Self-described as "that girl who sits on the bench and catches scarves, books, pens and sometimes even heavy necklaces that Susie throws when she gets frustrated," she will be writing the blog every week for the team and the many endeavors they encounter.
Today is her fifth installment for 2014.
This past weekend was the start of the conference regular season and the Milwaukee Panthers were at home! Friday night we played UIC and Saturday against Valpo. I wasn't at the games this weekend, but you better believe I was watching. My best friend, Beth, cycles for Marian University in Indianapolis and this past weekend was her nationals. It is her senior year and they were hosting, so I made the drive down to watch her race.
Friday, after being at the track and in the sun all day I had a mini heart attack around 7 pm. I went to go watch the game on my computer and there was no stream or anything. I must have been outside too long because I instantly started thinking to myself, what day is it? What time is it, really? Am I even on the right website?! I then laughed at myself when I realized I was in a different time zone and it was really only 6 pm in Milwaukee and I still had another hour until the game started.
Then 8 o’clock rolled around and you could have pointed me out like a sore thumb in the crowd. Here is everyone in the stands with their pom-poms and cowbells and I was the only one in the stands with a giant laptop on their lap continuously looking down at it and then looking back up to cheer on whichever Marian racer was racing at that time. But it was well worth it, because I not only got to see Beth get bronze in her first event, but I also got to see us get our first conference win of the season!
Saturday was a little bit easier because by then, I was used to the time change, but I was leaving, so naturally I had yet another moment of confusion. By the time the game started I was already getting ready to head back home, so I had to watch the game through the Horizon League App. Which, if you don’t have that app you should definitely think about getting it! It is a great way to keep up with all Milwaukee sports and scores, you can stream games live, and it’s free! I made sure my phone was fully charged, plugged it into the AUX cord in my car and got ready to hear the entire game.
It was so intense hearing the game and not knowing what was happening exactly when it was happening! I mean, it was only a couple seconds behind but still! Also, I was driving through the fields of Northern Indiana so it’s not like my 4G was exactly perfect when streaming. It was cutting in and out, of course in the fifth game when it was tied 9-9. So I’m in the car, alone, set 5, game tied at 9-9 and the game freezes on my phone. Here I am, both hands 12 and 6 on the wheel (sorry mom and dad, I don’t drive 10-2 anymore) and it freezes. Naturally I start yelling at no one, telling my phone to please find a connection, and asking if my phone was actually serious right now? I’m pretty sure the van next to me full of an entire family thought I was a little bit weird when they looked over and saw me talking to myself. It was frozen for about 4 minutes, which felt like about 3 hours to me. The connection finally came back at match point and I got to hear us win in 5! It was an awesome weekend and we played awesome on top of it. We are now 2-0 in conference to start and we will be home again this Friday to play Green Bay! Can’t wait to see you all there!
