Absecon's Rodeway Inn: Quaint And Shit

Trip Recap #8 - March 8th, 7th day of the trip. On the one hand, very glad Pun City didn't have to drive, especially considering the fiasco from the day before. On the other hand, not the greatest night's sleep. As alluded to in last week's post, this blog was staying at a dump.

After checking in late the night prior, this blog went to its assigned room, and flipped the light switch. Only one of two bulbs was working. Not a huge deal, but a bad omen. Grabbed the remote, hit the "On" button for the TV. Didn't work. After a brief inspection, this blog discovered that the batteries from the remote were gone. Also not a great sign. This site went into the bathroom and discovered that it had all kinds of muddy footprints in it. Ridiculous. This would not stand.

The Indian-American clerk was soon informed of this substandard room. He seemed very unsurprised by this development, but suggested that Pun City could have another room. This was acceptable for Pun City. The new room had none of the fantastic amenities from the first room, but did feature an eclectic collection of circa-1950s furniture, none of which was matching and all of which seemed to have been purchased second-hand or retrieved from a dumpster.

This blog saw a sign advertising free WiFi at the hotel, which was stunning since this represented a piece of technology about 30 years newer than any other technology at the place. As this blog had come to expect, however, the WiFi didn't really work. As with all other problems at the hotel, the service staff was happy to put up a major language barrier instead of fixing it right away. Or at all. All manner of excuses and blame were provided though, free of charge. "It's too cold out." "You need to have it closer to the signal." "Just turn it on, it should work."

Whatever dude. Just give me a wake-up call tomorrow at 11:00 AM.

Fast Forward to 10:00 AM on May 8th. "HOUSEKEEPING!!" This motel had to have a staff of about 4. Probably all family. Despite this seemingly easy line of communication, apparently it was not intuitive that an 11:00 wake-up call would imply a sleeping hotel guest at 10:00. So much for getting extra sleep. Oh, and there was no wake-up call at 11:00 AM. (This blog was already up, but come on, aren't those things automated?)

Urgh. More to come on that one, it doesn't get particularly better.

Xavier vs. Dayton was the game of the day to start with. Xavier Head Coach Sean Miller was pretty fun to watch. Dayton had a player make an awkward motion that could have arguably been a travelling violation. No call was made however, despite Miller's protests of "That was a travel!!" Minutes later, Dayton put up a shot that was most likely a long 2-pointer, but there was some question on whether it was a 3-pointer and the play was reviewable. Miller asked why the referees were huddled around the television monitor, and was told they were "checking to see if it was a 3". At this point, Miller exclaimed, "Well, can you CHECK to see if that was a travel before??"

The refs took exception to this remark but did not assess a technical. Xavier did win however, at which point their students rained a taunt on to the Dayton fans, chanting "Wright State's Dancing!" (clap, clap, clap-clap clap). (Wright State is of course the crosstown rival of Dayton).

In later games, Rhode Island beat Fordham in a battle of the Rams, Saint Louis upset #1 seeded UMass (major bonus since UMass had waaay worse cheerleaders); and George Washington defeated Saint Joseph's. Toward the end of that game, GWU's students chanted "We killed the Hawk!" This roused the SJU faithful to chant "The Hawk Will Never Die!"

A very fun day after leaving the hotel, this blog will pick it up back at the hotel next time.