Week 4 - Is It New If It's Been 30 Years?

At the start of the new year, when I told my husband I wanted to try one new thing a week, he was onboard and immediately started throwing ideas around. One was to attend a college basketball game at our alma mater. I'm guessing that the last time we had gone to a game was when he was in grad school, so possibly around 1988. We looked at their schedule and found a game we could attend on a Saturday evening. My apologies for the poor quality of the photos; my phone just takes crap indoor pictures.

I was curious as to whether things would be as I remembered them, having probably only attended a handful of games as a student. The arena seemed a lot smaller! Isn't that always the case? UA had winning teams back in the late 80's, so I do remember the coach pictured on the wall. Bob Huggins, for all you NCAA fans.

When we sat down, I noticed these weird characters on the sidelines. We actually thought they were the opposing team's mascots and we commented on how shabby they looked. Turns out it was the Chick-Fil-A cow and I'm not sure who else . . . Cow Princess? It was announced that if the home team scored 10 free throws, folks in Section B would be receiving Chick-Fil-A gift cards. Guess where we were sitting??

Now this is a real mascot!!! Zippy puts all other mascots to shame, in my opinion. I was excited when she won Capital One's Mascot of the Year in 2007. Yes, Zippy is a female because she has a pouch. The name comes from rubber shoes (Zippers) created by BF Goodrich in Akron, Ohio. Fear the Roo!

At the start of the game, I couldn't help but notice someone holding up a large cardboard cut-out of Arthur (from the popular children's book series) and the Kool-Aid Man. In photo, Kool-Aid Man is directly under the kangaroo sign and Arthur is to the right. I had to ask my husband what that was all about, and he said holding up strange signs is a way to distract the opposing team behind their basket. Who knew? (Not me)

I took this photo of the pep band for my son-in-law. None of my own kids attended our alma mater, but my son-in-law did, and was a member of the pep band. That was 10 years ago, so before we knew him.

During the last quarter, that 10th free throw was made! Someone came around and handed these out to our section. Unfortunately, when I turned over the card, it's only good at one location, located quite far from where we live. They are good for a year, so I will try to find someone else to give them to. It was only later that I realized the promotion had to do with foul (fowl) shots. Sometimes, I'm slow.

  

I did pay attention to the game (somewhat). I tend to focus on things like unusual first names (Channel) and last names (German), because that's how my mind wanders. Final Score: Zips 67 Huskies 65  
'New' Thing was a Win!