March Madness

**I'm prefacing this post with an apology because I know I posted these all over facebook too, but with something this great/exciting/wonderful it can never be posted too many times ;)

I LOVE college basketball. Always have. Always will. There is something about watching guys that aren't making millions of dollars each game play their hearts out all for their team. It's just so great to watch. I remember watching the Elite 8 West Virginia vs Louisville game in 2005 like it was yesterday. I was about to graduate from college and I lived and breathed all things UofL. It was so exciting to be glued to the television watching them come from behind to win that game and head to the Final Four!! My friend, Matt Shore, and I went to the huge pep rally they had down at 4th Street Live to watch the players be greeted and to send them on their way to play in the National Semi-finals! It was exhilarating and something I knew I wanted to see again one day...but this time in person!

Living in Arizona now, I get to attend about one game a year back in Louisville while visiting family, otherwise I settle by watching the few games that are televised to the west coast. My patient husband has jumped on the Louisville bandwagon as much as a non-traditional sports guy can. He fakes it pretty well that he's into the games, and for that I'm grateful. As the brackets came out this year and I saw that Louisville had a chance to play in the Phoenix Region, it wasn't even an option as to whether we were going. All I had to do was wait for them to win their way to Phoenix--they did their part, and were headed to the desert. The Sweet 16 game was played on a Thursday. When I realized it would be to difficult to take off work that afternoon, I didn't even panic because I knew they were going to beat the #1 seed Michigan State. I knew I would watch them play on Saturday. Not 30 minutes after Louisville defeated MSU, I was on-line buying my tickets for the Elite 8 game. A big thanks to my husband who encouraged me to splurge on the good tickets! Oh, that Nick--he's the best!

Saturday, March 24th--game day! It was here and after a little hiccup with the tickets not scheduled to arrive until after game time and a sweet little old man at a Fed Ex sorting facility 40 minutes away we got the tickets and made it downtown to our seats with 10 minutes before tip-off. Yes, miracles do happen :) Section 111, Row 11, Seat 22---directly across from the Louisville bench, right in front of the UofL cheerleaders and the Cardinal bird. Everything about being at this game was perfect! I love the come from behind wins, the clamy sweaty hands, the feeling your heart is going to rip out of your chest--and that is me being a spectator! At the end of 40 minutes, Louisville came out with the "W"--Final Four bound!!

Peyton Siva's dad (#3-Louisville point guard) was sitting one row behind us. I saw him and said, "I love watching you get all crazy on TV, can I take a picture with you." He screams the entire game by the way, "Stay on your man, stay on your man, stay on your man"...repeated about 50 times. He made this game that much more memorable.

Warm-ups

Love this converted Louisville fan as much as I love my basketball team

The free throw that sealed the deal!

Final score: Louisville 72, University of Florida 68

Celebrating!

A guy came up to Nick and asked him, "Did you steal that hat right off of a players head? How do you already own that?"

Had to be one of the first ones to own this hat!

Got my Final Four shirt! Do you?

I asked a guy in line what the shirts said, to which he replied, "It says CHAMPION on it, that's all that matters!"

Hopefully soon we will be saying National Champion. Go CARDS! Up next: The Civil War: Louisville vs Kentucky. Winner goes to the finals! I will be wearing a different Louisville shirt every day after work and to the gym until the big game on Saturday--gotta represent!