Half the fun of the SEC Basketball Tournament is getting there

Is another NCAA title run in the works for the Gators? (Photo by Chris Spears)

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Road tripping to the Southeastern Conference Basketball Tournament. Half the fun is getting here.

It was about 7:45 when I left the continental United States. The once-thriving outlet mall at Lake Park, Georgia is 95 percent empty. I know it’s empty because there used to be a Polo store there and my car didn’t automatically take a right turn to get off I-75. South Georgia still has numerous Stuckey’s. Back in the day before there was an interstate highway and the way north was on sometimes 4-lane highways that often went through small towns with speed limits of 17 or 22 miles per hour, we used to beg our parents to stop at Stuckey’s. If we still had Christmas or birthday cash from grandparents, we treated ourselves to their famous pecan logs. I wonder if Stuckey’s still has pecan logs or if it’s simply Stuckey’s in name only?

Heavy storms between Hahira and Warner Robins. Got a weather warning in my car and on my phone. Passing through Fort Valley, I’m reminded of one of my favorite Gators ever – Jaquez Green – and Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame O-lineman Rayfield Wright. I’m also reminded of the infamous basketball game between Fort Valley State and Savannah State in the spring of 1973. Six or seven Fort Valley players fouled out, leaving just five to finish the game. When another one fouled out, SSU coach Mike Backus pulled a player to make it a 4-on-4 game. When the game ended mercifully, it was 3-on-3. Could have been 2-on-2, but the zebras let a couple of Fort Valley muggings go.

Buccee’s in Warner Robins. Brisket and a side order of the best beef jerky on the planet for breakfast but first time to recycle a 32-ounce travel cup’s worth of coffee. Just doing my part for the environment. Washing my hands, the attendant I notice is taking pride in his work. I thank him for his hard work and say “God bless.” He smiles, thanks me for the nice words and then we talk for three or four minutes. “Some people may laugh that I am a bathroom attendant, but I get paid twice what I made at Walmart and I get some overtime. Couldn’t get a job at the Air Force base because I didn’t have the connections. This place is a lifesaver. I can support my family with my paycheck and this place stays so busy that I know I’ll have a good paycheck.” I compliment him on the joy he takes in a job that a lot of folks consider beneath them. “Any job that you can work hard, give the folks an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, is a good job. I don’t care what no one else says.” I leave Buccee’s with a tank full of gas, a brisket sandwich, Korean barbecue flavored beef jerky, a sugar free Dr. Pepper and a smile because the guy cleaning the bathroom took joy in his work.

Atlanta. Always tons of fun getting through particularly when the Emory Health ambulance bobs and weaves its way through traffic like it’s a Formula 1 race. He’s followed by a couple of police cars sirens blaring. These guys are real pros. No accidents. No fender benders. No slammed on brakes. Just a 25-minute excursion through the heart of Atlanta. I miss the days when the SEC Tournament and the NCAA (2007) were held at the Georgia Dome. In 2007 Joakim Noah nearly caused Verne Lundquist to have a major coronary with his dance moves after the Gators beat Arkansas to win the SEC. Three weeks later, it was all business as the Gators bushwhacked UCLA and then Ohio State for the title. I remember the Oh-Fours sitting on the podium as “One Shining Moment” played. Corey Brewer mouthed the words and teared up. A year later, the Oh-Fours and Lee Hump gone, the Gators were playing Alabama on Thursday night when a tornado ripped through Atlanta and ripped holes in the fiberglass dome. The bolt missed my head by inches. When Tim Casey and I departed an hour later we were astonished at the damage that had been done outside the stadium. Georgia beat Kentucky on Friday over at Georgia Tech, then the Poodles vanquished Mississippi State and Arkansas, both games played on Saturday. It was Dennis Felton’s finest hour, a good coach who made the mistake of coaching at Georgia which really had no commitment to good basketball.

Next stop Buccee’s in Dalton where the gas is 40 cents a gallon cheaper. It’s noon-time and buses full of high school and college kids heading to Florida for spring break unload. An already croweded Buccee's is standing room only . There must be 500 people inside getting food and shopping, another 200 waiting in line to get into the bathrooms and all 150 gas pumps have lines. This is WaWa on steroids.

Chattanooga. This is where the adventure begins. I get off I-75 for I-24 and that’s when Waze tells me there have been two accidents ahead. I’m re-routed. I see parts of Chattanooga I’ve never seen before and then with one right turn, I pass the entrance to Ruby Falls and Lookout Mountain. Haven’t been to those places since 1963. An hour since the detour I hit railroad tracks. The gate goes down and the lights blink. Everybody stops. Then the lights stop blinking and the gate goes up. Two cars make it across, then the lights and gate go to work again. I’m seventh in line. One car at a time from each direction . This reminds me of “The Karate Kid.” Wax on. Wax off. When it’s my turn finally I dash across. Prayerfully. The way Chattanooga is going, I think the train is finally going to come roaring through. Lucky for me, another false alarm. The road across the tracks may be the one they use to test the effect of potholes on cars. Then comes the line … at least 200 ahead of me before I take a right turn onto another 2-lane road that is 10 miles from I-24 … where they are cleaning up from another wreck. Ya-hoo.

The drive to Nashville. I catch the end of the Missouri-Kentucky game on Sirius XM. I’m actually happy that it’s going to be Kentucky. The thought of beating the Mildcats three times in one year goes beyond my fondest dreams. Auburn takes off like a Roman candle against Tennessee, but like a Roman candle it burns out. The Vols win. They were going to get into the NCAA anyway so I wanted Auburn to win so the SEC would get another school in the Big Dance.

Nashville. I get boxed in by a couple of semis and go a full exit beyond where I’m supposed to get off. Once I get off and try to turn around, I get cut off at the light by this guy in a huge pickup. He sticks his head out the window, gives me the finger. To paraphrase the immortal words of Dandy Don Meredith, “I’m still No. 1!” Somehow I don’t think he meant it quite that way. I’m just glad he didn’t hit my car.

Checking in. Twelve Germans are ahead of me. They try to convince the desk manager to break up the payment to three rooms so that each one pays 1/4^th of the room. He is from Bombay. He is not happy. He is less happy when they start talking to each other in German. “I speak German,” he says. “Your rooms are already guaranteed. One card for each room or else I just charge the card that guaranteed three reservations.” The fat German guy isn’t happy. The tall, skinny one, who apparently put his card up to guarantee starts cursing in German. I know this because the desk manager threatens to call the police on them. They pay but say they will never stay at this place again. The manager looks at me apologetically. “One room, one card,” I tell him. He gives me a discount. We talk about Bombay. I was there in 1986. A gazillion people give or take a billion or so. At least that’s what it seemed to me. He loves Nashville, says he has even taken a liking to country music. Good thing he does. I ask if he likes basketball. “Not as exciting as cricket,” he answers. “A smashing game of cricket?” I ask him. “You know it! Yes! Yes! So exciting.” I don’t argue.

Nashville Gator Club. I’m here to do a book signing at something called the Fogg Street Lawn Club. It is on Fogg Street but there is no lawn in sight. This is THE place for Euro soccer fans, or as my old business partner from Southampton used to call it, “Proper football.” Whatever. Nice place though with great people and huge TV screens showing the SEC Tournament, but one channel is devoted to Florida State and the Dookies. Marcelo, who is the prez of the Gator Club, was born in Cuba, raised in Miami, went to UF and now is a spy for the Gators behind enemy lines. Kendrick the lawyer is sitting with me talking basketball. Sumeet graduated from UF in finance in 2006. He’s from Sanford originally, lives among the heathens in Atlanta but remains in full grasp of his mental faculties. Also with us is Emily Pope, who’s getting her master’s at UF. Family in the ag business from Pahokee. She and her family are great friends of the Wedgworths, and she has great memories of my dear friend, the late, great Doug Wedgworth. Here’s what I’ll never forget about Dougie. If you needed anything all you had to do was ask and if he could he helped. What I also remember is that no one I know can ever recall a time when he asked something in return. Friends like that are hard to come by.

Dook trailed by eight, then led by eight and finally beat the Seminoles 80-79. Now as impressive as it might seem that Dook won without Caleb Holt and Patrick Ngongba, they’re going to have issues without the two of them. A really good team would have stuck it to the Dookies. No Holt means no effective point guard. No Ngongba and not enough size.  Georgia was down 20 and almost came back to beat Ole Miss. Too many missed free throws did the Poodles in. Meanwhile Ole Miss is playing like the Ole Miss everyone thought we’d see before the Rebels lost their will and their way during the season.

One game to go but I’m not sure I’ll last that long. Been awake too long, drove all the way from Florida through storms and accidents on the interstate. I’m fading fast. Gotta rest up. SEC semifinals tomorrow starting with the Gators and the Mildcats.

As I reminded this Kentucky fan as he was leaving, there are two kinds of college sports fans in the world – Gators and everyone else who wishes they could be one.