Day 81 (3/23): Hip Hip Hooray!

Last night was the pep rally for the KSU Men's Basketball team who left for Salt Lake City today. We got to the parking lot around 5:35 and the doors opened at 5:45 with the pep rally starting at 6pm.  We were greeted to a line, a very long line.

See the building at the right. That is the bathrooms at the football stadium and Bramlage is located about a quarter of a mile past this building. There were a ton of people here to celebrate the Cats Sweet 16 trip. Thank goodness God was on our side too granting us 70 degree weather for the wait.

Ahh...Bramlage is in sight!

The Band, Cheerleaders and Classy Cats were there to welcome us.

Colton and Austin chilled until about 6pm.  Austin was pretty excited as he caught a shirt and immediately put it on.  We sat right behind Colton and Austin's kindergarten teacher so it was fun to catch up with her.  She "retired" right after their class....not sure if they led her to it...but she looked extremely happy now! :)

Finally the team came in and the crowd which filled the entire west side of the stands stood up and cheered. They threw out shirts and were all smiles!

The student body president spoke about what he thought was the best win of the season (when we beat #1 Texas) and Currie spoke about not feeling a sense of entitlement. The boys just wanted to hear from the players and Martin. The first player up was Chris Merriewether. He told a story about his freshman year when him and Luis Colon heard Frank tell the team, "We're going to turn this program around.  You're either going to be on the team that turns this program around or your going to be on the team before the team that turns this program around." The crowd laughed.  They are definitely on the team that turned the program around. All you had to do was look around at the crowd that night who showed up in a days notice for this pep rally.

The next player up was Jacob Pullen.  He was pretty impromptu and even gave a shout out to this big guy in a white shirt on the side that kept on yelling non-stop for the Cats.  I just love his smile and of course, the beard.

Frank Martin spoke eloquently.  He thanked the wives of the coaches and repeatedly thanked the fans.  He said the team was going to play and fight in these upcoming games to bring back the fans to another pep rally next Monday night.  (Note to self - get there early to skip the long line!) That would be awesome to make it to the Final Four and a great accomplishment for KSU basketball.  This team deserves it. They have played with tenacity and passion throughout the season and I believe they can win it all!

Colton and I would love to see everyone next Monday at another pep rally.  We will decked in purple and rooting for the Wildcats on Thursday!  Hope to see you at the Wareham Watch Party.