The Top 100 Banquet and Houston for the Dawgs

All week, campus was abuzz in anticipation for the final four game in Houston.  Everyone was either talking about whether they were going or not or giving random people directions to the book store.  In one day, I directed over 10 people.  It’s like we became a national phenomena overnight.  Our fountains even got turned blue, and we had a pep rally with Governor Daniels and Mayor Ballard.  I loved it, but it made focusing something I couldn’t remember how to do.  By the time Friday night rolled around, I was a mess – anticipating the top 100 students banquet and the final four game in Houston.  The banquet was awesome.  I felt so special having my parents, Eric and Brendan there.  Each student was honored and looking around, I felt so honored to be part of such an elite group.  So many of the other students are people I look up to on campus; it almost felt surreal to be considered among them.  My good friends Claire Petersen and Christopher Ring were named the top woman and top man; so needless to say, it was a great conclusion to a great night.  After the banquet, Brendan, Eric and I drove back to campus, quickly changed into sweats and met up with Carly, Bo and Mark to leave for Houston.  It was a long haul down.  By the time we arrived, we were a little more than stir crazy.  It took Bo 15 minutes to give Carly the graham cracker she wanted.  I’m not sure why, but it was literally one of the funniest things ever.  We made good time.  Our directions told us it should take around 18 to 20 hours, but it only took us 15, and trust me, that was plenty of time in the car.  The original plan was to go to the hotel to check in and freshen up first, but we were still hopeful that we could get a good seat, so we went immediately to the stadium.  Mistake one was exiting the car, running to the line of people and realizing we had to first go get our tickets.  Mistake two was wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts in Houston, Texas, where it was over 80 degrees.  Mistake three was changing in the car once we finally had our tickets.  I felt so disgusting after a 15 hour car ride without showering, brushing my teeth, wearing make-up, etc.  Gross.  We then ran to the line to get in to the stadium only to stand and wait for another hour.  We were in the student area, so that meant we were right next to the VCU fans.  Some heated words were flung back and forth, and every time VCU was on the news, we made sure to add in what we thought should be the version of their fight song.  Each time that caused uproar.  Once we finally got through the ticket line, we received a free Butler t-shirt and a coupon for a free meal.  I couldn’t believe our $25 ticket got us all that.  Once inside, we had over two hours to just soak it all in. We got our food and roamed the stadium – it was awesome to basically have the place to ourselves for awhile.  We eventually made our way to our seats in section 621.  I thought it was going to be too far up to see, but everything was crystal clear, and it was a blast to be wtih the other students.  Mistakes started to be made as random other people had tickets in the Butler student section, but we eventually sorted out the problem – until part way through the first half that is.  About ten minutes into the game, someone came up to our row and had a ticket with the same seat number as Carly.  We told them that we also have tickets that clearly state our seat numbers, so they would need to go take up their problem with the ushers.  Everything was smooth sailing until halftime when different people came up to our seats and had tickets that put them in our places.  We eventually were persuaded out of them by an usher who said she could get us floor seats.  Not only did she not get us floor seats like she promised, but she sent us up to section 721.  We were so far up that we were the last row in the entire stadium and could touch the ceiling.  I spent a good portion of the second half brooding, but once Butler started to pick up, so did my mood.  By the time the last minute occurred, I was beyond excited.  I knew we were moving on to the championship game.  Being in such a fan-oriented atmosphere for the final four game is unbeatable.  I loved that everyone was as excited as I was.  After the game, we stayed for part of Kentucky vs. UConn and then left to check into our hotel for some much needed sleep.  We all slept like rocks.  Once Sunday morning rolled around, we took our time getting up, showering and eating breakfast.  We left our hotel at noon to head to the Galleria mall.  During our shopping excursion, Maggie and I both managed to find a few deals.  I bought a dress, a sun hat and a fun headband at a Forever 21esque store.  The boys bought all the girlfriends white v-necks that said “The Butler Way.”  They were really cute and came with free foam fingers, face tattoos and framed pictures.  After the mall, we drove to downtown to explore.  We rode the metro to the museum stop, where Brendan and I got off to visit the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.  Everyone else went to the zoo, but we had a blast exploring the art work of Houston.  It was nice to have a little time to ourselves, too.  After an hour and a half, we met up with everyone to have Mexican food for dinner.  It was delicious.  After dinner, we took the metro back to our downtown stop.  On the metro, I met a nice man named Robin who directed us to the Green Park where a free Kenny Chesney concert was going on.  Eric, Bo, Brendan and I hung out for awhile and eventually met back up with Carly (who spent the day with some friends) before going back to the hotel to go to bed.  At 4:30 a.m. on Monday, the boys, Maggie, and two of her friends woke up to stand in line for tickets because they weren’t sure if would be a legitimate line or a raffle.  Carly and I decided to sleep in and get a little work done before leaving the hotel at 11.  I’m quite glad we did because not only did the tickets end up being a raffle, but we still had to wait in line until 6 p.m. when we finally got inside the stadium for the 8:30 game.  It was such a long day, and I do not think anyone at Butler is happy with the NCAA for how they handled the games.  We ended up on the floor but in the back of the student section where we watched the game on the jumbotron.  It was still a great atmosphere to be a part of.  I’m sad the dawgs lost, but I’m still so glad we had the opportunity to go to Houston to support them.  After the game, we fought traffic all the way back to our hotel and decided to sleep in until 8 a.m. so that we could be safe drivers for the way home.  It was one of the longest drives of my life.  I contributed a lot more this time around, but my tolerance for sitting in a car and my lack of sleep really started to take a toll by the time we arrived back in Indianapolis at 4 a.m.  Along the way, we did have a few funny moments (OK, a lot of funny moments) mostly revolving around Bo’s inability to hear anything, including sisters (scissors) and foam hands (phone hands).  Plus, we had to mix in Eric’s sausage/pickle, his inappropriate jokes and his obsession with Mark.  Arrival back at Butler at 4 a.m. meant I did not go to bed at all in order to complete homework, unpack, shower, do laundry, etc.  I then had class from 9 to 3:30 and attended the pep rally for the team at 4.  The rally was great, and I got to take pictures with the players afterwards which felt pretty surreal.  But now it’s not even 8 p.m., and I am ready to go to bed.  I could really use some sleep, but how ‘bout them dawgs?!