March 3, 2011

March 3, 2011

When we moved to Tucson, I expected to become an Arizona basketball fan. It turned out it was easier to take the boy out of Illinois than the Illini out of the boy. We took our first step tonight and went to one of the last Wildcat home games of the season. Since Michelle Obama’s brother coaches the visiting Oregon State team, I thought I would use our mutual Chicago connection. That and my credit card got me two tickets to the game.

It was a good thing Aimee convinced me not to wear my Illini shirt. Orange is Oregon State’s color too. The game was entertaining but Aimee and I both struggled to understand the local chants of the crowd. At one point near the end of the game with Arizona way ahead, the crowd started yelling, “We want tacos”. We both thought the fans wanted the coach to play the Hispanic players sitting on the bench. That seemed pretty derogatory even by my standards. Actually it was a reference to Jack in the Box offering free tacos if the U of A scores more than 70 points. We had to stop on the way home.

With my deteriorating vision, it was hard for me to follow the game really well. Buying season tickets will have to wait till I get my new eyes or Michelle answers the telephone.