MARILYN HAGERTY: January floats away in flurry of basketball

Dear Shirley,

Wayne Nelson is a really good egg. He’s sports editor of the Herald and he often writes about UND basketball games. That is, when he doesn’t send Tom Miller.

Well, anyway, I call Wayne “Hoops.” And there are a few things he forgets to tell about the basketball games:

•  Coach Brian Jones has a new pair of green shoes. He expends more energy on the sidelines in one game than most people do in a year.
•  Loyall Janke is always there, driving through snow and cold from around Casselton, N.D., to wave the green and black UND flag and lead the team out onto the floor. Someday, the players are going to run over him.
•  Aaron Anderson isn’t scared of anything.
•  Jamal Webb likes pizza.
•  They never holler “Omaha” from coaches bench at the basketball games. But sometimes they shout “2 Up.”

I tell you all this because I have been reading about the No. 1 team in the nation in your fair city of Tucson. Your University of Arizona won its 20th game Sunday.
Wow!

I’m looking forward to hoops games at the Betty tonight. Our UND women just won a game at Northern Arizona. And Maddy Buck came up with her 1,000th point down there.

Tonight the women are at home with Eastern Washington in for a game. Saturday afternoon they will welcome Portland State.

Not sure what we would do without hoops and hockey this time of year. The UND hockey women have a weekend series here with Minnesota. They want everyone to come out there and help them in another round with the top team in the country. As a matter of fact, the word is out that you can get in for a buck. And you also get a puck.

Goodbye January

So January is slipping away. A few people managed to find something good about this month with four blizzards. For one thing, there were no mosquitoes. And there were no cockroaches crawling around.

They are having an evening of art and appreciation from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Habitat for Humanity home. That’s at 617 24th St. N. It’s near University Park. This is the greatest program, Shirley. Do they have it in Tucson?

Let me know how you are doing. It’s nice that my Grand Forks friends, Earl and Sandy Mason, are stopping by for visits.

Love from your sister, Marilyn, driving around hills of snow on the west side of the Red River of the North.

P.S. We lost one of our old UND basketball bus fans last week. Kermit “Kurt” Brickson went on ahead. He was a gem. Always full of jokes to tell us. Especially when his grandson Ben Brickson was on the team.

Reach Marilyn Hagerty at  mhagerty@gra.midco.net  or by telephone at  (701) 772-1055 .