Monday, April 27, 2015

2008 Final Four and National Championship

First off, I know what you’re going to say, my new Royals t-shirt didn’t bring us any more good luck than my last one.  Oh well, it’s still cute.

There are two days in 2008 I’ll never forget.  On the morning of Saturday, April 5th I was lined up outside of the Granada in Downtown Lawrence to try and get the few seats that weren’t reserved but were still available.  I was the second person in line and when the doors opened I asked about re-entry once the game had started and I was told that they could not guarantee it.  The big hitch in my plan was that I had to go turn on the video boards at Allen Fieldhouse and once they were on and working my boss said I could leave because he would be there in case something went wrong.  I spent most of the day at the Granada with my sister and this couple playing poker until I called a taxi to take me to Allen Fieldhouse to turn on the video boards.  Turning them on went off without a hitch and now I had to wait for another taxi to pick me up at Allen Fieldhouse to take me back to the Granada.  The whole ride there I was worrying about what I was going to do if I couldn’t get back in because the Granada would be at capacity.  Luckily my worrying was all for naught because I got right back into the Granada and back into the seat my sister had been saving for me. 

Then Cole Aldrich had the best game of his career up to that point and put Tyler Hansbrough in his place.  Once I knew we were going to win the game I was so excited I began jumping up and down and my elbow connected with my sister’s cheekbone.  Let me just say she wasn’t in much of a partying mood after that.  With about a minute left in the game we rushed into Massachusetts Street but didn’t stay long because I basically gave my sister a black eye.

My sister and I didn’t have big plans for Monday’s Championship game.  We just watched the game at her friend’s house near Allen Fieldhouse.  Again, I had to turn on the video boards at Allen Fieldhouse and make sure they were working before I could leave and watch the game.  During the whole second half I had a bad feeling in my stomach and I don’t even think I watched “Mario’s Miracle” live.  I thought the game was over and had walked into the other room to get something to eat.  When people started cheering from the TV room, I ran back in to watch the replays.  At the end of regulation, I just kept saying that one of Memphis’ players, Joey Dorsey, had fouled out.  In overtime, Kansas dominated Memphis, with Memphis only scoring five points. 

After Kansas won we didn’t immediately rush down to Massachusetts Street because another guy and I wanted to see “One Shinning Moment”.  After that was over, we left for Downtown Lawrence.  I was surprised it wasn’t that hard to find a parking spot.  Since you couldn’t have glass outside on Mass. Street, one guy we were with had a box of sangria but took the sangria out of the box so it was just a bag of sangria.  A police officer commented that it was the most ingenious thing he had seen all night.





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