There are the seven ticket stubs I saved from the UNC games I went to this year. Some I have carried in my wallet for weeks—I’m looking at you, Tennessee, an early season game that was supposed to be a blowout but ended up as a 1 point win. One ticket stub—Virginia Tech, an actual blowout—I lost in my car and found a month later while cleaning out under the driver seat before a first date. The others, though, I would give to the controller outside the Dean Dome for her to scan, then the gun would beep and it would return to my pocket until I would get back to Greensboro three hours later and tuck it away in my drawer of memorabilia.
This is the first year I made a conscious effort to save my ticket stubs. I have a few from previous years, but after the way last season ended, I decided that I needed to have some token to remind me of better days when the going gets rough. Now, holding these seven pieces of paper, I understand that they are not just seven pieces of paper. They are fragments of memory, cutouts of history.
I couldn’t tell you my favorite memories. There’s Theo Pinson’s monstrous slam against Florida State. Justin Jackson’s ridiculous three from the logo against Louisville. Joel Berry’s five three-pointers against Duke, his floater off the glass to ice it. Isaiah Hicks’s alley-oops—no, I’d sit here all night listing my favorite moments from this 2016-17 squad. Really, I would. Maybe I will on some other night.
However, I will tell you my favorite part of UNC games. It’s when one of our guys makes a big basket and the crowd, all 21,750 of us, jumps to our feet and lets out a single, unified, thunderous “YEAH!”. It’s like we decided what we were going to exclaim before the ball even went in the bucket: “Okay guys, what are we going to say when we score next? Personally, I like ‘YEAH!’”
“‘YEAH!’ is pretty good.”
"Yeah, let’s go with that one.”
Those memories I just listed? Every single one of them was a big old “YEAH!”
While we’re at it, I heard a “YEAH!” or two on Saturday night in UNC’s victory over Oregon in the Final Four. Not quite as emphatic—due both to the much roomier University of Phoenix Stadium and the background noise of other fans—but still a “YEAH!” nonetheless. Crazy, huh? For every Tar Heel fan in that building, that “YEAH!” was instantly one of their favorite moments ever, in their lives. Forever. And that ticket stub that they hopefully kept? That’s their reminder—their little cutout of history.
Tonight, my Tar Heels will play Gonzaga for the national championship. We played in this game 362 days ago and lost. I don’t know what to expect, I don’t know what to feel, I don’t know what to think. We could win. Also, we could lose. And that’s my pregame analysis. Take from it what you will. But one thing I absolutely know is that when the dust settles, whatever happens, these seven pieces of paper will still be here. So will the endless echoes of “YEAH!” And so will the memories you’ve made with this team, with all years you’ve spent with Carolina basketball.
