We arrived in Atlanta at the Decatur Holiday Inn at about 10:30 AM. Unfortunately, our room wasn’t ready for early check-in until 12:15. This lead into a hurried routine of unload our bags, catch a quick shower, shave, and don the Auburn Elvis costume; all in an effort to make it to the Ga. Dome (via MARTA) in time to see as much of Game 1 as possible. We took our seats just as the half-time buzzer sounded, so all-in-all, I was pleased.
After watching LSU throw away a perfectly good opportunity to advance to Day 2, We settled in for the start of Game 2: Vandy vs. Auburn. Vandy jumped out to an initial 10-point lead and despite Auburn’s best efforts, never relinquished it. Two-and-a-half torturous hours later, the Tiger’s ‘07-’08 basketball season had come to a forgettable end.
The sole highlight of the afternoon was the response my appearance received. From, KentuckSportsRadio’s Matt Jones, to Raycom Sports’ Barry Booker; Auburn Elvis was a hit.
After Game 2, we sojourned over to the Dr. Pepper FanFare. As always, As always, the chaotic mish-mash of SEC fans helped ease the pain of the loss and reminded me that just being at the tournament is still exciting.
The highlight of the fanfare was meeting Auburn’s SEC Basketball Legends inductee, Wesley Person. At Auburn’s final home game, Chuck Person bobbleheads were given away, so I brought mine and held it up in my picture with Wes. I told him it was just like taking a family photo. He laughed. I think the other SEC Legends were jealous that Wes was the only one with such a devoted fan base.
After the Fanfare, we hopped back over to the Dome in time to see THE WORST HALF OF BASKETBALL FLORIDA HAS EVER PLAYED - which would have been funny, except that they were playing Bama. Thankfully, Bama played more like… well, Bama in the second half as their 28 point lead shrank to a mere 6 points with 7 minutes left. However, Bama got lucky as Florida began to once again miss wide-open threes and commit one unforced turnover after another. In the end, Bama emerged victorious and Gottfried keeps his job for another day, at least.
After watching the draining (and curiously late-starting) Florida / Bama game, we had to call it quits an skip out on Mississippi vs. Georgia. However, I won’t let a little thing like not-knowing the game’s outcome keep me from predicting a 12-point Ole Miss win.
So, after returning to our hotel, stripping off the suit, and wearily pounding out a few intelligible (hopefully) paragraphs, I shall quietly retire to my bed; content to dream of future basketball seasons an the wonderful promise they hold.
A weary War Eagle, and good night to all