Monday, April 5, 2010

Remembering another Butler game from years ago...

So, as I was watching the NCAA championship game tonight, and cheering for Butler, I remembered that a long time ago, 19 years to be exact, I actually sang the national anthem for an NIT game at the University of Wyoming where I worked at the time in the athletic department. Our opponent? Butler. And we beat them. By two points.

I found an old LA Times article with a summary of the game...kinda funny that the other game summary in the article is about WVU. I don't think I'd made my final decision about going to WVU when we played our game against Butler. It's all very interesting to me now.

I actually have two banners from that game that I might someday hang in a sports room in a house I may own. For now, they reside in a storage bin. One is an ESPN banner, you know the heavy duty papery ones they used to hang around arenas when they televised a game...yeah, I have that. I'm not even sure they do that anymore since so many people have more permanent signage options. These were the old days! The other is a nice cloth NIT banner which I really did try to give back to the NIT representative, but he told me that I did such a nice job singing the anthem that I should keep it. Nice.

Wyoming lost its next game that year to Colorado, a game played in Boulder, and our long season was over. I remember that we hosted the WAC tournaments that year for both men and women, and I'm not sure I've ever been busier in my life. So many games, so many things to coordinate...so much fun!!

There are a lot of days when I miss working in athletics. Days like today when I remember nights like that one in 1991. There's really nothing like a full arena cheering for the home team and rejoicing in their victory. It was fun to think back on that tonight. Fun to remember some of the players from those days and how much fun Cowboy basketball was. There's nothing quite like a college basketball game, and I'm glad I got to be a part of so many of them up close and personal. Now I mostly just watch on TV, but every now and then, when I venture to a game, the excitement returns almost instantly.

Maybe my Mountaineers will get back to the Final Four next year. Maybe ASU can be just a little bit better. And maybe those Wyoming Cowboys will once again give me something to smile about. But for now, it's time for baseball and post-season hockey.