Day 797 – Mid-weekend Report from Seattle

Saturday, March 26, 2023 (written Sunday morning)

After watching the Virginia Tech women Hokies basketball win the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament in Blacksburg, Virginia we decided to come to Seattle to watch the next two rounds. My son Alex lives in Seattle and we had wanted to see him and his girlfriend Dani. Plus Kat Robishaud was putting on her Misfit Cabaret show in Seattle that weekend. Three good reasons to come and then Shelby discovered she had over 200,000 mies on United, which was interesting as I’m the one doing the traveling, but she pays the bills so United knows where to send the freebees.

We started off seeing Misfit Cabaret on Friday night with Alex and Dani. Kat sang, boy did she ever. Then four acts: a stripper, a contortionist, an acrobat and another terpsichorean act. I wish Ron DeSantis would come here to watch Kat’s show. His head would explode.

Saturday we went to the Climate Pledge Arena (one block from our hotel!) to watch the first Ohio State beat UConn (a real surprise) and then the women Hokies subdue Tennessee. We were seated up in a corner to the side of the Tennessee band and behind their team bench. We had to endure “Rocky Top” several times, but it wasn’t as bad a when VT played them in football a few years ago. At that time I think that was the only tune the band knew. Tennessee never led. It got to within one point and four but that’s as close as they came. This despite some rather dirty playing on their part, which amazingly went unseen by the refs. Tennessee’s tall slender center had a habit of swinging her raised elbows into anyone who was around, which was usually our center, Liz Kitley. We’ve seen games where she is accosted by two, three, and four opposing players and somehow the refs don’t call that. I guess an elbow to the throat doesn’t count as a foul. 

But the worst was the foul that decked Taylor Soule. Taylor is one tough cookie. However, on a defensive transition a Tennessee player by the name of Walker held Taylor by the back of the neck, punched her and then shoved and punched her to the ground. No foul. That should have been called a flagrant one or even two with game ejection, but instead – nothing. After the game Taylor remarked that she should get an endorsement from a pickle juice company because she uses it so much.

See it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqBIS2dPLXM

And the other remarkable thing is the lack of coverage the team and the players get. I know the girl in pigtails from Louisville is a good shooter and all, but come on. The headlines read how VT “survived a run by Tennessee” and that was about it. Survived? Tennessee never led.

After the game we went atop our hotel’s “world class” rooftop patio. How about “L” shaped walkway? It’s nice. Four women were having a reunion with wine and girl scout cookies there. Very nice. We headed to Ozzi’s where we ate bugers and watched the Uconn men obliterate Gonzaga. it was surprising to me because the center for Gonzaga had been so dominant and bullying in other games.

Today we’ll be in the stands for Ohio State versus Virginia Tech. Ohio State was dominated by UConn early in the first quarter. Women play four 10 minute quarters. Then Ohio State dug in, caught up to the Huskies and went on to win. I was kind of disappointed that Tech won’t get to play UConn as their fan cheer is “Let’s Go Huskies!” and ours is “Let’s Go Hokies!” 

One of our players is from Australia, Georgia Amoore. She’s a guard and looks tiny out there at 5’ 6”. When pressed by two players the typical strategy to break the press is to throw the ball to the open player. In Amoore’s case she’ll typically dribble the ball between the two players and leave them behind. I heard last night that the coach saw Amoore play in a tournament in Belarus. What was the coach or a young woman from Australia doing in Belarus? I have no idea. During Covid, Georgia was in Blacksburg and didn’t see her family for two years. Wow.

If the Hokies win this evening (game time is 6pm PT, 9pm EST) then they go on to Dallas to play the winner of Miami/LSU and if they win there it’s the final game where South Carolina is thought to be the team coming out of that side of the bracket. SC is undefeated this year and maybe last. They are thought to be the ones to “take it all.” Here’s hoping a lot of people will be surprised.