Waves of heat radiate off of expanses of concrete, folding the heavy summer air back onto itself and pooling in low-lying areas like water. Summer has arrived, quick as you like, slamming the door on the athletic season and firing up the broiler for this holiday weekend, leaving us to seek out refreshment by the poolside, the beach, or simply in an air-conditioned living room, parked in front of a (gasp) professional baseball game or a World Cup match. Two months stretch towards the heat-warped horizon, beyond which lurks the promise (threat?) of another school year and all the athletic seasons that accompany it. Coach Belichick’s football team, for example, will take the field in Ireland in almost exactly eight weeks — for better or worse.
It’s a long, hot wait for the fall season to begin. It always is, and is usually even longer; thanks to the Diamond Heels’ ultimately ill-fated trip to Omaha, we get to enjoy one of the shortest offseasons in the country. Unfortunately, the cost of that shortened downtime is the bitter taste of coming oh-so-close to bringing a championship back home to Chapel Hill, and the heat of the dog days of summer cares little for what could’ve been. It’s an interminable stretch, made perhaps more uncomfortable by knowing how close the Tar Heels came to bringing home the cool, refreshing metal-and-wood of a championship trophy.
Doesn’t do to dwell on the past, though, and it’s too hot to get all worked up in the first place. We’re better served looking toward the future, to cooler dreams of a new-look Tar Heel team in an air-conditioned Smith Center, or the downright chilly outlook for this year’s football team. Even days that hit triple digits eventually melt off the calendar, and we’re yet another day closer to the return of college sports. It won’t be long until practice starts back up for the fall sports; even if June has just now dripped off of the page, that means August is simmering just under the rolling boil of July, and by the time August has burned away we’ll be well into the swing of things and on our way to the winter season beginning. The rhythm of life in a college town continues unabated, heat dome or no.
If you’ve read this far, go ahead and grab a drink of water. It’s hot, and you lose far more fluids than you’d expect just existing in heat like this. If that’s not enough, though, we can always just go watch Seth Trimble’s ice-cold game-winner from last season. Forget about what I said about dwelling on the past, that will always give me chills, regardless of the weather. Whatever it takes to beat the team from Durham; whatever it takes to beat the heat.
Even when it’s a hundred degrees, it’s still a great day to be a Tar Heel. Stay cool out there.
