Mercer vs. BYU
On Monday, Drew and I had what was probably the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch the Mercer Bears play the BYU Cougars in the Marriott Center. I haven't seen the Bears play since graduating from Mercer in 2009; I always figured I would make it back to Macon someday to watch them play as an alumna, but I never would have bet on them coming to me first, in Provo, Utah of all places. BYU and Mercer both worked their way into the second round of the National Invitation Tournament of March Madness, and seeded at number 3 and 7, found themselves playing each other after their respective first-round wins.
Owing, I'm sure, to the distance between Macon and Provo, the Mercer fans in the crowd were completely outnumbered in the gigantic Marriott Center, so the twenty or so parents and grandparents who made the journey stuck out pretty boldly in their Mercer orange. While I also donned Mercer gear for the game (of course), my grey t-shirt and worn-out college sweatshirt didn't give me away nearly as quickly as my instinctual tendency to clap in those moments when the 20,000 blue-clad spectators in the arena sat in silent disappointment.
In the end, BYU was a bigger team than Mercer and made more ridiculous shots, both of which helped them win the game 90-71. They'll be playing Baylor next for a chance to make it all the way to the finals. Congrats, Cougars. You can have the championship, but the Mercer Bears will always have my loyalty.
Just for fun, here are a few glimpses of us at the last Mercer game Drew and I attended together, that time in 2006. This was just after Drew returned to Georgia from a semester at BYU to work for a few months beforeabandoning me embarking on his grand Argentine adventure. Apparently, we were so excited to be reunited that we couldn't hold the camera upright.
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I once thought that college - BYU for him and Mercer for me - would forever be the force that separated us for good. Who could have guessed that seven years later, we'd watch those two schools duke it out on the basketball court; we cheered for different teams, but we did it together.
Owing, I'm sure, to the distance between Macon and Provo, the Mercer fans in the crowd were completely outnumbered in the gigantic Marriott Center, so the twenty or so parents and grandparents who made the journey stuck out pretty boldly in their Mercer orange. While I also donned Mercer gear for the game (of course), my grey t-shirt and worn-out college sweatshirt didn't give me away nearly as quickly as my instinctual tendency to clap in those moments when the 20,000 blue-clad spectators in the arena sat in silent disappointment.
In the end, BYU was a bigger team than Mercer and made more ridiculous shots, both of which helped them win the game 90-71. They'll be playing Baylor next for a chance to make it all the way to the finals. Congrats, Cougars. You can have the championship, but the Mercer Bears will always have my loyalty.
Just for fun, here are a few glimpses of us at the last Mercer game Drew and I attended together, that time in 2006. This was just after Drew returned to Georgia from a semester at BYU to work for a few months before
.jpg)
.jpg)
I once thought that college - BYU for him and Mercer for me - would forever be the force that separated us for good. Who could have guessed that seven years later, we'd watch those two schools duke it out on the basketball court; we cheered for different teams, but we did it together.
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