Roy Williams spoke about his vertigo attack from earlier this week at a presser on Friday. Thank you to Wilmington StarNews ACC writer Brett Friedlander for getting us these quotes:
“It’s better than you have to ask for updates from me than any of my players, because that means they’re in pretty good health.”
“I feel fine. Unfortunately it was on national television, but it’s either 17 or 18 (episodes) since 1995. But it’s the first time it’s happened during a game. I had one at practice this year at the Naval Academy. It was Brice’s fault, which is normal. Right? We bumped into each other. He was cutting through and I tried to get out of his way.”
“I’ve been examined at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. I went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester (Minn.). When I came here 13 years ago, the ENT department people examined me and everyone says I have nonpositional vertigo. What that means is that it usually has to be a traumatic, sudden movement of your head and the rocks in your brain -- really, the inner ear -- the little pebbles get out of their tracks and start bouncing around off the walls and you’re very dizzy. That’s what mine is.”
“The first time it ever happened to me, I hit a great shot I thought was eating the flag up and it came down right in the lip of a bunker. I jumped up and seriously, ‘golly bum’ and he next thing I know I’m laying on the ground.”
“Another time I was on the sixth hole on the Ocean Course at Kiawah. I was in the bunker, hit a great shot and the sand blew back in my face. I jerked my head around and the next thing I know I’m crawling out of the bunker. It usually involves throwing up and that day I threw up on the seventh tee, eighth tee, ninth tee. I quit and they played the last nine holes at the Ocean Course without me. I was really mad about that.”
“It’s happened, but it’s the first time it’s happened at a basketball game … that public.”
“I was asking the official about a play. I wasn’t mad. I wasn’t screaming, ranting or raving. I didn’t like the manner of his response. Officiating is a hard thing, but I like guys that will explain something to me. If I’m ranting and raving at him, you should expect him to rant and rave back at you. But I thought it was a response I didn’t deserve. I turned around and muttered the word ‘arrogant’ to myself. I started to slap the chair and then all of a sudden I was saying ‘Justin, Joel how did I get down here?”
“It was nobody’s fault. It’s something I’ve dealt with and I’ll always deal with. It hasn’t been too big a thing.”
“Somebody asked if it’s the same thing you do when you grab onto a coach or something, but it is completely different. That’s just a blood rush that lasts about 4-5 seconds and I’m fine after that.”
“Doug, our trainer, has some pills I’ve given him and he keeps and he gave me two of those pills within two minutes and that really helped. I always end up throwing up so I did a little bit, then a little bit more. I walked around in the locker room and I got very emotional. I said we’ve got to go back out to the tunnel, because if my team was going to lose I felt like I had to be on the bench with my team. I wasn’t going to be back there. So we went out to about 30 feet away. Luckily the guys made some big plays and we didn’t have that happen.
“Got on the airplane and the doctors examined me there. They were concerned, because I was on their watch and they didn’t want me to die on their watch and fill out all those papers.”
“It’s better than you have to ask for updates from me than any of my players, because that means they’re in pretty good health.”
“I feel fine. Unfortunately it was on national television, but it’s either 17 or 18 (episodes) since 1995. But it’s the first time it’s happened during a game. I had one at practice this year at the Naval Academy. It was Brice’s fault, which is normal. Right? We bumped into each other. He was cutting through and I tried to get out of his way.”
“I’ve been examined at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. I went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester (Minn.). When I came here 13 years ago, the ENT department people examined me and everyone says I have nonpositional vertigo. What that means is that it usually has to be a traumatic, sudden movement of your head and the rocks in your brain -- really, the inner ear -- the little pebbles get out of their tracks and start bouncing around off the walls and you’re very dizzy. That’s what mine is.”
“The first time it ever happened to me, I hit a great shot I thought was eating the flag up and it came down right in the lip of a bunker. I jumped up and seriously, ‘golly bum’ and he next thing I know I’m laying on the ground.”
“Another time I was on the sixth hole on the Ocean Course at Kiawah. I was in the bunker, hit a great shot and the sand blew back in my face. I jerked my head around and the next thing I know I’m crawling out of the bunker. It usually involves throwing up and that day I threw up on the seventh tee, eighth tee, ninth tee. I quit and they played the last nine holes at the Ocean Course without me. I was really mad about that.”
“It’s happened, but it’s the first time it’s happened at a basketball game … that public.”
“I was asking the official about a play. I wasn’t mad. I wasn’t screaming, ranting or raving. I didn’t like the manner of his response. Officiating is a hard thing, but I like guys that will explain something to me. If I’m ranting and raving at him, you should expect him to rant and rave back at you. But I thought it was a response I didn’t deserve. I turned around and muttered the word ‘arrogant’ to myself. I started to slap the chair and then all of a sudden I was saying ‘Justin, Joel how did I get down here?”
“It was nobody’s fault. It’s something I’ve dealt with and I’ll always deal with. It hasn’t been too big a thing.”
“Somebody asked if it’s the same thing you do when you grab onto a coach or something, but it is completely different. That’s just a blood rush that lasts about 4-5 seconds and I’m fine after that.”
“Doug, our trainer, has some pills I’ve given him and he keeps and he gave me two of those pills within two minutes and that really helped. I always end up throwing up so I did a little bit, then a little bit more. I walked around in the locker room and I got very emotional. I said we’ve got to go back out to the tunnel, because if my team was going to lose I felt like I had to be on the bench with my team. I wasn’t going to be back there. So we went out to about 30 feet away. Luckily the guys made some big plays and we didn’t have that happen.
“Got on the airplane and the doctors examined me there. They were concerned, because I was on their watch and they didn’t want me to die on their watch and fill out all those papers.”
