This week, we were lucky that the Buffs got assigned to the NCAA Tournament site here in Des Moines! Given that I was still looking for a job, we didn’t think there was any way we’d be able to go to the games, so Ethan and I took the opportunity to go to the open practice on Wednesday at Wells Fargo Arena to check out the Buffs. While we were there, we lucked out and ran into my old friend from CU, former women’s basketball player, Kami Carmann. Kami’s working for CW 2 and Fox 31 in Denver as a sports reporter now and she was hunting for Buffs fans to interview, so she interviewed us! A little later, we were approached by a Des Moines Register reporter who wanted to take our picture for the Sunday Sketchbook they do. Sure enough, we were in the Sunday Register as well!
Thursday morning, we decided to go to the Buffs Bash at the team hotel in West Des Moines for a free breakfast and to cheer on the team as they left for the game. Ethan and Colin loved watching Chip, the band, and the cheerleaders and Ethan can even sing along to the fight song. While we were there, the alumni association came around and asked if we had tickets to the game. We said no because at $100 each, the tickets they were selling were too rich for our blood, especially since we would have to buy a ticket for all four of us. We thought about it for a while and ten went back to chat with them some more. They offered to comp the two boys if we paid for Andrea and I. We said sure and took the chance, figuring the odds of ever getting to see the Buffs play in the Dance in our city again were slim to none.
So then we went down to the arena to get our tickets and watch the game. I still can’t believe we actually got to go! It was really a ton of fun. The boys were both enthralled with all of the action. CU dominated the first half, leading by 9 at the break, but went through one of our frustrating shooting droughts in the second half, eventually falling to UConn by a score of 74-67. After the Buffs game, our tickets also included the Kansas vs. Austin Peay game so we stayed for that one and had fun yelling “Let’s go Peay!” and rooting for the 16 seed. Kansas was pretty overwhelming though and ended up winning 105-79 in a game that was really never in question.
We had a great time even though it didn’t end like we had wanted. Thanks again to the CU-Boulder Alumni Association for making it possible for us to go. We’re Forever Buffs!
