All week, WBR Correspondant Pat Dangerous will be updating this running diary from Greensboro, N.C., where he’s on site with the Creighton Pep Band at the NCAA Tournament.
Wednesday, 5:00 pm
The band met today at five o’clock in the morning, a time I’d heretofore only read about in books, to load the bus that would take us to the airport. Spirits were high even though the sun wouldn’t show up for a few hours, and we all energetically loaded up our luggage and instruments.
The Creighton contingent is greeted by an official ambassador for the city of Greensboro. (Photo courtesy of Creighton Pep Band)
It was the final tough part of a grueling couple days for the pep band. When the women’s team unexpectedly won the conference tournament, our officers and administrators had to spring into action and coordinate the logistics for both the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments. As it stands now, the full band is here in Greensboro, and we’re sending a smaller “Alumni Band” to Norman, Oklahoma, composed mainly of old bandies who stayed in the area. Our president and moderator (both students, by the way) were up all night every night between Sunday and Wednesday, getting things prepared and organized for our trips. They deserve a lot of credit for their dedication and COMMITMENT.
The campus shuttle got us to the airport, where we ran into a news crew ready to show the men’s basketball team in the airport. We ended up getting on the news and cheering behind the reporter, who seemed to appreciate that she wasn’t the only person awake in Omaha at that point. The Athletics Department had chartered a plane, “The Bluejay Express,” for the team, family, and friends, as well as the spirit organizations: band, dance team, and Blue Crew. Everything loaded, we made it to Greensboro in about two and a half hours, landing at 11:30 eastern time.
This gave us forty-nine hours of free time until tipoff.
The Creighton pep band exits their plane in Greensboro, NC. (Photo courtesy of Creighton Pep Band)
The whole Creighton contingent is staying in a hotel literally right next to the airport. It’s pretty out of the way from Greensboro proper, but, Jays fans, you’ll be pleased to know that there are no distractions here. The team should be good and focused, with a lot of pent-up energy, by the time Friday afternoon rolls around. Xavier and their entourage are also staying in this hotel, which leads me to suspect the NCAA gave the Catholic schools the hotel in the boondocks. No word on where Notre Dame is staying, yet.
As for the pep band, we’re doing our best to stay diligent and keep up with work while missing class. If–no, when–Creighton upsets North Carolina, we’ll miss school next week too. It’s important for everybody to stay on task with our assignments. In any case, we’re the band, so we’re living up to stereotypes and doing lots of homework.
The sign at the entrance to Creighton's hotel welcoming them to the 2012 NCAA Tournament. (Photo by Pat Dangerous, WBR)
The band has been able to travel around the area a little bit thanks to the hotel shuttle, mainly to get supplies and food. We’re planning to visit downtown Greensboro tomorrow, so I’ll post some pictures of what we find there.
And, since we’re all here for some kind of basketball tournament, I guess I should add that the mood around here is pretty light. Granted, I’m not sitting in on practices and film sessions with the teams, but coaches seem to be chipper and players look like they’re having a good time. That could be a result of the unusually warm and sunny weather here in the Tarheel State, but I think it also must be satisfying for the players to know that very soon, they’ll have a chance to perform on the biggest stage in the land. For many of these Bluejay players, this is the high point of their basketball careers and the culmination of every grueling high school conditioning practice, every middle school basketball camp, and every evening shooting hoops in the driveway until well after dark.
If the Jays falter against Alabama, Mom will be calling them in for dinner much sooner than they hoped.
Doug McDermott waves as he exits the team plane in Greensboro, NC. (Photo courtesy @BrianKooienga)
Friday, 10:50 am
[I’ll post pictures when I have more time tonight.]
We had another free day yesterday, so the group was able to split up and enjoy the diverse entertainment options Greensboro has to offer. Some bandies visited the International Civil Rights Museum, while others explored the heart of downtown. Downtown Greensboro is anchored by a couple major corporate headquarters (Wrangler Jeans has made Greensboro its home since it was founded) but, like Omaha, seems to be undergoing a major revitalization. Elm Street is the main thoroughfare through downtown, and they’ve kept a lot of the nineteenth-century buildings in good shape. The ground floors of these buildings are now trendy coffee shops or popular bars. Later in the evening, we stopped in a small establishment called Grey’s Tavern, where I had a North Carolinian brew called Red Oak, the best beer I’ve ever had in my entire life. Pat Dangerous is a proud sponsor of Red Oak Beer, the drink for a new generation or something like that.
Still others went to the Greensboro Coliseum, which is puzzlingly distant from the downtown district. Many of us hoped to catch Creighton’s open practice at 1:30, but we were without transportation for the better part of the afternoon, so we had to miss it. (Rumor is that Ethan Wragge hit 26 straight three pointers yesterday. This has not been confirmed.) We spent most of the afternoon watching March Madness, but finally, a few of us decided to chip in for a taxi to the arena to at least catch Duke’s open practice. I’ve been a Duke fan since I was a kid, so it was neat to watch Coach K and the Blue Devils do their thing. I’ll admit, though, that there’s only so much time I can spend watching a team practice. By the time it ended, I was ready to get on the move. The arena is adjunct to the ACC Hall of Champions, which looks like a really neat experience for hardcore fans of the teams featured.
Two notes about the Greensboro Coliseum: First, the place is unbelievably massive. I was surprised to read that it only seats 23,000. I don’t know if the size will translate on TV, but it’s substantially bigger than Omaha’s CenturyLink Center. Second, there is nothing around it. You might suspect, as I did, that the Coliseum and surrounding venues might attract local businesses and restaurants to build in the area and attract stadium crowds. But, as we found out, there is no such development in Greensboro.
(Yet. I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be dropping out of Creighton (two months shy of my degree, so I basically graduated anyway, right?) and working full time to start North Carolina’s first Creighton bar, directly across the street from the Coliseum. I see no flaws with this plan.)
We ended the day at Stamey’s Barbecue, which is reputed to have the best Carolina ‘que in all of Greensboro. I’m no BBQ connoisseur, but this was good stuff. I won’t go on about it, except to say that many of the Midwesterners in the band didn’t appreciate the local style of barbecue, which features a thin sauce that’s tangy and vinegar-based. They also didn’t like sweet tea, which this Virginian can’t wrap his head around. Their loss, I suppose.
Then we caught the end of the Wichita game. (LOL)
Which brings us to today. Game day. There’s a pep rally at 11:30 for the team, though I suspect it’ll be a smaller affair than the pep rallies in Saint Louis. Then we’ll go to the stadium, where we’re the first game of the day, beat Alabama, and call it a day.
In seriousness, though, I couldn’t be more excited, and I just toot a horn a couple times during a game. For me and for many others, it hasn’t yet sunk in that we’re really getting to go to the NCAA tournament. It’s pretty surreal to walk through the hotel and say hi to Piv, or give a wave to Coach DeVries. The Xavier team is staying here, too, so we’ve had some good talks with the Musketeers, as well. The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it seems that I’m even here.
It’s time to go get ready for the pep rally. More later. Look for us on TBS at 12:40 Central.
Stop back throughout the week as Pat Dangerous updates his running diary with stories and tales from Greensboro.