Upside Down

Day 2 (Part I): Chapel Hill to Jacksonville

I left Chapel Hill after my run this morning and headed to Ft. Bragg. As I've said a million times, I'm so happy to be done with my service, but so freaking proud that I can say I served. There's something comforting about going back on a military installation and knowing that I can identify with the folks in uniform. At the same time, I have mixed feelings about not having to shoulder the same responsibilities (the weight of the world) as those men and women.

I was also struck by how young the jr. enlisted folks are beginning to look. And I've noticed more than a few gray hairs sprouting around my temples. Great.


In my mind, I went to Carolina

I picked up some workout clothes (Army PT gear) at Bragg and headed back down 95. I made the requisite pit stop at South of the Border (see photo), did not pick up fireworks, and quickly returned to the highway.



Next stop was Savannah. When I rolled into town, I decided I needed a picture and the first thought that popped into my mind was the cover photo from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. So I Googled the name of the statue, and was directed to Bonaventure Cemetery in neighboring Thunderbolt, Georgia. I punched in the directions into my GPS, saw I was only 5 miles away, and headed over to the graveyard.


Not there anymore

I got there at 8pm to find a bunch of locked gates and the cemetery closes at 5. Do you think that stopped me? I jumped the fence and started looking...and looking...and looking. I couldn't find the dang statue. After a while, I wasn't even sure what it looked like. As the day grew shorter and shorter on light, I decided to cut my losses.

Wouldn't you know, the cemetery is huge! All of a sudden, I was lost in a place I shouldn't be, running out of daylight...and did I mention that this was a creepy graveyard with Spanish Moss and freaky statues? And there was a ton of lightning in the sky.

As much as I wanted to, I didn't panic and found the fence and just followed it around until I could find my car just as the last vespers of daylight shone on this Georgia sunset. Disaster/weird cult sacrifice averted.

As I write this from Denny's, I also learned the following tidbit, which might have been of some use a couple hours ago:

The Bird Girl
The cover photograph of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, taken by Jack Leigh, featured an evocative sculpture of a young girl that had been in the cemetery, essentially unnoticed for over 50 years. The sculpture, which has come to be known as the "Bird Girl", stood on the family plot of Lucy Boyd Trosdal. After the publication of the book, the sculpture was donated to Savannah's Telfair Museum of Art to avoid disturbances by visitors to the cemetery.

Wow. Nice attention to detail. For the record, I did not break into the Telfair Museum of Art tonight.

Got Yanks and Indians on satellite for the ride down to J'ville (there was an hour-plus rain delay tonight), so it should be a smooth trip.

Road Trip Day One: Strong Island to Chapel Hill

I commenced my road trip around noon Thursday departing rainy, 60 degree weather in hopes of finding bluer skies on the South side of the Mason-Dixie. Sure enough things heated up the further South I traveled, and soon I was stuck in the middle of DC rush hour traffic.

Luckily, I have family in the area, so to kill some time and catch up I looked up my brother, Officer O'Brien and we decided to do dinner (at Macaroni Grill). I totally forgot that Officer O'B had recently welcomed a new addition to the family, but was reminded soon after I entered his apartment.


Meeting my Nephew

That's me and my nephew, Barnabas "Barney" Hasinger-O'Brien. I still love Homer, but Barney's pretty cool.



After dinner, I continued my trek, ending up in Chapel Hill, N.C., home of my alma mater and generally considered the Southern part of Heaven. I checked in to a Courtyard by Marriott, which is also hosting members of the Kansas and Dartmouth baseball teams, who are both here for the Super-Regionals of the College World Series. The Road to Omaha starts here!

A fire alarm roused my awake at about 7:55, so I decided to run up to campus. Of course, I forgot to pack workout clothes, so I had the pleasure of running in cotton in 90% humidity. Ah, the days before moisture wicking, how I don't miss thee.

There's a ton of construction going on up on the campus, but I also noticed that a lot of the guys here bear a striking resemblance to Kenneth from 30 Rock. Just saying.

I'm going to keep heading South, looking to end up in Tampa. I don't think I'll make it in time for tonight's game, but should be able to catch Tropicana Field on Saturday morning and add it to my list of ballparks visited.

And the POTUS Picks...

Earlier this week, President Obama made his picks for the NCAA tournament with ESPN's Andy Katz.

The Commander-in-Chief selected Louisville, Memphis, Pitt and Carolina to round out the Final Four, with Carolina edging Louisville for the national title. Here's a link to The First Bracket.

The guy signs my paychecks, so I appreciate him already. This is icing on the cake.


Ballin'

Unfortunately, not every team could crack the President's Final Four. One notable omission was Duke, a fact not missed by Coach Krzyzewski (a morganobrien.com fave--I'll always appreciate fellow captains over school ties).

Coach K had an interesting take (and not totally unexpected by those who know his politics):

“Somebody said we’re not in President Obama’s Final Four,’’ coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a lighthearted moment Wednesday as Duke prepared to face Binghamton in an East Regional first-round game in Greensboro, N.C. “As much as I respect what he’s doing, really the economy is something he should focus on more than the brackets.’’ (link)

Sounds like Reggie Love, former Duke two-sport standout and the president's body man, needs to better advocate for his alma mater.

Carolina Ballers and Scholars

Ah yes, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, home to the scholar athlete. As if I needed another reason to brag, my beloved alma mater exhibits excellence on the court and in the classroom:

Tournament teams improve APR scores
Associated Press
North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Connecticut share a No. 1 seeding in the NCAA tournament. Their graduation rates have less in common.

The numbers ranged from 86 percent at North Carolina to 33 percent at UConn, according to a report released Monday by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.

Louisville was at 42 percent and Pitt at 69 percent.

The study also found that fewer tournament teams have failing Academic Progress Rates than last year. Twenty-one of the 65 tournament teams have APR scores under 925, the cutoff below which the NCAA can penalize schools. Last year, 35 teams had APR scores below 925. (link)

Oh, and did I mention the Southern Belles?

Return to Chapel Hill

Had the opportunity to return to Blue Heaven over the weekend to see the Notre Dame Fighting Irish square off against the Tar Heels of my alma mater, the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

In an exciting matchup, the Heels ended up edging the Irish by a 29-24 margin that came down to the final whistle.

As great as the game was, it was secondary to the sights and sounds of the game in making this a fulfilling experience.

The Kenan Stadium PA announcer, "The Voice of the Tar Heels" needs to buy professional strength afrin. His nasal intonations grated on my nerves. I wanted to stab my eardrums with a pen when he would say "First DOOOOOOWOWOWOWOWOWOWO
WOWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
CaroLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINAAAAAAAAAAA"

There is nothing freakier than seeing fans decked out in Notre Dame gear and striking up a conversation with them only to get an answer in an accent straight out of Deliverance. "I'm from Albermarle...Some call it a sling blade, um huh. I like Jimmy Claussen."

Carolina football fans are a bigger wine and cheese crowd than our basketball fans. Seriously, we're the JV SEC when it comes to Southern football. Throughout the game, their ignorance of college football was readily apparent. Like when they demanded a roughing the kicker call when a Tar Heel player ran into their own kicker. Nice job.

Some gems from the obnoxious Carolina fan behind me:

1. "Go back to Raleigh!" To the ACC refs working the game, apparently they weren't partisan enough.
2. "And the Oscar goes to..." To the ND punter on a roughing the kicker call.
3. "Back to the North!" Anytime the 'Let's go Irish' chant started (get it? Let's go Irish... back to the North.)
4. "1861-1865; North 1, South 0" That was what Officer O'Brien said about the Carolina fan behind us.

Putting the exclamation point on Tar Heel Nation's poor performance was when fans threw lemons on the field as the last play of the game was being reviewed. Real classy.

GAME NOTES: Notre Dame integrated Kenan Stadium in 1953, it took the South a few years to catch up...I saw Hansbrough at Players Dance Club, but for some reason he wouldn't take a picture of me and the Victor brothers...Some girl on the line at Players thought Dash Victor (aka Mr. Jane Slater) was Spencer Pratt and asked for a photo with him:

Spencer!

In what happens to be the shock of the century, they closed BW-3 on Franklin Street...Blue Cups at He's Not Here are freaking big...The game started with a B-2 Flyover (probably piloted by an ND alum):