A few months ago, Jason won two tickets to a KU basketball game. I was ecstatic when he called me and told me he had won the tickets. The game would be on December 5th against Florida State. He won the tickets in October or November, but we put it on our calendars and were counting down the days until we would experience Allen Fieldhouse and all the glory of KU basketball. Tickets to these games are not cheap, so we were SO lucky to go to a game for free!
A few days before the game Jason stopped by the KU bookstore and picked up some matching KU shirts for us to wear to the game. We had to look the part.
They day of the game I woke up after having worked the night before, got ready, and when Jason came home we went out to dinner to Cheddar's. Dinner was pretty average, unfortunately. But we embraced it and started our 45 minute drive to Lawrence.
After waiting in line outside, we finally got into Allen Fieldhouse, which was built in the 1950s and hasn't changed since. It is literally a college basketball classic. It's the loudest basketball arena in the country, and since 2007, KU's home record is 107-2. Talk about home court advantage.
So we were guaranteed a good game, especially because Florida State was ranked #1 in their NCAA March Madness bracket the year before.
When we got in there, the student section was already PACKED. We looked around for a while and then finally found some seats. Not a bad view.
While we were sitting and waiting for the game to start, we noticed that everyone around us was tearing newspaper into small squares and holding onto them. Then the pregame traditions started. We stood up, wrapped our arms around the people on each of our sides, and swayed back and forth while singing the KU Alma Mater song--"crimson and the blue WOO HOO!" (every person in the entire arena stood up and sang the song and swayed--it was incredible); when the announcer introduced the each KU basketball player, the whole student section would throw the little pieces of newspaper confetti in the air--such a fun tradition; the Rock Chalk Jayhawk chant--almost a little bit eerie, but SO amazing!; right before tip off--the jumbotron was measuring the decibels and it got LOUD!
If you've never seen or heard of this stuff, go to this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h51be27dN8c. It will give you chills!
It was unreal to be in an atmosphere with so much tradition and loyalty and pride. Literally every person in the arena was wearing KU gear--whether it was a jersey, a t-shirt, or a nice polo/button up shirt with a jayhawk logo on it--every single person there was a true, loyal KU fan.
All the students got these signs. One sign said #payheed (below). They have signs all over the fieldhouse that say "Pay heed, all who enter. Beware of the Phog" (Phog Allen, the coach that the fieldhouse is named after). The other side said "Three," so every time KU scored a three, everyone waved those around like mad people.
The game started off a little rough. KU was behind by 18 at half time. Jason and I were looking at each other with wide eyes and so much disappointment to think that we were going to witness the third home loss in the last 7 years. Even all the fans were distraught. But KU came out the second half and scored twice as many points as Florida State did and we pulled out the win! The final score was 71-65. We were going nuts, losing our voices, jumping around and cheering our hearts out.
On the entire drive home I couldn't stop saying to Jason, "Oh my GOSH! That was AMAZING! I am SO glad we went to that game! I want to go to another one! How much are tickets? Can we really not afford it? Remember when this.... Remember when that...?" etc.
It was probably the best game I've ever been to.
Crossing our fingers for free tickets next year!
Go Jayhawks!!
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