how sweet it is

SWEET 16 - the Cougs are in!!! Don't know if I would even believe it if I hadn't seen the games in person - wow! I had thought the Cougs would be playing in Washington D.C. so hadn't really thought we would go but when they announced we were the 4th seed in Denver I started booking tickets. My sister Carla and her husband Dave decided to make the trip with us as well and Sam certainly didn't want to be left out after the time we had in Sacramento during March Madness last year. We flew in Thursday morning with a plane full of Cougs ready to cheer on our team. The Cougs played in the 3rd game of the day against Winthrop. We were nervous when the 1st half ended in a tie - they were playing the same type of game the Cougs do which had them struggling a bit. The 2nd half was all Cougs - and we blew them out 70-41. Even I was feeling a bit sorry for them but I enjoyed not being nervous at all for the last 15 minutes of the game which is so unlike me but even I felt it was a win at that point.

Luckily we won as we had already gotten our tickets to Saturday as well. After watching Notre Dame play George Mason I felt if the Cougs played our defensive style of ball we could win the game. The Cougar fans were into the game and even those around us in our nose bleed section started cheering for us as well - guess they figured they might as well join us though we never did convert the older man in front of us. It was a great victory - not the most exciting game but when the Cougs play I don't need excitement as my stomach can't handle it. I like being able to relax just a bit and savor the win during the game and winning by 20 points definitely makes it possible.

It isn't looking like we will be able to make it to Charlotte Thursday but going to Denver was definitely worth it. Sam and Dave even got some skiing in at Vail on Friday while Carla and I stayed up on the Friday games at the ESPN zone. I think we may have even converted Dave a bit and made the Beaver a Coug fan at least when Oregon State isn't in it. Looking forward to Thursday now and hope it is a defensive struggle against North Carolina so I could be trying to book a flight to the Final 4 - if you are going to dream, dream big.

GO COUGS!