First in Hoops

We realize that it’s a little late to get your NCAA tournament picks in, but we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to point out that if, like us, you had given up on trying to pick a winner and just closed your eyes and jabbed at the bracket, then you would be more likely to hit a team from North Carolina than from any other state. With five teams in this year’s tournament (Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State, UNC-Wilmington, and Davidson) North Carolina has the most teams, by state, in the field of 64. We don’t want to take anything away from the Wright Brothers, but perhaps it’s time to change the state’s slogan from “First in Flight.”

Tall Ships

We admit it, we weren’t too impressed when we read that the tall ships were coming to North Carolina. It’s just a boat race, right? What’s the big deal about that? But then we looked into it. The America’s Sail 2006 will hit Beaufort and Morehead City this summer, June 30 – July 5. The event will include a 15-mile race off of Atlantic Beach by ships as impressive as the 54-foot Meka II, a replica of a 17th-century pirate ship and captained by Beaufort resident Capt. Horatio Sinbad. Now that’s no ordinary boat race.