OMG, the Stanford Women’s Basketball end of the year banquet was yesterday, and although C and R couldn’t be there, bummer of bummers, our intrepid NOF (number one fan) could (and she plugged our blog to Nneka Ogwumike! When we get T-shirts made, we are giving her a free one!). Here is her report, edited by us, which means lots of typos, with C and R’s (unnecessary and obtrusive) comments in parenthesis.
Hi, C and R,
I wish you could have come to the banquet (us too!), it was a lot of fun. There were somewhere between 250 and 300 people there, fans, players, staff --which is extensive, including bus driver and Jimmy V--, family. It's very different seeing everyone out of uniform - players in mufti, fans dressed up - only Tara looks the same in her suits.
We chatted with people we recognized and stared at the players as they arrived. They look so different dressed up and with their hair down!! Jayne was there and looked great in sweater and jeans. Jeanette arrived in a short, tight skirt and what seemed like six inch heels. Kayla looked lovely, and much more slender--and somehow taller!-- than I expected in a tee shirt and skirt with sandals. Hannah had a very tight, short black dress and long scarf. It was interesting to see what they each chose to wear. JJ was on crutches but still looking fab in short skirt and tank top..... (okay, we don’t want to be one of those blogs that concentrates on women’s fashions when it comes to women athletes, but we love visualizing what these young women choose to wear when not in uniform, so there, it’s appropriate).
So we gawked at people, but only talked with other fans prior to the dinner starting. But we had paid EXTRA to sit at a table with a player, so were kind of excited to see who that would be when we went in to the main dining room. Amazing!!! We were at Nneka's table!! (AHHHGH, you’re killin’ us!!) It was incredible. She looked great in a gray top, short, full black skirt and lots of silver necklaces. She was charming and gracious to everyone at the table, none of whom she had previously met (OMG, we think she is amazing and no wonder we love her so much!!). We rotated people around during the different courses so everyone would get a chance to sit next to her, I felt like a really amateur stalker (good girl) because when my turn came I only had silly questions about her courses, plans for the summer, etc. She had an allergic reaction to something in the salad, so had to go off in search of allergy medicine and couldn't eat any more of the meal, and boy, was she a good sport about all of that, even though her stomach was hurting and she couldn't swallow... (we suspect the pinenuts). BTW, I did ask if she read your blog (good girl again). She said no,(ECK!) she hadn't heard of it, but sounded interested... (Hee hee, a big C and R shout out to you, Nneka, if your there, look at the archives for this year because we think you are in every post, we also think you are great and we are the stalkers who with our little girl’s team got your autograph many times this year!)
Tara did a very nice job with all the thank yous, introductions and commentaries about each member of the team. She told us she was worried about being emotional because she choked up writing her notes, but she toughed it out in the event. It was very moving when she thanked the three seniors--JJ and Mel came up with the Juniors to be introduced, so they are definitely coming back (YES!). Tara said that in her thirty plus years of coaching, the best gift she ever got from a player came from Michelle Harrison, and she brought it to show us. It was a picture Michelle drew of Tara's dog, Scout, a thirteen year old golden retriever. It was a great picture and it obviously means a lot to Tara. She told about how exciting it was when Jayne accepted and how she could remember it so clearly she knew what she was wearing that day. She also told the very cute story of Jayne asking her to keep it secret because Jayne wanted her dad to find out where she was going when he read it in the papers--those Appels are jokers!. Tara was also very effusive about Ros and what an awesome defensive player she is. She went through game by game, how Ros stopped the top scorers. The three seniors each spoke and I cried when Jayne talked--like at least half the room (BAWHAHA, please pass the tissues, C and R are bawling right now just imaging it).
This year they did not do individual awards because they felt it was a total team effort (Wow, cool!). But the team did vote for the famous and historic Lizard Lung award, which went to Hannah Donague, the first time it ever went to an upper classman. Sarah Boothe told about when they were getting ready to go to Italy, and they were all reminded what they needed to bring, including a passport, and Hannah was confused because she thought they needed a different passport for each country they were going to... And when they went to play in Washington, Hannah asked what time zone it was in... And, three months after the fact, Hannah had no idea what was going on with Tiger Woods... Sounded like there was a lot more to the award, actually, the team was clearly all in support of this...
And they showed a highlights video. It was nice. But kind of sad too. God, we'll miss Jayne. And Ros. But Jayne... (Jayne!) But Sarah will be back. And we're gonna have a great team. And lots of people will step up... Oh, well, back to the off season.
Hope you guys are well. Take care. See you in November at the first game.
Cheers. –SA
(NOF)
This weekend, we here from our junior bloggers how the awards ceremony went from their eighth-grade point of view. They first had to have a sleepover to write it, gosh, isn’t that cute!
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