The trip to Cape Girardeau

I received the coolest text I have ever received this morning at about quarter to three. My friend Allan sent me a message telling me his plans for the day. Ok, that’s underselling it. The test informed me that he was a couple thousand feet from the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and he planned to finish the climb the next day. Amazing. Scaling the highest mountain of a continent is something that I have no plans to ever do, but that doesn’t mean I don’t bear a great deal of respect for those that do. Heck, I’m just jealous that he got to go to Africa.
Anyways, I got back from Cape Girardeau, Missouri on Sunday after a fun weekend on the road. I promised you some stories, observations and side notes from the trip. I wish I could have more details on the trip to Tanzania my friend made, but you’ll have to settle for this.
– The Friday night before the game, since I arrived the day before, I went to the Outback next door to pick up some dinner. As I was waiting for it I noticed that the Murray State team was enjoying their dinner mere feet from me. I thought this was odd. Never mind the statistical improbability that I would come across the team at the restaurant right door to my hotel in a town of 35k with plenty of other dining options. No, I thought it was weird that they were in town, when their game was the next day at quarter to 8, and the drive was only 2 hours or so. The only explanation I could come up with was that they traveled with the women’s team, which was playing the game before them. I guess. Either that or Murray State is flush with cash.
– Before the game I went to the campus to scout for merchandise and, of course, tickets. The ticket office was closed, and a trip around campus revealed that the bookstore was closed. I understand. What student has free time to shop on a Saturday. I went to the mall, then, in CG in order to kill some time, find some apparel and find dinner. While looking I found a Jared Allen Kansas City Chiefs jersey for 20 dollars. A bargain! I also found the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen, the “Parakeet Jungle”. It’s basically a large parakeet enclosure that kids can go in and be with the birds. Spend a dollar, scar your kids for life!
– Speaking of the walk around campus, there was a couple of Indian dudes walking around taking pictures too. It struck me how odd I must seem as a tourist walking around SEMOST when I saw OTHER tourists walking around SEMOST.
– OK, on to the game. I was close enough that my view was obstructed when the cheerleaders stood up.
– Between the two teams, there was on white guy, Eric McCrary for SE Missouri. He was definitely the “energy’ guy. He would not shut up on the bench, and was always the first on his feet screaming. He was certainly more valuable there than he was on the court. He was slow, had band hands and was a worse shot. But he made up for it by being annoying as hell.
– Murray State reminded me of a Big Ten team. They relied on their inside game and strong defense. They aren;t your classic tournament upset-special, because that tends to be a strong outside shooting team. Playing to their strengths, they don’t have enough size to play inside with the other big teams. If they do make a splash in the post season, they will have to do it by playing aggressive defense.
– Fun facts about the coach: His name is Dickey Nutt, and he is the brother of Ole Miss football coach Houston Nutt. He
– I struck up a conversation with the gentleman behind me. He immediately recognized that I was not from the area, what with my accent and all. That was a peculiar sensation. We talked about my being a meteorologist, then he asked me what I thought of the Farmer’s Almanac. Yep.
– I have never heard the Cupid Shuffle outside of a bar before, but it had regular radio rotation in Cape Girardeau. It was the soundtrack to an imaginary high speed chase I underwent. There was some truck that followed me around for a little while. Haunting.
– It was the mascots birthday. He wore a tux and had a cake, then they handed out awful looking t-shirts. It was really a special day for all of us. After the game, I went to Steak ‘n’ Shake and had some celebratory ice cream.

It was probably the best of my trips, simply because there was no hassle, and I was able to see some of the town as I was there. If things work out this well during my next trip (hopefully to Colorado State), I will be greatly pleased.