By Michelle Gao
Gargoyle assistant editor
Posted Monday, Nov. 20, 2006, The OG, opinions & sports

Ready, Set, Gao!

YOU CAN ASK anyone who even halfway knows me, and they will tell you the same thing: Michelle. Does. Not. Like. Sports. Of. Any. Kind (except for figure skating).

So when Uni girls basketball player Aran Yoo hustled Lucy Zhang and I into her car Saturday to go to a basketball game at Oakwood High School, I have to admit that I wasn't very excited.

Aran certainly was, though. The three of us had spent the day in Bloomington-Normal performing in the Illinois Music Educators Association all-district concert. This had caused Aran to miss the first of Uni's two Saturday games in the Oakwood/Westville Thanksgiving Classic. In that first game, Uni easily defeated Hoopeston 45-23. In the second game, scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., Uni would face Chrisman.

Aran was antsy the entire time we were driving through Bloomington to get to the highway, and when we were finally going 70 mph on the Interstate, she kept saying, “Daddy, go faster! Go faster!!!”

In between nervous bouncing and insisting that we go still faster, she was either on the phone with Merf (aka head coach Rebecca Murphy) or reading the MapQuest directions by cell-phone light. Lucy and I sat back and watched with extreme amusement.

However, I have to say that I stand corrected about basketball. The Uni vs. Chrisman game was actually extremely exciting, even if I didn't understand half of the hand signals the refs were using. I mean, really, who the heck would know what two thumbs up meant? It didn't make any sense to me at all.

The game was very compelling, though. When Uni was down by 10 points, I was extremely upset. It didn't seem that we would ever catch up; but then we tied them again and even took the lead in the final minute. Chrisman made the winning shot with around 5.8 seconds to go. I was disappointed along with everyone else as Uni lost 50-48.

When I first sat down in the bleachers with Lucy and Aran's sister, Suran, I grumbled, “Aran better do something amazing since she dragged us all the way out here.”

And the awful thing was, she did. Multiple times. Scoring 13 points. Only Rachel Skoza and Jessi Sullivan, with 15 each, scored more for Uni.

So I guess I'll be going to more basketball games from now on. The end.