I Will Not Sit Down

AW and I had an interesting experience at the Drum today, highlighted by both very encouraging and frustrating crowd interaction.

First, the bad part. During Texas' impressive second half run, the crowd repeatedly rose to its feet to urge the Horns on during defensive possessions - particularly after exciting Texas baskets on offense. Like the fans in every other section in the lower bowl, Andrew and I rose and yelled for a defensive stop. Maddeningly, a crotchety old man two rows behind us kept yelling, "SIT DOWN!", which, of course, we did not. Sorry, old timer, you either need to get a courtside seat, a spot in the mezzanine, or stay at home. Just how it goes.

Bad became mad, though, when a woman in the row immediately behind us, poked me in the back and snarled, "Excuse me! He asked you to sit down! Sit down! I know those aren't your real seats anyway!"

Let me walk you through my thought process as I turned to face her.

1. Holy crap you're a Baylor fan.
   
2. You're 45... with braces.
   
3. You just told me to sit down, and you're not a Texas fan.

As it turned out, I did pay for a lower arena seat this game, which made me all the more mad. Andrew and I let her know that if the rest of the stadium intended to stand, we did to. As for the old guy - it wasn't personal. He's just got no grounds to complain. Deal with it, buy a seat where folks don't stand, or stay home. I don't know what else to say.

Now for the good news. This was as good a crowd as you could hope to have against Baylor. Andrew and I estimated a turnstile attendance of 12,000+, the energy was high, the crowd was pretty noisy, and the students easily filled their two allotted sections. Txtwister did his thing, to the delight of all - as usual - and it was, on the whole, one of the two best home game crowds of the year (Arkansas).

Full game analysis coming shortly.

Hook 'Em!

--PB--