Final Four

On Saturday night, after Butler beat Michigan State to advance to the national title game, I decided that I had to go to Indianapolis for Monday night's showdown against Duke. If it had been any weekend other than Easter, I probably would have been in the stands on Saturday, too!

This quick trip was a present to myself for making it through Holy Week with my sanity intact (something you pastors know can be difficult).

I went online, found a ticket, called a friend from college to see if I could crash on their couch, and I was set to go.

After all, when else would I get to to this? Even if my alma mater makes it back to the Final Four next year (a decent possibility, if all the underclassmen return), it wouldn't be just a few hours drive away, and just a few miles from campus!

Even though Butler came up just short of the win, I had an amazing time. I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in years, and I got to have coffee with my undergrad advisor on campus the following day. The only thing that could have made the trip better (other than winning the title, of course) was if Jessica and Kate could have come with me.

I could lay the blame on some questionable officiating, particularly the lack of a foul call when Ivan Drago, er, Brian Zoubek clothes-lined Gordon Hayward with about 3 minutes to go, but it's hard to win against anybody when they outshoot you from the field 48 to 37 percent.

But now that the disappointment has had a few days to subside, I'm grateful for all the fun I had watching the team all year, and for the prestige they continue to bring to the university. I've never been prouder to be a Butler Bulldog!