What It Was Like: The Sweet 16

Over the course of the next week or so, I have decided to take the time to recap the most memorable experience of my life. I will be doing a full, round-by-round review of my thoughts, sights, and opinions of the NCAA tournament. Here is my third one: the Sweet 16 


This was the first time that I have ever been to California. I've got to tell you, other than the weather, I was not impressed. Granted I've heard that Anaheim isn't the best place in Cali, I feel like it is close enough to the "good" spots of Cali that it should be better. Plus, its the home of the Anaheim Angels and the Anaheim Ducks (the team that Ryan Getzlaf plays for, and ill have you know that Ryan Getzlaf is a horse). 

By our hotel, there was a mall. Malls are always a must if they are close to the hotel. They are not only a must because of the shopping, but the malls have great food options. To feed my inner child, and love of video games we chose to go to Dave and Busters. A select few of us went there to meet our friend James Lafferty (Nathan Scott from One Tree Hill) and his friend to have a good night of acting like 10 year olds. 

When I say I unleashed my inner child, I meant it. I went all out. Game from game hounding tickets. Sweating uncontrollably from playing the basketball pop-a-shot game so many times in a row. Leading to a machine that eventually gave us more tickets than I could have imagined. 

(Thats a lot of tickets btw.)

After our night of gaming, we had our open media practice and media and blah blah blah. Followed by those was our team practice. This time it was at Cal State - Fullerton. For those who have never seen Cal State - Fullerton's gym, it is uuggggggllllyyyyy. The court is painted with palm trees, and ugly orange color. I've never seen an orange palm tree before, but it is unique to the "Titans."

Fast forward to game day. In our first two games, they were earlier in the day. Our game against Baylor was until later in the day, which meant we had to sit around in the hotel all day before the game. It was such a beautiful day outside that it was killing me to have to stay inside, but I knew rest was more important than being outside. My hotel room had a great view of the outdoor pool. I remember looking down towards the pool and seeing all the people swimming. That was a tough sight to see.

The game finally started, and we went out there and beat them up. After seeing Baylor smack Creighton, and end Dougie McBucket's infamous career, I expect that game to be our toughest one yet. To be honest, it wasn't that tough. We beat them pretty easily. They were a good team, we were just ready for anything they had for us. During this game, the Dirty Dub started to become more and more popular with the picture of Aaron Rodgers throwing up the Dirty Dub. When Captain Wisconsin throws up the Dirty Dub, you know its going somewhere. 

(The Victory Lap with the photo here)


Survive and Advance.