I have no idea how many years I'm destined to live (I'm 25 so hopefully I'll have plenty more to go) but geez, watching that game from the view I had... not good for my cardiovascular health. We're not talking about a just close game here - it's an NCAA Tournament. Also I really like being in Spokane so I have been hoping to stay here for extra few days instead of going home early.
For the first half, I got to sit by the Jackrabbits' pep band and their crowd. Obviously because of the distance, there were many more SDSU fans in the venue. There was one guy in particular in the pep band that was pretty loud (he was also the main trash-talker. At some point, he yelled "Hey Melo! I like your hair! It looks so aerodynamic! Did you get it because it would make you faster??") but that's the nature of how it is. Seating arrangement for today's game was a bit different - they had to have two rows of photographers because there were more than usual amount of us there. I was in the second row for the most of the game but honestly, who am I to complain? I am at a NCAA Tournament!
For the second half, I sat by the Maryland pep band and the Terps' crowd. Well, "crowd" is a bit of a generous term but there were definitely Maryland fans there. When Terps took over with a big lead, the crowd and bench seem very, very enthused. However, when Jackrabbits started to slim the lead down to about five, the rest of the arena started to go pretty wild. It felt like their semi-home game. All of sudden, they were making shots that they missed in the first half, which is the nature of hot streak that seems to happen against Maryland just about every game.
You know how it went. Brantley makes one of two free throws, Jackrabbits have a chance to tie it down three before the shotclock runs out. As soon as Sulaimon stole the ball and delivered a game-ending dunk, most of the arena went silent while Terps fans and pep band screamed in delight. I will not forget those ten seconds for awhile.
So yeah, pretty happy to be staying in Spokane for at least few more days, pretty happy to be back in the arena for next two. We'll see how they fare against Hawaii on Sunday.