On New Years Eve, Matt, Carson, and I went to see Duke wallop Pennsylvania. The above picture was taken while Carson was still engrossed in the game. Here’s how it went down: the first fifteen minutes of the game were awesome. Carson clapped and cheered on cue and was utterly mesmerized by what was going on in Cameron.
Then something clicked in that little head of his as it dawned on him, “Hey, enough of this sitting! I need to be on that court shooting balls!” He started shrieking “Me shoot ball! Dat way! [pointing to the court] Me hoop!” Seating arrangements are pretty cramped in Cameron, so it’s no surprise that his thrashing about resulted in some hard kicks to the back of the nice man in front of us. I tried buying him an overpriced stuffed Duke basketball to appease him, but that just fueled his desire to “shoot ball dat way”.
So with about 15 minutes left in the first half, I took Carson out to walk the hallways. Keep in mind that the child still can’t walk and is extra heavy to carry with his big cast. Finally, I perched him on a windowsill where he thought it was hilarious to chuck his new ball at innocent fans passing by. After another failed attempt at bribery (a $3 (!) bag of Skittles) and a quick visit with two of my Kappa friends, we sadly headed home with our wild child. Who knows… maybe this event just foreshadows a future of playing ball for Duke. His daddy can only dream…