well. I got my picture with Coach K and JJ Redick, enjoying playing a couple more games in Cameron and just enjoyed soaking it all in with the Duke players and friends from camp. I didn't want to leave. Obviously that was not an option, which just makes me want to go back to a place that really feels like a fantasy. This will likely be a final part of the recap, but my advice to anyone is if you have something you really, really, really want to do then find a way to do it. You can always come up with excuses why you shouldn't do it, but I truly can't imagine my life without this experience. It was the best 5 days of my life because unlike most vacations there was no negative. There was no downside. It was just one of my favorite activities (basketball) with a bunch of awesome  and like minded individuals and a bunch of my heroes. Anyway, Go Duke!

K Academy Day 4

This year at K Academy there are 12 teams, which means that the top 4 teams get a bye into the quarterfinals. With the 35+ crowd rest is a good thing. Team San Antonio (my team) went into today feeling pretty good at 4-0. But there five teams at 3-1 and we had no idea how tiebreakers were going to work. The best thing we could do was win and make sure that we got a bye. The only issue with that was we were playing a very good Team Indianapolis coached by Jon Scheyer and Luke Kennard. (One note on Scheyer - that guy is lucky / good at K Academy considering his all-tine record is 46-13. Scheyer picks good teams.) 

How did the game go? Well it was a little bit tough at the start. Teams seem to be missing significantly more shots than in early games. The good news is that we were playing pretty good defense. I was able to hit a key 3 when we were down at the end of the second half and made a great pass (in my humble opinion) to one of our best players when we were down 1. He made 1 of 2 (which is better than me since I missed the front end of a 1-1) and we went to overtime. Overtime we again found ourselves down....this time by 3 with about 40 seconds left. I found our big man (who has a good shot) in the corner for a 3 and the tie. We did have to hold off as Mark Kennard (Luke's Dad) had a baseline jumper that would have won the game.....and would have won it against me since I was his defender. 

Anyway, I am getting long-winded but the game was very dramatic. Nothing was more dramatic then the end. The second overtime was set up as first shot to make it wins. My assistant coach told me to try to steal the back tip and take it in for a game winning layup. Well the ball was back tipped, but Mark Kennard had the angle on me. I dove for the ball and undercut Kennard for an obvious foul on me. At that moment in time I thought I cost the team the game because Kennard would get free throws because of my foul. Also, I looked down and he is in obvious pain from my undercut. I felt so horrible on both ends and truly had my "what did I just do" Cameron moment. (I didn't expect to have that moment and wouldn't recommend it.) Anyway, Coach K was watching and said the sudden death couldn't end on free throws. We ended up playing tough defense and came down and one of our shooters hit a big time 3 pointer to send us home happy. I felt like Quinn Cook / Seth Curry watching Austin Rivers shoot against UNC at the Dean Dome. I could see the ball in the air and I felt like it was going in. After he made it we all jumped around in the middle of Cameron. It is hard to explain how amazing that was to actually experience.

The rest of the day included the following:

•  Relaxing while watching other teams play. There were two great / dramatic games and a common theme from the people attending the camp is that this is a very evenly matched camp.
• The old Duke players played the current Duke team in a scrimmage. It was very intense and the only prediction I can make is that Alex O'Connell is going to have a huge year for Duke. He was the best player on the court for a good portion of the game.
• We had a fun talk and question and answer session with Coach K and the Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett. Garrett was very open and engaging when asked some relatively tough questions
• Tonight we had another great dinner, but this time with our team. After that we went up to one of the luxury boxes at the football stadium. Our coaches (Duhon / Parks) gave us an amazing inspirational speech and right now as I write this I feel like we are in a great spot to win the title tomorrow. Like Duhon told us "We don't have to change anything we are doing. We are 5-0 for a reason." 

Anyway, more to come tomorrow - the unfortunate last day of camp