March Madness Part Deux

Ok, this time the Madness I am talking about does actually have something to do with College Basketball, however also about the foot of snow we received this past weekend. It started to ice late Friday evening as we were taking a cab back from one of our favorite sides of the bar. (Fidels in Westport) By the time we awoke on Saturday we had over 6 inches and started to snow again an hour or so later and snowed the entire day dropping another 8 inches on us. The Kansas/Northern Iowa game was going to be played later that day and we had planned on walking to the ESPN Sports Zone to watch the game.

As the snow kept falling and Central Patti was making her famous chicken wings we had nixed the idea of going out and planed on watching the game from home. Well Mother Nature was doing her best to get us back outside. I discovered about 2 P.M. that the dish was out because of the heavy snow and if we wanted to watch the game we would need to venture out after all, or would we? I remembered that on NCAA.com you could watch any game you wished for free so that became our backup plan and as long as the internet connection was up we were golden.

Just before the game started the dish came back and were would be able to view the game from our own seats in front of our big screen! The basketball gods were surely watching out for us, because after the game and lasting until noon on Sunday the dish was out again due to the snow storm.

As we are both Alumni of Northern Iowa we were routing for the Panthers. You have to remember that we live in the “Mecca” of Kansas Jayhawk country and KU was seated number one this region and ranked and considered the best team in the country. So we had not visions of grandeur for the game we simply wanted UNI to not be embarrassed.

As the first half ended all was well and we were happy in fact they were leading 36-28! However we were very cautious as we could not even begin to let ourselves think the “unthinkable”

As the second half progressed (still watching the snow fall outside the windows) we could no longer sit down to watch the game. We were standing and pacing and at every shot cheering. KU made furious run finally putting on the full court press, however when Ali Farokhmanesh hit a three-pointer with 30 seconds left it was clear that this would be the biggest win in Northern Iowa’s history!

As the clock expired we were both jumping up and down and yelling I bumped by had off my head and hit myself in the eye causing a slight contusion and a bruise. I also went out on the front porch and yelled “Go Panthers”! My neighbors, I am sure, thought I was crazy.

Now for the really fun part we were both dressed in UNI garb and we then and there decided to walk down to the Sports Zone for a celebratory shot. We bundled up and out into the snow we went.
We arrived at the Sports Zone and it was not that crowded, despite the fact that the K-State game was about to begin. We sat at the upstairs bar in our usually spots and the bartender wearing a KU Shirt looks at us, smiles and ask what we would like. We both smiled back and said we were celebrating and would like a shot, Jamison’s for me and something purple for Central Patti. The bartender pulled our an iPhone and found a recipe for a Purple Hooter (not sure what was in it but it was not bad). People around us started to take notice of our clothes, hats, scarves etc. and began to toast us. Then the guy next to us told the bartender he had our first round as they were cheering “Ali, Ali” (for Ali Farokhmanesh)

Then more people came up and gave us high five, shook our hands and even a couple of hugs. The individuals were either K-State Fans, Missouri Fans or just people who really must have hated KU. The all told the same story, when the game was finished the place went very quiet and then really began to empty out.

Then came more shots, you would have thought we were celebrities or something. It was one great time. After about 3 hours and the K-State game ended (K-State won) We decided it was time to head home. Well after a lot more snow the sidewalks were very slippery and I made it to the bottom of the stairs and slide on my ass to the corner laughing and Patti chasing behind me. I repeated this “fun” two more times before we finally arrived home safe, but in my case very wet from falling. I can not blame all this on the weather as we put away many shots, but this “March Madness” was one of the best days we had had this winter.

Cheers

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