"Warm" is a relative term

This morning when I took Luke the Wonder Dog out for his first foray of the day to check on his kingdom I noticed our friends from North Dakota State University are back in town again to play for the NCAA FCS (one notch below the FBS) National Football Championship.

The Thundering Herd

They play Towson tomorrow at Frisco's Toyota Stadium for the Grand Prize.  They've been here for the past two years and won both times.  I'd call that a dynasty!  And they have one helluva following, too....5,000+ of their fans travel from North Dakota to root them on.  The team and many of their fans are staying right next door to our apartment community.

I'm thinking their coach must have the world's best incentive to get his team to give 100% all season:  Play well and they can leave this....

....and spend January in Texas basking in this....

Yeah, I know.  "Warm" is a relative term.

No offense Towson, but since the NDSU fans have invited us to their (outdoor) pep rally and pool party* tonight and you haven't, all I can say is, GO BISON!  

Now where did I put my Hawaiian print parka?

* Hey....it could happen.  :)

S

North Dakota invades Texas....w/ UPDATE

Actually I should say "North Dakota State University invades the Shops at Legacy".  (That's where I live.) Last night K and I went out for our usual Friday date night, then returned to our neighborhood to find the mother of all traffic jams.  What the....?  We managed to finally get to our controlled access parking garage, then walked down to Fun Street to see what all the commotion was about.


Background:  We live in a mixed use neighborhood....townhomes, apartments, and a large Marriott hotel all surrounding a small man-made lake, many upscale (read: overpriced) boutiques, an indie theater, a very popular jazz bar, and dozens of eateries of every description.  The main drag is Bishop Street, but I call it Fun Street because it is.


Things are usually jumpin' on most Friday nights with a thousand or so people milling about.  Last night there were 5-10 THOUSAND people on the street.  Most were wearing attire proclaiming their allegiance to North Dakota State University.  I asked a couple of guys what was going on and they told me NDSU was playing Sam Houston State University for the NCAA Division I Football National Championship in Frisco (a few miles north) on Saturday.  This was their Super Bowl, and our Marriott was their alumni association headquarters, reception hall, and party central.  Woo Hoo!


They were a happy, fun bunch.  (Wouldn't you be if you got to leave North Dakota for a few days in January?)  We referred a few who asked to the best area restaurants depending on their tastes and pocketbooks, and enjoyed seeing them having such a good time.


I suppose I should root for Sam Houston State U since they're a Texas team, but I'm not.  I want my new friends from ND to go home with great memories of their road trip, and making that looooong drive back north while nursing a crushing defeat (and maybe a hangover, too) would be a definite bummer.


GO NDSU!   ;)


S


UPDATE:  North Dakota State won, 17-6.  :)