2010 NCAA Second Round: Purdue vs. Texas A&M

Two days after my first NCAA tournament game I went back to Spokane to see my second. All of the people who thought that the #4 seed had no shot against the #13 seed were now predicting the demise of Purdue by the #5 seed Texas A&M. After starting the pod with three teams out of the eight with the nickname ‘Aggies’ Texas A&M was the last one standing. After making the cross state trip once it didn’t seem as bad the second time. Washington really is a beautiful state. About halfway on my journey I crossed the Vantage Bridge over the Columbia River. This is near Vantage, Washington which was well named. It is a beautiful part of the state that I stopped at on both of my trips.

2010 NCAA First Round: Purdue vs. Siena

Last year I really wanted to go to a NCAA Tournament game. I was not ready to see my last Boilermaker game in person. I bought tickets the day after the announcement was made. The only problem was that I could not find a cheap flight or hotel in Spokane. The game was Friday so I sat around moping all week because I could not go. I think I wanted to go for the most part because everyone was picking against them. If you remember even President Obama picked against the Boilers. Everyone seemed to think the team would make an early exit. The day before the game I found a cheap flight, hotel, and car package for Seattle. I wanted to go there anyway so why not just stay there. I booked the flight in the morning, and left at night. 

Purdue vs. Maryland Photo Gallery

Here are some pictures from the game Thursday night. I might have included too many of Drey Mingo, but it was great to see her on the court and doing well.

Brittany Rayburn working on her shot prior to the game

Boilers Lose Emotional Game

I love this picture of Drey before the game with Coach Versyp

Last night started off so awesome. If you had told me one week ago that Drey Mingo would have taken the court with her team I would have told you that you were crazy. After being hospitalized with meningitis last week she was given a fifty-fifty chance to make it through. Her recovery has been amazing, and it was a great moment last night when the team walked arm in arm onto the court with Drey in the lead with Antoinette Howard and Chantel Poston. It was a great moment. Looking at the faces of some of the Purdue fans around me I would say that it was emotional as well. The ovation that she was given was one of the best that I can remember. Once again the band got involved and made signs for Drey much like they did with KK Houser. The Gold Mine which was a little bigger last night also had signs for the Junior.

Kissimmee the season goodbye

Maryland 27 – Purdue 7

The only fireworks during this game were at the beginning for Purdue. The offense looked terrible except for the two minute drill that resulted in a touchdown just before the half. My first bowl game did not turn out very well according to the score. The experience was well worth it though. The Citrus Bowl stadium was very nice, and I met some really great people along the way. This game pretty much mirrored the season for Purdue. Neither side of the ball could play well when the other one was. The defense had trouble stopping the run and the pass. They looked like the team from the beginning of the season. The offense really could not get anything going. They had a chance to take the lead, but a missed field goal ended that. The first drive saw them have two chances to keep a drive alive by gaining one yard, but they could not get the job done. When Painter did make a pass on the mark it seemed like the receivers dropped the ball. This was the 12th Purdue game that I attended this year, and I will recap the season in a future post.