{"id":5246,"date":"2024-03-19T10:17:48","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T14:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/?p=5246"},"modified":"2024-03-19T10:17:49","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T14:17:49","slug":"an-american-odyssey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/2024\/an-american-odyssey\/","title":{"rendered":"An American Odyssey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

Touring the country with his band American Aquarium, Wolfpack fan BJ Barham has played in Washington, D.C., too many times to count. But Saturday\u2019s trip to the District will stand out above any gig he ever played there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten to play some really beautiful rooms over the years,\u201d says Barham, \u201cbut this is easily the best trip to the nation\u2019s capital I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s mostly because of who accompanied him on the drive up from North Carolina to witness NC State beat the UNC Tar Heels, 84\u201376, for the ACC Tournament crown \u2014 the other NC State superfan in the Barham household, his 5-year-old daughter, Pearl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"BJ<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"BJ<\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Barham, 39, says the sojourn was his way of making good on a promise he made to Pearl early last week. On Tuesday, admittedly with no expectations, he told her that if the Wolfpack made it to the title game, they were going. So on Friday night, when Michael O\u2019Connell\u2019s 3-pointer went through the basket to force overtime against Virginia, Barham was on StubHub finding tickets. Once it was clear NC State was safely on their way to the 73-65 win over the Cavaliers, he made good on his promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was just one rule Barham gave Pearl for the trip \u2014anything you ask for, it\u2019s a \u201cyes.\u201d Ice cream for lunch after visiting the National Mall before the game? Yes. Popcorn and donuts for a late-night snack during halftime of the championship game? Yes. An ACC Tournament basketball? Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s what every State parent wants \u2014 a kid who wants to watch a game with you.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI told her there\u2019s not going to be a lot of \u2018no\u2019s\u2019 on this trip. ‘Whatever you want to do. I\u2019m just glad we\u2019re here together.’ It was my and Pearl\u2019s first overnight trip together,\u201d Barham says. \u201cIt\u2019s what every State parent wants \u2014 a kid who wants to watch a game with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, it turns out, Barham could even say \u201cyes\u201d to things beyond his control \u2014 the first Wolfpack ACC Tournament title in 37 years and DJ Burns, Pearl\u2019s favorite player, being named tourney MVP. Barham, who was 2 years old when NC State last won the ACC tourney in 1987, says he told Pearl he didn\u2019t know what to feel since he\u2019d never seen a championship in person or on television. \u201cI told her, \u2018You only had to wait five years for this,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cAt the end of the game, I told her, \u2018Make sure you take all of this in.\u2019 She\u2019s wearing an NC State jersey, waving goodbye to everyone. I was a proud papa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"American<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Barham won\u2019t make it to Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Wolfpack\u2019s opening-round matchup with Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament. He\u2019s taping a PBS special and will be watching from a Nashville, Tenn., hotel room. But after that, his schedule is open, and if NC State makes the Sweet 16, he\u2019ll be there, again with Pearl in tow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t got nothing to do the rest of March,\u201d Barham says, laughing. \u201cMy next show is April 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe destiny kept my schedule open.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n

Touring the country with his band American Aquarium, Wolfpack fan BJ Barham has played in Washington, D.C., too many times to count. But Saturday\u2019s trip to the District will stand out above any gig he ever played there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten to play some really beautiful rooms over the years,\u201d says Barham, \u201cbut this is easily the best trip to the nation\u2019s capital I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s mostly because of who accompanied him on the drive up from North Carolina to witness NC State beat the UNC Tar Heels, 84\u201376, for the ACC Tournament crown \u2014 the other NC State superfan in the Barham household, his 5-year-old daughter, Pearl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"BJ<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"BJ<\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Barham, 39, says the sojourn was his way of making good on a promise he made to Pearl early last week. On Tuesday, admittedly with no expectations, he told her that if the Wolfpack made it to the title game, they were going. So on Friday night, when Michael O\u2019Connell\u2019s 3-pointer went through the basket to force overtime against Virginia, Barham was on StubHub finding tickets. Once it was clear NC State was safely on their way to the 73-65 win over the Cavaliers, he made good on his promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was just one rule Barham gave Pearl for the trip \u2014anything you ask for, it\u2019s a \u201cyes.\u201d Ice cream for lunch after visiting the National Mall before the game? Yes. Popcorn and donuts for a late-night snack during halftime of the championship game? Yes. An ACC Tournament basketball? Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s what every State parent wants \u2014 a kid who wants to watch a game with you.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI told her there\u2019s not going to be a lot of \u2018no\u2019s\u2019 on this trip. 'Whatever you want to do. I\u2019m just glad we\u2019re here together.' It was my and Pearl\u2019s first overnight trip together,\u201d Barham says. \u201cIt\u2019s what every State parent wants \u2014 a kid who wants to watch a game with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, it turns out, Barham could even say \u201cyes\u201d to things beyond his control \u2014 the first Wolfpack ACC Tournament title in 37 years and DJ Burns, Pearl\u2019s favorite player, being named tourney MVP. Barham, who was 2 years old when NC State last won the ACC tourney in 1987, says he told Pearl he didn\u2019t know what to feel since he\u2019d never seen a championship in person or on television. \u201cI told her, \u2018You only had to wait five years for this,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cAt the end of the game, I told her, \u2018Make sure you take all of this in.\u2019 She\u2019s wearing an NC State jersey, waving goodbye to everyone. I was a proud papa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"American<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Barham won\u2019t make it to Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Wolfpack\u2019s opening-round matchup with Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament. He\u2019s taping a PBS special and will be watching from a Nashville, Tenn., hotel room. But after that, his schedule is open, and if NC State makes the Sweet 16, he\u2019ll be there, again with Pearl in tow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t got nothing to do the rest of March,\u201d Barham says, laughing. \u201cMy next show is April 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe destiny kept my schedule open.\u201d<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American Aquarium frontman and NC State superfan BJ Barham witnessed history unfold at the ACC tournament with his favorite traveling companion\u2014his daughter, Pearl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":5247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"views\/single-immersive.blade.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-immersive-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"backgroundColor\":\"red_400\",\"displayCategoryID\":5,\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"subtitle\":\"American Aquarium frontman and NC State superfan BJ Barham witnessed history unfold at the ACC Tournament with his favorite traveling companion \u2014 his daughter, Pearl.\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[1330,1328,109,126,1329,1326,1327],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-5246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-bets","category-stories","tag-acc-tournament","tag-american-aquarium","tag-athletics","tag-basketball","tag-bj-barham","tag-dj-burns","tag-michael-oconnell"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":5,"name":"Best Bets","slug":"best-bets","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":52,"filter":"raw"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5246"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5246"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5266,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5246\/revisions\/5266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5246"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=5246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}