Dec. 1, 2005

Over Thanksgiving, Andy Demetra, the voice of Carolina women’s basketball, traveled to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, to broadcast the Gamecocks’ games at the Junkanoo Jam Tournament. That same week, Mike Morgan, the voice of Carolina men’s basketball, headed north – wayyy north – to call the Gamecocks’ second-place finish in the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Alaska.

Sandy beaches. Snow-capped mountains. Palm trees. Pine trees. The swaying of the ocean. The freezing of body parts. Oh, the stories to tell.

In this week’s “Beyond The Mic,” Mike and Andy share their notes, quotes, and anecdotes from their two very different Thanksgiving destinations.

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AD: First off, Mike, welcome back to the contiguous U.S. I assume you still have all your fingers and toes.

How was the travel up to Alaska? How long did it take from Columbia?

MM: I wouldn’t say the trip to Alaska was a like a trip to the dentist. That wouldn’t be fair to my dentist. It began with a 75-minute drive to Charlotte the night before. Up at the crack of dawn, my broadcast partners and I left for the airport and flew from the “Queen City” to the “Twin Cities,” St. Paul/Minneapolis. That took a little over 2 hours. After a 90-minute layover, it was off to Anchorage. That flight took 6 hours – a new personal record.

In all, we traveled over 4,500 miles to Alaska. I’m told that would be the equivalent of 75 consecutive hours on the highway. I don’t plan on substantiating those claims in the ‘ol SUV anytime soon.

I’m told in Hawaii they place a lei around your neck when you get off the plane to complement your soon-to-be bronzed body near the ocean. In Alaska, they alert you of the high temperature of 14 degrees, the impending snow, and how many fatalities they have on the ice-laden roads due to local crazies driving at dangerous speeds.

So Andy, how was your trip to the Caribbean?

AD: Personally, it didn’t get off to a great start. The airline wouldn’t accept the copy of my birth certificate, and refused to let me on board. The team left; I stayed behind. My parents had to courier my original birth certificate overnight from Scottsdale, Ariz., and I had to re-book out of Charlotte the following afternoon. I think the airline industry just put me into bankruptcy.

Fortunately, one view of the ocean was enough to put my troubles behind. Our hotel, the Westin at Lucaya, had its own white-sand beach, a jigsaw puzzle of pools, restaurants – you name it. Our hotel room balconies overlooked the Atlantic. My credit card statement may still give me convulsions, but I can’t complain.

Did you and the team take any sightseeing trips while in Alaska? What about the hours of daylight?

MM: Alaska in the summertime can cause insomnia. Alaska in the wintertime can cause hibernation. For starters, daylight doesn’t commence until after 10 o’clock. Sunset begins around 4 p.m. Did I mention when you do awake to venture outside, it’s bloody cold?!?!

While the team stayed inside the Marriott…venturing out only to play basketball……I did manage to break away twice for sightseeing. The first day it poured down snow, and we managed to get lost. Many people don’t realize Alaska is about twice the size of Texas. So when you get lost, you get LOST! In addition, when we did get to the road we wanted to……there was so much snow….we literally could not see gigantic mountains. The water was completely frozen. It was just snow and ice everywhere you looked.

The final day, the weather was perfect. Well, as perfect as it can be for Alaska in November. The sun was out. It was a balmy 14 degrees. And you could see all the mountains and some glaciers down that same road. The pictures I took were like ones you’d see on a nature calendar – unbelievable! I also saw a famous ski resort. And yes, we did venture to a makeshift zoo of sorts, which had moose. These incomparable sights were definitely the highlight of the trip.

AD: Nice! If there was any consolation to my National Lampoon’s Caribbean Vacation, I arrived just in time for the team snorkeling trip. The tournament committee chartered a sightseeing boat for South Carolina, Iowa St., North Carolina St., and their traveling parties. It was only mid-60’s and windy – yeah, I know, shoot me – which had everyone shivering on deck, but the ocean was a balmy 80. Crystalline waters, swaying reefs, schools of fish – the sights were straight out of a postcard.

From the deck, we also saw a puff of black smoke rising off shore. Someone told us they were filming the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest” on location there. The cast and crew actually shared the same hotel as the teams. No Johnny Depp sightings, though I hear he’s a noted women’s college hoops fan.

How was the arena you played in? Heated, I hope.

MM: The Sullivan Center was the only warm thing about Alaska. It’s located next to the minor league hockey arena. Unlike the other pre-season tournaments out there…..there are actually crowds at the Sullivan Center. It seats over 7,000 fans. Most of our games had at least 5,000. Because the Shootout has been around since 1978, the fans are quite knowledgeable.

Overhead were banners of the previous champions. South Carolina just missed putting their name on one, but the women are represented with two Shootout titles. Hey Andy, maybe you can fly to Alaska next year to make it three! How about the gym back in the Bahamas?

AD: Haha, let me think about that for a bit. The Gamecocks played at St. Georges High School, about a 10-minute drive from the hotel. Before practice Thursday, I asked Ebony Jones what the gym looked like. She said, “Well… have you ever been to Irmo Middle [School]?” It was a noisy little bandbox, with 10 rows of aluminum bleachers on each side, ringed by Cyclone fencing. We actually measured the court at about 86 feet, or 8 feet shy of regulation.

I’d estimate about 100 people attended each game, mostly fans from the 8 participating schools. Put it this way: Bahamian radio stations weren’t exactly giving away tickets to the 100th caller. The P.A. announcer spun soca music during timeouts. South Carolina, I’m pleased to say, had a hardy group of 10-12 fans who made the trip. Did the Gamecocks have any home-grown fans who made the trip to Alaska?

As you know, we generally broadcast on the sideline facing Carolina’s bench. For the Junkanoo Jam, radio crews had only one option: sitting on the school’s stage, overlooking the baseline. Between the long press table, the blue table skirts, and the bank of touch-tone telephones, Robin Muller and I looked like we were hosting a telethon.

The best part about the St. Georges gym, though, was the technical hijinks. When I walked in Friday for the early game, the gym was completely dark; the building had lost power for about 10 minutes during warm-ups. Our game against Texas was delayed five minutes, after one of the scoreboards went blank.

The most interesting hiccup, though, occurred during the Purdue game. The referees stopped play a few minutes in. Neither Robin nor I knew why. It turned out the scorer’s table was running a 24-second shot clock, not 30 seconds like the women’s game uses.

All told, though, the gym was oddly charming, and full of can-do spirit. I’ll actually miss it.

Well, Mike, I tasted some conch fritters at a beachside hut in Freeport. Did you sample any Alaskan cuisine during your trip?

MM: To answer your first question, special kudos to the 30 or so fans who made the trip out there and supported the Gamecocks well.

I’m not a big seafood guy, so I missed out on the renowned Alaskan crab. I desperately searched for an open restaurant on Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, all the walking and driving through the snow was to no avail.

I got so desperate, I ordered a gyro. You heard me right. An Alaskan gyro. It tasted about as good as barbecue in England. Long story short, no fine cuisine in Alaska for me. The complimentary beef jerky at the hotel, however, was delightful.

AD: Wow, complimentary beef jerky. Take that, Waldorf-Astoria.

By the way, did you know that the Bahamas (pop.: 294,000) has its own currency? Or that it has a three-dollar bill? Me neither.

Island prices were a little steep, so most of the players and staff went the thrifty route for their meals. Subway and Domino’s across the street seemed like popular choices. But darn it if I couldn’t find a good gyro.

I have a good fish-out-of-water story from our trip. Each of the head coaches were feted with a free round of golf at the resort’s course. Coach Walvius – who can shoot mid-80’s – was cloistered in her room studying Texas, so she let members of the support staff go instead on Thursday afternoon. (For the record, they missed the last tee time.)

With golf on the mind, I spotted Stacy Booker waiting for the shuttle outside the hotel lobby. “So Stacy, what’s your handicap?” I asked. Stacy gave me a suspicious look, then started eyeing her right arm. “What do you mean?” she said. Stacy must’ve thought I meant a physical handicap.

I know the Gamecocks’ men’s team has a lot of warm-weather guys. Any funny comments or fish-out-of-water tales from snowy Alaska?

MM: No complimentary golf in Alaska. Not even a complimentary round of bobsledding. As far as currency goes….it’s pretty much the same as the….uh…..rest of the country. I almost said the U.S., which is not uncommon for visitors. You truly feel like you’re in another country, but you’re not.

In fact, Anchorage is an American city which has been – for lack of a better word – Americanized. No eskimos, no igloos, and no wild moose. You just feel like you 5,000 miles away. But in reality, you’re just 4,500 miles away from a piping hot bowl of okra.

We stayed in downtown Anchorage – basically, one big square of streets. Think Five Points on steroids. Shop, shop, restaurant, bar. Shop, shop, restaurant bar. The picture would not be complete, however, without inches of snow everywhere. Outside my hotel window on the 19th floor, I could see downtown to my right…..and a large river of frozen water to my left. That river connects to a large island where no one lives. I’m told that as the city continues to expand, they will build a bridge connecting to that island. That island will then be a prime source of real estate in that area.

The players….well, they were fish that stayed in their water. That is to say, they never left the hotel for anything other than a gym. No crazy stories there.

Coach Odom and I did sit a table at the banquet which was marked by a sign saying “Southern Carolina”. That made us feel a little “out of water.”

AD: I know we’ve poked fun at the foibles of our trips, but I know we both had once-in-a-lifetime experiences. You gotta give it up to our directors of basketball operations, Bill Old and Robin Muller, for coordinating such monumental trips.

Thanks for joining us, Mike. In your honor, I’m renaming this column “Beyond The Mike” for this week.

MM: I’m good with that, and let me second your comments on our directors of basketball operations. Bill Old is an unbelievable asset, and one of the most professional people I’ve ever met. If I ever start a business in Alaska, he’s my CEO – if I can afford him.

Alaska was beautiful, and I’m glad I can say I’ve been there. But as a wise man once said, “It’s great to be back in the contiguous 48!” That wise man was Art Vandalay.

AD: And in honor of our fellow hotel guest, Johnny Depp, I’ll close with another Seinfeld quote: “But I don’t want to be a pirate!”

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Andy Demetra is in his third season as the voice of South Carolina women’s basketball on 1320 AM WISW. This summer, he won the South Carolina Broadcasters’ Association’s 2005 South Carolina Radio Sportscaster of the Year award.

“Beyond The Mic” will appear throughout the season.