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. 

Michigan State Photo Gallery

As of this writing I have achieved a new single day high for views on this blog. Thank you so much! Here are some of the pictures that I liked from last nights game. I really had a blast last night, and I hope that Mackey will be rocking like that again this season.

 

Erin Andrews breaking the news on national tv that Robbie Hummel tore his ACL

A Perfect End to a Great Day

Smooge doing his best Hulk Hogan impression as time expires

Last night I walked into Mackey which was already buzzing with a little buzz myself. I had already had a great day, and I was wondering how the game could top any of it. Of course it did. Let me just start off by saying how great the Paint Crew was yet again. They brought it all game, and thanks to a little prodding from the student body so did the alums. I noticed a sign right away in the Paint Crew that told the alums to stand up. The other side said applause. The sign seemed to work because the crowd was in the game the entire game. This was an electric atmosphere that stayed throughout the night. It may have been the loudest I have heard it since I started regularly coming to games in 2005. I know, the cat is out of the bag. Now you all know what a bandwagon fan that I am. They were coming off a 7-21 record when I bought my season tickets. They far and away surpassed that the following season when they had a 9-19 record. For some reason though I fell in love with that team that only won nine games. They played a brand of basketball that I really liked. They have quickly turned into a national powerhouse that leads to big days like yesterday. I was very proud to be a Boilermaker yesterday.

College Gameday Photo Gallery

As promised here is the gallery from this morning. It is kind of long, but so much was going on that I wanted to include everything.

The team waving addressing the crowd. I love how Barlow is taking the two coaches picture

College Gameday Comes to Purdue

 

The Gameday bus outside of Mackey Arena. I knocked on the door to see if Bob Knight was in there, but nobody answered.

This morning I had one of the best times I have ever had in Mackey Arena, and here wasn’t even a game going on. The College Gameday crew was in town with one notable exception. Bobby Knight was not at the taping. He crowd saved it’s venom for Digger instead. I got there a little late, but I did get to see Digger hitting the big drum. He did do a good job of winning over the crowd. I especially enjoyed watching the taped segment where he tried to find a road to Lafayette. The Paint Crew was great as usual. They really did a great job with their signs and enthusiasm. I had such a great time that I thought I would post a photo gallery when I get back to my laptop. I saw some great signs today including one with a picture I took on it.