Having our daughter at Liberty University takes my wife and I back to Lynchburg, VA quite frequently. Last time we were there we visited a new restaurant on campus that is called Doc’s Diner. It is a wonderful modern diner that is filled with memorabilia of Dr Jerry Falwell. There are pictures all over the walls of Dr Falwell in all kinds of situations including body surfing down the student body at a basketball game or talking on the set of FOX News’ Hannity and Colmes. Dr Falwell always wore a black suit with a red tie. As a result, all around the diner are framed red ties. But my favorite picture in Doc’s Diner wasn’t of Dr Falwell, it was of a scoreboard.
The picture goes back quite a few years to when the Liberty’s basketball team won the Big South Conference and found themselves in the NCAA tournament…the big dance. Liberty was ranked #64 out of the 64 teams in the tournament and found themselves going up against the #1 ranked Tar Heels of North Carolina in round one. No one gave Liberty even a prayer to be anywhere near the Tar Heels five minutes into the game.
I remember that game clearly. I was flying back home from a meeting and was in the airport on a layover in Charlotte, North Carolina. The only place to watch the game in the whole airport was in a bar. So, proudly sporting my Liberty University Alumni sweatshirt, I ventured into the bar, ordered a Coke, and fixed my gaze on the screen. They were interviewing Dr Falwell before the game. The reporter compared the coming athletic showdown to the Biblical story of David and Goliath. Dr Falwell, with a huge smile on his face, reminded the reporter that in the Biblical account, David won.
As the game started, the rather drunken North Carolina fans in the airport bar were giving me all kinds of grief, especially since I was the only Liberty fan in the joint. But the game did not go according the plan of the Tar Heels and their fans. To everyone’s amazement, with less than ten minutes to go in the game, Liberty took the lead. It was incredible. By this time, the North Carolina fans in the bar were no longer talking smack my direction. Rather, they were buying me my Cokes.
Now what does that have to do with the picture of the scoreboard in Doc’s Diner? As you could probably guess, it is a picture of the scoreboard at that moment in the game with less than ten minutes to go when Liberty was beating the #1 team in the country. Liberty ended up losing that game that day, but they almost pulled off what would have been arguably the greatest upset in NCAA tournament history.
But as great as the pictures were in Doc’s Diner, the best part of the establishment by far was the banana pudding. This was one of Dr Falwell’s favorite and I can tell you, it was the best banana pudding I have ever tasted. And it was so big that my wife, daughter and I shared one between us. So if you ever are in Lynchburg, VA, drop by Doc’s Diner and order some banana pudding. I will be returning to Lynchburg in October and you can be sure that while there I will once again find my way to Doc’s for some southern style banana pudding.
The picture goes back quite a few years to when the Liberty’s basketball team won the Big South Conference and found themselves in the NCAA tournament…the big dance. Liberty was ranked #64 out of the 64 teams in the tournament and found themselves going up against the #1 ranked Tar Heels of North Carolina in round one. No one gave Liberty even a prayer to be anywhere near the Tar Heels five minutes into the game.
I remember that game clearly. I was flying back home from a meeting and was in the airport on a layover in Charlotte, North Carolina. The only place to watch the game in the whole airport was in a bar. So, proudly sporting my Liberty University Alumni sweatshirt, I ventured into the bar, ordered a Coke, and fixed my gaze on the screen. They were interviewing Dr Falwell before the game. The reporter compared the coming athletic showdown to the Biblical story of David and Goliath. Dr Falwell, with a huge smile on his face, reminded the reporter that in the Biblical account, David won.
As the game started, the rather drunken North Carolina fans in the airport bar were giving me all kinds of grief, especially since I was the only Liberty fan in the joint. But the game did not go according the plan of the Tar Heels and their fans. To everyone’s amazement, with less than ten minutes to go in the game, Liberty took the lead. It was incredible. By this time, the North Carolina fans in the bar were no longer talking smack my direction. Rather, they were buying me my Cokes.
Now what does that have to do with the picture of the scoreboard in Doc’s Diner? As you could probably guess, it is a picture of the scoreboard at that moment in the game with less than ten minutes to go when Liberty was beating the #1 team in the country. Liberty ended up losing that game that day, but they almost pulled off what would have been arguably the greatest upset in NCAA tournament history.
But as great as the pictures were in Doc’s Diner, the best part of the establishment by far was the banana pudding. This was one of Dr Falwell’s favorite and I can tell you, it was the best banana pudding I have ever tasted. And it was so big that my wife, daughter and I shared one between us. So if you ever are in Lynchburg, VA, drop by Doc’s Diner and order some banana pudding. I will be returning to Lynchburg in October and you can be sure that while there I will once again find my way to Doc’s for some southern style banana pudding.
2 comments:
I'm putting in my order for delivery...
Sorry, you'll have to wait until that momentous day when you drop your son off at Liberty for his freshman year of college...which, by the way, will come sooner than you think!!
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