Game 16 of 122

Carolina (Raleigh, NC) Hurricanes vs Atlanta Thrashers

As mentioned in yesterday's blog, this weekend is filled with sports....Charlotte Bobcat's basketball on Friday night, Carolina Hurricanes hockey on Saturday night and the Super Bowl on Sunday (watching on TV, not attending, unfortunately).  My cousin Peter and I drove to Raleigh to see the Carolina Hurricanes take on the Atlanta Thrashers.

There are a couple of interesting pieces of information about this arena that make this game special in my efforts to raise money for the Jimmy V Foundation.

1.  The North Carolina State Wolfpack also play their basketball games in this arena.  North Carolina State is of course the team Jim Valvano coached to the 1983 National Championship (unfortunately, my view of the championship banner for that year was obstructed - it is just to the right of the 1974 banner).

2.  My grandfather's cousin played basketball for North Carolina State.  He has his number hanging from the rafters (Burleson, #24).  He was 7'2" tall and did play in the NBA at one point.

The first thing Peter and I noticed about this arena....the food.  They do it right here.  With some incredible options, including prime rib sandwiches, bar-b-q whatever and micro-brews.  Either way, the place smells unbelievable.  We settled on bar-b-q pork on top of nachos and cheese.....don't knock it until you try it.

We had pretty good seats in the lower level and saw plenty of action right in front of us.  We were surrounded by die-hard Hurricane fans who were extremely knowledgeable about the sport and the individual Hurricane players.  When these fans got upset with how the team was playing, they screamed at the players by first name, as if they were friends.  There was also a very good showing of Atlanta fans in the crowd as well, which made for a very exciting game, especially since both teams are currently fighting for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The game itself started out rather slow and was tied 1-1 after 2 periods.  However, in the 3rd period both teams scored twice, including the game-tying goal by the Thrashers with less than 2 minutes to play and an empty net.  I was kind of hoping to see a shoot-out, but the Hurricanes won it in OT.

My record for the home games of the teams I have seen play:  10-6.

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/christopher-apel/christopherapel

Official game box score.

Game 15 of 122

Charlotte Bobcats vs. Miami Heat (2/4/2011)

This trip was really about getting the chance to visit my uncle in North Carolina who, as I have mentioned before in another blog, is battling brain cancer.  This situation obviously puts additional meaning to attending this game as part of my efforts to raise money for cancer research (via the Jimmy V Foundation).  We have been looking at the schedule recently to see when we might be available to attend a game together on my list and this weekend seemed to work out perfectly. 



This game was the beginning of a sports weekend, which included the Bobcats game on Friday night, Carolina Hurricane game on Saturday night and watching the Super Bowl together on Sunday.

It was a very rainy and cold night, but we made the trip from Winston-Salem to Charlotte in enough time to grab a quick bite to eat at a local restaurant before the game (since we were too early to even get into the arena).  Once inside, we still had plenty of time to walk around the arena and take in all the attractions, which doesn't take long.....5 minutes to complete one lap, but my uncle needed to get in his daily exercise so it worked out really well to walk the arena, check out all the sites and catch up.

Our seats were not bad for the upper deck - 1st row.  The previous night, LaBron James for the Heat scored 51 points, but the Bobcats held him in check most of the night and he only finished with 19 points.  However, as everyone knows, the Heat have 3 big weapons and it was Dwayne Wade did the damage tonight....a triple double with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.






The Bobcats are not a great team, although owned by the greatest NBA player of all time - Michael Jordan, but they kept it very close until late, but they only hit 7 shots in the 4th quarter and Eddie House for Miami hit 3 straight 3-pointers to put the game out of reach.

This crowd here was much more passionate about their team than the Indiana Pacers, which I mentioned in last week's blog.  They were certainly fired up to beat the Heat, but it just wasn't meant to be tonight.  There was also a significant amount of Miami Heat fans in attendance as well.

It was another high-scoring game, much like last week's Pacers game, which results in another $206 for the Jimmy V Foundation.

My current record for the home teams in the games I have attended:  9-6
Box score of the game.

To learn about my fund-raising efforts, visit:  http://www.firstgiving.com/christopherapel