Tournament Time
I’m a bit of a college basketball junkie. I most closely follow my alma mater, Drake. Drake usually stinks, though, so come tournament time I have to follow other random teams if I want to keep following the game.
Not this year. If you follow the game, you may have noticed that Drake is playing well. As of this weekend, they were ranked in the top 25 and on the verge of their first NCAA tournament appearance in over 35 years.
As I watched Drake win their conference tournament semifinal game on Saturday, I said to myself, “it would be fun to watch them in the conference final tomorrow.” Shortly after that, I wondered, “why not make the trip? It’s only a six-hour drive each way with the three kids in the backseat. The time will fly by.”
So we loaded the kids in the car and drove from Des Moines to St. Louis on a whim. We stayed that night in a hotel, ate a lot of chicken nuggets on the way, and took a lot of pictures at the game to help me remember the experience because I certainly wasn’t paying attention to anything happening on the court.
Keeping the kids corralled at the game was challenging. I mostly kept the boys entertained by keeping food in front of them. They snacked on chicken strips and fries, and dumped honey mustard on the seat in front of us when the fried foods ran out. Abbie was even more of a challenge since the large crowd frightened her. Mommy bought a mini inflatable basketball for her to toss, which worked great until she decided to toss it several rows in front of us. When the very nice and slightly annoyed people handed it back, mommy and Abbie left in search of less crowded seating. I stayed in my seat, pinned down with a boy on each knee, and moved with her at halftime.
Here’s Abbie before the game looking deceptively cute in her cheerleading outfit. That’s the one and only time that outfit will be worn. Tory is behind her in a grey sweatsuit sitting on mommy’s knee.
Here’s Abbie and Ian watching Drake warm up. This is proof that I actually drug them to the game.
Here we are in the car on the way out of town. The Arch is proof that we were in St. Louis, and the burgandy Suburban’s Kansas license plate reading “SHOXFAN” is proof that it was conference tournament time. The kids melted into screaming puddles shortly after halftime, and we finally gave up and left with about eight minutes left in the game. Drake was comfortably ahead at the time, and won 79-49 to capture the tournament championship and guarantee a trip to the NCAA tournament. We drove straight home that night, returning just in time for the kids to scream themselves to sleep after an exhausting day. I plan on traveling to Drake’s NCAA tournament game(s), but this time without the kids.
Not this year. If you follow the game, you may have noticed that Drake is playing well. As of this weekend, they were ranked in the top 25 and on the verge of their first NCAA tournament appearance in over 35 years.
As I watched Drake win their conference tournament semifinal game on Saturday, I said to myself, “it would be fun to watch them in the conference final tomorrow.” Shortly after that, I wondered, “why not make the trip? It’s only a six-hour drive each way with the three kids in the backseat. The time will fly by.”
So we loaded the kids in the car and drove from Des Moines to St. Louis on a whim. We stayed that night in a hotel, ate a lot of chicken nuggets on the way, and took a lot of pictures at the game to help me remember the experience because I certainly wasn’t paying attention to anything happening on the court.
Keeping the kids corralled at the game was challenging. I mostly kept the boys entertained by keeping food in front of them. They snacked on chicken strips and fries, and dumped honey mustard on the seat in front of us when the fried foods ran out. Abbie was even more of a challenge since the large crowd frightened her. Mommy bought a mini inflatable basketball for her to toss, which worked great until she decided to toss it several rows in front of us. When the very nice and slightly annoyed people handed it back, mommy and Abbie left in search of less crowded seating. I stayed in my seat, pinned down with a boy on each knee, and moved with her at halftime.
Here’s Abbie before the game looking deceptively cute in her cheerleading outfit. That’s the one and only time that outfit will be worn. Tory is behind her in a grey sweatsuit sitting on mommy’s knee.
Here’s Abbie and Ian watching Drake warm up. This is proof that I actually drug them to the game.
Here we are in the car on the way out of town. The Arch is proof that we were in St. Louis, and the burgandy Suburban’s Kansas license plate reading “SHOXFAN” is proof that it was conference tournament time. The kids melted into screaming puddles shortly after halftime, and we finally gave up and left with about eight minutes left in the game. Drake was comfortably ahead at the time, and won 79-49 to capture the tournament championship and guarantee a trip to the NCAA tournament. We drove straight home that night, returning just in time for the kids to scream themselves to sleep after an exhausting day. I plan on traveling to Drake’s NCAA tournament game(s), but this time without the kids.
posted by Matt at
11:10 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home