1. Maggie and Charly, it appears, have recovered from their dental work on Tuesday. The occasional coughing and honking Maggie experienced for a couple of days is gone. Today, both dogs had a normal and easy day, enjoying their meals, getting plenty of rest, and enjoying the sounds of squeaking sneakers and boisterous cheering coming from the television during a series of basketball games.
2. Outside, the temperature was slightly warmer today -- well, without any wind, it seemed so. Finally, I could get out and get in some walking. I drove to Pinehurst around 11 or 11:30 and stopped in at The Goose 'n the Tree. I had watched Seton Hall, the best 11 loss team in men's college basketball, upset Villanova. Now I wanted to try out one of Derrick's bagels. Customers occupied four tables when I arrived and Meredith and I visited a bit when she took breaks from serving the others. They'd been very busy earlier in the morning. Meredith told me through a pleased smile that Saturdays and Sundays have been crazy busy.
Before long, she brought me a plain bagel and gave me a Danish on the house. The bagel was, in a very good way, unlike any bagel I'd ever eaten. It was buttery. Its texture was not as dense as other bagels I've had in shops or cafes, and having it toasted gave it a pleasing crunchiness. The Danish was also superb: light, buttery, flaky with just the right amount of jam on top. As the cafe thinned out, Meredith told me more about the cafe, confirming what I thought was true: she and Derrick are running the business themselves without employees. (I know, however, that a couple of the Radio Brewing crowd have stepped in at times to help pour coffee or do some dishes.) As such, despite requests from customers asking for more, they serve breakfast only, are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and are looking to sell Derrick's baked goods in local stores.
Upon leaving the cafe, I walked about a mile, heading down Pinehurst's main drag, crossing over to the Barney's parking lot to locate once and for all the new bakery, the one that was originally housed in the Goose 'n Tree, strolled over to the golf course and peeked in the clubhouse (Byrdman's son, Nick, has been hired to head up the golf course and clubhouse), and returned to the Sube. I could tell all too clearly that I hadn't been on a good walk since the snow, ice, and wind descended upon the Silver Valley, but all day long, afterward, I felt invigorated and look forward to resuming my walking routine.
3. Great basketball games packed this day. I watched, in part or in total, Seton Hall upset Villanova, 79-75; Virginia wear down Louisville and come from behind to triumph, 73-68; North Carolina speed by Duke, 79-70; and Michigan State blast by Michigan, 75-63.
Those were all men's basketball games.
My favorite game of the day, and, to me, the best, was the women's game matching UCLA and the Univ. of Oregon in the Pac-12 conference tournament semi-final.
I had watched these two teams play back on Feb. 22 and UCLA deeply impressed me with their toughness and skill as they erased a 22 point Oregon lead and stormed back to defeat the Ducks, 74-69.
As we've been doing recently, Linda Schantol, watching the game in Eugene, and I texted greetings to one another and texted comments back and forth throughout the game, helping each other get through the game's tension and uncertainty.
We agreed that the Ducks surely had some extra motivation tonight after their loss two weeks ago and we agreed that UCLA is a very formidable team and that this was going to be a rigorous match up.
We were correct.
Behind Erin Boley's scalding shooting in the first quarter, the Ducks raced to a ten point lead, but, as expected, the Bruins inched back, closing the lead to 25-21 at the end of the first quarter and they stayed close, trailing only 36-30 at halftime.
The second half was intense. Both teams fought and scrapped for every inch of the court, contested every shot, and battled for every rebound. The Ducks succeeded in consistently working the ball inside to Ruthy Hebard who made a series of spins, hooks, and lay ups on her way to scoring 28 points for the game.
It somehow seemed just and right that this tooth and nail battle was tied at the end of the fourth quarter.
The Bruins took an early lead in overtime. Keep in mind that the Bruins are coached by Cory Close, a great and demanding coach who implores her players to play with supreme effort, to never give an inch, to contest every last one of their opponents' possessions with vim and passion. Cory Close is fiery and in the overtime period she crossed a line while advocating for her team and the referee she dressed down issued her a technical foul.
I'm a fully committed fan of this great Duck team, but when Cory Close crossed this line, I spontaneously cried out, "Oh, no!"
I hated to see Coach Close hurt her team like this.
At this point, the Bruins held a two point lead; Sabrina Ionescu dropped both the free throws; the Ducks kept possession and scored to go ahead by two points. UCLA tied the game twice afterward, but with 59 seconds to go, Satou Sabally scored on a powerful and elegant drive, putting the Ducks up by two, a lead they never surrendered. Ionescu iced the game with two free throws with 3 seconds to go after being fouled following a bewildering UCLA turnover. Why was Kennedy Burke driving to the basket with 4 seconds left when her team was trailing by three? Was she hoping to score and get fouled? Why didn't UCLA get the ball to sharpshooting Japreece Dean to hoist a three pointer? I don't know, but this crucial turnover, when Burke bounced the ball off her own knee, helped seal the Ducks' victory.
Things get even tougher for the Ducks at 5:00 on Sunday, March 10th. They face the powerhouse Stanford Cardinal for the tournament championship.
I can hardly wait. Neither can Charly and Maggie.
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