My day started bright and early. After getting two hours of sleep, I headed over to the RAC at 7am to hang with the pep band as they did two morning news spots courtesy of channel 13 at 7:15 and 7:45. I heard about this news spot via UMBC Underground, which had encouraged people to show up and cheer with the pep band. I showed up, as did five others, including Spirit Czar and True Grit. It was a tad chilly, but it was fun. After those festivities were over, I went to breakfast with some of the pep band (kudos to Jon for inviting me). Have any of you ever ridden in a car with someone who is just learning to drive stick? Thank God for seatbelts! Actually Jon did a pretty good job all things considered. Upon getting back to campus, I quickly consumed my eggs and pancakes, picked my seat (the good thing about getting there early...you get the seat you want), and helped spread Growl Towels throughout the student sections. By this time it's around 930...facepaint time!! A black paw on my left cheek and UMBC in alternating black and gold letters on the right. Props to the girls who were helping me with this...not sure who they are but after a couple of attempts, we got the UMBC worked out.
10am...students are lined up outside the entrance to the court, cheers of "UM-BC!" can be heard, growing ever more enthusiastic as the Retriever fever builds. Once they're let in, the students swarmed the seating areas, everybody figuring out where the different seating sections were, and trying to find their friends. It appeared as though the first 1000 maybe 1500 people in got free tshirts. Let the school spirit commence! Growl Towels and "Go Retrievers" foam sticks were provided. Face paint and body paint abounded, and there was plenty on hand for those who didn't show up painted. I caught up with my friend Caitlyn, painted her face (half gold and half black, with the opposite paw color on each cheek) then we proceeded to paint most of the people around us. It started small, coercing a few people into getting facepaint, but soon people were lining up, all with different requests for painting. I lost track of how many people we painted. As the seats began to fill up, and people were hesitant to leave their seats for fear of losing them, we moved throughout the bleachers on our side of the room, painting faces, arms, hands, etc. Armed with black and gold paint andGrowl Towels for wiping our hands between colors, we spread school spirit. The paws were the most popular, then half and half faces. It was easy to tell the people who hadn't done facepaint before...they were nervous but eager, asking for just something small. Many times they did it because their friends told them to, even though they were hesitant. We reassured them that it would easily wash off with soap and water.
Some students were willing to go all out and paint their whole face to show support for their retrievers, people like Brian D, Caitlyn, and others who came looking for facepaint. Others like myself and Michelle were a bit more conservative, but still joining the fun. Some people asked to get their arms or hands painted, generally under the excuse "I have to go somewhere after this" or "I have to go out tonight". Then there were those who, although sitting in student sections, had the audacity to show up displaying very little school spirit. *cough Brian O, Eric cough* These folks soon they weren't going to get away with that. I quickly demanded they submit themselves to my wonderful facepainting skills, and they wisely acquiesced. The most interesting part of facepainting was when an older gentleman asked me to paint a paw on top of his bald head. It made me laugh when one kid asked us if we were facepainting for free, and then almost kissed me on the cheek when I was done with him, he was so excited. (The kiss was a cultural thing, I'm familiar with it from visiting my friends in Mexico).
Let the games begin! The players were introduced, we cheered for our starting lineup, and the ref tossed the ball. Hartford got possession after tipoff, and made the first shot. We quickly answered with a three pointer, Hartford made another two, and that was the last time they would see themselves in the lead. After the first five minutes, it was clear that UMBC was there to show Hartford how the Retrievers play basketball. For the rest of the game, UMBC's lead never went below nine points. The fans were incredibly excited, cheering our hearts out and killing our voices in support of our Dawgs/Dogs. By the last six minutes of the game, we were shouting "NCAA!" , "Warm up the bus!" and singing "Na-Na-Goodbye" to the Hartford fans. They had been less then enthusiastic throughout most of the game, but I guess when your team is down by an avg of 13 points for most of the game, it's hard to cheer with any real hope.
Around the three minute mark, fans in the bleachers started moving down onto the track and into the lower student section in preparation for rushing the court at game's end. It was obvious that the game was ours, and we were simply playing for kicks and giggles at that point. As the game was ending, and the clock was expiring, the fans started running out onto the court...but wait! There's 0.7 seconds left! Get off the court! I wonder if they did it on purpose...Once the clock officially ran out, we rushed the court and the excitement was uncontainable. They played "Alma Matter" but of course noone knew most of the words, and for some reason they didn't put the lyrics up on the information board. The cheers of the fans so were loud they barely heard the announcer say "Please clear the court" so they could do closing ceremonies. I joined with some of the Mama's Boys in singing "We are the Champions" and spreading it through the crowd. Back up on the track, we watched the Retrievers cut down the net, and cheered as our boys were named allstars.
After the game, I caught up with Ryan and Elise and we talked about how exciting it was that UMBC was going to the NCAA and Maryland wasn't, also what an exciting opportunity it was for the seniors on the team. As everyone cleared out, I grabbed my bags and went outside to soak up the sun. Hey look, the pep band has CD's on sale. I'd been meaning to get one for a while, but wait, I don't have any $$ on me. Time to run down to the commons and hit up the ATM. After asking a nice older lady with a Hartford shirt on to watch my stuff, I went down to the commons and flashed a cute smile to gain entrance (only VIPs for the reception were supposed to be going in and out). I let a couple other kids in behind me who were looking to get into the bookstore, ran up to the ATM, then went back over to the RAC and picked up my copy of the Down and Dirty Dawg Band's first CD, then thanked the Hartford lady for watching my bags. I put the CD away, called my dad to tell him where he would find me when he picked me up, and then draped myself across my bags. Towel over my eyes, I relaxed and dozed in the sun until it was time to go home.
Back home I said hi to the family, got cleaned up (I looked like hell by this point, having barely slept all week, much less the night before) and flopped down on my queen sized bed for a much needed nap. I finished out the evening by going out for dinner and a movie with my brother who I hadn't seen or talked to in about a month. We bumped into a friend of mine who goes to Maryland and quickly exercised bragging rights. After getting home and falling into bed exhausted from all the adventures of the day ( I was running on adrenaline all day), I woke up the next morning very pleased to discover my parents had opted to go to the later service at church, partially for my sake.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!! Watch for us Friday as we play American University in round one of the NCAA at 230pm EST. LET'S GO RETRIEVERS!!!
peace y'all
P.S. Common Sense Life Lesson for the week: When there's only a limited amount of cheaper tix for the game, get them the first day they go on sale. Don't wait a day and a half only to find out you now have to pay for the more expensive tix because all the cheap ones are sold out.
10am...students are lined up outside the entrance to the court, cheers of "UM-BC!" can be heard, growing ever more enthusiastic as the Retriever fever builds. Once they're let in, the students swarmed the seating areas, everybody figuring out where the different seating sections were, and trying to find their friends. It appeared as though the first 1000 maybe 1500 people in got free tshirts. Let the school spirit commence! Growl Towels and "Go Retrievers" foam sticks were provided. Face paint and body paint abounded, and there was plenty on hand for those who didn't show up painted. I caught up with my friend Caitlyn, painted her face (half gold and half black, with the opposite paw color on each cheek) then we proceeded to paint most of the people around us. It started small, coercing a few people into getting facepaint, but soon people were lining up, all with different requests for painting. I lost track of how many people we painted. As the seats began to fill up, and people were hesitant to leave their seats for fear of losing them, we moved throughout the bleachers on our side of the room, painting faces, arms, hands, etc. Armed with black and gold paint andGrowl Towels for wiping our hands between colors, we spread school spirit. The paws were the most popular, then half and half faces. It was easy to tell the people who hadn't done facepaint before...they were nervous but eager, asking for just something small. Many times they did it because their friends told them to, even though they were hesitant. We reassured them that it would easily wash off with soap and water.
Some students were willing to go all out and paint their whole face to show support for their retrievers, people like Brian D, Caitlyn, and others who came looking for facepaint. Others like myself and Michelle were a bit more conservative, but still joining the fun. Some people asked to get their arms or hands painted, generally under the excuse "I have to go somewhere after this" or "I have to go out tonight". Then there were those who, although sitting in student sections, had the audacity to show up displaying very little school spirit. *cough Brian O, Eric cough* These folks soon they weren't going to get away with that. I quickly demanded they submit themselves to my wonderful facepainting skills, and they wisely acquiesced. The most interesting part of facepainting was when an older gentleman asked me to paint a paw on top of his bald head. It made me laugh when one kid asked us if we were facepainting for free, and then almost kissed me on the cheek when I was done with him, he was so excited. (The kiss was a cultural thing, I'm familiar with it from visiting my friends in Mexico).
Let the games begin! The players were introduced, we cheered for our starting lineup, and the ref tossed the ball. Hartford got possession after tipoff, and made the first shot. We quickly answered with a three pointer, Hartford made another two, and that was the last time they would see themselves in the lead. After the first five minutes, it was clear that UMBC was there to show Hartford how the Retrievers play basketball. For the rest of the game, UMBC's lead never went below nine points. The fans were incredibly excited, cheering our hearts out and killing our voices in support of our Dawgs/Dogs. By the last six minutes of the game, we were shouting "NCAA!" , "Warm up the bus!" and singing "Na-Na-Goodbye" to the Hartford fans. They had been less then enthusiastic throughout most of the game, but I guess when your team is down by an avg of 13 points for most of the game, it's hard to cheer with any real hope.
Around the three minute mark, fans in the bleachers started moving down onto the track and into the lower student section in preparation for rushing the court at game's end. It was obvious that the game was ours, and we were simply playing for kicks and giggles at that point. As the game was ending, and the clock was expiring, the fans started running out onto the court...but wait! There's 0.7 seconds left! Get off the court! I wonder if they did it on purpose...Once the clock officially ran out, we rushed the court and the excitement was uncontainable. They played "Alma Matter" but of course noone knew most of the words, and for some reason they didn't put the lyrics up on the information board. The cheers of the fans so were loud they barely heard the announcer say "Please clear the court" so they could do closing ceremonies. I joined with some of the Mama's Boys in singing "We are the Champions" and spreading it through the crowd. Back up on the track, we watched the Retrievers cut down the net, and cheered as our boys were named allstars.
After the game, I caught up with Ryan and Elise and we talked about how exciting it was that UMBC was going to the NCAA and Maryland wasn't, also what an exciting opportunity it was for the seniors on the team. As everyone cleared out, I grabbed my bags and went outside to soak up the sun. Hey look, the pep band has CD's on sale. I'd been meaning to get one for a while, but wait, I don't have any $$ on me. Time to run down to the commons and hit up the ATM. After asking a nice older lady with a Hartford shirt on to watch my stuff, I went down to the commons and flashed a cute smile to gain entrance (only VIPs for the reception were supposed to be going in and out). I let a couple other kids in behind me who were looking to get into the bookstore, ran up to the ATM, then went back over to the RAC and picked up my copy of the Down and Dirty Dawg Band's first CD, then thanked the Hartford lady for watching my bags. I put the CD away, called my dad to tell him where he would find me when he picked me up, and then draped myself across my bags. Towel over my eyes, I relaxed and dozed in the sun until it was time to go home.
Back home I said hi to the family, got cleaned up (I looked like hell by this point, having barely slept all week, much less the night before) and flopped down on my queen sized bed for a much needed nap. I finished out the evening by going out for dinner and a movie with my brother who I hadn't seen or talked to in about a month. We bumped into a friend of mine who goes to Maryland and quickly exercised bragging rights. After getting home and falling into bed exhausted from all the adventures of the day ( I was running on adrenaline all day), I woke up the next morning very pleased to discover my parents had opted to go to the later service at church, partially for my sake.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!! Watch for us Friday as we play American University in round one of the NCAA at 230pm EST. LET'S GO RETRIEVERS!!!
peace y'all
P.S. Common Sense Life Lesson for the week: When there's only a limited amount of cheaper tix for the game, get them the first day they go on sale. Don't wait a day and a half only to find out you now have to pay for the more expensive tix because all the cheap ones are sold out.
1 comment:
devon chamberlain. i hate you :)
Post a Comment