LINCOLN -- Eddie Money's rock classic, Two Tickets To Paradise, which charted at No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978 might be playing in the Goldman household at Evansville.
Realistically, the Goldmans, Greg and Alicia, along with youngest daughter Jessica, a senior at Lincoln; are more likely to be tuned in to some sort of basketball, especially if the game has a bearing on the career of son/brother Shandon "Biggie" Goldman, a 6-feet-10 slick-shooting forward.
The family are self-admitted "basketball connoisseurs" always watching games on TV if they aren't traveling to Lincoln games where Jessica is a star or on road trips to cheer on Shandon, now playing Division I men's college basketball for the University of Northern Iowa at Cedar Falls, Ia.
Basketball, particularly clutch 3-point shooting, runs in the family. The Goldman's oldest daughter, RaShelle, knocked down a trifecta at the buzzer to upset No. 1 ranked and previously-unbeaten Charleston, 47-45, to give Lincoln a state tournament berth on Feb. 22, 2012.
RaShelle was named to the American Southwest Conference All-East Division freshman team while playing for the University of Ozarks women's basketball program at Clarksville in 2013. RaShelle, a 6-foot-1 forward, played in all 25 games averaging 4.6 points and 1.4 rebounds per contest, tying for second on the team in three-pointers with 24. She made good on 24-of-69 (34 percent) from the 3-point line and scored at least one three-pointer in 14 games. She made 5-of-6 trifectas and scored 15 points against Texas-Tyler.
RaShelle now resides in Iowa and influenced Shandon's decision to play basketball for Northern Iowa. Still, there was nothing like witnessing a team compete in the national tournament.
Greg and Shandon were watching the NCAA tournament when Northern Iowa's Paul Jesperson banked in a half-court shot at the buzzer to beat Texas, 75-72, on March 18, 2016.
Ironically, two years later nearly to the day, Shandon enrolled at Northern Iowa on March 16, 2018.
Now, Greg and Alicia, are preparing to experience their own reality expressed in Eddie Money's song, written about a relationship in which he hoped to make an impression if he could take his girlfriend on vacation. The girlfriend's mother wanted her to marry a doctor or a lawyer, not a rock musician.
The Goldmans have brushed up against type-casting with college coaches looking at Shandon's 6-foot-10 height hoping to recruit him as "a shooting power forward," who can draw defenders out onto the perimeter because of his long-range proficiency.
That prompted a transfer from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to Panola College in Carthage, Texas. Shandon started 25 games and averaged 9.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists while shooting 47 percent overall and 41 percent from 3-point range (52-of-128).
The 2017-2018 junior college season at Panola put Shandon on the radar of Division I programs: Washington State, Utah, Boise State and Northern Iowa.
One of the first things Greg did when Shandon signed with Northern Iowa was look at the schedule.
This weekend, the Panthers compete in the Paradise Jam basketball tournament at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Goldmans are going with plans to leave Thursday.
"We've been saving up ever since 'Biggie' committed last March," Greg said.
According to promotional material posted online by Bolongo Bay Beach Resort, the U.S. Virgin Islands has hosted this event since 2001. The tournament annually scheduled for the week around Thanksgiving is billed as offering excellent pre-season competition for teams, exciting play action for fans, and yet another excuse for people to plan a Caribbean vacation.
The men's tournament will take place Nov. 16-18 at the University of the Virgin Islands sports complex. Tickets to each game will be available at the door for fans arriving at the last minute.
In the past, teams from LaSalle, Maryland, Morgan State, Northern Iowa and Vanderbilt (men's) and Duke, Syracuse, Texas, and Kansas (women's) have competed. Northern Iowa tips off the tourney against the University of Pennsylvania on Friday at 4:30 p.m. U.S. Virgin Islands time, which is two hours ahead of local time -- meaning the Goldmans can watch Jessica, a forward on the Lincoln girls basketball team, play at border rival Westville, Okla., on the Wolfcast Channel provided by PGTelco for streaming local games online.
According to Bolongo Bay Beach Resort, fans who can't get enough of college basketball, can get their fix in the Virgin Islands, and might even get a chance to meet the players around St. Thomas. Many of the teams can be found hanging out at a local restaurant or on the Heavenly Days Catamaran, a 53-foot sailing vessel offering chances to admire the sunset over the Caribbean Sea, visit neighboring St. John or swim with turtles.
The promotion concludes with, "It's sure to be an exciting week of Division I basketball, sun, sand and, of course, turkey!"
For Greg and Alicia Goldman, opportunity to watch their son play basketball in a tropical setting is just like getting two tickets to paradise.
Sports on 11/14/2018