Summit On The Sound

BobLee
January22/ 2000

…. It wasn’t an “Accord” since there were no warring parties nor anyone named Achmed.  There are no written records of any of the conversations.  Just five guys getting together because Cuzzin Bobby invited us to.  All of society’s plagues, pestilences, misplaced priorities and situational ethics are still in play. … But it was a good thing.  /  BobLee checks the coaching carrousel and latest “oh me, oh my” lists.

JUST ANNOUNCED …. Paul Johnson to GaTech.  A Perfect Fit.  He joins TO’B and Jim Grobe as “solid football guys” who are not rock stars and not intimidated by “rock stars”.   Gonna be real interesting to watch.

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   The Prince …. The Dentist …. The Legend …. The Skipper …. and Cuzzin Bobby just sitting around talking for three days.

 Albert Long, Danny Lotz, BobLee, and Clyde King were invited “to da beach” earlier this week by Bob Bryan.  Several years ago Bob renovated his family’s “beach cottage” on Bogue Sound into near’bout the most comfortable “just sit around and talk” place you could imagine.  Architecturally it could hold its own with any ostentatious “look at me” beach house on Figure Eight or Bald Head except Bobby and Gerri poured a ton and a half of love and genuineness into their place.

Bobby and Gerri wanted a place for their three daughters, sons-in-law and assorted grandchildren to enjoy …. and, I rather suspect, Cuzzin Bobby wanted a place to host exactly what happened this week.  By the way …. I call him Cuzzin Bobby because his name is Bobby and he’s my cuzzin.  I could call him Herb Sendek or Gail Goestenkors but that wouldn’t make any sense.

Bob is from Goldsboro and Fayetteville and parlayed throwing the javelin at Carolina in the late 50s into a successful career in the oil bidness.

 

If “the best laid schemes o’ mice an ‘men gang aft agley” then maybe just “ya’ll come on down to Morehead next week” is about as structured as life should be to be geniune.  There was no agenda …. No name badges …. No 3-ring binders …. No itinerary.  When Albert, Danny and I arrived, Gerri pointed us to various bedrooms and that was about as “tell us what to do” as it got.

A few months ago a friend of mine got a call from Dick Cheney (yeah, “that Dick Cheney”) inviting him out to Montana for dinner.  Who hasn’t gotten that call, right?  So I asked my buddy what he was taking as a hostess gift for Lynn.  “I am the gift” was his reply but I rather suspect a bottle o’ vino was involved that had the market value of a Toyota Camry.  With that in mind, Mizzus loaded me down with a cooler full of snacks and foodstuff.  That was great because it required a visit to Costco which is always good for general attitude adjustment.  If Costco would build condos above their acres and acres of stuff I believe I could live there …. If they had cable and wireless internet.

So back to our Summit On The Sound ….. we all just “sat around and talked” for 2+ days.  If you are thinking “wow, that’s cool.  I think I’ll do one of those …”  A conversational buffet only works if all the participants have something interesting to say and all the other participants are as predisposed to listening as they are to talking.  That sounds simple enough ….. it isn’t.

A conversational buffet …. Root canal surgery …. A lecture …. It’s a delicate balance.  None of us gave the mechanics of this the slightest thought.  It just happened.

   Since we all knew each other to varying degrees there was no awkwardness at all, quite the opposite.  The friendly barbs and jibes were as prolific as the peanuts, hushpuppies, Pepsi and Dr Pepper.  …. Uh, what about the beer, whiskey, cigars and ribald stories of past sexcapades?  I guess we flunked the “guys weekend” test there.

All of us share that “Christian” walk the walk thingie.  Uh oh ….. yeah, it was four power hitters for Jesus swinging for the fences and yours truly, the humble back-sliding utility infielder, choking up on the bat just trying to make contact.  Five fellows who (1) weren’t born yesterday, (2) who attended Carolina and (3) who have lived rather interesting lives.  Incidentally, my favorite University President heard about our little get-together and wants to be invited next time.  That’s up to Cuzzin Bobby …. I just do what I’m told.  You know me.

This was NOT a “Big Chill” sensitivity psycho-babble thing at all.  Just five guys with enough in common that we intertwined in a pleasant fashion.  Five guys incredibly blessed to have enjoyed “interesting lives”.

If you recognize the names I mentioned, you can imagine the assorted Forrest Gump historical scope of our conversation.  The “been there …. done thats” were off the charts.  If you do not recognize the names, you probably don’t do well at Jeopardy and dragging you thru the past 60 years of American history, especially sports, would be too tedious. ….. there was Yogi and Frank McGuire and Rush and Billy Graham and Jorge Posada and the Sheik of Abu Dhabi and all sorts of Hall of Famers and Presidents and mega-Moguls and such.

…… just five guys getting together at “da beach” and talking ……

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   Of course Kenan Goes Kondo hit the cyber loonie bins like a Category Five hurricane.  I don’t visit “the premium boards” but I’m told an entirely new obscenity vocabulary was created in my honor by the spittle-spewing loonies.  Will the honors never cease?  It doesn’t take much to explode that crowd but the reality that “people who really matter” do indeed read this little ol’ website seems to bother’em to no end.  As well it should.

Can BobLee actually change the course of mighty rivers or stop UNC from pulling a Thelma & Louise in the sports arms race?  Probably not.  Until the Fat Cats stop feeding the vicarious addiction of the rank & file, the rank & file will continue to expect lots of “big time football” bling bling.  ….. When/If the Fat Cats say “no more ….. you want it – you build it”.  THEN the dynamics will change ….. the “gimme gimme” will dry up real quick …. but not until then.
I have no druthers either way whether Kenan Stadium seats 60-70-100,000, has a retractable roof, padded seats, or cup holders.  That the luring of semi-literate 18 y/o fleet foots to Chapel Hill causes adults with lots of $$$$ to continually part with lots of their $$$$ is a darn curious “how come ya reckon they do that?”.  

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   The Legend of Jim Grobe as poster boy for “the coach that everyone wishes their coach was like”  just grows and grows and grows.

Yes, he ended up with more money but he left “a double Butch ransom” ($700,000) on the table in Arkansas.  I was not in the late-night meeting he had with Wellman but I bet the raise was because he chose to stay NOT to hopefully rent his loyalty for another year.  A not subtle difference.

Any day now Arkansas and Michigan will get “the guy we wanted all along”.  Because “that guy” is who every body always says they got.  And the phrases “great academics” and “graduate players” will echo thru the press conference when the new “wanted all along guy” is introduced.  And the media will giggle.

With Paul Johnson at GaTech, I like Steve Logan for Duke and Karl Dorrell or Jeff Bowers for SMU.

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 Jim Grobe actually did once LEAVE a Head Coaching job?  

Which one?

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   Marian The Librarian won the heart of Professor Hill.

   In our little beach confab we did speculate whether Wilson Library OR The Hospital, or both, should be demolished next as UNC embarks on its BCS Or Bust campaign.  I vote for The Library.  With the Internet who needs all those dumb books anyway.

   Snazzy new graphics have magically appeared at the top of this website compliments of the whizbang techie gals at Pointshop.com.  Just part of the ever-evolving life of BobLeeSays ….. like a shark …. we never stop moving forward otherwise we sink.

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