FanPost

The Moments

Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Fellow Wolfpackers,

My name is Charlie Keeley and I am going into my second year as a full-time MBA student at NC State. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) though, I have been a Pack fan my entire life. My dad, grandfather, two of my uncles, and countless others close to me went to school at State and I have spent all my 28 years supporting them like I was a long-time alumnus. Hell, I was at the 1992 Gator Bowl when I was 8 weeks old (I was trained to handle defeat from a very early age).

Even though NC State fans, especially right now, will regale anyone that will listen with the trials and tribulations that come along with being a fan of this University, I have had some wonderful experiences pulling for the Pack. I remember sitting on the couch watching Julius Hodge score at the buzzer to beat UConn, crying uncontrollably after seeing my team make the Sweet 16 at March Madness for the first time. I remember sitting in the stands at the Gator Bowl when Dantonio Burnette knocked a Notre Dame player clear out of the game early on with a ferocious hit, a game where NC State fans seemingly outnumbered Notre Dame fans 10-1. I remember going to the Thursday night game against Louisville, witnessing Bradley Chubb run (Heisman Trophy winner) Lamar Jackson off the field, experiencing Carter-Finley at its very best in the process.

Don’t get me wrong though; being a NC State fan is tough. Brutal even, on occasion. During my fandom, I’ve experienced the countless close losses to Clemson in football (including that missed field goal – yes, that one). I attended the Chris Paul punching Julius Hodge in the nether regions game at PNC when I was a little kid, the visual of Bojangles branded cups flying onto the court in protest as the buzzer sounded still tattooed into my brain. I’ve also already suffered through enough losses to Roy Williams and UNC for a lifetime. Somehow, NC State teams continue to find new ways to lose games that we as a collective fanbase didn’t think were possible.

What is clear to me now though about being a State fan, and really a fan in general, is that it is all about the moments. Specifically, moments that stir emotion, positively and negatively. Because at the end of the day, that’s what life is about, isn’t it? What fun would fandom or life be if you weren’t moved in some way, didn’t intensely feel the ups and downs that go along with both? Us Wolfpackers understand these emotions, the negative ones all too well unfortunately. That is one of the things that makes this fickle fan base as self-deprecating as they come. Despite this, and against all reason, Wolfpackers never stop believing that something good, something big, is right around the corner.

This year’s baseball team was that good, big thing around the corner. I admittedly have never followed the baseball team as much as football or basketball, but after becoming a student last year I started following more. My first athletic event as a NC State student was a baseball game this spring with my girlfriend and her parents, where I watched us beat App State, solidifying my interest in and support for this program. By the time the ACC and NCAA tournaments came around, I was actively planning my schedule around watching this team and pulling for them with everything I had. My voice was hoarse after screaming at the TV during the already iconic Pack 13 game, rooting for those 13 guys quickly becoming one of my proudest moments as a fan.

We all know what then happened to this team, our big thing around the corner that suddenly wasn’t around the corner anymore, our best chance at a national title in anything since 1983 and by far the best NC State team I have seen in my lifetime. I’m not going to rehash it here; I’ll leave that for Twitter (I don’t have social media, but I hear there are enough hot takes on this already). Instead, I’m going to talk about the moments. My moments. The moments that make being a fan, especially a NC State fan, a thing worth doing.

I woke up at 6 am Saturday to my neighbor, a fellow Wolfpacker, texting me a string of expletives and angry emojis. I was crushed, to put it mildly. I was going to head to Omaha on Sunday to watch the championship series with my dad if they won, a bucket list type experience. He was at the 1983 national championship game with his dad, and I foresaw a similar experience with him and our own 2021 baseball version, this wonderful, fighting, underdog team that embodied everything I have come to love about NC State.

Waking up to the news that their season was over was easily my worst moment as a Pack fan and I spoke to many others during the day that felt the same. I went from sad, to angry, to vengeful, and around and around and around again, never quite finding a way to accept what had transpired. After all the hard times, were we not due one? Were the sports gods conspiring against us after all?

But then a funny thing happened. The rumor mill started churning that the team was flying in that night and a movement started to get everyone out to the baseball stadium to greet them. This was the chance for everyone to show their appreciation to a team that had captured not only our hearts, but most of college baseball’s.

At 9pm I walked up to a scene I will never forget. There were Wolfpackers everywhere, lined up by the hundreds, excitedly waiting for the team to arrive. Before I even had the chance to attempt running beyond the police tape to get to the even larger group of fans, the cops on the scene had had enough and just let everyone into the stadium. Soon enough there I was, chanting "WOOOLLFFFF" to the other side of the Doak, with "PAAAACCKKKK" coming back immediately, with more force, each time. There I was with people just as crushed as I was, turning that energy into something positive to show the team just how much they meant to all of us along this journey. There I was, I soon realized, experiencing my best moment as a NC State fan on the same day as my worst.

While I wish my dad would’ve been there with me, like he would’ve been in Omaha, I’m so glad I brought my girlfriend out to the festivities. I watched as she took all of it in, bright eyed and excited, poking me in the side every 5 seconds to ask what Avent or one of the players were saying or what the fans were chanting about ("Vandy’s Daddy" was tough to explain through my laughter). She was falling in love with the Pack right in front of my eyes, just like I had fallen in love with the Pack all those years ago. Just like I had fallen in love with her.

Once the players had done their last lap of honor in front of over a thousand proud fans and we started to make our exit, she told me she was hooked. "I’m a Wolfpacker for life after that," she said. Smiling ear-to-ear, overjoyed at what I had just experienced at the stadium and what I had just heard from her, I took a few moments to respond. "Be warned, this fandom isn’t for the weak-hearted," I said, "but I don’t think I’d trade it for anything in the world."