UTEP's Gold Diggers: All Mine

March 10th, 10th day of the trip. (Only 2 left). Still chillin' in Memphis. This day it was the semi-finals of the Conference USA tournament. Somewhat relaxing day since no travel was involved and only two games were to be played. Drove in from West Memphis, AR after an interesting evening. After getting some food at Sonic Drive-In, this blog was watching the Mountain West Conference tournament late into the evening. After 10 days of continuous basketball, and a 4-game slate for March 9th, this blog managed to fall asleep with the lights and TV on.

This was extremely unusual, probably the only time this has ever happened in this blog's life. This blog is a very light sleeper, so any amount of light and/or movement will typically keep this blog awake. Sheer exhaustion combined with laying down must have collaborated to get Pun City sleeping while basketball was going on. Fortunately, this blog woke up at 5:30 AM and was able to set an alarm so it didn't oversleep on the 10th.

This blog drove from West Memphis to Wolfchase Mall on the east side of Memphis, TN. Other than some construction on the way there, it wasn't too bad. This blog got some help from the Tennessee Visitor's Center, which was pretty helpful in being able to get some directions for this blog with its meager information ("Uh, 'this blog's' looking for a big mall to the east of Memphis..." "Oh, Wolfchase?...").

Wolfchase Mall was pretty decent, although somewhat overpriced. This blog was able to pick up some "Licensed To Annoy" wristbands at the Hot Topic, so that was kinda awesome.

This blog then went to the University of Memphis's campus, going to the bookstore and finding an awesome Tiger paw that says "Go Tigers" on it. Should actually be pretty useful in general, other than the blue font, there's no specific affiliation, so this blog can probably get some mileage out of the claw at Detroit Tigers, Clemson Tigers, and potentially Cincinnati Bengals games.

Still needing to kill some time, and also with an assignment to find a shot glass from Arkansas for one of Pun City's audience members, this blog shot back to West Memphis to stop at a truck stop and get said shot glass.

After cruising back to downtown Memphis, this blog tried to park at Parking Can Be Fun, but the lot was full. This blog ended up having to park in the mini-mall's lot, for $10.00, but at least it wasn't the outrageous $15.00 being charged at FedEx Forum.

The games of the day were Houston versus the hometown squad, and UAB vs. UTEP. In the first matchup, the eternal question of "Who would win a fight between a cougar and a tiger?" would be answered. The answer was a resounding vote in favor of the Tiger. This blog was able to fit in better than it had been the last few days, as it had snagged a Memphis hat earlier in the day.

The second game was dominated by UAB, setting up a 1 vs. 2 matchup in the final, and also giving the two largest fan contingents one last game to fill the arena.

Some Game Notes:

-This blog was able to get Memphis All-American Forward Rodney Carney's autograph after Game 1, after he completed a post-game interview. He was cool to sign for about 2 dozen fans while still in his uniform.

-Memphis's cheerleading team is called the Paws. This is a cool name, and the dance team was very hot to go along with the excellent moniker.

-UTEP's dance team was the Gold Diggers, which was a fantastic name for a dance team, and this blog was stunned that they got away with that name in a PC world.

-UAB's band played "Jump On It" and "Come Out And Play."

-UTEP's band played "Low Rider"

-Memphis's band appropriately played "Eye of the Tiger"