Author Archives: Joey

About Joey

While I cannot say lifelong (thanks, Dad), I am a long-time Tar Heel fan, '01 UNC grad, and consider myself just as passionate and knowledgable as the next guy. My wife, also a UNC alum, and I recently became first-time parents. I'm going to attempt to chronicle my personal struggle to come to grips with going from mouth-breathing Fanboy to only-somewhat-crazy Fan-Dad. The thoughts I share in this space are my own...though they may be heavily influenced by a lack of sleep.

The Passion of the Fan

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Joey
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Full disclosure: A UNC loss usually ruins my day, sometimes ruins a couple of days, and occasionally ruins my week. That is to say, it used to. Follow me, if you will.

Much of the reason that we sports fans exist lies in the emotional outlet that fandom provides. Sports gives us a chance to feel;  To inhale and exhale with each play, to live and die with each game. Sports opens a door to a room where we can suspend life for just a few hours, immerse ourselves in a contest, and live vicariously through the outcomes of our chosen team. Thus, the amount of your identity that is defined by fandom of a specific team is directly proportional to the degree with which you react to a win or loss. In essence, the bigger the fan, the greater the reaction to your team’s results. Which brings me back to my original thought: used to be, a Carolina loss would absolutely ruin a day/few days for me.  Likewise, a big win would put me on cloud nine for a period of time, also.

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Basketball Won’t Go Away

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Joey
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Each week, contributor and new parent Joey will post his thoughts as he undergoes the transformation from fanboy to father.

You probably saw the title of this post, and immediately began an inner-monologue, railing against me and what I stand for: “What in the hell is he thinking? I’ve waited since late spring for hoops to return. The NBA is locked-out, but I’ve finally got college ball to watch, and now this clown wants it to leave?!? What the…”  Just bear with me.

I’ve never said it in this space, but I won’t try to influence my daughter’s fandom. I’ll let her pick her allegiances on her own if/when she ever decides to do so. That said, she’s going to have a hard time ignoring the looming presence that Carolina basketball has had on her life, even before she took her first breath.

I’ve never been very close to the program. I’ve known folks who worked for the team. I’ve been lucky enough through various avenues in my life to have some access to the program. But, for a guy who for the most part, is just a rabid fan of Carolina Basketball, the nuance that has permeated my young adulthood/marriage/early fatherhood is pretty curious. No, I didn’t get to name her Raysheed McHarrisonbrough, but somehow, my personal road has intersected with Carolina hoops in some quite ironic ways. A few examples, if I may:  Continue reading →

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The Thirty-something Pledge

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Joey
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Each week, contributor and new parent Joey will post his thoughts as he undergoes the transformation from fanboy to father.

So I don’t think I’ve ever missed being to my seats at Kenan for a kickoff. If I’m going to the game, it’s just planned that we leave our tailgate in enough time to get to our seats before the kick. Most of the time, we’re there to see the team come out of the tunnel, but definitely by the time the opening kick is in the air.

I willingly jeopardized that this past weekend.

We got a late start up to the stadium. After a great tailgate of an old-fashioned pig-pickin’, it took a while to shut everything down. Nonetheless, our group meandered hurriedly through Kenan toward our seating section. We’d already been cut off by security as they escorted some hosted recruits to their seats. But none of those things actually made me late to my seat.

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Growing Up and Cooling Down

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Joey
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Each week, contributor and new parent Joey will post his thoughts as he undergoes the transformation from fanboy to father.

I’m pretty sure that somewhere in most dictionary definitions of “fandom”, you’ll find the word “fanatic” or “fanatically.” Thus, it only makes sense that when it comes to a person’s team of choice, emotions run as hot as the face of the sun.

I assumed everyone was like me…my team loses, I get pissed off.  If my team loses a game they were supposed to win, I get really pissed off. If my team loses to end the season, it takes me a while to get over it (I’ve often argued that the day Carolina loses in the NCAA Tourney precedes the worst day of the year for me, with regard to sports). Honestly, if I walk out of Kenan Stadium and Carolina has just dropped a game, I really feel that no one should be smiling, talking, or enjoying life, whatsoever.  Fans should live and die with every loss, right?

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UNC v. Louisville: A Great First Half

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Joey
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Each week, contributor and new parent Joey will post his thoughts as he undergoes the transformation from fanboy to father.

I have to say, this past week’s game in Kenan that pitted Carolina against Louisville was one of the best, most enjoyable halves of football I’ve experienced in a while.

(I’ll wait as even the fringe football fan scratches his/her head in confusion)

I mean what I just said. Saturday, October the 8th was not only my favorite football game experience this year, it may be my favorite ever.

Right now, undoubtedly you’re recalling that there were no points scored in the first half of that game. Both offenses were atrocious. It was about as eventful as a Friday night in your local monastery. I’m pretty sure that of the hundreds of people who actually attended the game, I saw a minimum of 2 who were asleep in their seats. Regardless, the game was an absolute blast.

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When Worlds Collide (in a Parking Lot)

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Joey
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Each week, contributor and new parent Joey will post his thoughts as he undergoes the transformation from fanboy to father.

Last week in this space, I shared with you my own personal enlightenment upon tearing down my man-cave. This entire transition from Delirium to Dad has its perks, too. One of which is coming to fruition this very weekend.

I’ve become somewhat of a Tailgate freak. Go ahead and make your jokes about there being no tailgating at Carolina football games, tailgating in a parking deck, etc. Trust me, I’ve heard them all. I’ve also personally disproved all of those stereotypes over the last seven or eight years.

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Deconstructing Fandom…literally.

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Joey
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Each week, contributor and new parent Joey will post his thoughts as he undergoes the transformation from fanboy to father.

I’ve got to confess: I wanted to start out with some great literary comparison that I could juxtapose for this entry. I thought about various novels, tales from religion, historical feats, and the like. I had the idea that citing some examples from any famous Coming-of-Age tale would help illuminate just where I’m going with this.

Then I realized that was stupid, fake, and probably wouldn’t really depict what I was trying to say anyway. So I’ll just get to the real story…

One of the main things that will be a refrain in this space is what I’ve had to give up or let go of, in order to make an honest attempt at being ready for fatherhood. I’m very aware that this phenomenon isn’t unique; everyone goes through it, and it’s going to be different for everyone’s own individual experience(s).

For me perhaps, there was no more significant and symbolic act of transformation toward fatherhood, than turning my man-cave into a nursery for a baby girl.

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A Pilgrimage Into a Sea of Orange

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Joey
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 Each week, contributor and new parent Joey will post his thoughts as he undergoes the transformation from fanboy to father.

Any time you learn about a major event in your life, there comes a relative shift in your planning around that event. Think about it: you either take some time off of work for a move, clear your calendar around the holidays, train for weeks before a half-marathon, etc. If there’s a big to-do coming, chances are you’re going to incur some transitional time on either side of it.

On November 6, I learned that we were expecting our first child. From that date forward, I began viewing the most trivial of things in a “last gasp” light. I’d imagine that for most guys, you feel this twice: before marriage, and before the birth of your first kid. For example: “This is the last time as a single guy that I’ll be able to drive to get Gas Station Sushi and a Yoo-Hoo in my gym shirt and flip-flops.” Or, “This is the last time my wife and I can skip town last-minute and spend three days following a Styx tribute band through Iowa.” In that vein, I had a fairly strong feeling that as those nine months fell off of the calendar, “Guy Weekends” would begin going the way of the Dodo.

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Inception/Conception

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Joey
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Please welcome new contributor Joey, with thoughts on fandom and parenthood.

Since I arrived as a freshman at Chapel Hill in the fall of 1997, I’ve based most (if not all) of my social calendar around Carolina Sports, with heavy emphasis placed on football and basketball. If there was a Tar Heel game being played, I was either there in person, or planted in front of a television watching it. Hell, I had to get my wife to assure me that we could accommodate our wedding guests by arranging for a meaningless UNC/UVA conference basketball game in February to be on an accessible television. Bear in mind, this was a wedding reception that was held on-campus at UNC at the Carolina Inn, during which our guest mingled with Dean Smith, Bill Guthridge, James Worthy, and other Carolina Hoops dignitaries (Naismith Ceremony at halftime of the game). Long story short, a huge chunk of my identity is wrapped around my fandom.

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