Tampa subregional

Carrolls have to scramble to give sons equal attention

It gets hectic as parents try to keep up with sons playing at different sites.

By BRUCE LOWITT, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 21, 2003

TAMPA -- The telephone at the Carroll house on Rolling Glen Drive in Horsham, Pa., rang Tuesday afternoon. "I'm in Tampa," John Carroll said. "It's 80 degrees. I'll call you later."

Maureen Carroll hung up the phone. "My husband's the lucky one," she said that evening. "I get to drive to Indianapolis."

Maureen, a middle school teacher, started the engine in a rented conversion van Wednesday and -- with her daughter, Lauren, Matt's girlfriend, his high school coach and the coach's son -- began the 11-hour drive to see her son, Matt, a senior guard for Notre Dame, play Wisconsin-Milwaukee Thursday night in their first-round NCAA West Region game.

John watched it on a satellite broadcast at a Tampa sports bar. It wasn't televised locally. He will be at the St. Pete Times Forum today to watch their other son, Pat, a sophomore guard for Saint Joseph's, play Auburn in a first-round East Region game.

Fortunately, Pat's home games are just a 30-minute drive from the Carroll home, so Maureen gets to see most of them. She also got to road games at Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Maryland, Rutgers, St. John's and Seton Hall.

Then there was Notre Dame's game against visiting DePaul. "There were about 50 fans that really wanted to see Matt, and some weren't able to fly," she said. "So we rented a bus." Matt scored 33 in Notre Dame's 102-71 win.

She had no trouble coming up with a favorite game for each son:

The Hawks trailed visiting Temple by one point at the half this season. Then Pat hit six of his eight 3-pointers in succession (all of his career-high 24 points came from long range). Saint Joseph's cruised 78-59.

Last season, Notre Dame was visiting Georgetown, a 21/2-hour drive from Horsham, and an accident closed the interstate. The Carrolls arrived at halftime. But the game went four overtimes. The Carrolls got their 40 minutes of basketball, and with Matt scoring 30, including Notre Dame's final seven, the Irish won 116-111.

There was no question who would drive and who would fly this week. John, whose business in labor relations and human resources often takes him on the road, had meetings in Tampa.

Maureen ordered an extra satellite package for today so fans at her home could watch Pat -- and in case she couldn't find a sports bar carrying Saint Joseph's games. "I can't call John," she said. "He'll be at the game; he won't be able to hear me. I'm hoping I can go online, at least get the radio broadcast. If not, I'm going to be bugging the people at our house all game."

Last season, with Pat getting limited playing time as a freshman, Matt got most of the attention. This season, things got more complicated.

"We saw every game one way or another," John said. "We had to buy a (satellite) dish a few years ago." Most Big East games are televised, as are most of Notre Dame's. And John does a lot of business in Chicago. A 90-minute drive gets him to South Bend, Ind. Maureen, tethered to her job, watched Matt's home games on television.

"As soon as (this season's) schedules came out, we were checking flights," John said. "There was a lot of planning involved."

Notre Dame's Feb.15 game at Syracuse started at 1 p.m. Mom and dad were there. Saint Joseph's at Dayton, on ESPN, began at 3 p.m. "There was a lot of running around," John said. "The minute the (Notre Dame) game ended we dashed to a sports bar and caught most of Pat's."

And when the elder Carrolls were home and their sons were playing simultaneous televised games, it got a bit hectic. Televisions were on in adjoining rooms, with the parents running from one to the other during stoppages in play. With only one game, it's almost placid.

"We talk to ourselves a lot, and to each other," Maureen said. "Lauren doesn't like it when we say anything. She just likes to sit and watch; you know how 13-year-olds are. So if we yell, 'That's a terrible call,' she'll look at us and say, 'Oh, stop it!' We vent when the commercials are on. ... It's great to have the opportunity to watch the boys on TV, but it's awful when you're not right there."

Matt and Pat got full scholarships. "Lauren tells us every day, 'Save your money. I am not playing ball in college."'

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