Road to the Final Four!

These kids are raised right! Wearing that Kentucky Blue since birth! This was them as they got ready to watch UK in the Final Four. Maybe I can take them to the Final Four to see the Wildcats someday.

I have been saying for a while now how special this Kentucky basketball team could be. When they won the first two games of the SEC tournament I knew they were starting to click. Before the NCAA tournament started I picked them to win my bracket (mostly thinking it is just hard to root against your hometown team). When they started playing in the NCAA they really impressed me and I knew they weren't given the credit that they deserved. I had a chance to go see them in Indy, but backed out because I would have to get too many things worked out in order to go. Instead I sat in my basement by myself watching the Louisville game while the kids were both asleep upstairs and my wife was at work. If you saw my video Saturday night you can imagine how much intensity I had built up during that game. I didn't make one single noise because I know to never wake a sleeping baby. I was even more pumped, if you can imagine, about that win because it was against our in state rival and defending national champion. Then came the Michigan game. I had to work that night so I watched the first half at home and then drove in at halftime so that I wouldn't miss a second of the game. I watched the second half surrounded by coworkers who all were glued to the screen like myself. After my nerves calmed down from the wild finish I jokingly called Jennifer and asked her what she would think if I went to the Final Four in Dallas? She said she didn't think it was possible because it was less than a week away and I had to work that weekend. It just seemed to crazy to get everything worked out. Then I sent her a picture of my bucket list that I keep in my notes on my phone of how I wanted to attend a Final Four. I said that it would be nice to go when it was a team that I really wanted to go see! She simply responded back with her approval and then the search was on. 

I immediately started looking for a way to get tickets to Dallas and of course for someone to go with me! I just knew that I needed to be a part of this miraculous run by this group of freshmen. My brother said no because he had medical school stuff, my sister and her fiancée said no because they already had a trip to Washington, D.C. planned that weekend, my mom was the babysitter I had in mind and Jennifer had to work. I still hadn't heard back from dad because he was still in church and unable to be contacted so I waited very impatiently for him to get home. I flat out asked him if he wanted to drive to Dallas with me for the games and just seconds after my question he said yes! I was ecstatic! We found a pair of tickets in the nosebleeds and purchased them. Then became the tricky part. I had to find some coworkers who would switch shifts with me so that I could head to the Final Four. After looking at the schedule over and over I found many options and even some backup options that weren't ideal, but would let me attend the game. Thankfully I have some awesome coworkers who said yes and swapped shifts. 

Thursday finally arrived and I packed up the car, said goodbye to Jennifer, Brinley and Landon and then headed to McLean County to pick up dad. After the 3 hour drive home I picked him up and said goodbye to mom and we set off on the road to Texas. We made pretty good time, only stopping twice for food and gas. We arrived at our hotel around 11 pm that night and quickly got to bed. 

Dad and I outside the AT&T Stadium. 43 years ago Dad went to see his college team, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at the Final Four in Houston.

TBS crew were right there when we walked into the stadium. This is where I got some text that people saw me on TV.

I made it on to the big screen. I am dead center behind the announcers. Dad made it on too in the picture below.

View from our seats.

Ready for some basketball!

 Friday we slept in and then decided to go ahead and get ready to start heading towards the stadium. We stopped for lunch on the way and then searched around for the best possible parking that we could find. We walked to the stadium and were looking around outside when it started to drizzle. Not having anything to cover up with we just stood in line to enter the stadium. When the doors opened at 3 we were one of the first ones in the building (Apparently I was seen by people from back home on TV as I was entering the stadium). We walked around the stadium and dad showed me where he thought he sat for the Super Bowl a few years ago. We stopped at one of the commentator broadcast booths and quickly discovered that this was the best way to get on the big screen TVs that were in the stadium. We took pictures because we weren't sure that they were broadcast outside the stadium. Then we made our way up to the upper deck to find our seats. The night started out weird because we first had to watch 2 teams that we were indifferent about before watching our main event. Dad had ended up getting a bucket of popcorn that had free refills and he munched on it throughout both games. I however, was so sick to my stomach that I couldn't even think about eating or drinking. I was nervous for the Kentucky game that seemed like it would never start. The UConn Huskies ended up beating the Florida Gators in the first game and then it was time for the real main event. 

Dad passing the time by eating popcorn. I think he had 4 buckets this night.

Florida Gators vs. Connecticut Huskies. Not that great of a game, plus I wanted Florida to win so that we could beat them in the championship!

Tip-off between Kentucky and Wisconsin.

After an intermission where they switched out the student sections and let the teams warm up, it was game time. It started out so fast and it seemed like in no time it was halftime. The second half came along and you could tell it was going to be a fantastic finish because the teams were just back and forth the whole game. Kentucky would go on a run and then Wisconsin would respond with a run of their own. We would make a big play and then they would match it with one of their own. The atmosphere in the stadium was crazy. There were by far more Kentucky fans, but the red of the Wisconsin fans really made them standout. It was also pretty intense in the stadium because every commercial break the big screen would show people in the stands. I don't know how they decide who to show, but it just seemed to me that they showed more of the Wisconsin fans during our game. (Not sure if this was true or not. But it seemed like it to me and just because we were playing them it made me dislike them even more.) Their fans were only slightly less annoying than the Gator fans that do their arm chomp. It just seemed crazy to me that all these predominately white fans from Wisconsin couldn't think up a better thing to do when the camera flashed on them except for the traditional gang sign, W, which represents west-side. I know that they were using it to represent Wisconsin, but it was just something that got on my nerves while I was watching the game.

Wisconsin player throwing up his W's

This stadium was huge! The jumbo-tron was really nice though. 

With just 16 seconds left in the game, Wisconsin had the ball and one of their players, Traevon Jackson, gave a little pump fake and got Andrew Harrison to jump in the air so he leaned into Harrison and shot a three-pointer. I was so distraught, this was exactly the opposite of everything you get taught growing up playing basketball. I could just hear it how the announcers were going to blame everything on the lack of experience with playing freshmen and making mental mistakes. It also got me upset because I knew that up until now in the game Wisconsin had been perfect from the free throw line, 17 straight makes. However, Traevon missed his very first attempt. This was awesome! Now we only needed a two -pointer to tie it up and that was if he hit the other two free throws. He did hit the other 2 shots and I was expecting a quick timeout by Coach Cal to get things set up for a good shot. However, they in-bounded the ball and rushed quickly up the floor and then Andrew Harrison passed it to his brother Aaron who was way behind the 3-point line. He shot and it didn't look like a good shot, but then it somehow when it! The arena erupted with cheers of joy from the Wildcat faithful! I was so excited, but I knew that with under 6 seconds left on the clock it was more than enough time for Wisconsin to get off a good shot. After a couple of timeouts and some more time for my blood pressure to rise the Wisconsin Badgers in-bounded the ball and hustled up court. Again it was Traevon with the ball and he went left and then stepped back for a jump shot. It hit the backboard and then bounced off the front of the rim into the hands of Kentucky! We won! We won! This is where I filmed my video that ended up being watched my the majority of my friends. All of whom have commented back to me that they enjoyed my video. I was on such an emotional high that I would have probably set my own couch on fire if I had it with me there at the stadium. Dad and I were so excited over the victory! We took our time getting out of the stadium because we knew that traffic was going to be bad, so we bought a few souvenirs and made our way to the car.

Here is the link to my video I made from the last seconds of the Wisconsin game if you didn't get a chance to see it. (You might want to turn the volume down because I was a little loud.)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=698856959403&set=vb.151202065&type=3

After the most thrilling game that I have ever witnessed personally! I was so pumped right now!

The next day we didn't have anything going on so we slept in and then decided to do a little bit of sightseeing. We had done some stuff in Dallas on previous trips, so we finally decided on a trip to South Fork Ranch, which is where the TV series Dallas is taped. I have never personally seen the show, but it is one that mom and dad have both watched from the start. The tour was really interesting, but the story lines and all the characters seemed to overwhelm me. The only part of the show that I was really familiar with was the term "Who shot JR?". Dad really enjoyed the tour and even sent pictures from his phone to different people while he was there to show them some of the stuff. After South Fork we headed into Dallas and decided to watch a movie. I let Dad pick and he chose The Grand Budapest Hotel. It was different, funny at times, weird at others. Definitely not a movie I would ever watch again, but I might suggest it if you had nothing else to do. After our movie we headed out to Fuddruckers for dinner. I tried the 1 pound burger which is something that they are famous for and McKinley had one on a vacation that I didn't get to go on (Dad, Mom, Andrea, and McKinley went one summer to Virginia Beach and I stayed home to work in the TTMA factory). I had been told on numerous times how good the burger was and that McKinley finished his burger and got his picture on the wall. Not to be out done, I wanted to do the same, although this restaurant didn't put people's pictures up for completing the burger. I didn't expect the burger to have much flavor, but it was actually really good. The only thing left to do was rest up for the Championship game the next night.

Who shot JR? I don't have a clue, but that is the only phrase or thing I know about the TV show Dallas.

Dad wanted to take a dip in the pool at South Fork, but it was a little chilly for a swim.

Dad was really sad about the passing of J.R. Ewing. We might just send in this picture to see if dad can get a role as an extra.

Really good burger! The 1 pound burger! 

We again had nothing to do so we slept in and then headed out for lunch. After eating we had some time to waste before heading down to the stadium so we just stopped in a mall to look around at things. We arrived early to the stadium and got some more pictures outside with some of the different signage on the building. After we got inside we didn't really need to explore so we just went ahead and got to our seats. I again was feeling nervous so I didn't get any snacks, but Dad got some peanuts to keep him satisfied until tip-off. Even more Wildcat fans made it down for the championship so the stadium looked packed with fans in their Kentucky Blue. It just seemed like during the game we couldn't get anything going. We got behind early in the game and just seemed like the nerves were getting the best of us. Every time that we would make a big play and I would think to myself that we were about to get something going UConn would go down the court and answer back with a big play of their own. In fact at one point we were trailing by 15 points. However, with about 5 minutes left in the first half, something changed and they started playing basketball like they were capable of. The Wildcats went on a run to end the first half that got the deficit down to 4. The second half really was a back and forth battle. Many times we got to within 1 point, but we were never able to tie or take the lead. Again it felt like we made a lot of costly mistakes at the most inopportune times. We played a lot better in the second half, but we just couldn't get the job done. We weren't close enough at the end to even give Aaron Harrison a chance to make another amazing shot to win the game. In the end, the Huskies of UConn proved to be too much for the freshmen of Kentucky. It was heartbreaking to see them lose, but the tournament run that these freshmen put together was really something to be proud of! Nobody except the guys in that locker room had the faith and determination that they had in themselves during the season. Kentucky had probably the hardest tournament draw and they didn't back down from anybody and fell just a few shy of being National Champions.

Mirror outside the stadium gave a pretty neat picture.

Tip-off of the championship game. I tried to limit my picture taking and to just enjoy the moment. So, I didn't get too many live action pictures from any of the games.

Randle shooting a free throw. If we had only hit more of these we might have brought the title back to Kentucky.

Dad and I got up early the next day to start the journey home. People might say that we were crazy for driving, but it gave us a lot of time to talk and enjoy each others company. Dad told me stories about when he was growing up and also told me about his college and teaching years. Some stories I might have heard before, but they were just as good the second time too. We made it back to McLean County safe and sound and I spent the night before heading back the next morning to see how the kids had been for Jennifer and Grandma. Thanks for reading and God Bless

Extra note:

This morning I watched the DVR'd game to see just exactly what went wrong and to clear up some of the calls that I had witnessed at the stadium, but never got to hear the announcers say what had happened. I thought the refs made some pretty bad calls, which is to be expected, but some of them were just plain awful. I didn't realize how little Randle actually played in the first half due to some problems with his ankle. Overall, I was still really proud of this group of Kentucky Wildcats! They stepped up their game when it really mattered and they help produce one of the more exciting tournaments in recent years.

I was also very glad to hear about the news today that the Harrison twins have decided to come back for another season along with Willie Cauley-Stein, Alex Poythress, Dakari Johnson, and Marcus Lee. With the four 5-star recruits we have coming in next year it could prove to be a very dynamic team. I wish them the best and can't wait to see them in action later this year. I also wish the best for Julius Randle and James Young in their NBA careers. I hope to see the boys in Kentucky blue make another run in the tournament and I might just sneak up to Indy to see them win it all.

It is going to be a long off season, but I can't wait until it is Basketball time in the Bluegrass!