The Road Map Has Begun

I've been struggling on what to say, shocker I know... do I talk about meeting my boys, the first game, randomly seeing the boys on campus and them yelling at me, what?  So I've decided this blog is going to be all of the above, so this is going to be a long one... but hopefully it will be a good one as well!

So, on Thursday the 14th, we got to have a Pre-Season party with the team, ask them questions, get autographs and take pictures.  That was pretty awesome.  They were so willing to sit there while all the Paint Crew went through and asked questions, and got everything under the sun autographed and then stayed after the party was over to take pictures with the people who decided to stay.

I had some pretty interesting conversations... Robbie and myself talked about our scars, and surgery, and rehab... we even compared scars. haha  But, the weirdest thing that was said was and I quote "I sure hope I never have to know the feelings that you had your senior year not being able to play with the rest of your class."  We didn't know how true that quote would be just a few days later.  That day was the WORST day I have had yet as a Boilermaker.  I thought it was a joke... a very dirty joke... but it wasn't.  Just read this from Twitter: ThePaintCrew I cant believe this RT @BTNBrentsBlog:Purdues Robbie Hummel will miss the 2010-11 season after tearing his ACL on Saturday.  There were some pretty interesting tweets after that.  It just showed the pure emotion that everyone in Boiler Nation felt.  I cried.  I called my dad and just cried.  What do you do?  Especially when you have that conversation with him just 4 days earlier?  But we have gotten past that now.  We are focusing on the team as a whole.  Not just Robbie, he wasn't our whole team and the boys will pick up the slack.  I know this.

Back to the party:  I got twitpiced.  For those of you who don't know what this is:  It is a picture that is put on twitter by someone.  Kelsey Barlow was the lucky one I got to get a picture with that night!  If you want to see the picture, and follow Kelsey on Twitter go here.

Here are some picture of the Pre-Season Party

Here! TwitPic this!

JJ was trying to be like LewJack and couldn't keep a straight face! At least Robbie was paying attention!

A good one of me and the "Big 3"

Coach Painter!

LewJack!  What a shrimp!

Freshman with the Freshmen... we got a lot of junk for this!

 

Coach Painter answering questions

 I see the guys everywhere on campus now... and some of them, especially Kelsey always feel the need to yell at me when they see me.  For some people, that is a HUGE deal for those just walking by, but I just yell back and then people are whispering to each other... "that girl just got yelled at by Kelsey Barlow or she just talked to JJ..." Yeah, it is awesome, but I guess I just take it as it comes.  Now... the first time I flipped out a little.


THE GAME! 


As I am walking up Gate B of Mackey Arena, JJ is walking by. He said "Hey! Paint Crew!" I sad "Yeah!  Good luck tonight!"  He said "Thanks I appreciate it!"  Some guy walked by after JJ went into the gym and he said "Do you know who that was?"  I said "Yeah JJ..." he was getting all pumped that he passed him.  It was funny.

So... I never thought this day would come.  The day I was in the Paint Crew during a Purdue Men's basketball game.  The year that we are going to go to the National Championship in Houston.  I got to Mackey Arena at 11:30.  I was helping work the lottery for the Paint Crew.  I was pumped!  I walk over to the gate that was next to where we were set up for the lottery and just looked in.  I had never been in Mackey when no one was on the court.  It was am amazing thing to see.  I will never forget that.  The lottery was complete.  Our group got LAST DEAD LAST.  But that was okay.  Because we were going to be in there.  That is all that mattered.

While I was waiting in my group, the guys were having their walk through, so we were aloud to go in and watch.  That was awesome.  It is just one of those things you can't explain. 

I went to my classes then pretty much ran over to Mackey.  I had to be there at 5:30 to help work, and I got out of class at 5:20 so I had to book it.  I got there, and helped get everyone in line.  Then we had to wait.  And wait... and wait. Finally it was time to go in.  I had to job of "directing traffic".  I had to tell everyone what gate to go into and make sure they didn't go into the wrong one; and make sure they didn't run.  I was so tired of saying go down to gate 8 by the time everyone got through, it was ridiculous.  I've decided that we need to make a sign that says "GO TO GATE 8!"

It's game time! After everyone gets in, I get to go get my seat... 2 rows from the top of the lower bowl... the seats weren't too bad actually.  The team came out!  We got crazy... and then Robbie came out... in a suit.  That wasn't what I wanted to see Robbie in this season, but he seemed as okay with it as he could be...

Shaking hands

Just hanging out... talking to the official book guy

It was finally time for the game to start... I think starting lineups got me PUMPED!  These biys were ready... they put their hearts and souls into this season and they were ready.  So were we.  The starting line up was a little different than I though.  E'Twaun, JJ, LewJack, Ryan Smith, and Patrick Bade.

E'Twaun

Patrick

Ryan Smith (He moved too quick)

LewJack

JJ

The Paint Crew was an awesome experience.  I was so excited to be apart of that, it was great to see how even for an exhibition game, we were so into it.

The boy's came out a little flat.  And to say I wasn't nervous would be a lie.  But, as I am looking back now, they never really got into a flow.  They were always subbing in and out.  Byrd, a non-started lead the way with 21 minutes.  JJ and E'Twaun only played 19 and 16 minutes respectively.  So thinking about that, it wasn't so bad...

At the very end of the game, Bre looks over at me and said I found Chris Kramer!  So what did I do?  I took his picture duh!  And I think this picture might be one of the best ones I've taken in quite a while...

He was getting so into it... watching him at the end of the game when the guys that don't play much were in, was just like watching him when he was on the floor... he got so into it.  It was pretty funny to watch.

The Boilers came away with a win over UIndy 82-59.  I am looking forward to what the rest of this season has in store for us.  This will be a great year!  I am sure of that!

Thanks for reading....

For now,

Boiler Up!