One Shining Moment 2008

I've waited 20 years for my Jayhawks to win the National Championship. And this year I was supremely confident that they would do it. I committed 100% to going to The Final Four. I named my bracket "One Shining Moment". On March 18, I booked my flight, knowing that this year was going to be different.

Leaving the day before felt like the Christmas Eve at age 5. I could hardly wait. Let alone sleep. This was a big deal. KU was playing North Carolina in The Final Four semi-final. Roy Williams vs Kansas. Jason Whitlock and all the KC/National media were talking non-stop about Roy. Then Okee state fires Sean Sutton on April Fool's Day. Deja Vu all over again.

On the flight to San Antonio, the plane was full of KU Fans and rock chalk spirit. Even the flight attendants got into the game, joking that there was a 100% chance of showers due to North Carolina fan tears. And at the stop-over in Dallas, I checked out the cover of SI just to see if we had karma on our side. We did. Tyler Hansbrough was on the cover. Yes!

We had to drive directly to the Alamo Dome when we arrived as our flight was delayed. It was hot out in my blue Jayhawk pullover. But it was good luck. That along with the last pair in my size New Balance crimson and blue running shoes and new KU Final Four T-Shirt. I had a great feeling about the game. Even if we had to wait for what seemed an eternity to open our first present. KU vs North Carolina was the late game.

In the first 15 minutes of the game, KU lead 40 to 12. At the time, I thought it was by far the best display of Kansas Jayhawk domination I had seen since Marquette in 2003. But this was a much bigger deal. It was Roy vs Kansas. Our first chance to play him since he left. I liked Roy when he was with us and I don't hate since he left. But it was way too much fun to win in this fashion. It got close. But not really. I took a picture of the scoreboard every 2 minutes in this game to capture the victory along the way.

We drove out to "The River House" after the game. We didn't arrive until around 1:30am. But we still stayed up watching SportsCenter and ESPN.com highlights. In the press conference, Roy Williams said it best. "Our guys just ran out of steam. We lost to a better team". At the time, I typed this, "What a game. Still have one more game to play but by far the most amazing sporting event I've attended.". After the N.C. game, Bryan Herrman emailed to everyone at Barkley, "Drunk email from Loewen in 3.2.1...". But I responded with the same message as previous 3.2.1... emails during the tourney, "Not until we win the championship game".

Bill Self quotes after the game: Our guys were so geeked up that I just let them play. They were playing to win and having fun. Momentum just changed jerseys.

So along with just feeling like it was meant to be since KU got a miracle #1 seed as a result of their Big 12 Tournament victory, Southwest Airlines did their part as well. They made it almost impossible for me to get a flight back on Sunday IF KU did lose. After two week of trying to book a second return flight, I finally said forget it. I'm not going to worry about it because they're going to win. And they did.

On Monday, we showed up for the game a couple hours in advance and hung out at the River Walk. We did the boat ride around the canal and saw Dick Vitale, Bobby Knight, Digger Phelps and the other Game Day guys doing their show. Stopped by a KU pep rally and gobs of KU and Memphis fans all cheering for their team. I of course was yelling a lot and nearly lost my voice before the game. Again, all the ESPN guys (except for Jay Bilas and Clark Kellogg) were picking against Kansas. I wore my lucky pullover, new shoes and new KU t-shirt I bought for game two.

I did meet up with Diane and Kenny before the game and learned of Diane's lucky pom-pom. She brought it to the game and said that KU has never lost when she's had it. So another good sign.

Inside the Alamo Dome, I went into the good seats to take pictures. I got to meet Greg Ostertag and saw past greats like Bill Russell. I've waited to long to capture the actual atmosphere of the game to a tee. But it just felt like Allen Field House South.

So just being at the National Championship game was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Little did I know that I was really going to make it count. For the first part of the game, KU was a little flat, yet they were still in the game. Then KU pulled ahead and pretty much was in control up to half-time when they led by 5 points. I told Mike that I felt good about how we played the first half. He agreed. Second half was the same way. KU looked in control. Things were working to our advantage. We had a sick amount of points scored from the paint and we were holding Memphis to under 40%. Then at the 8 minute mark things got ugly very quickly. We went from being up by 5 to being down by 5 and then with time expiring on the shot clock Rose hit a bank shot 3 to go up by 8 that took the KU wind out of the Alamo Dome. There was a tv timeout and I told Mike "Whatever happens, just remember that this is the last time these guys are going to play together. And it would suck to lose. But what a great game to watch". Lisa's cousin sent me a text with "You've got to believe". I responded, "Amen". And after the tv timeout, they took a point off the Memphis score as the Rose bank shot was only a two. That was a big deal. Shortly after that, Memphis went up by 9 and there was only 2:12 left in the game. At that point, I saw two KU fans get up to leave. There were Memphis pom pom's going crazy. I felt like I had to DO something. So I put back on my lucky blue pullover. It was really hot in the Dome but we needed something. And then Darrell Arthur hit a long 2 point jumper. Swish. Then Sheron Collins stole the inbounds pass, passed it off, jumped back in, took a three and...I closed my eyes. I just wanted to hear the fans go crazy. The crowd went crazy. Down by 4. Timeout. At that point the non-believers started to believe again. I continued to believe and between the amazing defense, clutch free throws by KU and some missed Memphis free throws, we still had a chance. Then it happened. During the North Carolina game I took a ton of pictures and video. In this game, I just wanted to watch the game. Rose was on the line for two shots and I got my camera out. I thought it would be cool to capture the final seconds of the game. But it occured to me that it would suck to capture us losing. But I thought it would really be cool to capture an amazing shot. A miracle. Rose missed the first shot. He then made the second shot. KU down by 3. Then we all yelled "Go, Go, Go" as Sheron Collins drove the ball down court, he fell down as he was passing, Chalmers picked up the pass and rose up in one motion. Keep in mind that I was in the nosebleeders directly in line with the shot. I was recording the whole thing. As the ball left his fingertips, I knew that it was good. It was the perfect shot. And it went in. The crowd went crazy. KU had completed the most amazing comeback in tournament history. And we knew that we'd win in overtime. It was just meant to be.

We stayed in the Alamo Dome to watch One Shining Moment and as we walked to the car, the sound of "Rock Chalk...Jayhawk...KU" echoed through the tunnel outside. I couldn't sleep that night after the game. I watched the highlights again and again until around 3am. It's been three weeks since the game and I still can't stop smiling. When people talk about the game, I tell them that I was there and they say "you were not!!". And I'll always be able to say I was there the day that KU came back. the day that Super Mario hit "the shot". The day that Sheron Collins made "the steal". And to be honest, I don't think I'll ever be this excited about a sporting event ever again. It was literally my one chance to see greatness. My one chance to witness history. My one shining moment.