Thursday, May 19, 2005

More notes from Navytown

I'll add a few additional thoughts on our journey to the East coast (I almost feel like I'm home sweet home).

Since we didn't know we'd be coming to Maryland until the 'Cats beat Princeton on Sunday, we had to hold off on booking flights. By the time we did so, there were slim pickin's as far as seat availablilty goes. Therefore Frank and I were separated by two rows, each relishing a highly-coveted middle seat on a full flight. The gentleman sitting to my right asked me for my pretzels, which I gladly handed over, and the younger guy on the isle was laughing out loud at NBC's "Joey." At least one person in America likes that show.

After landing at BWI and renting our luxurious vehicle (pronounced vee-hick-el due to the TX plates), we made our way to beautiful Annapolis, home of the Naval Academy. By the way, National Car Rentals had an amazing variety of ONE Chevy Cavalier from which we could "choose." Oh, well. At least the car radio identifies that band and song names on DC101.

Upon entering Annpolis, we spotted a few cadets, prompting Frank to sing the chorus of "In the Navy" by the Village People (which kind of scared me, to be honest). His singing was not over, however. The hotel we're staying at is a Loews Hotel...no relation to the movie theater chain with the obnoxious jingle, but Frank decided to remind me of how that jingle goes anyway.

As we ascended to the 5th floor penthouse--not really--we ran into a few of the Virginia players, who were discussing the hotel breakfast buffet in preparation for their final four matchup with Duke tomorrow night. We wished them good luck, and they asked where we were from. They were stunned--dare I say wildly impressed--that we were Northwestern radio broadcasters. One of the players said...and I quote: "Wow." They got off on the 4th floor, and as the elevator door closed, Frank pointed out that were are "kind of a big deal."

One thing that am really looking forward to is checking out the enviable Commodore Lounge here on the 5th floor. (Everything at this hotel has an seafarer theme for some reason.) I stole a quick glance into the exclusive lounge, which is replete with a Granfather clock, big screen TV, and complimentary USA Todays and sodas. I am eager to hear if our colleagues in Indiana are enjoying similar luxury. I somehow doubt it.

Oh yeah, the women's lacrosse team will be competing in Final Four action in almost 23 hours...in the meantime, I want some delicious Maryland crabcakes.

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