J-R-K
Well-Known Member
We left campus at 6:00 AM Thursday morning, had two coach buses. Trip was headed by one of the assistant athletic directors and there were several young guys who were “chaperones.” At about 10 we stopped at Mexican restaurant in a small town where they had a buffet brunch waiting for us. Food was pretty good and we watched the first half of the CSU game. After that they gave us some nice CU tourney shirts with the phrase, “Have you ever seen a buffalo dance, you have now” and a Drew Litton cartoon on it. We got to ABQ at about 2:30 and hung out at the hotel for a bit. It was pretty nice, much better then I thought they would put us up in. They put the girls in a different hotel which supposedly was because there was not enough room to put everyone together but I think they just may have not wanted any new tiny buff fans to be created this weekend. There were about 70 guys and 30 girls on the trip. It was a cool group of guys. Everyone was pretty nice and liked/cared about sports a lot so it was cool to be around a bunch of like-minded people. Made some new friends. Everyone was well-behaved. I think they realized the school was doing us a huge favor taking us on this trip and didn’t want to disrespect that.
The pregame party was at a bar across from the UNM campus. Lots of fun, they had a huge patio, there were hundreds of CU fans there plus the band and cheerleaders and Larry Scott was there with Bohn. The energy was tangible, people were pumped and it’s clear that CU fans are hungry for a winner. Again there was a nice buffet; we were fed very well on this trip. We were there for about an hour and a half then went over to the PIT and watched the second half of the Baylor-SDSU game; cheered furiously for SDSU. The CU game was great, a lot of fun. I was at the Broncos-Steelers playoff game this year and the Rockies-Padres play-in game in ‘07 and this was just as much fun as those. There were a fair amount of UNLV fans there but we took over that arena, felt like a CU home game. Hope you guys noticed on TV. Andy Katz called it the best “home-court” advantage of the tournament. I was surprised by the amount of students not on the school sponsored trip who were there, there were probably twice as many of them as us. The non-student fans also did a great job. I’d guess that total there were about 2500 Buff fans at the games. Never has the fight song been sung so much, and as loudly as it was during these two tournament games. The students were all behind the basket, the CU section was across from our bench and then there were more fans behind our bench and spread throughout the arena. The non-affiliated fans in the arena didn’t seem to care who won but started rooting for UNLV when they were making their comeback. Same thing seemed too happened when Baylor started raining down all those three’s. The PIT is pretty cool, very similar layout to the CEC with it being one big underground level with the concourse above on ground level but it’s much nicer then the CEC.
After the game we went back to the hotel and they had Chick-fil-A sandwiches waiting for us. The next day we went to Santa Fe which was nice but nice if you’re my parent’s age nice. Lots of museums, stores, art galleries, etc. Cultured city with a quaint old southwestern feel to it. ABQ on the other hand is just a dump. There was nothing nice about it, same with the UNM campus. That being said it was still nice to get out of Boulder for a couple days and to see a different part of the country. We walked around Santa Fe for a bit and then went to a bar got lunch and watched basketball. Went back, had a buffet dinner in the hotel ballroom and they put on basketball on a large projection screen. Watched Leigh knock off Duke. Next day we checked out of the hotel then went to old-town ABQ for a bit and then to the pregame party. This time it was on the club level of the UNM football stadium. The stadium is a dump but the club level was nice. Wasn’t quite as much fun as the first one but still a good time. We were fed again with yet another delicious buffet and Bohn gave the students a little pregame pep talk. He must read Allbuffs because he specifically asked us not to do a “PAC-12 rejects” chant. You could tell he really dislikes Baylor though.
Next we went over to the PIT and watched the Vanderbilt-Wisconsin game which was a little slow, nothing compares to watching your own team, but the last 10 minutes of the game were fun and close and it’s still cool to be able to see an NCAA tournament game in person. The crowd definitely makes the games more exciting and while the arena was full there weren’t many Vandy or Wisconsin fans there. The Baylor fan’s showing was pathetic. Keep in mind Waco is about the same distance from ABQ as Boulder and they had a top-10 team this year but they only had a couple hundred fans there and they didn’t make any noise until the game was out of reach. Again we took over the arena. I think it was even louder then the UNLV game because there was a sense that the team needed it even more. A couple hundred students may not seem like a lot but when 75% of the arena is sitting on their asses and silent it can have a big effect. There were a lot of chants and a lot of noise. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to get the team over the hump. Even though the final score wasn’t close if we could have just rebounded their misses and if Heslip doesn’t have the game of his life we win that game. Just think how good he’s going to be when he hits puberty. It looked we were going to pull it out and the momentum had switched big time at the start of the second half but then we went into that familiar drought at the 10 min mark. Problem was unlike the Arizona game the other team was hitting shots when it happened and unlike the UNLV game they didn’t have a 20 point lead at the time. Nonetheless the CU fans kept cheering until the very end and no one left, it was pretty cool. You would have thought that we won the game. I loved not giving the Baylor fans the satisfaction of seeing us down. Everyone was genuinely happy and proud of the team for the season they had and the effort they put in that day and let that be heard. The fight song was sung loud and proud as the final second ticked off the clock and again after the game while Baylor was on the court celebrating. After the game they had more Chick-Fil-A sandwiches for us on the bus and then we head back and got into Boulder at about 6:00 AM. The subsequent sleep was glorious and much needed.
Overall, it was a really fun couple of days. Major props to the AD not only for putting together the trip but also for treating us very well on it. I’m extremely grateful and Bohn deserves a lot of credit for this. I would encourage anyone who hasn’t done so already especially Tini and UBL to send him a nice email. His tenure has not been perfect but he is very committed to not only enhancing the Colorado basketball brand but to putting it on the map. The last week or so was a huge step towards achieving this goal both on and off the court. As far as I’m concerned Colorado basketball was “born” over the past week and a half and it’s only going to get better from here. The amount of buffalo pride in ABQ even in defeat was awesome; I can’t emphasize this enough. I’m amused by the Baylor fans coming over here and rubbing the loss in our face. Frankly I don’t give a sh*t. They have the better team and they beat us, congrats. We had great season, won our conference for the first time in forever, won a NCAA tournament game for the first time in 15 years, and did so in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. While losing stings I’m thrilled with the season we had and not at all ashamed by this loss. Big things are ahead in the future. Go Buffs!
The pregame party was at a bar across from the UNM campus. Lots of fun, they had a huge patio, there were hundreds of CU fans there plus the band and cheerleaders and Larry Scott was there with Bohn. The energy was tangible, people were pumped and it’s clear that CU fans are hungry for a winner. Again there was a nice buffet; we were fed very well on this trip. We were there for about an hour and a half then went over to the PIT and watched the second half of the Baylor-SDSU game; cheered furiously for SDSU. The CU game was great, a lot of fun. I was at the Broncos-Steelers playoff game this year and the Rockies-Padres play-in game in ‘07 and this was just as much fun as those. There were a fair amount of UNLV fans there but we took over that arena, felt like a CU home game. Hope you guys noticed on TV. Andy Katz called it the best “home-court” advantage of the tournament. I was surprised by the amount of students not on the school sponsored trip who were there, there were probably twice as many of them as us. The non-student fans also did a great job. I’d guess that total there were about 2500 Buff fans at the games. Never has the fight song been sung so much, and as loudly as it was during these two tournament games. The students were all behind the basket, the CU section was across from our bench and then there were more fans behind our bench and spread throughout the arena. The non-affiliated fans in the arena didn’t seem to care who won but started rooting for UNLV when they were making their comeback. Same thing seemed too happened when Baylor started raining down all those three’s. The PIT is pretty cool, very similar layout to the CEC with it being one big underground level with the concourse above on ground level but it’s much nicer then the CEC.
After the game we went back to the hotel and they had Chick-fil-A sandwiches waiting for us. The next day we went to Santa Fe which was nice but nice if you’re my parent’s age nice. Lots of museums, stores, art galleries, etc. Cultured city with a quaint old southwestern feel to it. ABQ on the other hand is just a dump. There was nothing nice about it, same with the UNM campus. That being said it was still nice to get out of Boulder for a couple days and to see a different part of the country. We walked around Santa Fe for a bit and then went to a bar got lunch and watched basketball. Went back, had a buffet dinner in the hotel ballroom and they put on basketball on a large projection screen. Watched Leigh knock off Duke. Next day we checked out of the hotel then went to old-town ABQ for a bit and then to the pregame party. This time it was on the club level of the UNM football stadium. The stadium is a dump but the club level was nice. Wasn’t quite as much fun as the first one but still a good time. We were fed again with yet another delicious buffet and Bohn gave the students a little pregame pep talk. He must read Allbuffs because he specifically asked us not to do a “PAC-12 rejects” chant. You could tell he really dislikes Baylor though.
Next we went over to the PIT and watched the Vanderbilt-Wisconsin game which was a little slow, nothing compares to watching your own team, but the last 10 minutes of the game were fun and close and it’s still cool to be able to see an NCAA tournament game in person. The crowd definitely makes the games more exciting and while the arena was full there weren’t many Vandy or Wisconsin fans there. The Baylor fan’s showing was pathetic. Keep in mind Waco is about the same distance from ABQ as Boulder and they had a top-10 team this year but they only had a couple hundred fans there and they didn’t make any noise until the game was out of reach. Again we took over the arena. I think it was even louder then the UNLV game because there was a sense that the team needed it even more. A couple hundred students may not seem like a lot but when 75% of the arena is sitting on their asses and silent it can have a big effect. There were a lot of chants and a lot of noise. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to get the team over the hump. Even though the final score wasn’t close if we could have just rebounded their misses and if Heslip doesn’t have the game of his life we win that game. Just think how good he’s going to be when he hits puberty. It looked we were going to pull it out and the momentum had switched big time at the start of the second half but then we went into that familiar drought at the 10 min mark. Problem was unlike the Arizona game the other team was hitting shots when it happened and unlike the UNLV game they didn’t have a 20 point lead at the time. Nonetheless the CU fans kept cheering until the very end and no one left, it was pretty cool. You would have thought that we won the game. I loved not giving the Baylor fans the satisfaction of seeing us down. Everyone was genuinely happy and proud of the team for the season they had and the effort they put in that day and let that be heard. The fight song was sung loud and proud as the final second ticked off the clock and again after the game while Baylor was on the court celebrating. After the game they had more Chick-Fil-A sandwiches for us on the bus and then we head back and got into Boulder at about 6:00 AM. The subsequent sleep was glorious and much needed.
Overall, it was a really fun couple of days. Major props to the AD not only for putting together the trip but also for treating us very well on it. I’m extremely grateful and Bohn deserves a lot of credit for this. I would encourage anyone who hasn’t done so already especially Tini and UBL to send him a nice email. His tenure has not been perfect but he is very committed to not only enhancing the Colorado basketball brand but to putting it on the map. The last week or so was a huge step towards achieving this goal both on and off the court. As far as I’m concerned Colorado basketball was “born” over the past week and a half and it’s only going to get better from here. The amount of buffalo pride in ABQ even in defeat was awesome; I can’t emphasize this enough. I’m amused by the Baylor fans coming over here and rubbing the loss in our face. Frankly I don’t give a sh*t. They have the better team and they beat us, congrats. We had great season, won our conference for the first time in forever, won a NCAA tournament game for the first time in 15 years, and did so in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. While losing stings I’m thrilled with the season we had and not at all ashamed by this loss. Big things are ahead in the future. Go Buffs!
