Road Trip: Jimmerica

A couple months ago I went to the BYU-Utah basketball game and watched Jimmer Fredette pour 47 big ones on the Utes in the Huntsman Center.

A few weeks later, Katie and I listened on the radio (curse you CBS-C! Why aren't you in my TV package!) as Jimmer and Cougars upset San Diego State, then watched his live SportsCenter interview after the game.

Jimmer Mania was officially off the charts, and it was only going to get bigger.

The next morning I had an idea, and what follows was the result of that idea.

DENVER, site of the 2010-2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament, Southeast Region.

At that point in the season, it was pretty clear that BYU was going to receive a high seeding in a close destination, and I wanted to be a part of the action. Attending a NCAA Tournament game is one of my bucket list experiences. My team was having a phenomenal year, and our star player was the talk of the nation. Given BYU's basketball history, this opportunity may not come again for another 30 years. The time was now. And luckily for me, my understanding wife was willing to play along.

Selection Sunday arrived. BYU's name came up in Denver, and their road to the Sweet 16 didn't look impossible. With a little hotel booking help from Hotwire.com and a lot of ticket booking help from my brother in-law (Thanks Michael), it was road trip time.

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Thursday: (St. Patrick's Day)

Up at 5 a.m., on the road by 6 with a car full of food (How great are wives! They feed us so well). Drove through the mountains and arrived in Denver a few hours before tipoff.

The arena was packed with Cougar fans, and our tickets for this game were better than just about all of these fools (thanks again Michael!) Katie and I were just on the fringe of Celebrity Row - Provo.

El Presidente Samuelson (below to rack of balls). I'm sure the guy in the gray shirt is important too.

TJ Fredette. In a word, he's "Amazing." Dude belongs right next to Eminem and Vanilla Ice on the Mount Rushmore of white rappers. :)

And, oh yeah, The Jimmer (sipping Gatorade). This is the closest we got to him since the guy plays the entire game. We love The Jimmer, but not as much as these people...

"The Luck of the St. Jimmer"

My personal favorite

The legend was in the house to see his son play for Gonzaga. Always exciting to see #12, even if he's just sitting in the stands.

Kinda tough to tell, but the big sign says "Jimmerica: Land of the Three, Home of the Shaved (per Honor Code rules)." We saw the pregnant woman who was holding the sign earlier in the day. Her T-shirt was even better: "We're naming her Jimmer."

Also saw a couple guys selling shirts outside the arena before the game that said "Charlie loves The Jimmer" on the front and "Winning....duh" on the back. Awesome.

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Friday:

This was still the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, so even on vacation, the best thing to do is watch basketball on TV. I'm lucky enough to have a wife who understands this. She did have one request for our Denver trip however, which I was happy to grant.

Katie's not much of a seafood eater, unless it's at Bubba Gump

Katie's meal: Jenny's Accidental Fish & Shrimp

My meal: "I'm Stuffed" Shrimp

I was extra happy that our table had a good view of the TV to keep watching games. Kind of amazing that a restaurant based on a movie is still in business more than 12 years after the show won the Oscar for Best Picture. I loved the movie when it still came out. I'll still watch it on TV when it comes up while channel surfing. But it's not like anyone's still referencing "Mama always said..." or using their Forrest Gump voice anymore.

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Saturday:

When we picked up our tickets from the BYU will call lady on Thursday, she made it very clear that we had great seats for the game. She also made it very clear that if BYU won, our tickets would be nowhere as good for Saturday's game.

Not sure how she knew that or why it was the case, but she was right.

We went from the BYU administrators and player families seats 7 rows from the team bench to the first row of the upper bowl. But as you can see, we had an unobstructed view, and we were still glad to be in the building to see Act 2 of The Jimmer Show.

You know how people talk about experiences in life that they will be telling their grandkids about? This will be one of mine.

Hopefully BYU will reach another Sweet 16 sometime in the next 40 years. But there may never be another Cougar who owns the sports world for an entire month like The Jimmer did.