So I actually ended up with a single ticket in the student section. I was in the main stands opposite the Indiana bench 37 rows up. At least at that height, it's all students. Guessing the first 20 rows or so on that side are for alumni. My buddy who is an IU alum, did the same thing and got a single in almost the same row but across from the Purdue bench. He was confused at first because at a certain point Friday night he was under the impression that only students could sit where he was. He had correspondence with SeatGeek who assured him his ticket was fine. Turns out, the 25 rows or so in front of him, along with behind the basket, are all student General Admission, the Crimson Guard I guess. Where he was and where I was were simply student assigned seating. So he got in no problem.
My first real interaction with an IU fan, other than general booing in my direction, was when I walked into my row about 10 minutes to game time. "What the hell are you doing here?" "I'm here to watch a basketball game, just like you." He was speechless and I kept walking.
I saw very few Purdue fans all day, maybe 30 tops, but considering I was on the side with the students, that makes sense.
For the most part, IU fans know 2 words: "**** Purdue."
Someone else commented about the IU females. All I can say is day-am. Whole lot of 19 year old half-naked hotties around me. The warmer weather yesterday probably helped. Apparently it's against the dress code to have a shirt that covers your left shoulder these days. Who knew?
I have to say, the atmosphere was amazing. There were times that the place seemed like it was shaking. Indinia played great and they deserved to win. I really was not disappointed one bit, but actually encouraged that we didn't fold up like the Michigan game last year. We started playing defense and TJD was more or less just a guy in the 2nd half. He couldn't stop Edey, and we contained him. JHS made a couple of key jumpers down the stretch to stem the tide. If we had tied it or gotten the lead on the couple of possessions that we had to do so, I think we win the game.
There are a couple of threads about the court-storming. You knew it was going to happen, but it started getting ready with about a minute to play. It was a 3-point lead at the time. Half of my section was already in the aisle.
Some dudes sitting around me were mostly cordial, actually shook my hand after the game and gave compliments about Edey. The one sitting behind me all game had to be a big shot and step up his hate talk because he had an almost 50-year old Purdue fan in front of him. It was interesting how he started criticizing the refs in the 2nd half as we were coming back. Calling out Edey for a moving screen when he set an absolute clean and normal one right in front of the Purdue bench. Called for Smith to get a flagrant when it was pretty clear he didn't touch JHS. I did have some more good-natured back-and-forth with the kids as I tried to get past everyone stuck trying to get down to the floor. When I was outside waiting for my buddy to come out, I did have a couple tools scream obscenities to me. I responded with "Nice win, good game," and it actually got worse. Guess they didn't expect that.
In the end, it's a tough loss. Heck of a comeback. Glad I made the decision to go and happy my wife was ok with me going without her because pairs of tickets were crazy expensive. We probably would have paid upwards of $750 for a pair, and I paid $180 for my single. She wouldn't have made it past the first TV timeout in that section anyway. We're actually in town to see Mellencamp tonight, that was the initial point of the trip.
My first real interaction with an IU fan, other than general booing in my direction, was when I walked into my row about 10 minutes to game time. "What the hell are you doing here?" "I'm here to watch a basketball game, just like you." He was speechless and I kept walking.
I saw very few Purdue fans all day, maybe 30 tops, but considering I was on the side with the students, that makes sense.
For the most part, IU fans know 2 words: "**** Purdue."
Someone else commented about the IU females. All I can say is day-am. Whole lot of 19 year old half-naked hotties around me. The warmer weather yesterday probably helped. Apparently it's against the dress code to have a shirt that covers your left shoulder these days. Who knew?
I have to say, the atmosphere was amazing. There were times that the place seemed like it was shaking. Indinia played great and they deserved to win. I really was not disappointed one bit, but actually encouraged that we didn't fold up like the Michigan game last year. We started playing defense and TJD was more or less just a guy in the 2nd half. He couldn't stop Edey, and we contained him. JHS made a couple of key jumpers down the stretch to stem the tide. If we had tied it or gotten the lead on the couple of possessions that we had to do so, I think we win the game.
There are a couple of threads about the court-storming. You knew it was going to happen, but it started getting ready with about a minute to play. It was a 3-point lead at the time. Half of my section was already in the aisle.
Some dudes sitting around me were mostly cordial, actually shook my hand after the game and gave compliments about Edey. The one sitting behind me all game had to be a big shot and step up his hate talk because he had an almost 50-year old Purdue fan in front of him. It was interesting how he started criticizing the refs in the 2nd half as we were coming back. Calling out Edey for a moving screen when he set an absolute clean and normal one right in front of the Purdue bench. Called for Smith to get a flagrant when it was pretty clear he didn't touch JHS. I did have some more good-natured back-and-forth with the kids as I tried to get past everyone stuck trying to get down to the floor. When I was outside waiting for my buddy to come out, I did have a couple tools scream obscenities to me. I responded with "Nice win, good game," and it actually got worse. Guess they didn't expect that.
In the end, it's a tough loss. Heck of a comeback. Glad I made the decision to go and happy my wife was ok with me going without her because pairs of tickets were crazy expensive. We probably would have paid upwards of $750 for a pair, and I paid $180 for my single. She wouldn't have made it past the first TV timeout in that section anyway. We're actually in town to see Mellencamp tonight, that was the initial point of the trip.
