Saint Lou-ness

Getting Back to the trip. March 4th, 3rd day in. As you probably imagined from the previous post, this blog got a chance to head out to Sonic. On the way over, this blog was able to find a McDonald's to use the free cheeseburger and fries coupon later. Also passed Westfield Shoppingtown, a really awesome mall. Was able to score some sweet deals there, including a St. Louis Cardinals hat for 3 bucks and a Missouri Tigers hat for 2 bucks.

St. Louis Cardinals tickets went on sale at 9:00 AM this day, and by noon, only individual tickets and standing room only tickets remained for the entire season. The Cardinals have a new stadium this year, but that was nonetheless very impressive for any team.

So it was a cool morning, and then this blog decided to head into St. Louis for the MVC Semifinals. First up was Wichita State versus Bradley. Wichita State was the overwhelming favorite, and being relatively close to St. Louis, they brought a huge fan contingent. Bradley, clinging to slim post-season hopes, did not bring a huge fan base, though the group was quite spirited.

In a very cool pre-game ritual, WSU's fans sang Archie's rap classic "We Ready." In a stunning turn of events, Bradley's smaller contingent drowned out their chant with shouts of "Go BU, Go, Go BU!" At this point Wichita State fans then crowded that out with "Let's Go Shockers." So those were some cool pre-game festivities.

The Bradley Braves scored the upset in the first game, earning a spot in tomorrow's final. In the second game, Southern Illinois took out Northern Iowa to set up an all-Illinois final.

Some not-as-cool pre-game festivities were the riverdancers and polka band performing separately in the concourse. So, try as it did, PunCity was unable to avoid culture while on the basketball trip.

Also of note was that Darron George performed the national anthem, as well as Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" preceding the second game. No clue as to who he is, but he did a good job with both songs.

The bands played some old favorites, though this blog hasn't heard bands play them in a while. WSU played "Johnny B Good," and BU played "Proud Mary."

In the less-cultured section of the concourse, the Army National Guard guys started up the NASCAR they had on display. (Greg Biffle's 16 car). While very loud, this blog has heard louder.

During the second session, Southern Illinois's band played "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand, and "Hey Ya" by Outkast.

The crowd of 17,772 was the largest single-session crowd in MVC Tournament history. On the 2nd-last day of the tournament, with total tourney attendance of 49,770, the MVC already had the 4th-highest total tourney attendance.

Dick Enberg and Clark Kellogg were in the house preparing to broadcast tomorrow's game on CBS Sports.

After the games, this blog headed over to McDonald's to get the free food, then Jack-In-The-Box to get an Oreo Milkshake. Another pretty solid day.