We’re back! And although the road trips are over for this spring, we’d like to make sure you still have another view on what took place in the past few weeks for the band that traveled on the road with the most successful women’s basketball team at Cal ever.
After flying out on the Thursday of Spring Break, we checked into the Double Tree Hotel by Hilton in Spokane that was right across the river from the Spokane Arena, and looked out onto the park on an island that had a very familiar-looking bell tower on it. When we walked in they were playing “Fight for California” on loop in the lobby and had blue and gold balloons all over the hotel.
We found that we had a free day to ourselves on Friday before we’d have to go to any games, and the vast majority of the band chose to get on a bus, something we hadn’t done much of recently, and take a road trip down to Pullman to see Washington State University, a road trip we haven’t taken in many years during the football season heading through the fields of the Palouse.
As we came to campus, we had a few hours to wander around, which people took time go and look at the Student Union as well as Martin Stadium, which was under renovation, by the looks of which, entailed a big new jumbotron.
A few of us even found a local creamery with products from campus livestock!
While we were in the neighborhood, we also decided to cross the border to visit the University of Idaho, found in Moscow across the border (we were told they weren’t from Russia, and that you should pronounce it Moscoe).
Their Student Center shared a street with two churches, and seemed like small but very nice place.
They also had this really interesting statue inside their main entrance.
After a long trip, we decided to get back and prepare for the game. The next day, we greeted the team in the lobby, following them onward to face LSU across the river.
When we came to the Arena though, the Stanford-Georgia game had not finished, so we got to sit and watch what remained of the upset of the number one seed of the West (with more than a little amusement), while we made friends with Hairy the Bulldog.
During our game, the Tigers played us very close, and led to a tied 1st half.
The arena was very full for our game, so much so that the bands had to sit down as to not block anybody’s view.
We kept the Cal fans involved and spirited, and we even got a California Banner from some local alums which we pinned in front of us.
Luckily for us though, the team pulled away and led us to an easy win!
We had the day off on Sunday, so we reconvened on Monday for the game against Georgia, greeting the team once again before leaving for the game.
The Cal faithful were behind us all the way!
We placed the brass in back and kept woodwinds in front while playing, which worked really well for the arena.
This game was much closer than the first one, and Cal eventually sent the game into overtime. Everyone was on the edge of their seats!
We watched the last-ditch throw in by Georgia which was to no avail, and our women’s team poured onto the court to celebrate their win and their entrance into the Final Four!
We watched as both team member and coach took their time to cut down the net in victory!
Throughout the celebration, the players and even Coach Gottlieb came over and high-fived, hugged, and thanked the band for standing with them throughout the tiring night.
We had a fun flight home after the game, buzzing with excitement that our team had made it farther than they ever before, and that we had a chance to follow them one more time, off to the land of jazz in New Orleans!