Just got back from a crazy 36 hour turnaround. But very glad I made the trip. 8" of snow up here in Dayton when I left yesterday morning, but by the time we arrived in Charlotte it was a beautiful 52 degrees and sunshine. The route through WVa was easy since there was no snow in Chillicothe or beyond. A little up in the trees through Beckley but the roads were fine. Made it in just under 7 hours.
FanFest was small and had the school bands play in a parking lot adjacent to the Fest that was behind chain link fence. Weird. Decent turnout to see Lady Antebellum, but the main attraction was....
Met Mrs. Ono and her daughter there, as they walked by. Very nice and outgoing. She said Santa was still pretty sick. Thought it was great she made the trip anyway.
Sat in front of the UC football staff suite. TT and family were inside it most of the game. He did wear a sweater-vest, so subflea you may have to talk to someone about that choice of clothes.
About 10,000 UC fans in a crowd of 35,000. However, you could tell that there were rows of folks that didn't make it to the game. Two rows behind me were filled, two rows in front were mostly empty. Duke fans were very pleasant, surprised how big UC is in terms of enrollment, and were knowledgeable of our hoops program. Most all Dookies that I spoke to eventually turned the conversation to basketball.
Weird game, but the Cats pulled it out. Watched Stewart coaching the defensive huddle on the sideline and similarly Luallen with the offense. People that spent the season as fans were now wearing headsets and helping out on the sidelines. Incredible, but hats off to the kids.