I hate plane rides.  I always get freaked out before each takeoff and once we hit some mild turbulence, I can’t help but imagine wild scenarios in my head of going down (I blame Final Destination for that).  But the only thing I like about plane rides is that I sometimes discover some good shows/movies/etc. while I’m on the flight.  For instance, I started watching “Community” (a show that I gave up on after the pilot episode), because I saw one of their random episodes from the later seasons, when the show actually became really good and thematic (I believe it was the “Dinner with Andre”-inspired episode).

Yesterday, I ended up watching the rest of “Southside with You” – the movie about Barack & Michelle Obama’s first date.  Huge coincidence that they were playing it, because its such a small-scale movie and I actually purchased it on Amazon the night before but my computer kept crashing on me so I couldn’t finish it.  What are the chances?  There’s a part in the movie where Barack is asking Michelle about her true passions and suggesting that her heart isn’t into the corporate law firm life (It’s interesting to hear as someone who is constantly being lured into the “dark side”).

After the movie, I was channel surfing until I stumbled upon ESPN’s 30 for 30 marathon.  I first saw “Survive and Advance,” a documentary about NC State’s cinderella/underdog story about winning the NCAA championship in 1983.  The story centered around the coach, Jim Valvano, who changed the player’s lives.  As a woman who’s pretty unathletic, I think that’s one bond that I will never get to experience but I’ll treasure from afar: the coach-player relationship.  It was so touching to see these grown men being moved to tears as they talked about their coach, who ended up eventually passing away from cancer.

Coach Valvano’s speech at the ESPYs:

Then, right after I watched “Phi Slama Jama,” a documentary of the opposing team (Univ of Houston) and their downfall.  They were the most hyped/favored team who advanced to the final four for three straight years (1982-1984), but never won.  It was interesting to see the documentaries back-to-back, you rarely get to see such a full-fledged depiction of the winners and the losers. The directors were planning on giving a more general overview of the three seasons of near victories, but the documentary evolved into a search for one troublesome, but talented player who disappeared from the scene after their final loss. One pass, one steal, one shot could potentially change a player’s path forever.  But that’s life.