It's Friday, or more specifically, Fun Fact Friday for the Virginia Cavaliers, a weekly Twitter party organized by @ballinjew14 (that's the Twitter handle of senior Lexie Gerson). The senior guard from Fort Washington, Pa., loves to rev up teammates and fans weekly with themed topics that bring out that Wahoo pride. Every week she chooses a different theme and invites all to chime in.
It all started with Gerson lying in bed one Saturday night and hence, the lightbulb moment "It just kind of grew and everybody loved it," she says.
(By the way, it was Gerson's birthday on Wednesday, a fun fact the Cavaliers tweeted out on a day they dubbed Fun Fact Wednesday in her honor.)
Today's theme: college football.
Some snippets from last week's themed Fun Fact Friday -- which was TV themed.
The character Lisa in Saved By the Bell was originally written as a "white Jewish Princess from Long Island who moved to Cali." Virginia WBB
We even like how coach Joanne Boyle got into the act:
Speaking of fun, Gerson -- an All-ACC Defensive team selection two seasons ago -- is jacked to get back on the court after missing all of last season following hip surgery.
"It was really hard to sit and watch, but it was a really good experience as far as putting things in perspective," she says. "It's good to sit back and watch. There's some things I saw this year that I wouldn't of if I was playing. It was a like a coaching perspective, which is what I eventually want to do.
She likes this group of Cavaliers, boosted by a terrific recruiting class (Breyana Mason, Tiffany Suarez, Sydney Umeri and Amanda Fioravanti.
"I have very high expectations for our team this year," Gerson says. "Our four freshmen are really talented. Awesome girls, too. We're going to be special this year. I haven't played with anyone who is on this team except Kelsey (Wolfe) and Frankie (Ataira Franklin). S.B. (Sarah Beth Barnette) is a transfer and sat out the last year I played, and so did S.I. (Sarah Imovbioh)."
Speaking of a Fun Friday fact about Gerson -- and UVa diehards likely know this -- Gerson is on that short list that said no thanks to Geno back when she was in high school.
While UConn was among her top five schools, she says, "It actually came down to Duke and Virginia. UConn wasn't a good fit for me. I always wanted to play in the ACC, and UConn was the only school I looked at that wasn't in the ACC. It wasn't the place for me."
She loves Charlottesville, on the other hand. Coaching is already on her mind, though she also want to play overseas, ideally in Israel given how important her Jewish heritage is to her. (She's also hoping to earn dual citizenship.) She's not shy about sharing her Jewish background; note the necklace in the pic.
"It's part of who I am," she says. "There's not that many known Jewish players out there."
Gerson has her bachelor's already, majoring in Women, Gender & Sexuality and is in graduate school studying college athletic administration. She's a sports nut -- she played everything in high school but decided on basketball because of her love of team sports.
"The joke right now is at the end of our season Kelse and I are going to play doubles for the tennis team," she says. "We'd break down all the stereotypes and chest bump and get really loud and things you're not supposed to do in tennis."
But the other courts is her real racket, and watch out for those Cavaliers, who she affectionately refers to as a bunch of goofballs.
Promises Gerson, "We're the team that's not going to go away."
Now that's a fun fact!
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