2005 Men's Division I Basketball National Championship

2005 Men's NCAA Division I Tournament Brackets 04 April 2005

Go Heels! I am so very happy that this Tar Heel team won the 2005 National Title. The players have had a rough road to get here. Some players were subjected to tremendous criticism and few of our players received the true recognition for the caliber of their talent.

This team wanted this title. They earned it! There is no better dream.

The metaphor of the sudden death tournament and the consistent excellence in the UNC program have kept me alive for nearly 2 decades by getting me through the doldrums of winter and the tragedies of AIDS within my community. If I had ever given up, I would not have experienced the happiness of seeing this team prove itself this season. I would have missed the post-game conversations with my 80 year-old Mom where we talked about how our hearts were functioning and to make sure we were still doing "ok" after the closer games.

Congratulations, Coach Roy Williams! Congratulations Team! Congratulations to our Seniors who experienced it all...what a wonderful lesson for you! Congratulations to the program for reaching a record 16th Final Four and a 4th National Championship! I knew you were all special from December on. Lastly, congratulations my old friends, Ralph, Jamie, Kenny, Donald. I know you would have been cheering us along. Somewhere you must be smiling.

I do have a few idiosyncracies about how I watch a UNC game. I found I need to watch the games alone. I watched one game with a friend this year and we lost to Duke. My friend cheered for Duke to get my goat and he managed to succeed. Watching him dance out of my house convinced me that I am just fine alone when the teams are on the court.

I have to fill out my brackets on the same page throughout the tournament using the same pen that I started with after the end of the first game. I used to have to wear the same shirt for all games. Its luck turned sour on me, so when I saw two of my social heros in a film called "The Making of '1 Giant Leap'" and watched Duncan Bridgeman rip a comfortable "travelling t-shirt" off Jamie Catto's back as they entered an airport, I decided what to do. I sent him my lucky Tar Heel t-shirt along with a poundcake to London before they set out on their "2sides2everything" world tour of filming. When I later met Jamie, in New Orleans, he was wearing my old, holey, well-worn and comfortable t-shirt under his jacket. I learned that giving yourworn-out good luck charms to somone you admire returns your good karma in large quantities and in many forms. I still won't pronounce any game over until the buzzer has sounded, because I know what can happen...and, I have seen miracles.

We're Tar Heel Born and Tar Heel Bred and When We Die We'll be Tar Heel Dead!
So Rah Rah Carolina, lina. Rah, rah, Carolina, lina, Rah rah Carolina!
Go Tar Heel Blue!

Categories: sports basketball UNC+Chapel+Hill Tar+Heels National+Championship 1+Giant+Leap HIV/AIDS