Tim and I always enjoy following the college basketball action during March Madness. So when we found out, to our surprise, that Georgia was in the tournament and had a first (second) round game in Charlotte on Friday, we made an impulse decision to go and cheer on the Dawgs.
Aunt Dee Dee and Uncle Ken were kind enough to let us crash at their house for the night. They had tickets to see Duke in the afternoon session, and Georgia played after UNC in the evening session, so we met them and the twins downtown for dinner in between games. Since we arrived in downtown Charlotte a few hours early, we decided to make ourselves comfy at the Irish pub next door to the restaurant and have a few beers while watching the games on tv.
It was a very neat bar, and we were having a lovely time, until the fire alarm suddenly sounded at ear-piercing decibels. Unfortunately, some cardboard outside the back door had started smoldering, which set off the fire alarm, and the entire place had to be evacuated. So much for our lovely spot at the bar!
Good old Ladder 4 showed up (along with 3 other trucks!) and took care of everything. Not sure if you can read the sign on the truck, but it says, "Protecting the Lair." Awesome. Anyways, 30 minutes later, we were allowed back inside, just in time to settle up and head next door for dinner. Oh well! It was still nice to just sit and relax for awhile. We don't get to do that often around here these days.
When we arrived at the arena, we were happy to see that we had pretty good seats. They were 5 rows up from the top of the tunnel to the locker room, so we were able to catch all of the action. This was our view:
While we were waiting for the game before ours to finish, we noticed -- as Tim likes to refer to him -- "Atlanta Legend" Chuck Dowdle on the other side of the arena. Tim announced that he WOULD, in fact, talk to Chuck before the night was over. We did one better than that -- he got his picture taken with Chuck:
For those of you who may not know, Chuck used to be one of the local news sports anchors. He is now on the radio team that covers Georgia football, and apparently Georgia basketball. Also, he is super tall. He is actually standing on a lower step than Tim in the picture, and he still looks a good half-foot taller! He was very nice and seemed happy to have someone request a photo op.
We had a great time cheering on the Dawgs, who unfortunately lost a very close game against Washington. But all in all, it was a fun trip, even if it was super short.
Even though he didn't get to go to the game with us, Drew is learning all about March Madness too. He loves to sit with Daddy and watch basketball:
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