themole
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I was near the very back of an upper corner section last night, three rows from the wall. It was an interesting cross-section of people around me:
- To my right were a 40-something woman and her husband who were from Denver but rooting for Marquette. The woman knew her sports stuff decently, like that Carmelo was from Syracuse, then went to Denver and now the Knicks, but at one point she asked, "So, is Syracuse in Buffalo?" What? It took me a few seconds to figure out she thought it was like, oh, Canisius being in Buffalo. She didn’t know Syracuse was also a city.
- Right next to me on the other side were a guy and his wife who must have been there just for the hell of it, since they didn't appear to favor anyone and were wearing generic light blue shirts. I thought they were MU fans also but guess not. They just sat there and ate some wings and played on Facebook. An expensive night...
- Behind me were a bunch of frat boys from UVa who rode up to watch the game. They were rooting for Miami in the first game and completely confounded by the performance. They also booed loudly any time they showed Duke or Carolina on the big screen above center court (at timeouts they showed classic tourney moments). They mocked Tyler Hansborough and said he couldn't talk. One of them in our game took a fancy to Otto. At every timeout he would scream, "Dance, Round Man, Dance!" He also liked it when Otto pulled his arms inside his costume and swung the body part of the costume around like a spherical hula hoop. He told his friends Otto had gone from being one of his least favorite mascots to one of his favorites.
- In front of me was the calmest SU fan I'd ever seen. He just sat there and watched, and clapped now and then. But a couple times when I was standing up, I happened to see him texting or something on his rather large cell phone saying "OMG THIS IS AWESOME HOLY CRAP WE'RE KICKING IU'S ASSES." Thought that was funny.
- To my left were a couple other guys rooting for Miami. But they must have been fair-weather, because by the middle of the second half they had given up and one was opening shouting 'You suck, Miami!" Then he started this chant: "You can't spell SUCK without a U! You can't spell SUCK without a U!" Was that supposed to be specific to the University of Miami? Wouldn't it apply to any **U**niversity? Oh well.
- Finally, sitting behind me, near the frat boys, was an entire family of IU fans who showed up near the end of the Marquette game. They were fully decked out in pinstriped pants and jerseys. There was a mom, dad and several children ranging from 7-ish to teens. At one point the littlest kid told his mom, "That No. 1 guy can shoot, they have to guard him!" I felt bad for this little kid by the end, seeing his team go down like it did, but at least it was a decisive outcome and not heartbreak city.
On the way out, after the game, an SU fan was running around high-fiving others in Orange gear. He high-fived me, which apparently pissed off the middle-aged IU fan (looking lovely in pinstriped pants) behind me because he shoved me from behind and then glared at me. I thought he was going to try and hit me, but thankfully not. A slightly weird end to an amazing evening. No guarantees with Marquette on Saturday, but us SU fans will always have last night.
- To my right were a 40-something woman and her husband who were from Denver but rooting for Marquette. The woman knew her sports stuff decently, like that Carmelo was from Syracuse, then went to Denver and now the Knicks, but at one point she asked, "So, is Syracuse in Buffalo?" What? It took me a few seconds to figure out she thought it was like, oh, Canisius being in Buffalo. She didn’t know Syracuse was also a city.
- Right next to me on the other side were a guy and his wife who must have been there just for the hell of it, since they didn't appear to favor anyone and were wearing generic light blue shirts. I thought they were MU fans also but guess not. They just sat there and ate some wings and played on Facebook. An expensive night...
- Behind me were a bunch of frat boys from UVa who rode up to watch the game. They were rooting for Miami in the first game and completely confounded by the performance. They also booed loudly any time they showed Duke or Carolina on the big screen above center court (at timeouts they showed classic tourney moments). They mocked Tyler Hansborough and said he couldn't talk. One of them in our game took a fancy to Otto. At every timeout he would scream, "Dance, Round Man, Dance!" He also liked it when Otto pulled his arms inside his costume and swung the body part of the costume around like a spherical hula hoop. He told his friends Otto had gone from being one of his least favorite mascots to one of his favorites.
- In front of me was the calmest SU fan I'd ever seen. He just sat there and watched, and clapped now and then. But a couple times when I was standing up, I happened to see him texting or something on his rather large cell phone saying "OMG THIS IS AWESOME HOLY CRAP WE'RE KICKING IU'S ASSES." Thought that was funny.
- To my left were a couple other guys rooting for Miami. But they must have been fair-weather, because by the middle of the second half they had given up and one was opening shouting 'You suck, Miami!" Then he started this chant: "You can't spell SUCK without a U! You can't spell SUCK without a U!" Was that supposed to be specific to the University of Miami? Wouldn't it apply to any **U**niversity? Oh well.
- Finally, sitting behind me, near the frat boys, was an entire family of IU fans who showed up near the end of the Marquette game. They were fully decked out in pinstriped pants and jerseys. There was a mom, dad and several children ranging from 7-ish to teens. At one point the littlest kid told his mom, "That No. 1 guy can shoot, they have to guard him!" I felt bad for this little kid by the end, seeing his team go down like it did, but at least it was a decisive outcome and not heartbreak city.
On the way out, after the game, an SU fan was running around high-fiving others in Orange gear. He high-fived me, which apparently pissed off the middle-aged IU fan (looking lovely in pinstriped pants) behind me because he shoved me from behind and then glared at me. I thought he was going to try and hit me, but thankfully not. A slightly weird end to an amazing evening. No guarantees with Marquette on Saturday, but us SU fans will always have last night.
