Jan. 27, 2011

The Snowragnarök Game

Up until about 4pm yesterday I was afraid that for the fourth straight time I would not be able to catch a full Hoyas game due to one obligation or another. The plan was to rush to the Metro as soon as my grad school night class got out at 8 and hope that I could make it into the Phonebooth to see the rematch with St. John's before the second half started. But then came the flurry of texts and IM's; thundersnow was making a return to the DC area and all of the night classes were cancelled. I thought I was in luck and only had the easy task of making the short trip…

Ages ago when I was a senior on the Hilltop (coming up on a full year in May!) I had the pleasure of trying to get to two games during two separate blizzards: one in December against Old Dominion in McDonough and another in February against Villanova. Despite the difficulties, myself and my fellow students were able to show up in force for both of these games. In December we filled McDonough Gym to capacity and the Verizon student section was nearly completely filled for the Nova game despite it taking place during the worst DC winter storm in living memory. While anyone who had to drive I'm sure had mixed feelings about their travel efforts, we managed to have a great time walking by the hundreds up and down empty streets. And also for some reason the effort it took to get there made the games more intense. None of the 10,000 Hoya fans that watched us whoop #2 Nova will soon forget that game (and conversely I'm sure the 5 ODU fans that somehow made it to campus will not forget that game).

But yesterday, there was absolutely nothing glamorous about winter traveling, at least from my new perspective. Even though I had it much easier than most (I live a few stops up the red line) my commute took well over an hour due to what I was told was a fire in one of the metro tunnels. That on top of mucking through the slush and wind made for a rough and cranky disposition once I made it to Verizon. But by the time the tip-off buzzer sounded, I made the conscious decision to reflect on my past blizzard game experiences and just let myself be submerged in the game. Turns out it was a pretty good game to let loose for as the team won decisively over the tough Johnnies. I'm not sure how I will remember this snow game experience but I think, with all the unpleasantness and joy, it will stay with me for a good while.

- Kasper Statz (COL '10)