November has already been quite the roller-coaster. As I mentioned a few days ago, I got to help with ESPN College GameDay, which was here in Lubbock yesterday morning. I must say, it was awesome! If the GameDay crew ever comes to your town, or anywhere near, I highly suggest making the trip, you will not be disappointed. I could write 2-3 pages on the things we did, but you'd be bored reading it all, so I'll just knock out a few of the highlights:
- I got to the set at about 6:45 am, 2+ hours before they went on TV, and there was a line of literally thousands of students and fans waiting in a line whose end couldn't be seen. You know you're a hardcore fan to sleep in a sleeping bag on a sidewalk in hopes of getting on TV for maybe 3 seconds. Either that, or you're homeless.
- Wearing my Graham Steers hat. It's blue, but has the UT logo on it. (they're the Steers, fyi) That, along with the word 'Graham' under it really tripped some of the fans out. Like, who are you rooting for, volunteer?
- Parlaying said hat into a 10 second conversation with Chris Fowler. He was just as confused as many sleep-deprived Tech students.
- Watching the girls that were on the volunteer team get googley-eyed when Kirk "Make-up often?" Herbstreit strolled past us on his way to the set.
- Seriously, Herby had a TON of makeup on. I know it's part of the gig, but really man, come on.
- Bobby Knight. He may be a wretched human being, but he has quite the presence and is really funny. He's also a lot taller and thinner than I pictured.
- Figuring out that the short beefy guy in a couple of my classes was actually on the cheerleading squad. I was really beginning to wonder why he came to class 95% of the time in black and red windsuits. Now it all makes sense.
- Speaking of the cheerleading team, now I know why these dudes can throw the girls around like they don't weigh a thing. They don't weigh a thing! Seriously, they make the Chinese gymnastics team look like grown-ups.
- Explaining to everyone why the set, and pretty much everything else out there, was orange. No, ESPN isn't biased toward UT, the show is just sponsored by the Home Depot (You can do it, we can help) and their logo is-you guessed it, orange.
- After the show was over and all the fans were gone, we were taking all of the aforementioned orange Home Depot signs down, when Bobby Knight, and Lee Corso walked out of the bus, directly towards me. Knight, who is about 10 inches taller than Lee, had his arm around Lee and said, "My wife wanted me to tell you just how much she thinks of you. She thinks you're a fantastic guy, Lee, and I really do too. We both think think you are a great guy." Aww, that's sweet. Well, they were passing directly by me when Knight finished that sentiment. Really, they were two feet away from me, tops. I knew I should play it cool and act like it was no big deal that two guys I've watched on TV since I was 9 were within high-fiving distance, but I couldn't resist. I said, "He's right, Lee, you really are great." What happened, you ask? They kept right on walking, as if I didn't exist. Probably for the best anyway, since I had absolutely nothing of consequence to say to either of them, but still, a "Hey kid" wouldn't have killed them. In any case, about ten seconds after that, a group of three girls came up to the pair on the sidewalk and break out the "Oh my gosh, Coach Knight, I...I...I just love you. Is it okay if, umm, we take a picture with you?" And of course, Knight and Corso were more than happy to stop their conversation with one another and pose for the pretty gals. Whatever.
- I should be getting a few pictures of yesterday emailed to me in the future, and as soon as I do, I'll post them so you can all be jealous of me.
As for the game? Well you saw it, and honestly, I'm just now starting to not want to jump off a cliff, so if you'll forgive me, I won't discuss what happened on this here blog. Just know that, yes, I felt physically ill, yes, I'm glad I made the last second decision not to go, no, the extra hour of sleep last night didn't help and no, I don't think it's cool that I'm going to the school that maybe, just maybe will go to the national championship game. If you do want great analysis of what went so wrong, yet almost so right, please check out Burnt Orange Nation. As always, PB and the boys do a great job of giving credit-as well as criticism-where it's due, and help us hurtin Horns keep things in perspective.
On the bight side, I filled my car up this morning for less than $35 dollars, which is nice.
Not sure what these guys are, but the one in the middle was the bell-ringer that was on TV like 10 times during the game.
Bob Knight takes the set
