A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to win a pair of basketball tickets from UMBC Training Centers. The seats for last night’s game against Penn were in a great location, at center court, just four rows behind Media Row. As a bonus, the women’s team was playing the early game, and my wife and I arrived in time to see the ladies rally from 5 down with 1:36 left, only to have Carlee Cassidy’s potential game-tying shot bounce off the rim as time expired.
Here are some of the images I captured at the game:
It was a pretty good crowd for a Wednesday during Winter Break.
Damon Massenburg works with me at the Help Desk, and he was at the game, too.
Damon not only works for the Help Desk, he also works for the basketball team. (And who says there's no work out there for students?)
Between games, my wife and I settled into our seats and soaked up the pregame atmosphere. Not everything, I’ll admit, made sense to us.
We watched as stunned coaches struggled to comprehend nervous players' strange behavior before the game.
The UMBC players entered the gym through a giant Moon Bounce.
Just before tipoff, the players gathered to share secrets, oddly enough, in the most public place they could find. It was like they were intentionally excluding us from their club and I felt hurt. And sad.
The radio broadcasters had this cool software that told them if they were pronouncing their French vocabulary correctly.
This printer on media row wiped out the paper equivalent of six cords of firewood while I was at the game.
This nice gentleman came by to collect the reams of printed paper and distribute them to random individuals scattered about the gym floor.
At one point, True Grit rushed the floor and tried to incite a rebellion, but no one seemed to notice.
During a timeout there was an attempted robbery; and then the mugger realized that all he was likely to get from a crowd of college students was about ten bucks and half a bottle of Five Hour Energy.
The Cheerleaders demonstrating their patented "Have another cheerleader stand on your hands" stunt. We, along with everyone else present, were very impressed.
"The Stunt" can be successfully deployed in various locations on the gym floor, as demonstrated here.
The radio broadcasters' attention remains riveted on the potential for tragedy inherent in "The Stunt."
The Dance Team, like a rival gang in a Broadway musical, are not impressed by "The Stunt." They take the floor from the Cheerleaders and begin distracting the crowd by remaining perfectly still.
The Cheerleaders, seething from the corner, plot their revenge against the Dance Team.
Finally, in a fit of pique, the Cheerleaders storm the floor, scattering the Dance Team. Once having retaken their ground, they stake their claim by performing "The Stunt."
Eventually, having conceded the night to the Cheerleaders and the near mythical power of “The Stunt,” the game resumes, and UMBC loses to Penn, 82-71.
And that’s what it’s like at a UMBC basketball game – at least the way I remember it.
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JamieUMBC 