Sadly, the end is near for Tracy Smith's career at NC State. As badly as the last few years have gone, they've still gone too quickly. We may have but three more games to enjoy his awesome face melting powers, even if those powers have diminished because of stress on a faulty knee. Damn the fates. It seems like only yesterday we were all clamoring for Tracy to get more time in the rotation, and here we are two years later, our Macrowave all groweds up.

Once he's gone for good, this blog may well endure an identity crisis from which it cannot recover. But we'll worry about that some other time. This week is about remembering the good stuff, like the late-season offensive surge he led during his sophomore year, or the time he scored 31 points, or the time he grabbed 10 offensive rebounds in one game, or how instrumental he was in the upset of Duke last year.

Please, feel free to share your favorite Tracy Smith memories in haiku or some other undeniably tear-stained fashion. And remember to pour one out for the Macrowave this week. Just pour it out into your mouth, though. True hero that he is, he'd never condone wasting alcohol.