said that I would love to, but that my wife absolutely had to come with me. Even though it was an all-guy outing, I told Bobby there was no way on God's green earth I could go to a basketball game without Sandy. She’s a big-time hoops fan (especially when it comes to her University of Kentucky Wildcats). Her dad ingrained it in her at a young age. In fact, if you cut her veins, she not only growls; she bleeds Kentucky blue. But she loves basketball in general, regardless of who's playing.
Sandy & I met our busload of Mount Hermon guys & chaperones at Averett’s gym. The hometown Cougars, with an 8-8 won-lost record, were taking on the league-leading Shenandoah University Hornets, at 12-3. The game started slow & it looked like it was going to be a long, long night. Shenandoah couldn’t hit their foul shots & the 
seemingly timid Averett squad couldn’t hit anything but their foul shots! More than halfway through the first half, the score was a surprisingly anemic 16-8, with the hometown team on the low end of the spectrum. It looked doubtful that Averett would even score 20 points by halftime. But then, all of a sudden, it was like somebody waved a magic wand and Averett became more aggressive and started finding the 
bucket. By the end of the first half—faster than you can say Mike Krzyzewski—the score had reversed dramatically to 34-24, with Averett now in command. Throughout the second half, Averett continued their domination, ultimately coasting to a 77-54 win. What started out as a snoozer wound up as a pretty exciting Averett win.Anyway, here are my various & sundry observations from the game:
1. Averett has a nice gymnasium for a school its size. Very nice, new and clean. Good location & parking availability.
2. Not a lot of people seem to go to Averett games. The official recorded attendance was 249, but with all the empty seats, and everyone all spread out, the size of the crowd seemed even less than that. I believe you could have taken a short trip down the road and found a larger crowd at the local Wal-Mart. 3. Averett only has 5 cheerleaders. That’s about the smallest cheerleading squad I’ve ever seen. I wondered, is it that hard to make this squad, or did only five students try out?
4. Mr. Cougar—the school mascot—didn’t show up until the second half. Hmm. Maybe he got caught in a traffic jam at Wal-Mart. But, once he arrived, I didn’t miss the chance for a photo-op with him.
5. Averett has at least one enthusiastic group of diehard fans. A very eclectic costumed group of students paraded in just before the opening tip-off. They made the most noise all night. The menagerie included two Roman gladiators brandishing swords—
(leftovers from an Easter pageant, perhaps?)—an Irish Leprechaun in a glittery green top hat—(a castoff from St. Patrick’s Day, possibly?),—a half-dressed guy with an old man mask, another guy waving a hastily spray-painted “A.U.” flag, and two guys dressed as giant condiment bottles—Mr. Mustard & Mr. Ketchup. Sounds strange, I know, but you had to be there. At times, especially early on in the game, they were more exciting than what was happening on the basketball floor.
6. Saturday also was BB&T night at the game. I kept
wondering why I was seeing so many bank employees in attendance. Several familiar faces from the bank were there, including a number of bankers that attend Mount Hermon. Unfortunately, they didn't bring along any samples from the vault to distribute to the fans.
7. Averett’s tallest player is “only” 6’ 7”. Yes, I know, that’s a whole foot taller than me (!), but that’s still kind of short for a “big man” in college basketball these days.
8. Averett has one international player. A 6’ 6” backup center from the Netherlands, not 
necessarily a place known for its stellar basketball. Several years ago, however, we took our son Jordan to Indianapolis to his first ever NBA game to see his then-favorite team, the Indiana Pacers, and their center was a big blonde guy from the Netherlands named Rik Smits. He had a gawky 7’4” frame and was known as “The Flying Dutchman.” So, whenever Averett’s only international player made a good play, I referred to him as “The Flying Dutchman,” which caused a few raised eyebrows around me, I'm sure.
9. Our own C. J. Robertson was invited to engage in a halftime shooting competition. C. J. made enough buckets to secure a $10 gift certificate from Ham’s Restaurant. Yea, C. J., that makes you a professional now!
10. Kids like to eat & talk more than watch the ballgame. The concession stand folks were delighted that we brought our group. A few of our younger guys made more runs back & forth from the 
bleachers to the concession stand than some of the reserve players made up & down the hardwood all night. I don’t know which ran out first, the game clock or the money in our kids’ pockets. Good thing we didn’t go into overtime! But, after the game, for good measure, we stopped at CiCi’s Pizza & ate again.
Well, there you have it. No great spiritual insights to share in this particular blog posting, but—as they always used to say in the last line of my hometown paper’s society column—“…and a good time was had by all.” And so it was.
Pastor Danny
