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I haven’t been an active poster on any of the messages boards, but I do read everything that is written. I wanted to somehow put this on the home page of SFN, but I’m not sure how to make it happen. I’ve included a reference link, but I’m not sure that it worked. Any admins are free to move it to the front page if they would be so kind.
Laying in bed tonight I came across this post-game interview. I wanted to post it on here because I haven’t seen it posted anywhere else. I have a little story to tell. I was born in ’88 so for all of my memory State has been on the verge of good to great, only to break our hearts in the end. I’ve only known life as a State fan since I’ve known life itself. I bleed RED and WHITE. I leap with joy when we are successful and I’ve nearly been in tears when we’ve suffered some of the heart-breaking defeats. Losing some of the games that could have put us over the top have literally ruined entire weeks for me. When Mike Glennon beat FSU in Raleigh, I sat cross legged on the floor in front of the television and rocked back and forth until the final whistle blew. I grew up with a father and three uncles that all graduated from State. I grew up with a passion for the color red, and a pure hatred for blue. When my first child was born March 9th 2013, I held him in the hospital room and we watched the State/FSU game. I refused to let his mother put anything blue in his room. For the baby showers, I made it known that anything blue would be returned. My wife thinks I am nuts. She thinks my family is nuts. She thinks we fans are nuts. You see, she is from Rochester, NY. She grew up a Syracuse “fan” and I use the term loosely. She says when someone devotes entire rooms in their homes to a college team, they are crazy. My parents have two rooms in their house that are strictly red (to include my old bedroom that has a hand-painted 3′ tall strutting wolf that my father did). I have one room in my house. She doesn’t understand that my mood can solely fluctuate based on the outcome of a game. She doesn’t understand me. But she does love me so it’s okay. Tonight she left and went next door while I watched the game with my now one year old son on my lap (btw he stayed up for the entire game). As my wife and I laid in bed hours after the game, I came across this post-game interview. After watching Coach show such emotion, I began reflecting. I turned to my wife and said, “You may think I am crazy. You may think I am nuts but you just don’t understand. All my life I’ve only known one way of life. I’ve watched Survive and Advance more times than I am willing to admit. I’ve never known the feeling of what being a Champion but there is something special going on here. 30 years ago, a group of guys believed in themselves when nobody else would. They defied all odds and became champions. The ’83 team changed the month of March forever. They changed all of college basketball forever. They were the original Cinderella team. This team is going to be special, as long as they believe. I believe in them.” I nearly got as emotional as Coach did. I truly do believe in this team. They have the personnel. They have the leadership. They just have to believe. All we need is to have a chance, and we WILL succeed. Something special is happening with OUR team, and I can’t wait to tell my son about it when he is old enough to understand. Sit back and enjoy the ride everyone.
Survive and Advance.
Don’t give up. Don’t EVER give up.Thanks for sharing, very cool story and video. Most people in this world won’t understand what it is to be an NC State fan, especially those like you and me who haven’t witnessed any great success. I was born in ’84 and wasn’t a State fan until I was enrolled there in ’04, and my fondest memory was Julius Hodge jumping on the scorers’ table beating his chest after beating UCONN in the NCAA tournament. That’s the highlight of my short lived NC State fandom.
I’m like you, I love NC State athletics, and I’m extremely excited about Wolfpack basketball, now and future. I love seeing Gott in the moment, and really realizing his passion. The man gets it, and he knows what he is doing. Very excited to see what this team can do, and where he can take this program in the future.
^Thanks for sharing your stories.
Gottfried’s genuine emotion after the game is just awesome.
My girlfriend has never been more than a casual sports fan and doesn’t understand my rabid-ness while following N.C. State either hahaha. But that will change 🙂
Some of us who are a little older do probably take for granted the good times of the past since it’s been so long since we’ve had a championship of any kind. I had ’83 and ’87, others had those plus ’74 and more. Hard to believe it’s been almost 30 years since an ACC title. While it may not mean as much as it once did, it is more than time to change that fact and give the younger generation of fans something to hang their hat on 🙂
^ OP.. nice..
Every Team is a mirror image of it’s Coach.
What you see if what you GOTT.
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Texpack Sr. is a BSME from the class of 1950. He is 85 years old. He is the reason I love college basketball. I don’t know how many more basketball seasons he has left. I just want to make that phone call Sunday afternoon and hear him answer, “Go State!”
Some of us who are a little older do probably take for granted the good times of the past
I appreciate the good times of the past more now than I did at the time. What I don’t always appreciate is how hard State’s lack of success has been on students over the past 25 years.
The media created the “Cardiac Pack” theme and then combined it with the V-legacy as time has gone on. What gets lost are the real lessons that we should learn from the 1983 team….overcoming adversity, the value of hard work, the importance of talented kids, and the importance of a great bench coach. I will always contend that the ’83 championship was not a Cinderella story.
That team was good and everyone knew it at the time. Most of the losses came when the leading scorer was hurt. After Whitt came back, State was a different team and it showed up on the scoreboard. State played 10 games against teams that were ranked #1 sometime during that season. If my memory holds, here are the results:
UNC (with Jordan) 2-1
UVA (with Sampson) 2-2
Louisville 0-1
UNLV 1-0
Houston 1-0That’s a 6-4 record against the best teams in the country….not named NC State.
^great post VaWolf…
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
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