A day I will remember

WOW!
Exhausted, lost my voice, and yet it was one of the most amazing days ever! Let me recap my Saturday for you all. The day started at 5:15am when I rolled out of bed(literally) to get ready for the day to meet up with my friends who I was going with at 6am. After heading out we stopped for a nice sit down breakfast at the CB otherwise known as Cracker Barrel in Lafayette for before our final stop at the mecca, AKA Heaven Mackey Arena. We got there around 7:30 they were letting the students in who had been camping out since 6am at 7:45 and general public at 8. Once inside it was absolutely crazy as an estimated 6000 Purdue fans Boilered Up for College Game Day hosted by Rece Davis, Digger Phelps, Jay Bilas, and Hubert Davis. Once inside before the show started a guy briefed the crowd and what to expect and what will happen yadda yadda yadda, and then Mr Phelps made his appearance to a LOUD chorus of boos. See Digger Phelps is not well liked in West Lafayette as he was once the head coach of Notre Dame. When Purdue tried to get a series going he went public stating "Notre Dame needs to play teams on a national level" and then said "There are no roads that lead from South Bend to West Lafayette" I have to say he was a good sport and took the boos, and believe me they got louder when he tried to lead us in some cheers before the cameras came on. He tried to get everyone to do the Fire Up cheer, he meant Boiler Up

Oddly enough by the end of the show when he was dancing(more on that in a bit) he had won quite a few Boilers over including yours truly. Game day ended with all four analysts picking Purdue to beat Michigan State which resulted in a loud eruption. It was later quoted in local papers, and on the news by Rece Davis he said that Purdue had the best atmosphere of any college game days they had done for basketball. Pretty high compliment. So, Gameday ended at 12, and after hanging back for awhile before being kicked out we discussed what to do as the game didn't start til 9pm. We thought about sledding at Slayter but realized we're old and might get hurt, thought about heading to Harry's but figured it would be packed. Since I only live an hour from mackey we chose to head to my place of course stopping at Arnies on the way home for the pizza and salads ever.

Headed back to Mackey at 6, and let me tell you, you knew it was going to be a special night when the atmosphere was that electric on campus at 7pm for a 9pm game. Once game time finally rolled around it was so amazing in Mackey that I was getting goosebumps, and eventually the game started. After a back and forth game it happened the Boilers went on a run to close the first half to put them up by double digits sending 14,123 people into hysteria especially the student section AKA The Paint Crew

Although Michigan State made one run to cut it to6 late in the 2nd half Kelsey Barlow drove coast to coast and did a one hand dunk on a defender at this point it was so loud I thought the roof might come off, and the Boilers went on to win by 10. I have been going to Purdue basketball games since I was a little kid, I have seen it all and last night was the loudest I have ever heard it in Mackey, and that includes the heyday of Gene Keady vs Bob Knight and iu games. I am so glad I went and go to experience this awesome day. I got home around 1am so I was up from 6am Sat to 1am Sunday. Now it's on to a HUGE challenge as we travel to Ohio State to take on the #1 Buckeyes and their Baby Huey Freshman. Go Boilers! Below are some Videos of the gameday experience, I DID NOT take the videos as my camera is not a video phone. Enjoy!

So it begins, this was how both hours of game day started. The two cheerleaders waiting to tumble are my friends Caitlin and Duane! Whose House... OUR HOUSE!


getting up at 5am was worth it to see this spectacle. Rece Davis' face at the 4sec mark is HILARIOUS


Pretty much all of it wrapped up into one nice present for you