Oklahoma City Drama

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the total dearth of posts from the WCWS, but suffice it to say that we were a bit preoccupied. From an NU perspective, the most important thing is that the Wildcats won today, beating Arizona State 2-0 behind an excellent performance from Eileen Canney. Katie Logan and Tammy Williams provided all the offense the 'Cats would need with an RBI double and a solo shot, respectively. Canney was the main story, though, throwing a complete game one-hit shutout. Check out the highlights at sports.wnur.org! NU moves on to face Washington tomorrow evening at 6pm. The Huskies' pitcher was just as impressive as Canney in her team's win over DePaul earlier in the day, so it should be a dandy tomorrow.

From a personal perspective, the most important news of the today was the arrival of our luggage in Oklahoma City. Without delving into it too much, this trip (until about 2 hours ago) was overshadowed by a series of unfortunate events plaguing the broadcasters of WNUR. They may or may not include:

-Oversleeping (by a certain member of our broadcast KreW who shall remain nameless)...leading to...
-Missing a flight
-A canceled flight
-Losing luggage
-Airsickness
-Multiple hours of fruitless phone conversations with American Airlines baggage personnel*
-Frantically buying makeshift equipment at radio shack
-Buying new clothes and toiletries on the airline's dime, mere hours before gametime
-ISDN failure & reprogramming
-Credit card denials at dinner
-Confronting overzealous parking enforcers
-Sustaining multiple gunshot wounds to the torso**

* During one specific conversation with a well-meaning but hopelessly bureaucracy-obsessed employee, I was forced to describe---in excruciating detail--the outside AND contents of our missing luggage. I was constantly asked to list three items in each bag before moving to the next exciting step: "talking about those items." At one point I literally had to spell "s-p-e-r-r-y," to help identify the top-siders sitting inside my personal luggage. At that point I had to excuse myself from the room as to avoid catching the delirious laughter bug that had bitten my two colleagues.

**This actually did not happen, but it would not necessarily have surprised us.

The overwhelming angst caused by these trials and tribulations was significantly mitigated by the Wildcats' win, and was totally relieved when I received confirmation that our "items" had arrived at the baggage claim area in OKC. I arrived at the airport, saw our glorious bags, high-fived the woman behind the counter, collected our bags and reimbursement check (for our lovely new attire), and skipped back to the car. Even the power-hungry man from the parking gestapo couldn't ruin my mood with his over-the-top threats. On the drive back from the airport, "I feel good" by James Brown came on the radio. Kyle and I laughed heartily and sang along.

We are currently sitting at the stadium watching Arizona/Baylor. Most people here are rooting for the Bears, who are big-time underdogs.

Later on, I will enjoy a lovely shower, change into my own clothes, and celebrate NU's victory. It's a sleep-in day tomorrow. And we won't even miss a flight! Thank goodness that the past 24 are exactly that....PAST. Absolutely brutal. But now that we've got our wits about us, GO 'CATS! Enjoy the remaining broadcasts--let's hope there are quite a few.

Yesterday's phrase that pays was: "Let's talk about those items."
Today's is: "It's in my SHOES!"