My father was tough on me growing up. I was the oldest son and I believe he was tougher on me than he was my brother and my two sisters. My father and I were very different people. He was a man of the outdoors and I preferred reading a good book to holding a fishing pole in my hands.
The one thing that my father and I were able to bond over was the North Carolina Tarheels, especially the basketball team. Pops had been following the Tarheels since the 1957 Championship team of Head Coach Frank McGuire and Lennie Rosenbluth. He and I disagreed on Dean Smith as a Coach. He thought Coach Smith was a great innovator and teacher but lousy at the X's and O's during a game. I thought Coach Smith was the standard at which all other coach's should be measured.
Growing up I was regaled with stories of Billy Cunningham (my Dad's favorite player), Charlie Scott, Bob McAdoo, Phil Ford, and Mike O'Koren. I remember watching Phil Ford and Mike O'Koren play and Pops and I watched the 1982 Championship game together and we celebrated when they won it all. It was more about the basketball than it was the football and we watched as many games as possible together. Pops passed away in 2007 and when the Tarheels won it again in 2009, there was a big element missing for me and that was Pops wasn't there to celebrate.
I hardly ever missed a Tarheel basketball game until Pops passed away in the middle of the 2006-07 season. He passed away at the end of January and I don't think I watched a game for the rest of that season. The excitement just wasn't there any more and even eight years later, it is not as exciting as it used to be. Happy Father's Day, Pops! I miss watching the games with you.
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