We all have our favorite memories of Kentucky basketball. I don’t know if this is my favorite, but it is my most memorable.
When my wife and I made the decision to take a trip to Thailand in late March/early April, Kentucky had just lost to Arkansas in overtime in Fayetteville. Though the ‘Cats were 12-4 at that point, they didn’t look like the dominant team so many (including myself I must admit) thought they would be before the season began. And so, I didn’t think much about it when I realized our vacation would coincide with Final Four weekend.
We had talked for some time about cashing in our frequent flier miles and taking an overseas trip. After all, I had been hoarding United miles for 9 years and had accumulated over 240,000 of them, more than enough to “buy” 2 round trip tickets to anywhere. Initially, we planned to visit Spain in mid-April. But, when we realized we would be gone over Easter, we nixed that idea and started looking elsewhere. We eventually settled on Thailand, a country both of us had long discussed visiting, and realized that a mid-April visit would be terrible. Thailand is hot 11 months out of the year; the other month—April—it’s really really hot. The only way we could visit that would fit into our schedule was late March and early April before the temperatures consistently soared above 100 degrees.
By mid-February, Kentucky was 19-6, having just lost to Florida, at home, on College GameDay. Two weeks later, the ‘Cats dropped two straight and a tournament run looked unlikely. Any reservation I had about being outside the country, halfway around the world, on the last weekend of the NCAA Tournament was gone. If anything, it was UofL who looked primed for yet another deep tournament run. And if the Cardinals were going to be in Dallas with a chance to win their second consecutive championship then being as far away from Louisville as I possibly could seemed like a great idea.
In college, I, admittedly, missed a lot of Kentucky basketball games. I went to school in Indianapolis and, in between school work, fraternity life, having a serious girlfriend, and going to Butler basketball games, watching the ‘Cats got pushed down the priority list. This isn’t to say I never watched Kentucky. I did. But if I missed a game here or there I wasn’t too worried about it.
Fast forward to the end of March. The night before Heather and I are to leave for our 24-hour journey to Bangkok, Kentucky is scheduled to take on Louisville in the Sweet 16. We have to drive from our home in Ohio to my in-laws in Louisville, so they can watch our kids for the 10 days we’ll be gone. I anxiously speed down I-75, hoping to arrive in Louisville before tip-off. We make it just in time. On Saturday, our plane departed and our vacation began. But all I can think about as we first cross the Atlantic and then as we cross Europe and Central Asia is I hope we land in Thailand in time for me to catch the final moments of Kentucky’s Elite 8 game versus Michigan. We land in Bangkok on early Monday morning; it’s Sunday evening back in Indianapolis. I turn on my phone and nervously wait for my phone to grab a signal on a Thai mobile network so I can open up Twitter and “watch” the end of the game. And, as I’m waiting to deboard the massive A380 that has carried us from Frankfurt to Bangkok, I scream in joy as my timeline is flooded with reports that Aaron Harrison has, once again, been an assassin from behind the arc. My wife drops her head in embarrassment. Everyone else looks confused.
Because of the 13-hour time difference, tip-off against Wisconsin in Final Four is on Sunday morning. We’re at the beach and Wi-Fi at our resort is spotty. I grab a beach chair, find an unauthorized stream on the internet, and sit glued to my Kindle Fire, hoping I don’t lose my connection. I make it through the first half before the signal kicks out and I’m unable to reconnect. Once again, I spend the second half “watching” the game through Twitter. Once again, I start screaming after Aaron Harrison hits an improbable third straight game winner to send Kentucky to the championship game. Once again, my wife drops her head in embarrassment. Once again, everyone else looks confused.
We still have a few days left in Thailand but all I can think about is figuring out how I’m going to watch the championship game Tuesday morning. We arrive out our new hotel Monday evening in Bangkok and the first thing I do is check out the quality of their wi-fi connection. It is strong. We’re out late, visiting the Red Light District, but I set an alarm for 7:30 am. I want to make sure everything is good to go before the game tips-off at 9:30 on Monday evening back in the States. The next morning, I attempt to find a stream but I’m unable to. I search and search and when I find out, I can’t connect to the hotel’s Wi-Fi. I’m back to “watching” the game on Twitter. I’m angry and frustrated. Somewhere around the start of the second half, I’m able to connect to the Internet AND find a stream. I’m able to watch most of the second half until, with about 2 minutes left in the game and the outcome still in doubt, I’m booted offline. Unfortunately, this time there is no game winning three from Aaron Harrison. This time there is no scream. This time my wife doesn’t have to drop her head in embarrassment. This time people aren’t looking at me, confused.
We leave our hotel. We have one last day in Thailand after all, and it’s only 11 am. I’m wearing a Kentucky t-shirt and while we’re out a couple stops and apologizes but they’re from Connecticut and they just saw the score and they’re happy. They are the only Americans we meet the entire 10 days we’re there.