Herald reporter Chris Acree and photographer Luke Sharrett made their way to Stanford, Calif. Friday to cover the women’s NCAA tournament. Check wkuherald.com for updates on the coverage.
Day Two: March 22
It’s our second day in the Schwarzenegger state, and this time we actually did some real journalism.
Our bodies’ time clocks being shot to heck due to the ungodly time change from Bowling Green, we didn’t wake up until around 12:30 p.m.
Since our game was the last one scheduled, we had most of the day to ourselves. Which we spent walking the streets of Palo Alto, Calif., soaking in the sights, sounds and the tastes of stuff such as $10 cheeseburgers and appetizers that cost more than our lives.
We also saw a couple walking around with an Irish Wolf Hound that was almost as tall as I am. I think it might have been a werewolf in disguise, or maybe it attacked Tokyo in a movie I saw once.
Afterwards we chilled back at the hotel for a couple hours, watching some other basketball games as well as John Cena in “The Marine” which was two hours neither of us will be able to get back.
Closer to game time we got on the wrong shuttle bus and had to walk across campus to the Maples Pavilion, but we got to soak in the sites of Stanford’s truly beautiful campus, but unfortunately we didn’t see any hippies.
We arrived at the media workroom to find out we missed the buffet by a minute, which stunk. So we gorged ourselves on the refreshments they had available. I think I had enough Red Vines to make up a licorice jungle.
Game time came, and we were subject to a 92-60 drubbing at the hands of UTEP, ending of trip early.
So now we’re debating whether to try to get home early, or go and paint the Bay Area red.
Day One: March 21
Luke and I went to San Francisco, but we didn’t have flowers in our hair.
We awoke at 4 a.m. to drive down to Nashville to catch a 7 a.m. flight.
We got on the plane in Nashville and tried to get as much sleep as we could for the four hours we would be in the air until we changed planes in Phoenix. Unfortunately, we chose the plane that was headed toward some kind of screaming baby convention, and combined with the noticeable lack of legroom, it wasn’t the most comfortable of flights.
In Phoenix we enjoyed an 80-minute layover, some local cuisine (something called “Pizza Hut”), and watched a little of the first half of the Western’s men’s game.
The flight from Phoenix to San Francisco was much more enjoyable. It was far less crowded, and we got some beautiful views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Luke the photographer took about a billion pictures.
Landing in California, our cell phone’s immediately were blown up with people asking if we had seen the men’s game. Since we were airborne, we couldn’t, but Ty Roger’s amazing game-winning shot was playing in almost every TV in the terminal.
Leaving the airport we became intimately involved with all the incarnations of the San Francisco mass transit system and finally made our way to the official media hotel, the Sheraton Palo Alto.
The hotel was by far one of the better one’s I had been in during my Herald career. The beds have about 50 pillows on them; it had coat hangers, and is relatively close to the Maples Pavilion.
Although we were given a non-smoking room, I’m sure that if there was an ashtray in the room, it would be clean enough to eat out of. Also, it marked the first time I have fit in a hotel shower since I was six.
Going to media day, we got to hear and see the Lady Toppers and the UTEP Miners do their pre-game thing, and then went back to the hotel, suffering from the worst case of jet lag ever.
Check back tomorrow, where the real fun begins as the Lady Toppers face off against UTEP in the first round of the NCAA. Tip-off is at 10 p.m. CST.
Reach Chris Acree at sports@wkuherald.com.
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