The Miracle at the Wolstein/The Belly of the Beast

 First, this counts as a Thursday post!  Second, let me tell the story of my day in reverse.

So, tonight I went to the basketball double-header for CSU at the Wolstein Center.  My meetings ran early (as expected) and I do like college basketball.  Quite frankly, there is no reason -- save for the usual laziness and inertia -- not to go to more games; they are not that expensive, CSU is hardly a pain to get to (or get out of), and while yes, I do have a HELOC and a mortgage to pay off...well, you get the picture.  Anyways, the women's game was first, and it was fairly entertaining.  I think we could tell that CSU was the more talented team, across the board, and while every time the Lady Vikings got to within double-digits in the lead the Panthers would cut it back to single digits... I don't think anyone really thought they would lose.  And they did not!

I had pretty good seats -- front row actually -- but it soon developed that there was a problem:  namely my section was the designated "let's stand here and bullshit for large blocks of time" area.  This would not have been a problem, but everyone -- and this included everyone on the media and the leadership of the CSU Athletics department -- chose to do this IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME.  Again, this was a game that was... moderately competitive?  Certainly, the Lady Panthers were playing with 110%, and that deserved our full attention.  To be sure, some of the people eventually realized they were in the way and knelt down, but several of them... let's just say they had physiques that were of the type that they were not the kneeling type, which was unpleasant, as they were type to block out most of the view of the game as well.  I realize some bullshitting is part of every job, but it did seem to be a bit disrespectful to the lady athletes, being the superior feminist I am.

Then I grabbed dinner at the Happy Hour; the sausage sandwich was so good I ordered another, and a box of popcorn...let's just say that my heart will not be at the 94th percentile after that one (even if I did plenty of walking at the game).  And then it was the men's game, which was...quite entertaining.  It was obvious that RMU (I had to explain to several people in my section who Robert Morris was; obviously, no history majors at CSU!) was the more physical team, especially inside, and thus they would get most of the calls.  Most of the fans seemed not to notice this, which was a problem.  I mean, it wasn't that the refs were bad, but they did miss a couple of egregious calls against CSU, which didn't help.  Anyways, CSU was down by double digits late in the second half, and most of the people seemed ready to write them off.  I was not, for I am a Duke fan, and I have learned that the Blue Devils -- of all teams -- can quite easily piss away big leads, and if the Sacrament of Duke Basketball can cause such as effect, so too can the Robert Morris Colonials.

And so they did!  CSU finally figured out a way to drive inside, and then got a fourth foul on one of RMU's big men, so he had to play a less aggressive role, and soon it became a two-possession game, then a one-possession game, and then RMU committed a stupid turnover (the type CSU committed with eagerness and alacrity through the first 30 minutes) and then CSU tied the game with FTs with 7.7 to go, and the place went crazy (in so far as 2,000 can).  A defensive stop, and then it was OT, and the superior talent of CSU (and their newfound inside game) prevailed, and the home team went away victorious.  And all were pleased.

You know, I like attending games at the Wolstein -- cheaper and more intimate than Rocket Mortgage -- but I can also see how they would tear it down.  No Jumbotron, which seems anomalous in this day and age.  The acoustics are not so good; I sat on the side opposite the PA announcer, and it was roughly gibberish (not every fan knows to look at the ref for foul calls).  Also -- like last year -- the shot clock broke in the first quarter, so obviously, no electrical engineering majors at CSU, either!  I still believe, of course, that the Horizon League should adopt the top seed is the host format -- I think the fans storming the court is one of the best things in college hoops -- but when I think of ESPN sitting there while they fiddle with the wiring...

The first half of the day was largely fine... I lifted in the morning, and stupidly jammed the side of my hand on the bar, so I now have a pus-filled bump by the little finger of my left hand.  I will wait a bit before giving it the Dr. Pimple Popper treatment I so want to do...alas.  I visited the NE Coalition for the Homeless to pick up some Streetcards -- we have gotten an increase in homeless people at the OC, and some of the East District Conference Presidents have requested them, so as part of the volunteer job, off I went.

I also visited the Midtown Market food pantry, part of the network of our new corporate overloads at the Hunger Network.  They have a "client choice" pantry, where people can pick what they want (within limits, of course).  They also use a points system  -- clients get a set amount by (self-reported) family size and can "shop," taking what they want based on the points something "costs."  It is a not a large space (like ours in that way), and while I liked some of what I saw, some might just be untenable at our site (use of tablets, meat shopping, letting people dawdle, letting people remain past operating hours)... I do like seeing other sites, as part of a good/not-so-good practices tour, I just wish others on the Board would feel the same way.