Now that the dust has settled--Observations from Columbus

[West Pine Jim]

OK, you lucky ducks who got to go to Columbus, how about a nice long thread about the high points/fun moments/ surprises you got to experience at the games and the various gatherings ? Sounds like it was a blast ! We're all so proud of the Bills !

[mccarthyirish7]

We traveled really well. Saint Louis fans were simply awesome!

We had the biggest pre and post game parties on both days.

Columbus natives were very hospitable and I over heard numerous times "wow, Saint Louis brought their entire city here..."

Shut the bars down last night. Really fun hanging with board members and new friends met this weekend.

Tim Hortons is not as good in Columbus as it is in Canada.

05 was an animal all weekend. Great energy.

I nearly got kicked out of the Memphis game for standing and blocking the view of two nasty MSU fans. HATE! I was told I could return to my seat after being escorted to the concourse.

Some students spring-breaking in AL drove 15 hours on Sat night/Sun morning to see the Bills play today. True support!

The Band was amazing! The cheerleaders looked great and the Billiken was his usual.

Our Mark Cuban - Dr. Chaifetz was classy as usual.

Great great weekend!!!

[Box and Won]

There was one particular gentleman there wearing a blue superman muscle suit, a cape fashioned from a Billiken blanket, and a blue and white basketball that had been fashioned into a helmet (complete with holes cut out for the eyes). Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to say hi to him, but I really appreciate his spirit and energy. I wonder if he posts here on the board.

[Taj79]

Nice meeting eastside, the Wiz, jbizz, slu72, and redbirdfan. Good seeing Bill, Alan, Dr. C, Willie, sshoe and kshoe. For the record, I got a hug from kshoe. He loves me, he really does!

The school was tremendously represented. I thought we drowned out the MSU side but we represented very well. Our band, our cheerleaders ---- and they were the big state school? The pregame party and Meg to be highly commended.

I said before the game we needed to work outside in, hitting a few from long range to open it up. Did not happen. But we were going hard down to the end. There was nothing to be embarrassed about. At all.

Great weekend. Great year.

[bills10]

When it was announced that we would play in Columbus, I was in panic mode. I didn't catch who we were playing, what day, or anything. I just jumped up and started calling people. I knew that i HAD to go. It made for one of the best weekends of my entire life.

On Friday, I left work early. Before we even had the car parked, my wife and I jumped out of the car, ditching my dad, once we saw the Billiken tent. The band had just started playing, cheerleaders dancing, people cheering, and I was pumped. I'm proud that the Front Street Bar was my team's hub. It was actually the Admission office and Alumni relations who planned and funded the entire thing, and they need mad props for it. Was really an awesome set-up, and awesome time. We got hooked up with really good seats in a box for free, and had every casual basketball fan in there cheering for SLU, solely because they liked the spirit we brought. Everyone wanted to talk about what a Billiken was, about going to school in Saint Louis, and how good we looked on the court. Being there to win this game, though, was a huge check off the bucket list for me, and I'm still ecstatic about it.

We journeyed back home, and celebrated my son's first birthday on St Patty's day. His first present of his entire life was a KM jersey, and he is sleeping with a stuffed Billiken as we speak. I hope that he is running around singing the Billiken fight song like Drew from Youtube in no time.

Today, we had even more friends travel in from far away to cheer on the Bills. Same set up at the bar, but there was a different attitude this time. We had nothing to lose, and we had already proven our worth in the first game. There was less trepidation, and more celebration today. I really thought all along that we would win, and we came so close to doing so. I think that MSU made many highly contested shots, whereas we were able to get free from the defender, but just couldn't hit them. We gave such a strong effort, though, and I'm so happy to Be a Billiken for life.

Thank you BC and KC. You were the foundation for the louder and prouder Billiken Nation.

[Bay Area Billiken]

SLU was so close to the Sweet 16. Our team played its heart out, fought toe to toe, against the Big Ten Champion. We all said the key to winning the game was that SLU had to make its shots. It was really that simple. The Billikens fought valiantly, but shot only something like 35% for the game, less in the first half. Just a couple more in the basket, and we would be headed to Phoenix.

It has been an incredible weekend here in Columbus. There is nothing like seeing our alma mater playing in the Big Dance. It was great to meet the younger alumni, my elders, and my contemporaries. As we were leaving, one season ticket holder told me he had been one since the early 1970's under Coach Bob Polk with Harry Rogers. It was great to meet Steve the SluSignGuy, Metz (a fellow native of the Land of Lincoln), Redbirdfan, SShoe, KShoe, Desmet Billiken, jbizzle, TheBand, Soderball. Add to that Dr. Chaifetz (obviously- we came full circle from LMU to the NCAA in Columbus), Bill from the Jersey Shore (great stories and anecdotes), Paul Eckerle, and getting to converse with Tom Timmerman at Boston's on Saturday night. The stories from my elders were just great to hear. Add to that fellow SLU alumni and Ekker Era Survivors AdMan and Dan McCarthy. Add to that the new friends met in our section: Carl, Anne, Maryanne, Mike from Chaminade and his brother and son, and Donald and his wife. It was good to see the esteemed members of the judiciary from both sides of the River: Commissioner Bob Weis, the Honorable David Hylla, my classmate, and classmate and fellow bar member Jeff Ezra. I just cracked up when they told me that they "knew that voice" (me)! A big thank you goes to Meg Connolly for a great job running the festivities at the Front Street Tavern. If I missed anybody, I enjoyed meeting you too, and chalk it up to the lateness of the night. Suffice it to say, it was great to see everyone. And I can see that somehow some of us were there together, but still didn't cross paths- Taj, Slu72, Box and Won, et al. Oh well, we were still there together supporting SLU.

The consensus leaving Nationwide Arena is that this is just the beginning, SLU will be back, we will all be together again next year in the Big Dance, the NCAA. After all these years, our SLU program has arrived in the big time. We were the lead National TV game on CBS. We have a fantastic coach, a huge returning cast of players, and two star incoming freshmen. We give tremendous thank you's to our graduating Seniors, Brian Conklin and Kyle Cassity.

The turnout and support from the SLU fans was both huge and tremendous. We were a force this weekend, a true force. I, for one, was so proud to see so many SLU fans in Columbus, at least 3 sections strong. The Band, as always, was tremendous, as were the Saintsations. Collectively, we were every bit as big time as any of the other schools there.

We are SLU. We are the Billikens!

And indeed, we will be back!

[Billikan]

There was one particular gentleman there wearing a blue superman muscle suit, a cape fashioned from a Billiken blanket, and a blue and white basketball that had been fashioned into a helmet (complete with holes cut out for the eyes). Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to say hi to him, but I really appreciate his spirit and energy. I wonder if he posts here on the board.

He is a very good friend of mine and we were together at the pregame pep rally and at the game. He is crazy as heck and a huge BIlls fan. We have been going to games for over 40 years. He ended up with a big picture in his outfit on the front page of the Columbus newspaper. I do not believe he has ever posted on this board. It was amazing to see the reaction of the fans to him, even fans of other schools wanted to have their picture taken with him. We were cheering like crazy at the Memphis game and he gave them the SLUperman curse and we won the game. He had to go back to St Louis on Saturday but I told him that him not being there with his powerful curse caused us to lose! He is a great guy and a big fan!

[RiseAndGrind]

Wow.

What an awesome weekend.

Props to SLU for nailing down the tent/bar closest to the arena. SLU owned Columbus. No doubt about it.

[slu72]

I really don't know where to start. But let's start w/ Billikens.com since this board keeps us Billiken fans. On Friday, I met Jbizzle and wife, she's a cutie, and Pistol. On Sunday, Sign guy, what a great guy, Taj Mahal 79, also a good guy, Eastside Joe, whose best man at his wedding was my best friend at SLU, redbird (she's a hottie but married), kshoe and his dad (again) but got some chastisement from the K (you're Dad's a good guy, K, only kidding). Met and talked w/ KM's mom and KC's parents. Great people and solidly behind SLU and RM. No wonder he loves these kids and they love him.

The best was just seeing all those Bills' fans both young and old going nutso over our Billikens. The bus gauntlet was a thing of beauty. We travel well, Billikens. We travel well. Cripes, Taj Mahal 79 just hopped in his Ferrari after Friday night's win and drove straight to Columbus. You have to love that.

Met the Good Dr. When he walked into the tent he was greeted with a resounding applause and cheers, mostly by the youngsters. Good for you, Students. I got to chat w/ him for a bit and he said, "this will continue". Good enough for me. The guy definitely backs it up. Thank you, Dr. Chaifetz.

All in all, a truly great weekend to be a Billiken. Yes, we lost to MSU, but we learned a lot. And you can bet SLUPERMAN will use this weekend to spur these guys on to bigger and better results. I'm thinking this might have been the best week in a Billiken's life there ever was other than kids being born.

[slu72]

He is a very good friend of mine and we were together at the pregame pep rally and at the game. He is crazy as heck and a huge BIlls fan. We have been going to games for over 40 years. He ended up with a big picture in his outfit on the front page of the Columbus newspaper. I do not believe he has ever posted on this board. It was amazing to see the reaction of the fans to him, even fans of other schools wanted to have their picture taken with him. We were cheering like crazy at the Memphis game and he gave them the SLUperman curse and we won the game. He had to go back to St Louis on Saturday but I told him that him not being there with his powerful curse caused us to lose! He is a great guy and a big fan!

He is a very good friend of mine and we were together at the pregame pep rally and at the game. He is crazy as heck and a huge BIlls fan. We have been going to games for over 40 years. He ended up with a big picture in his outfit on the front page of the Columbus newspaper. I do not believe he has ever posted on this board. It was amazing to see the reaction of the fans to him, even fans of other schools wanted to have their picture taken with him. We were cheering like crazy at the Memphis game and he gave them the SLUperman curse and we won the game. He had to go back to St Louis on Saturday but I told him that him not being there with his powerful curse caused us to lose! He is a great guy and a big fan!

[RiseAndGrind]

I really don't know where to start. But let's start w/ Billikens.com since this board keeps us Billiken fans. On Friday, I met Jbizzle and wife, she's a cutie, and Pistol. On Sunday, Sign guy, what a great guy, Taj Mahal 79, also a good guy, Eastside Joe, whose best man at his wedding was my best friend at SLU, redbird (she's a hottie but married), kshoe and his dad (again) but got some chastisement from the K (you're Dad's a good guy, K, only kidding). Met and talked w/ KM's mom and KC's parents. Great people and solidly behind SLU and RM. No wonder he loves these kids and they love him.

The best was just seeing all those Bills' fans both young and old going nutso over our Billikens. The bus gauntlet was a thing of beauty. We travel well, Billikens. We travel well. Cripes, Taj Mahal 79 just hopped in his Ferrari after Friday night's win and drove straight to Columbus. You have to love that.

Met the Good Dr. When he walked into the tent he was greeted with a resounding applause and cheers, mostly by the youngsters. Good for you, Students. I got to chat w/ him for a bit and he said, "this will continue". Good enough for me. The guy definitely backs it up. Thank you, Dr. Chaifetz.

All in all, a truly great weekend to be a Billiken. Yes, we lost to MSU, but we learned a lot. And you can bet SLUPERMAN will use this weekend to spur these guys on to bigger and better results. I'm thinking this might have been the best week in a Billiken's life there ever was other than kids being born.

Watching the end of the Bonaventure game w/ Chaifetz at the bar was pretty damn cool.

[slu72]

The Columbus paper actually named him, Billikan. I won't reveal it as I'm figuring Superman wouldn't want anyone to know he's really C. Kent. What a weekend. Can't wait to travel next year.

[RiseAndGrind]

The Columbus paper actually named him, Billikan. I won't reveal it as I'm figuring Superman wouldn't want anyone to know he's really C. Kent. What a weekend. Can't wait to travel next year.

I talked w/ that gentleman and took a pic with him. he was a boss.

[Bay Area Billiken]

The Superfan actually led the Defense cheer Friday night against Memphis.

And add the great trumpet performance in the aisle next to our section by a veteran band member in the stands, with the Band below joining in, awesome.

This weekend was so much fun. Yes, the loss today stings, but with time we will look upon this season as SLU's return to the real big time. Let's do it again in '13 and advance farther into the Promised Land of the Big Dance.

[slu72]

The Superfan actually led the Defense cheer Friday night against Memphis.

And add the great trumpet performance in the aisle next to our section by a veteran band member in the stands, with the Band below joining in, awesome.

This weekend was so much fun. Yes, the loss today stings, but with time we will look upon this season as SLU's return to the real big time. Let's do it again in '13 and advance farther into the Promised Land of the Big Dance.

And where were you hiding in the Billiken tent? Cripes, you're the one logical guy on here next to me.

[Adman]

SLU was so close to the Sweet 16. Our team played its heart out, fought toe to toe, against the Big Ten Champion. We all said the key to winning the game was that SLU had to make its shots. It was really that simple. The Billikens fought valiantly, but shot only something like 35% for the game, less in the first half. Just a couple more in the basket, and we would be headed to Phoenix.

It has been an incredible weekend here in Columbus. There is nothing like seeing our alma mater playing in the Big Dance. It was great to meet the younger alumni, my elders, and my contemporaries. As we were leaving, one season ticket holder told me he had been one since the early 1970's under Coach Bob Polk with Harry Rogers. It was great to meet Steve the SluSignGuy, Metz (a fellow native of the Land of Lincoln), Redbirdfan, SShoe, KShoe, Desmet Billiken, jbizzle, Soderball. Add to that Dr. Chaifetz (obviously- we came full circle from LMU to the NCAA in Columbus), Bill from the Jersey Shore (great stories and anecdotes), Paul Eckerle, and getting to converse with Tom Timmerman at Boston's on Saturday night. The stories from my elders were just great to hear. Add to that fellow SLU alumni and Ekker Era Survivors AdMan and Dan McCarthy. Add to that the new friends met in our section: Carl, Anne, Maryanne, Mike from Chaminade and his brother and son, and Donald and his wife. It was good to see the esteemed members of the judiciary from both sides of the River: Commissioner Bob Weis, the Honorable David Hylla, my classmate, and classmate and fellow bar member Jeff Ezra. I just cracked up when they told me that they "knew that voice" (me)! A big thank you goes to Meg Connolly for a great job running the festivities at the Front Street Tavern. If I missed anybody, I enjoyed meeting you too, and chalk it up to the lateness of the night. Suffice it to say, it was great to see everyone. And I can see that somehow some of us were there together, but still didn't cross paths- Taj, Slu72, Box and Won, et al. Oh well, we were still there together supporting SLU.

The consensus leaving Nationwide Arena is that this is just the beginning, SLU will be back, we will all be together again next year in the Big Dance, the NCAA. After all these years, our SLU program has arrived in the big time. We were the lead National TV game on CBS. We have a fantastic coach, a huge returning cast of players, and two star incoming freshmen. We give tremendous thank you's to our graduating Seniors, Brian Conklin and Kyle Cassidy.

The turnout and support from the SLU fans was both huge and tremendous. We were a force this weekend, a true force. I, for one, was so proud to see so many SLU fans in Columbus, at least 3 sections strong. The Band, as always, was tremendous, as were the Saintsations. Collectively, we were every bit as big time as any of the other schools there.

We are SLU. We are the Billikens!

And indeed, we will be back!

Bay Area, great to see you again. This time it was much better than the last time we hooked up -- the ugly LMU game in LA.

Hey, don't remind me of the Ekker days! I thought I'd blocked them out!!

An

[jbizzle09]

Just got back from a long drive from Columbus. Ready to hit the hay, but thought I'd log on real quick to see what was said about this great weekend. It was truly great to meet slu72 and Taj79. slu72 was an ANIMAL during the Memphis game and yelled himself hoarse! He was barely able to speak today! A great fan and really fun guy. Also got to spend a little time with Taj today and speak some Billikens. He spotted me after the game as we were headed out and we gave each other a little bro hug of sadness at the Bills loss.

Other posters I met for the first time include Pistol (commies gotta stick together!), Eckelkamp (thanks for the shot!), Bishop, DesmetBilliken, BAB, SLUDrew, redbirdfan and the infamous Metz. I am sure there are others I might be forgetting. Also, spent quite a bit of time hanging and drinking with guys I had met before, like mccarthy, BackHand (weak sauce for leaving early!), eastsidejoe (who constantly refers to me as 'jizzle' ), Westy, Box and Won, 05 (I concur that he partied like a madman!), The Wiz and our message board leader, SignGuy. Also got to meet many non-posters (some who read but don't post much) as well as the team, Paul Eckerle, Dr. Chaifetz, KM's mom and family, Cassity's mom and dad, Tom Timmerman and many, many others.

I will post more tomorrow, but the last 2 hours of the drive I was barely able to keep my eyes open, and my dear wife was already zonked out! So you all will have to wait to get a more detailed account of my 3-night stay at the Knights Inn!

[Bay Area Billiken]

And where were you hiding in the Billiken tent? Cripes, you're the one logical guy on here next to me.

We were at a table in the tent Friday night, eating our fish sandwiches (Friday during Lent, and the place was duly accomodating). I made a couple of forays into the establishment itself.

We'll be back next year, wherever SLU gets sent!

[Bay Area Billiken]

Bay Area, great to see you again. This time it was much better than the last time we hooked up -- the ugly LMU game in LA.

Hey, don't remind me of the Ekker days! I thought I'd blocked them out!!

An

Sometimes I feel like we're something like Chernobyl survivors! But we've all lived to see much better days. It was great to see you too.

[jbizzle09]

And where were you hiding in the Billiken tent? Cripes, you're the one logical guy on here next to me.

Heck, you nearly didn't meet Steve once again! It wasn't until before the game today!

[Bay Area Billiken]

We all had so much fun.

Hey, let's do it again next year, same time, some place, wherever the NCAA in its infinite wisdom sends us.

We are going to be loaded next year.

We talked to several veteran Michigan State fans walking out, who had high praise for Coach Majerus and our team. I said, let's play! The response from Sparty was not mutual in that regard.

[Box and Won]

He is a very good friend of mine and we were together at the pregame pep rally and at the game. He is crazy as heck and a huge BIlls fan. We have been going to games for over 40 years. He ended up with a big picture in his outfit on the front page of the Columbus newspaper. I do not believe he has ever posted on this board. It was amazing to see the reaction of the fans to him, even fans of other schools wanted to have their picture taken with him. We were cheering like crazy at the Memphis game and he gave them the SLUperman curse and we won the game. He had to go back to St Louis on Saturday but I told him that him not being there with his powerful curse caused us to lose! He is a great guy and a big fan!

Ha, that's great. Tell him he needs to wear the suit again next year!

[mccarthyirish7]

Ha, that's great. Tell him he needs to wear the suit again next year!

Great picture!! Our fans were just unbelievable. There were 8 teams in Columbus and we by far had the most fans!

[DeSmetBilliken]

Amazing and fun weekend. Too bad that we couldn't shock the world yesterday, but we could walk out of there with our heads held high.

In the past, I or friends of mine might have thought SLU's way of putting on events had been somewhat small time. Not this weekend. Everything was done very well. I do wish that maybe SLU could give us fans cards explaining what a Billiken is, as I was asked that question probably close to a dozen times this weekend, and after being asked 3 or 4 times it would have been easier just to hand the people a card with the description.

The most important thing about this weekend is that SLU basketball is officially back.

[SShoe]

Agree with all of the sentiments. This was a near-perfect weekend and we were only a couple extra shots away from the Sweet 16. This is the most pride I've felt for my school in a long time and it seems clear that this is only the beginning.

Other than the basketball, the best thing about weekends like this is meeting all the other crazy SLU fans out there. It was a pleasure meeting Bay Area Billiken, Taj, eastsidejoe, the Wiz, etc., as well as some of the player's families. It's good to know we're not alone in our love for the Bills.

It's also a lot of fun to talk with fans of other schools. For the most part, the Michigan State fans were very classy and enjoyable to talk with. Same goes for the NC State and Georgetown fans.

Lastly, hats off the SLU crowd. We were heavily outnumbered by the Michigan State fans, but many of the neutral observers at the game commented that we were much louder and more animated.