Four years ago today

[CuseTroop]

Posted this on my facebook, but thought I'd share here as well:
Still one of the greatest weekends of my life. Two amazing come from behind wins, two rows from the court, with some of the best friends a guy could ask for. A drunken 1am cruise around Chicago on the team bus (I wasn't driving lol) Random Limo ride, the pep rallys, having the band and Otto at Dino Bbq... Sonnary jumping on a last minute flight to catch the Virginia game, hugging Cooney's grandma a million times. Thinking about the moment the game clock hit 0, still gives me chills.

This year was one of my lowest sports years in a while. 9 months of crazy high football expectations that didn't come close to fruition, highs and lows with the basketball team, and then one day POOF, it was all gone. The memories I've made with my Orange family the last 5 or 6 years have really helped fill the void.

I'm not sure when things will go back to normal, but as soon as it does I'll meet you at the tailgate or the pregame bar. First round is on me. Thanks for the memories. Miss ya all!

 

[CuseTroop]

I think bumping old threads is a little frowned upon, so I'll just post my recap here:



What a freaking trip. I'll post what I can remember, but I'm sure I'm leaving things out, and forgetting people.

Got to the team hotel around 10:30am Friday. Met up with SUinAustinTX and his wife, as they were amazing enough to let me crash in their room. I grabbed a quick shower, and we headed to breakfast. (I forget where, cool little diner thing). Headed back to the lobby, grabbed a drink, and just started to soak it all in. Players wandering around, Orange everywhere. Ran into two of my favorite people ever, cto and VAorange!! Hugs from those two can really take a tired, jetlagged cusetroop, and wake him right up. Met Ragman for the first time! Talked with Coach Autry for a bit, snapped some pictures with Otto. Then I see Lydon... My man... My boy... He was with his family, so I didn't bother him... Until about a half an hour later when he was walking by himself. I went up and was about to say "dude! Do you remember me? I'm Adam from Alaska!" but before I could he goes "Adam, whats up man!"... I about lost it. Snapped a pic, talked for a few, and I let him go.

We headed to the Ogden for the pre game party. Place was a mad house, but I managed to catch quite the buzz. Rented one of those peddle bike cabs to take us from the ogden to the game, they don't go near as fast as the ones in Seattle. Got into the stadium, and was immediately in awe. I've been to the Dome, the arena at Atlantis, and MSG.. And I don't remember much about MSG (hammered troop)... but this arena was insane. I walked down to my seat, met up with my seatmates, my man Poc, and the two people who refuse to let Cuse lose, Obie9 and Headmaster. Thanks to someone amazing, we were right across from the bench, row two.

Doug Marrone sat in front of me, I shook his hand, thanked him for what he did for our program, got a picture, and we left it at that. I'm still a little bitter at him, but at that moment, we were just two Orange fans, and man, I'm not sure where our program would be if Doug hadent given us those few years.

The Gonzaga game speaks for it's self. You all watched it. I walked out of there thinking it was the best game I'd ever seen live. How do you top that. Managed to catch up with cto, VAorange, and BillOrange leaving the stadium and caught a ride on the fan bus back to the hotel. What a bus full of just happy people. The lobby post game was the place to be.. Took forever to get drinks tho. The hotel dropped the ball on that. Another bartender, or a stand that sold just bottled beer off to the side would have been amazing. No worries tho, just order two or three at a time. The band showed up and played for us, amazing. The team came through, amazing. And we celebrated all night. Then, apparently bars close? Not sure what time the hotel bar shut down, but we werent ready for bed. Hit a bar down the street for another couple hours.

Woke up Saturday morning, to a phone call from my girlfriend who was in Anchorage Alaska watching a high school basketball tournament. "Did you get my ticket yet?" Apparently I called her the night before and told her I'd fly her down for the elite 8... Played it cool, like "yea baby, I'm doing it now"

Saturday was the pep rally in the team hotel, the band played, cheerleaders cheered, whole jazz. I honestly don't remember anything else I did saturday... Don't remember what I ate.. If I left the hotel?.. Dinner? Not a clue. My pictures on my phone go from the pep rally, to having drinks with a a cool dude and his wife (I'm legit horrible with names, and they werent on the board).

At some point Saturday night, a dude named Roscoe asked for everyone's attention in the lobby. He said "I'd lake to take any Cuse fans to the most amazing place in Chicago.. free of charge".. At first I was like, what's this scam... but then I figured, I'd done nothing but drink since I got here, maybe I should go see something cool... 5 minutes later about 8 of us are on the team bus, with no clue of our destination. He took us to the water, where we had an amazing view of the Chicago skyline. Beautiful. The rest of the night was a blur. I remember the hotel bar closing again, and me planning on heading to another bar that stayed open longer. I ended up just chatting with Obie and Headmaster in the lobby for an hour or so, and I think they talked me into just heading to bed. (Thanks for that, was the best move).

Sunday... heh... woke up at 9:30 to about 9 missed calls from my girl. She landed at 8am. I told her to take the blue line to Monroe, and call me from the train, I'd meet her there. Didnt tell her the hotel, room number, anything... Well, heh, that didnt go well. Somehow she found the hotel I was at, and I found a very p!ssed off Sonnary in the lobby. I let her be mad for a few mins, give her the "I'm sorry, but you knew I was a drunken idiot when you decided to date me" face, and everything was fine. I knew that the one thing she wanted to do in Chicago besides the game, was to see that bean thing... Just at the right moment, VAorange came up, said she was walking to the bean, and allowed us to tag along. Was a great walk, sobered me up, and the bean was really neat.

Met up with my crew from Penn Yan, and our group went to the Elephant for some pre drinks. Ubered to Dino for pre game, which was epic. Again, the band and cheerleaders were there. Had some banging ribs, and then it's game time.

Walked into the stadium... So like I said.. I was sitting in row two.. Now my girl is there. I got her a ticket in the 300s for $20.. I told her, "Babe, I feel bad, I'll find two tickets together" she, like the amazing girlfriend she is said "Adam, this is your team, you stay in your seats, I promise its fine".. We had ran into a couple we met in the bahamas, and they said they might have an extra ticket in our section. More on that later.
Sitting in Marrone's seat for this game was Dino Babers!! I said "Coach, I'm Adam from Alaska, and I'm so excited for the future!" I said "I'm in your introduction video on Youtube!".. for some reason, he didnt believe me, and legit stood there and made me pull it up on my phone, wait for it to load, and get to the part that I'm in lol. He thought it was super cool.

The first half, well.. you know.. Right as the half ended, the couple I spoke abotu before got my attention and called me over. The two people in front of them had to catch a plane, and now my girl and I could sit together! I had Sonnary run down as fast as she could, and boom. Row 4, sitting with my girl, at an Elite 8 cuse game. My girl looked concerned, but knows basketball, and knows anything could happen. the last 10 mintues of that game was the crasziest, most amazing 10 minutes of my life. I hugged Cooneys grandma like 30 times. (she kept turning to me for hugs, she's the sweetest lady ever). Again, I won't speak too much on the game because you guys watched it, and I'm supposed to be catching up on work right now. but wow... freaking wow.

Walked out of the stadium, met up with my crew, trying to find a cab to the hotel... found a limo instead (Danny Parkins ended up seeing us get in, and tagged along). The rest of the night was just a party in the lobby. Not as busy as Friday night. No band, no team, they all flew home. Hung out with cto, vaorange, suinaustintx and his wife (i was with those two the whole weekend) and anyone else I could find. Talked with G's dad, and Franklin Howards dad for a long time at the end of the night. My girl has a 13 year old son who is 6'2 and one of the best players in Alaska. The two dads gave my girl advice on camps, ect. Very cool guys, who are very proud of their sons.

Somehow the girl got me to bed, somehow we woke up on time, and It's back to Alaska. I realized on the subway that I had left my credit card at the hotel bar. My friend from texas grabbed it, and it's currently waiting for me to pick up in Houston. We take a direct flight to anchorage Alaska, where we find out our flight to Fairbanks is cancelled due to a volcano. No big deal, we have friends in Anchorage, they picked us up, and we waited there until we could get our next flight. 5 of our flights were cancelled. About an hour into being at our friends house, my girl found out she left her wallet somewhere at the airport. The airport said they didnt have it, so she cancelled all her cards. Well, the next day the airport found it.. I told her not to cancell everything. Finally get on a flight at 11pm last night. My friend said he would pick us up at the airport. We land, he text "your truck is in short term parking, keys in it, $3 for parking" I had left it at the bar, keys hanging in the bar, so he jsut grabbed it for me.. Well, my truck locks after 10 minutes, unless you hit the unlock button when you get out. SO it's like 10 degrees. Midnight. and my keys are locked in my truck. A cab driver will unlock it for $30. But none of us have any money because my cards in texas, and she canceled hers. I talked the cab driver into unlocking my truck, and going to the bar and getting $30 from the bartender. She knows i'll pay her back.

Finally make it home.. pull my wallet out, and boom. there's my girls debit card. I had it because I bought a drink at the anchorage bar. I forgot to give it back to her. I had that card the whole time and didnt know it. She had already cancelled it.. ughhhhhhh .



This hurts to say, but as of now, Houston is out of the picture for the ol cusetroop.. The delay in Anchorage caused me to miss out on any deals, and miss an extra day of work. My debit card is in texas, my girl has no cards until they come in the mail. I'm not a rich dude. I'm a drunken 29 year old, that is extremely fiscally irresponsible. I could make Houston work. I could put myself in more debt. And I think if I didnt get stuck in Anchorage, with the hype still going from Sunday's win, I would have booked it all... But sometimes reality sets in... I've had an amazing year. Bahamas, UNC at home, and now Chicago? What more can a guy ask for. I couldnt have done all this without alot of people on this board. Hook ups on tickets, help with the hotel in chicago, introducing me to amazing people... You guys know who you are... I wont call you out here, but hopefully I've been able to show my appreciation appropriately. This year has been a dream come true.

I'll watch the games with my Alaska Cuse fans at the ol Red Fox Bar and Grill.

Man, what a freaking ride!

 

[W'boro'Cuse315]

Legend.

 

[CuseTroop]

Screw it, work sucks anyway -I'm gonna track down all my "recap" posts, and stick em here just for fun. Feel free to add yours. Seriously... Since randomly finding this board years and years ago, it's impossible to explain to you how my life/hapiness/sense for adventure has improved.

 

[CuseTroop]

@ LSU:

Alright, I finally got to a point at work where I feel like I can take a few minutes and talk about my week.
Disclaimer - I have a condition. This condition allows me to appear somewhat sober, but I'm really trashed. My memory of this whole trip is spotty, and I didn't take enough pictures to help walk me through it. I do not remember bar names, restaurant names, and the names of most of the people I met lol

22 hour flight to NOLA. Slept most of the way, had a nice 7 hour layover in Anchorage visiting friends.
Landed in NOLA about 6:30pm Wednesday evening. Quick Lyft to the hotel for a shower and we hit the ground running. Met up with our friends at a restaurant by the Monteleon. Something to do with an old saints running back. I didn't eat, I was beat from the trip and just needed a couple vodka redbulls to get going. After everyone else ate, we hit bourbon street. We'd hear good music, pop in, grab a drink, dance a few songs, and head to the next bar.

These. Freaking. Shotgirls. My goodness. They have long beakers filled with multi colored shots. She asked my girl if she wanted some, my girl said no, she jammed two shots into my girls mouth, two into mine, and I all of a sudden I owed her $20 lol. My girl doesnt drink much, so about the 4th time this happened, she was a wreck. I think we were back at the hotel by 2am. She passed right out, I was up until 5am sober and hopped up on redbull.

Thursday, my group got up and went to the cafe de mont or whatever. I needed some more sleep, so I met them at brunch after. No clue where. We took the trolly to the garden district because "it's so beautiful". We got to the garden district, stayed on the trolly, and rode it back. 2 hours on a trolly, still have no clue why we were on it. From there we headed to the rooftop pool at the Monteleon. Took a swim, had some drinks, My girl got some much needed sun. Met up with hungrychuck and his lovely girlfriend for a few drinks and some good convo! I believe we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up, and ready to hit the streets. Headed down to Frenchman street for some music. Going through my text messages, I met up with Obie9 and Headmaster 9 SUFaninNJ orange_in_VA and mlbball99 (are you the one that text me "red"? lol) Had a great time chatting with all! My group dispersed pretty quickly, and if I remember right, orange_in_VA and I set off to meet up with my girl and some friends. Honestly don't remember much of that?

Friday we hit brunch at some fancy place. I was too hungover to eat. Normally the case for ol troop in the morning. Then we checked out of our hotels and headed to BR! We originally planned to rent a car, but trying to find a sober driver was impossible. Ended up taking a Lyft. Not a bad way to go. Got into BR checked into the hotel and headed for the Live After Five deal. I was still pretty hungover, as Consigliere might be the first board member to witness me drink water. When the rest of my group caught up we headed to Tsunami's, an amazing rooftop bar overlooking the river, with a view of Tiger Stadium. Pretty solid place, and a good turn out of Cuse fans. If I had known about this place sooner, it would have been the perfect place for a BR meet up. I smartened up and was able to get down about 4-5 jack and cokes before we headed to the room to get some rest. Had Jimmy Johns delivered to the room, first timer, not too shabby. Bumped into a bunch of locals (some in LSU gear, some not) and received plenty of "welcome to town, can we help you find anything? Do you have any questions? Swing by our tailgate tomorrow" I mean, everyone we bumped into was amazingly friendly.

PS- Did someone from the board head to the Live after five thing, hanging out with an LSU fan? Someone said "go cuse" to me a few times, but I didn't realize they were a cuse fan until they were walking away to leave.

GameDay. Up at 9, headed to the lobby for breakfast. I kid you not, we had a line of LSU fans at our table, waiting to ask us how our trip has been, wishing us luck, and more tailgate invited. We were floored with how nice everyone was. We headed towards campus around 10:30. Got dropped off near the single game RV lot. Talked to two cuse fans for a bit, and headed over too meet the rest of our group who had already met some LSU fans to party with. Had two beers, played a game of corn hole, then I guess someone in my group found out that one of the LSU fans was a complete racist (I don't know what happened) and we all headed off to find more tailgates lol.
NailstheCusefan12 and bnoro we tried 4 times to get to your tailgate, but every time we headed that way, we'd get turned around and stuck at an LSU tailgate. You guys were over at the baseball stadium right?

I bumped into Deano and his daughter, who let us tag along to another LSU tailgate with them. I forget the guys name, but he popped up a week before the game and invited us all over. Deano had kept in contact with him. Showed up, was introduced to the family, given plenty of food and beer, then Deano says "follow us man!". Dude that deano met, makes a plate each week for some of the stadium security staff. Fast forward 20 minutes and we are wandering around the stadium unsupervised about 2 hours before kickoff. It was insane. We had to split with them after to meet back up with my group, to try to find JDemo's tailgate. Found our group by the indian mounds, someone in our group had fallen and hurt their foot. LSU fans came flying out with bandaids and all sorts of stuff. We stayed there until we left for the stadium. Jdemo, I tried and tried to get over to you guys, I really should have had a map. Every LSU fan we encountered went above and beyond to make sure we had a good time. I still can't believe how friendly they were.

The game was insane, we were in the corner endzone with a crapton other Cuse fans, and were insanely loud. I wont comment on the game, but what an experience.

I know I bumped into a lot of you after the game, but I was a mess. Drunk, tired, hungry, lol It was a long day, and we were trying to figure out how to lyft the hell out of there. Quickly found out they have a 450% upcharge after games... squeezed into a car with some people in my group and off to the hotel we went. Made the 8am flight, home by 4pm, and at work Monday morning.

Every part of this trip was a blast. I know I left people out, please let me know if I did, I like to reread these recap threads when I'm bored sometimes, puts me in a good mood lol.
The next football game I go to, will be one with an official board tailgate. Would be much easier if I could just hit one location, party for 6 hours, and meet all of you. Missing Jdemo's and Mlbball's tailgates still has me bummed out. I'll catch you all next time tho.

 

[jdubs30]

Awesome stuff buddy!! Loved reading it

 

[CuseTroop]

ND @ metlife

Holy heck... what a weekend. I pulled the trigger on this trip back in like January, and spent the time between then and now wondering how an east coast weekend trip would go...

Left Fairbanks Friday morning at 1am. 4 hour layover in Seattle, 2 hours in Chicago (was supposed to be one), and bam, landed at Laguardia around 9pm Friday night. prolly about a half hour car ride to the hotel, and it was game on.

Met my group in the lobby bar, hugs, high fives all around. Ran into bees right away as well. Ran upstairs, but my luggage away, gave myself a quick wink in the mirror, and I headed back down to the bar to get this weekend started.

First thing I noticed when I got down there, man, the service was horrible.. Being what I consider a professional drinker, I spend a ton of time in bars. I understand a busy bar, I've grown very patient. I never yell to the bartender, I don't like to wave my hands at them, they will see me, and get to me when they can... Well, that mentality got me ignored for an hour. I finally got his attention, and ordered two at a time. Once he saw me that first time, it got a little better, and every time he was on my side of the bar I had pounded those two, and was ready for two more.. About 3 of those times, I'd order two drinks, he'd walk to make them, forget, and start taking other orders. He'd come back to me and say "Would you like anything?" I'd say "remember those two jack and cokes we talked about earlier?" "oh wow, that was a while ago" he'd say.. no dude. no .
Everyone was either having issues with the bartender, or the waitstaff.. and a manager was only present when someone was freaking out.. I imagine many emails will be written this week.

My group all headed to bed and left me under the care of Bees and OburgOrange. Not sure how long we sat there, but I think it was a while, and we had lots to chat and laugh about. good times.

Not really sure what happened after that. I ended up in some room.. Dude had those bad a## orange glasses on. Pretty sure we were doing shots of fireball, idk. Made it to my room, called the girl, and headed to bed.

Up at 7am Saturday morning. Showered, caught a good breakfast downstairs, and my group was ready to rock. We had all made plans to meet up in lot E, but somehow my group ended up in lot D. we got set up, and I had my first vodka redbull at 8. Met a ton of great people.

Headed over to find the cusefan.com folks, easy to spot with the flag pole. Saw Orange79, tomcat, jeremy, cuseregular, and many more. Cuseregular was walking around with some banging food, but I was too worried about my beer drinking stomach, so I declined.. aka, i'm an idiot.. It seriously looked amazing.

Metlife is an amazing stadium. We were right on the 50, had access to the chase lounge, it was pretty solid. Weather held up for us, it was pretty solid.

Not going to comment on the game, I have a meeting in 8 minutes. Got into a shouting match with some fans below us.. I was sticking up for my buddy.. Some names were called. Felt bad a little while later, went down and made good.

A coworker text me, she had a friend at the game, so I met him at half for a drink.

Everything gets a little hazy from here. Went back for more tailgating after the game. Couldn't find the cusefan.com folks again. Went to BWWs for the marshal game after. My group went to bed after that, and I hung in the hotel lobby again. Don't remember much of that.

Last thing I remember, I met a wedding party somewhere. Young navy kid. They had pizza, and gave me a slice. Next thing I know, I wake up, fully clothed, in my bed. tried to shower. Still hammered, slipped and fell. My right knee has a massive bruise.

Threw up in the airport. had hot flashes and cold sweats the whole way to Dallas. It didn't get better the rest of the flights. Newark - dallas- anchorage- home. About 14 hours.

Still super hungover. Started drinking at 8am, until? had to have been well after midnight. Idk.. ughh.

Heading into this meeting. I'll try to fill in the blanks later.. If i missed ya, let me know.

I did see someone Friday night briefly.. He was sitting at a table in the bar with his family.. I knew I recognized him from here, but by time I came back from dropping off my bags, he was gone. I owe ya a drink.

 

[EastCoast2]

CuseTroop = G.O.A.T.

 

[CuseTroop]

Clemson 2019
Man, people ask my why I keep doing these trips and this weekend is a great example why. I'm really not sure what I've done to deserve all the mad love I get on these trips, but even without the all the interviews, you all make me feel like a million bucks whenever I get to hang out. It really means a lot and is something I look forward to and think back on almost every day. I end up on a decent amount of Alaskan and non Alaskan adventures throughout the year, but at the end of each year my favorite memories are the times I traveled to games and hung out with my Cuse family.

Finally met Jarheadjim and llandz!! Both at Scholars and Champs. llandz and I had time for a quick chat and a photo. Jim and I on the other hand ran across the street, drug his beautiful wife out of a clothing store and tracked down the nearest bar.

Spent some time barhopping with tptcuse, always a pleasure.

I don't remember much about Saturday, thankfully. We started out at a pre-pregame party at a friends house in Syracuse. This is the couple that I met in the bahamas and we've been traveling together ever since. Mimosas and screwdrivers started at 10am. Had 5 people with me, my awesome girlfriend, little brother, and 3 cats from my fantasy football league. We started out at the sheraton where I got to do a quick radio interview with Eric Dungey. Strolled through the quad, but nothing had started yet so we headed straight for the fine lot.

Can't say enough about the tailgate that you folks put on. Best on campus, hands down (disclaimer, I've only ever tailgated in the fine lot haha).

Met pacuse and pacusewife! Stevenson, joecollege I believe. bumped into stevenson, consigliere, bees, tomcat, oh man, I can't remember everyone. My whole crew had a blast, food was amazing, beer was plentiful. Can't beat it.

Loved seeing the dome full and loud when we walked in.

Big ups to JeremyL who made the spectrum interview happen. Same to Nico who reached out for cnycentral. It took all I had to remain sober enough to make those happen, and I might have been a little over the limit for the second one "when we lose we celebrate..uhh" Made me feel like a celebrity for a minute, and my friends and family loved it. Promise I wont let it go to my head.

I can't take all the credit for farthest traveler (even tho I'm a few hundred miles north lol). AlaskaSUfan has been making the trip from Anchorage for like 20 years, and I believe has hit just about every big game during that time. We did the bowl game together, just a super awesome dude.

Alright, I had more to say, but I'm heading into a meeting and I just spent my "preparation time" typing this up.

Thanks for the memories, everyone. Can't wait to make more.

 

[CuseTroop]

Atlantis

My goodness. It took me 3 days to recover from that week.
Left Alaska on Thursday night. Spent the day in LA. Rented a car, checked out long beach and the UC Irvine campus. What a cool campus. 80% of those kids had cars worth more than my house lol. Had my first In N Out burger, and my first Chi-fil-a sandwich. WHO IN THE HELL PUTS PICKLES ON A CHICKEN SANDWICH?! Jumped on a flight to JFK around 9pm, then JFK to the Bahamas.

Landed Saturday morning around 9. Room wasent ready at the RIU but they gave us our wrist bands and took our luggage for us. Was at the pool for 15 seconds before I heard my first "Let's Go Orange!" I look, dude in the pool with a Cuse hat. He goes.. "Man, I didn't think I'd see many Cuse fans down here" I laugh and said, "yea, only about a thousand" He looked confused, so I was like "You're here for the games right?" Nope. He had no clue. He was here for his birthday. Was leaving on Tuesday. He gave his wife the worst glare I've ever seen lol. Not a happy dude. Spent the rest of my day laying by the ocean waiting for my brother and his girl to arrive. Due to a snow storm in the midwest, he didnt make it in until Sunday afternoon. Headed to Harborside to check out my room there (turned out to be the only time I'd step foot in that room), meet up with my friends from home, and we hit the casino. Danced the night away at the Dragon Lounge. Didn't run into anyone from here that night. Got pretty lit, and we headed back to the room.

Sunday, Laid by the pool, drinking margaritas and finally met up with my brother. Shot CTO a text to tell her I had arrived (more on that later). Had dinner, and headed back to the Dragon lounge for some more dancing and drinking. Ahh, My brother hung a SU banner off his balcony as soon as he arrived. Hard to see tho. Was walking through the Beach Tower lot, and I helped a couple find the elevator. I'm walking away, and I'm like.. I know that dude, we are facebook friends. Sure enough, it was Consigliere!

Monday- We picked up our week long Atlantis passes that I got through my room, and checked out the water park. Hit some wild slides, the rapid river was insane. Wish we would have spent another day there. Went to Anthonys for the bills game. Met Todd and Bridget from Texas. Todd is a lurker here (Todd, post more) and saw that I had posted that we would be there for the game. Let me tell you.. If you ever get the chance to meet Todd and Bridget, RUN! lol. Such an awesome couple, we spent the rest of the week with them. I believe we went to the Dragon that night as well. Oh yea, we did lol. Monday was the first night they were checking for Atlantis wrist bands to get into the Dragon. Todd and Bridget didnt have them, so the bouncer was going to charge them $20 a pop to get in. They said that. I was sad. 20 minutes later, I see them walk through some door from the outside, walk up some stairs, and they were in lol. No clue how they found that door. Text CTO for a second time (again, more on that later, but at this point was starting to get sad that she didn't love me anymore ) Jekelish sends me a message on facebook, with a picture of the SU yacht. "your mission is to get on that yacht" Challenge accepted. I met up with Fairfax and his wife at the too for a quick $27 vodka redbull lol.

Tuesday - 2 words - Booze Cruise. Snorkeled, got tanked, danced. Had a blast. On the shuttle back, I had a hunch that we needed to get off at the Coral tower stop. "Babe, we might run into someone I know!" she reluctantly came. Not 3 steps into the lobby, theres Iommi and his amazing wife and beautiful daughter. (Iommi's daughter stole the show, the whole weekend. I think she was on TV more than CTO). Talked to Iommi for a few, and Orangetown comes running up. I knew stopping there was worth it. We made plans for later, and headed out (It was yacht sneaking on time) Went to the room, changed clothes, time to find the yacht. Walking through Atlantis, I walk by a couple decked out in orange.. We high five, and I'm like hooooold up... Obie? It was the great Obie and his wife Headmaster! I said Hey guys! I'm going to sneak onto the yacht, wanna come? They looked at eachother for a second, and said, helllll yeaaaaa. And off we were. Bumped into Donna Diota, who took our picture, and it was off to the Yacht. Sneaking on? We pretty much just walked on. First person I see, Fairfax and his wife. Was getting a drink and Boom, there she was. The great CTO! After a big hug she says "You've been ignoring me, I've been texting you since we got here!" I said "I've been texting you!" sure enough, she shows me her phone, and all the times she text me to meet up. I deleted our text convo, sent a text, and we were good to go from there. She was with Iommi, who had a grin from ear to ear. Ran into Barb talked to her for a while. (side story, my friend Laurie and her boyfriend got invites for the yacht. they were on the booze cruise with me, and Laurie was hammered. I left her with Barb. Barb, I'm so sorry! lol) Got pictures with the team, Gmac, and Hop. Had a blast on the yacht. My girl reminded me that I hadn't fed her dinner yet, so we had to leave early for that. Heard later that they partied well into the morning. Should have went back! After dinner, it was back to the Dragon for once again, more dancing and drinking.

Wednesday - Freaking game day. Iommi and I made plans to meet up at the Coral Lobby. We got there, place was dead. we had a few drinks and were going to head to the sports book. Ran into Fairfax and a group on the way, and decided just to stick around the Lobby bar. We owned the Coral bar. 100% orange. The rest of the week we made that our spot. I met soooooo many people, way to many to list. ssbriefcase gave me the ol "hey, cusetroop?" yep. Met him and his wife. That dude knows how to party... I turned down a shot later that night with him ( I was already tanked, I owe ya one dude). We had a solid pregame, and headed to the arena. Chanting the whole way. My seats were immaculate. Between the end of the SU bench, and mid court. My girl had a seat a row back, more mid court. But the seats next to me were empty, so I flagged her down, and she was able to sit with me the whole game. I won't touch on the games, because everyone else has, and I'm supposed to be catching up on work. Post game drinks, dinner, and back to the dragon bar. Spent the rest of Wednesday night in the room, My girl was flying out Thursday morning, so we just hung out with my brother and his girl. First time they've all met, so we listed to my brother tell his crazy stories all night.. Towards the end of the night my girl starts giving me the whole "I'm leaving you unsupervised, you need to be good" speech. I was like, babe, I got this.. I've been good all week. She pulls a video out of her phone, me dancing on the dance floor with some chick, dropped it low, and when I came back up my head was under her dress... she says "thats not being good!" lol. My girl knows how I get when I drink, I come to freaking dance. (FYI, i was on my best behavior, female wise the rest of the trip).

Thursday-friday was pretty much a repeat of Wednesday. Beating UCONN was amazing. That jerk UCONN fan post game was kind of a bummer. I was telling my brother.. If SU had lost, we still would be in this lobby bar, partying, and congratulating Uconn fans... See where the UCONN fans are? Either in their rooms, or out here being jerks. It was sad to see.

The party after the championship game seemed to never end. Friday was my favorite day of the trip. My hand was throbbing from high fives. I hugged everyone. I tried to propose to a girl. Epic. We all ended up in the casino.

If you ever get the chance to play blackjack with Iommi.. take it. Dude is a savant. Was calling out what the dealer had, and was right 90% of the time. He had me up $280 in no time. We had a blast. Iommi made me cash out, and we wandered back through the casino. I ran into the team, and had to play roulette with Lydon. He was the nicest kid in the world. After I introduced myself, he called me by name each time we spoke (He must have read 'how to win friends and influence people') I went to cash in my winnings from that, and ran into a cuse fan who was cashing in $1,000 of his craps winnings. Said the table was hot. I've never played craps before, and was hammered, so this seemed like a great idea (Iommi, I know I promised I wouldnt play anymore, but I was hammered, and caught up in the moment. I owe you man.) Well, that dude lost me money instantly. I ended up back at a blackjack table, using the knowledge that Iommi tried to drop on me. About every 20 minutes Tyler would stop by, put his arms on me, and say "Adam, how are the cards going" "Adam, you still up?" That alone was worth the money I lost. At one point in the night, it was an SU photo session in the middle of the casino. JB had the biggest smile on his face. we were taking pictures with everyone, chanting, hugging, it was epic.

Soooo the story you've all been waiting for. I was really trying to make it through the whole trip without getting in trouble... I was soooooooooo close. 4am Saturday morning. I'm walking back to the room. I had to walk through the arena lobby, and there was the ticket table, with a Battle 4 Atlantis table cloth. I asked the janitor if it would be a big deal if I took it home. "Don't take that" he said... I took it. Thing was way heavier than I thought. I hear HEY! Now I'm in a dead sprint towards the beach tower. I hit the beach tower lobby, and walked calm and cool through it (I didnt wanna look like a criminal) heard HEY again, and took off outside, to the street, around some hedges, and into the RIU. Stashed it in a luggage cart, called my brothers room "Open the door, hit the elevator button, police are coming". Then casually walked back outside like nothing happened. 3 security guards and 2 cops were there. Came right up to me Asked if I had just stolen something... I paused a second, then said yeaaaaaaa, that was me. They hassled me for about 20 minutes, I told em I was just drunk, thought it was a good idea, and apologized. Luckly they let me go.. Ughh I'm an idiot. I told you people not to leave me unsupervised!

Guys, greatest trip of my life. I literally rented my house out for the year, and spent two months couch surfing to fund this trip. Would do it all over again. I will 100% be there in 2 years for the next one.

My only regret was not listening to Iommi when he told me to take my winnings and go home. I was just caught in the moment, and didnt want it to end. You'll never pay for a drink when you are with me again.

I know I left out so many people that I met, and so many memories, but man, I was hammered 90% of this trip. I want to go back! lol

 

[CuseTroop]

Alright, lol maybe I should get some work done. Ughh I miss sports

 

[chugg21]

Every LSU fan we encountered went above and beyond to make sure we had a good time. I still can't believe how friendly they were.

I've been to a handful of games there over the years and I don't think anywhere else comes close.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Reading the Gonzaga and Virginia recaps..: wow the highs (mostly highs) and lows got me winded from that weekend. Heart is racing just thinking about all that activity LOL

 

[OburgOrange]

What? No Orlando Camping World bowl stories? You should at least remember the tailgate. Lol!