Three weeks ago, I forced Brian to go to the Lady Rockets’ postseason program.
Last year, I sobbed and sobbed at this event because it was an extended goodbye to the Jewie (N.B. Naama has been playing in Israel this past year) and her 4 classmates after a good year. This year, we were waiting for the season to mercifully end…so I didn’t expect to be too sad…but 1) I’ve always been an Andola Dortch fan, 2) This was the freshman class from our first year of fandom, so now we’ve seen a class the whole way through, and 3) the senior thank yous/goodbyes are always emotional. Janelle, who is a jovial fan-favorite (she has shaken our hands after games many times), was suuuuuuper-emo, thanking everybody for donating to the account they set up to help when she took custody of her younger brother. I’m a sucker for how important a role Coach Cullop seems to play in her players’ lives. Also, I cry all the time…I might have been teary-eyed, whatever.
Regular readers may remember that I have an Andola Dortch away (midnight blue) jersey. I had her sign it once before, with a silver marker on the blue fabric. The silver marker didn’t stand out very well, so I googled how to remove sharpie from fabric (it’s been a while…peroxide?), and my efforts were successful. So anyway, this was my last chance to have Dola re-sign my jersey. After the program, I went down to the court and asked Dola to sign the jersey, this time on one of the white numerals with a regular sharpie. She graciously agreed and we talked a bit about Janelle’s tearjerker rambling. I wished her luck, and she said thank you. Then I said, “I’ve watched you so long that I feel like I know you, but I don’t,” and she said, “Oh, you do.” I said, “Can I give you a hug?” and she said, “Please.” We hugged, I left, I fangirled out, the end. Dola fan for life! She could potentially play in Europe, but I’m not sure she’ll have anything other than dust in her knees when she’s 40 if she does (she might not anyway).
Here’s her autograph:
And here’s the jersey back in the frame:
