At Home in Boulder

We'll be back with more Sophomore Stories, right after this quick break.

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Wednesday night I traversed this wonderful state of Colorado northward to see our Kansas Jayhawk Basketball team defeat the Colorado Buffaloes 75-63.

Some quick notes...
*The CU Express is Boulder's answer to The Crimson Girls...a wrong answer. Especially dancing to "Livin' On The Edge" by Aerosmith.
*I was not prepared to see the following things...empty seats at a KU Basketball game...frisbee catching dogs for halftime entertainment...tuba players dancing on the court during a TV timeout culminating in one female tuba player doing the splits, all while playing the tuba...A sign made by a CU student referring to Bucknell (all's fair in love and basketball)
*Judging just from the clothes those attending donned, for every CU fan, there were at least 2 KU fans. This was really a home game for KU, which is great for the KU faithful, but the CU folks have got to be mad. I can't imaging being a CU basketball player, leaving the court after a loss to thunderous applause...eerily reminiscent of the Soviets chanting 'Rocky' before round 15 vs. Drago in Rocky IV.
*With that last point in mind, why on earth, if you're CU, do you decide to come out of the locker room first? Sure enough, the Buffaloes emerge from the tunnel to enthusiastic applause. Then, KU takes the court and you'd have thought Oprah just gave everyone a Pontiac...before the game even starts, I'm demoralized if I'm a Buffalo.
*The Public Address System at the Coors Events Center is a shade worse than your local Dairy Queen drive through speaker.
*Midway through the first half, they recognized Max Falkenstein, the KU broadcaster for the last 60 years. A touching tribute, even if the scoreboard spelled out "Congratulation Max Falkenstein" Obviously some K-State grad was running that aspect of the game.

Basketball Notes
--Brandon Rush read what Tubby Smith said after the UK game "You'd think our players would read the scouting report, he can't go to his left." Well, Brandon spent the entire first half unsuccessfully trying to prove him wrong, but in the end, solidified his position. First half - no points. Second half - 17 points. Two of which were the most unbelievable dunk I've ever seen in person. He took off about four feet outside the lane and slammed it one-handed over a CU defender. When he first jumped, I thought to myself, 'There's no way he's going to make it, why did he jump so early?' Holy cow, was it awesome.
--Mario Chalmers is either selfish or lacks point guard vision or both. He plays much better when he's not running the show.
--Jeff Hawkins is leading by example, and that's very bad. This team excels in many areas, one of which is the uncanny ability to give the ball to the other team. Oh, how I longed for Jacque Vaughn.
--Darnell Jackson plays like his hair is on fire...he's the funniest player to watch in a KU uniform since Greg Ostertag, but for different reasons.
--Russell Robinson is the toughest guard I've ever seen play, and the worst free-throw shooter on a team full of them. I guess he didn't practice free-throws growing up in Brooklyn.
--This team won't go very far if Christian Moody is the leading scorer every game.
--I saw C.J. Giles and Sasha Kaun at the game...on a milk carton.
--Julian Wright needs to let the game come to him, and once he does, it could be a while before it does.
--This KU team plays amazing defense and after watching Roy's boys run teams out of the gym, I must admit, it's fun to watch the opposing team struggle offensively.

Overall, a much more positive experience than 7 years ago when I mistakenly purchased unclaimed student tickets (being from KU, I didn't think such a thing existed) and spent the entire game among unruly CU students. We won by 22 back then, but I swore I'd never go back, but I'm glad I did.

It was fun to chant again.

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk. KU!