Thursday, March 10, 2011

Game day: 3:18 p.m.

Still nervous. Getting worse, actually. I have about an hour of down time before we head over to the CofO campus to watch Northwood play, too, so I have lots of time to think.

In my thinking, I came to a realization. I am very lucky. We are very blessed. We have an amazing new coach who is great to work with and has done great things with a program full of amazing guys. Those guys, a group that was thrown together semi last minute, have bought into this new coach and everything Dakota Wesleyan stands for and found a way --despite being a "down year" -- to make it back to the national tournament.

Shane spoke this afternoon at a reception at the hotel (which was well attended -- the Tigers should have a good crowd tonight!) and said that obviously he wants to get a win tonight, but no matter what -- we're at the national tournament right now. We're one of 32 teams in the entire country who were able to make the trip to the national tournament. It reminded me of Herb Brooks' speech during the gold medal game at the 1980 Olympics in Miracle, where he reminds the team where they are and what they're playing for. Our team, coaches, staff, fans -- we're in Branson, Missouri, watching teams play in the national tournament. Not a lot of people get this opportunity, especially not year after year. We are very lucky.

Thinking about that made me less nervous. Sometimes you just have to take a step back and look at the big picture.

Then I stepped back in and looked at the small picture. Still nervous.

In other news, Northwestern is down late against... whoever they're playing. Looks like it's up to the Tigers to pick up a win so the GPAC doesn't go 0-4 down here.

Who ya rootin' for?! (Get loud!!)

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