But before we all start planning tailgates and caravans for the football team, I'd like to ask everyone to pull out their Hello Kitty datebooks and make a note for next March. Because I want anyone and everyone who cheers for North Texas to do their very best to join Your Mean Green Heroes (and the internet jackasses who love them) in Hot Springs, Arkansas for the 2009 Sun Belt Tournament.
If you need to book your vacation time early, consider this your seven and a half month warning. Plan on being in Hot Springs from Saturday, March 7th through Tuesday, March 10th, 2009.
My brother and I have been lucky enough to make the trip the past two years. At last year's tournament in Mobile, we got to meet untgeorge, who has been going to conference tournaments for a long, long time. Anything that can unite an aficionado of fluffy kitten humor like myself and a classy gentleman like George has probably got something that appeals to everyone.
Two years ago, JimmerJammer and I joined FFR, Emmit, Parks and Rec Rick, untgeorge, and some other folks I probably didn't get the pleasure of seeing in watching our Men's team make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in two decades. For anyone who wants to see the excitement of the aftermath (and also see Emmitt in his lime green pimp coat and FFR and me in jackass green wigs), click here for the "Just Back from the Game" thread in 2007.
It was a great experience and a memory I'll share with my brother for the rest of our lives. We had such a good time that we decided that night that we would go for the entire tournament in 2008. And we did, watching 4 full days of basketball in Mobile with CensoredByLaurie. For anyone who wants to relive our pirate journalist coverage of the event, check out this link to all the Radio Free Sun Belt stories from the 2008 tournament.
As everyone probably remembers, both the Men and Women were knocked out in their quarterfinal games. But that didn't stop us all from having way more fun than emotionally underdeveloped man-children probably should. Because even without our Mean Green, there were always the sights and sounds of Mobile:
CBL throws up his talon in front of a WWII plane painted to look almost identical to old school Scrappy
JimmerJammer and me on the deck of the U.S.S. Alabama
And I'm not a drinker, but I was told (FOR THE RECORD) by the other boys that the folks in Mobile make some tasty and potent beverages. I can say that the service was exceptional and the people were very friendly and outgoing towards out of towners, even though we were ostensibly there to see their teams lose.
But for a Mean Green fan, the real appeal of the tournament isn't the tourism. It's the basketball. Don't take my word for it, ask untgeorge. He's been attending these tournaments for many years.
untgeorge and CBL
Even after the Mean Green were eliminated by those big bad Hilltoppers, the good times continued to roll.
JimmerJammer and CBL snuggle up to Big Red, the giant herpes sore that doubles as a mascot for WKU
JimmerJammer, for example, made it his goal to take pictures with as many SBC school mascots as possible
Including this one, the vaguely homoerotic/S&M mascot for the UALR Trojans
And our four days in Mobile allowed us to meet lots of other SBC school fanatics, including the chest-shaving enthusiasts from Western Kentucky.
Jake "Truffle Shuffle" Berghaus and his friends from WKU prepare to watch their team win the tournament and move on to what would be a thrilling Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament run.
Throw in some halftime contest triumphs by me and CBL, a power outage in the arena, two different SBC officials threatening to throw us out of the building on two different days, a sexy sexy knee pat of approval from Rick Villarreal, the pleasure of disrupting the WKU TV broadcast with our background jackassery, and all the other stuff I'm not mentioning, and it was yet another super happy sunshine memory that I'll cherish forever.
But as fun as it was, all three of us agreed that what we really need is to get more fans to make the trip next year. We need more company. If I had a dollar for every time one of us said "No, CBL, it's really not necessary to read to us from the Communist Manifesto" or "No, Tasty, nobody wants to pull your finger"... I could probably pay for tickets, hotel, and transportation for the entire North Texas student body.
Hanging out in a group of three at an event that can be this much fun is a disappointment.
I want to see a thousand Mean Green fans packing that tournament, just like I've seen from Western Kentucky.
Honestly... I want to see MORE than a thousand Mean Green fans.
I'm not saying anyone is a bad fan or a poor supporter if they don't make this trip. I understand that everyone has responsibilities and budgets and families and house arrest restrictions that they have to consider. But if there's any way you think you might be able to make it up to Hot Springs from March 7th through March 10th... Start planning on it NOW.
I encourage everyone to do what JimmerJammer and I did and buy an all-event ticket package through the Athletics Department ticket office as soon as they become available.
But if you're not really a college basketball fan and only want to support your Mean Green Men and Women for as long as they last in the tournament, individual session tickets are also an option, and you can come home as soon as the last team is eliminated. I think sticking around and watching the end of the tournament is a much, much better idea, but I understand people wanting to head home when their team is out of the running.
Hopefully, both the Men and the Women will be playing for NCAA bids on Tuesday the 10th, though, and it's a totally moot point.
If you're an alum, plan it as a vacation. Hot Springs has a theme park with lots of rollercoasters and log flumes and whatever else the kids enjoy these days. For the wife, there's a ton of options for Day Spas, botanical gardens, antiquing, art galleries, and other stuff that I'm sure women could enjoy. If you're a compulsive gambler, there's a horse track.
This is a great, great neutral site for the tournament that can also double as a legit vacation spot. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT.
And for students, let me tell you that even if you're not a big basketball fan, this is the sort of event that should define your college experience. It's an excuse to grab a car full of friends, get out of town, and have an amazingly good time while supporting your teams. I can't stress enough how much I think every single traditional student enrolled at NT should make a trip like this at least once before they graduate. You only have seven or eight years before you're done and out in the real world, ladies and gentlemen. Seize the opportunity to enjoy it.
Last year, we met three guys who drove all the way from the campus at FAU to Mobile just to watch their team get knocked out in their first game. From what we could see, they were the ONLY FAU students who were able to make the trip. And even though they were disappointed to lose, they loved the experience anyway.
25 years from now, when one of them is paying 70% of his paycheck to his bitter shrew of an ex-wife in alimony and child support, another is trapped in a hellish white collar job he hates but can't escape, and the third is a raging alcoholic who can no longer remember how to find joy in the world... They'll still be able to look back at the 2008 SBC Basketball Tournament and remember how great it felt to be young and have fun and foolishly believe that the future was bright. That memory will last forever, even though their marriages, jobs, and sobriety may not.
There's a valuable moral there for any current students.
March 7th - 10th in Hot Springs, Arkansas. BE THERE.
Last year, during our Radio Free Sun Belt reports, I promised anyone who made the trip in 2009 a free age-appropriate beverage of their choice. Now that I've set the goal of 1000 fans, I realize that I can't afford to keep that promise. So here's what I promise instead:
I promise that anyone who makes the trip will get the opportunity to take a dip in one of the famous hot mineral springs with yours truly. Pruny fingers and toes be damned... I'll stay in those waters as long as it takes until every Mean Green fan in attendance has their chance to bathe in the restorative springs with me. Nobody will be able to say they didn't get the chance to get hot, wet, and fizzy with The Tasty Greek.
Hot Springs is just 5 hours away from Denton by car, so you don't even have to worry about buying a plane ticket. By March 2009, we may all have supersonic flying cars that run on water, so the trip will be that much shorter and cheaper.
I know that CMJ, FilmerJ, UNT_92_Fan, LAZER, Quoner, and a host of others are already kicking themselves for not making the trip in 2008. Quoner is already on board to be there next year... How many of you will join him? This is a very rare opportunity to meet us both in person and be disappointed/horrified by his atrocious natural body odor and my incomprehensible speech impediment/tendency to stop speaking in English. But we're both very generous with the hugs! And if CBL comes back again as I hope and expect he will, I'm sure there will be mountains of Marxist/Leninist literature and glorious World Workers Party chants for us all to enjoy!
HOW CAN ANYONE RESIST!?!? You should be warming up your car already!
Be there, be there, be there. If things go as magnificently as possible, anyone on a typical M-F schedule will still only have to miss two days of work. It's close enough that you don't have to fly. There's tons of other activities to enjoy between games. And there is nothing quite like live tournament basketball.
Be there. Start planning for it now.
JimmerJammer, me, and CBL pose for a photo with the 3 loyal FAU fans. Which of them is destined for which dismal future? Only time will tell.
... well ... 