The period from April to October is a bleak one for college basketball fans, and I need a fix of Tar Heel glory at just about this point in the long annual slog to the beginning of the next season. So (thanks to starks23 at YouTube and Sportz Assassin at Fanhouse) I give you a compilation of clips from Michael Jordan's first game ever at UNC. Oh, the infinitesimal tininess of the uniforms! Oh, the lean boyishness of number 23!



Now, bear in mind what an honor and a risk it was for Dean Smith to start Jordan in his first game as a freshman (Smith was notoriously reluctant to start even his most talented freshman), and take a gander at the boldness of his play. We not only see his first rebound, but also his first assist, his first shot (a miss, but a brave one) and his first basket, all in fairly quick succession.

The year is 1981, and by the end of the season, this team would be national champions. There is some thrilling play in these clips, not only from "Mike Jordan," as he is called by the announcers, but also from Sam Perkins and James Worthy.

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I spent another day at the UCLA library today, having found that there is a much more convenient bus from D's apartment than the one that stops a mile's walk away. Genius! I wiled away the day with Derek Walcott (in his printed form, sadly, not in the flesh), moseying through Ti-Jean and his Brothers and taking breaks with David Copperfield and Carson McCullers's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. The day also began with great news: I am getting an ARC of Ana Castillo's The Guardian through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. I was quite despondent not to have received a book in the first round of the program, but persistence paid and I got one in the second round. No news yet when the third round will start, but I can't wait to get my hands on The Guardian. The blurb describes it temptingly: "Eking out a living as a teacher’s aide in a small New Mexican border town, Tía Regina is also raising her teenage nephew, Gabo, a hardworking boy who has entered the country illegally and aspires to the priesthood. When Gabo’s father, Rafa, disappears while crossing over from Mexico, Regina fears the worst."

Now, I must return to watching John Ford's The Searchers, since my Netflix have been sorely neglected this week. I will indulge in some Monument Valley muddy morality while dining on an heirloom tomato and avocados. Bliss.