Carolina Basketball Museum

As noted in my previous post, we enjoyed our morning at the Dean Dome and then had lunch with Eric, Amy and Brady.  Owen enjoyed his first PB&J quesadilla...and he loved it!  After lunch, we decided to take our annual trip to the basketball museum.  If you are a UNC fan (or a sports fan of any kind) I suggest you check out the basketball museum.  It is a great way to spend a few hours.  I find something new and interesting each time I visit.  

Letterman's Lane honors all Carolina Basketball letterman.
This includes the managers.  Lots of impressive names fall on the columns.
This includes superstar athletes and a few of my superstar friends.
Chad's name can be found on the 2000's column.

Payton and Owen both love this basketball that is forever stuck in the net.  It always prompts Payton to work on his jump shot and every year I manage to snap a picture.  He's getting so much taller from year to year - hopefully by the time he would ever be big enough to jump up there and attempt to get the ball, he will be smart enough to know better!

I'm not sure if this Tyler Hansbrough display was there when we went last year - if it was, I didn't have time to focus on it.  This year, we spent a few minutes watching the video all about Tyler and his dedication to the game and to the University.  I love Tyler Hansbrough.  He is a pretty impressive athlete and one of my favorite Tar Heels.  At the beginning of the video, there is a reference to him developing his shot from the hips at age 3 and it spends a few seconds discussing his childhood. I literally had to walk away and quit listening to the video due to the tears building in my eyes.  I'm not exactly sure why it made me so emotional but I guess it had something to do with those two little guys in the picture above.  I have absolutely no way to predict if Payton or Owen will ever become athletes, especially college athletes.  Honestly, I don't care if they do or not.  Yes, Chad and I love sports but if Payton and Owen decide tomorrow they would rather do something other than sports I would accept that and support them in any activity.  For those of you who know them personally, you can probably predict that never touching a ball again is never going to happen.  Payton and Owen have a love for basketball that makes no sense to me - it is completely unexplainable how one little 3 year old and one little 20 month old can know so much about the game of basketball.  In some ways, I do think that Payton has some unique ability with the game....I have no way to explain this but again, if you know him you may understand this better.  He hits shots in his goals that seem impossible - and, once he hits one, he laughs and does it again!  I can't predict the future and I certainly don't expect my child to ever play for one of the leading college basketball programs in the country....but, if he ever gets that chance, the beginning of his story will start out much like Tyler's and explain how a little 3 year old started developing his game.  This would hold true for Owen as well who wants to do nothing other than "shoot ball" all day long!

Shoot for the moon; even if you fall you will land among the stars.

Of course, the end of our museum visit always ends with another important video - in this one, Chad's team makes it to the Final Four and you can catch a glimpse of him here and there.  We watch with great excitement just waiting for our chance to see him jumping up and down with the team.  For my two boys, this one video may be the most important thing in the whole museum.  Who is Michael Jordan anyway!?!?

If your in Chapel Hill, check out the museum....you will not be disappointed.  In fact, I would say that you'll even get a tear or two in your eye as you walk around and take it all in.  Lots of history in that one little space and further proof that UNC is the greatest basketball team...ever.