Hail to Thee, Our Alma Mater!

Whoop! Hurray!! and Hallelujah!!!

Let the celebration on Mass Street in Lawrence begin!!

The Jayhawks pulled it out in overtime to win the national men's basketball championship! KU, 75; Memphis, 68!

What's more, it was a proper closely-played championship game and not a going-through-the-motions, let's-not-do-it-and-say-we-did flop or a get-the-number-of-that-tank rollover!

I was a good girl and went to choir this evening. Half the tenor and bass sections were missing, however. I wonder why . . . ? ;-)

We were practicing "Over the Rainbow" for our spring concert series in May, and in the margin I was doodling, "Auntie Em! Auntie Em! I wanna go home and watch Kansas play basketball!"

At 9:16 PM, my cellphone rang. Thank God it was in the middle of a crescendo, or Coach Linda would have ripped me one.

I knew who it was-- my sister Lynne*, calling me to TURN ON THE GAME!!!!!!

Turned the phone off-- I didn't want to catch hell-- but as soon as I got home I turned on http://www.ncaa.com/ and caught the game from the half.

Got hairy awhile there for KU fans, didn't it? I theoretically was redeeming the time by doing some handwork on the skirt I'm making (no, it still isn't finished), but I think I only got about 3" of stitching done. Kept putting down the sewing and staring at the action on the screen. Come on, guys, stick in some threes!! I don't like cliffhangers and I don't have a good stomach for suspense, but I made myself stay with the game in those last few seconds when KU was behind and it didn't look good, not good at all.

Ai-ai-yi, glad I did. Alley-oop! Super Mario Chalmers (who I see is not related to former KU Chancellor E. Lawrence Chalmers) finally launched a trey with a couple seconds left and whoop!! Overtime!!

Riiiiiiiinnnnggggg! goes my cellphone.

"Lynne*! Yes, I've got it on! Overtime!"

We stayed on the phone with each other the rest of the game, my brother-in-law Leander* spelling her when the excitement got to be too much for her. We realized the streaming video from the NCAA website was more than thirty seconds behind the real time TV action. So Lynne* kept me posted.

She'd be going, "KU just got two!"

And I'd say, "Oh, no, we're still on the commercials!"

"KU got another two!"

"Wait a minute--! We're back! Yeah, there's that first two! Yeaaa!!!!"

"Memphis got the ball back! Trying for a three! Missed it! KU's got the ball back!"

"Oh! oh! Here's the second two-pointer you said KU got before! So KU gets the ball back after Memphis misses a three?"

It was strangely like having a thirty-second look into the future. I knew what was going to happen before I saw it! And then it did!

When the clock on the computer stream said nearly 20 seconds were left to play, my sister in Kansas City is yelling, "It's over!!! WE WON!!!!"

"Wait a minute, I wanna see it!! Yes . . . yes . . . right, KU's got the ball, and--- Yesssss!!!"

We rang off after the interview with Coach Bill Self. The computer feed kept going for the net and trophy ceremony, but---

What's this? There's no blinking sound!

How can I enjoy a proper KU championship net and trophy ceremony with NO BLINKING SOUND??? I WANT TO HEAR THE SCHOOL SONG AND THE ROCK CHALK CHANT!!!

I know they were being sung. The players had their arms around each other's shoulders and were swaying side to side in fine KU tradition. The Jayhawk mascot and the cheerleaders were doing the regulation choreography. And I couldn't hear a bloody thing.

So I supplied the soundtrack myself.

High above the golden valley,
Glorious to view,
Stands our noble Alma Mater,
Towering towards the blue.

Lift the chorus ever onward,
Crimson and the Blue!
Hail to thee, our Alma Mater,
Hail to old KU!

Raaaahhhhk-Chaaaahk Jaaaay-haaaawk, Kay-Yoo-ooo!
Raaaahhhhhk-Chaaahk Jaaaay-haaaawk, Kay-Yoo-ooo!
RockChalkJayhawkKU!
RockChalkJayhawkKU!

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!

Whoops! One more game left in the April phase of 2008's edition of March Madness, and my 'Hawks are in it!

It's rough being a Kansas alumna and fan out here in the Valleys of western Pennsylvania. If it doesn't wear black and gold or start with a P or a WV or maybe an O, nobody bluddy cares. The lead-scoring student athlete on a KU team could discover a sure-fire cure for cancer, and the Pixburgh area news wouldn't say word one about it.

I find out how KU is doing when my sister Lynne* calls me late at night from Kansas City and yells, "Turn the game on!!! The Jayhawks're beatin' the crap out of [fill in the blank]!!!"

"Lynne*, I don't have cable!"

"Well, turn on the radio, then!"

"The local stations don't carry KU sports!"

But last week I discovered that I can go to http://www.ncaa.com/ and they have live streaming video of all the men's basketball tournament games. I admit I got distracted and forgot to turn it on when KU beat Davidson in the Elite Eight last Sunday. But tonight I was upstairs at my computer and had the feed going in time.

Got the customary call from my sister at the start, of course. Wouldn't be a KU tournament game without it.

Gosh, it was weird to see Coach Roy on the opposing team's bench. I don't carry the hard feelings some Kansas fans do, but I wasn't thrilled to see him looking so happy when North Carolina made that run in the second half.

But Coach Roy didn't look happy for long and Coach Bill started looking more and more satisfied and relieved. Final score, 84-66, and let the singing from the stands begin!

But now I've got an unhappy problem. The championship game against Memphis is at 8:21 Central, 9:21 Eastern time Monday night. Monday night is choir night, and I'll be lucky if I get home by 10:10. Our Coach Linda will hardly excuse an absence if you're at death's door with pneumonia. How's she going to let me off for a basketball game-- especially one involving a non-Pittsburgh area team?

Unless-- unless I tell her I have to stay home and do some really special singing practice?