The Pillowless Road to the NAIA

Fourteen players, three coaches, two managers, and I were packed and on the bus by two o`clock Sunday afternoon when we pulled out of the Recreation and Wellness Center parking lot. Immediately, I realized I had forgotten something vital to the long road trip. I left my pillow in my dorm room and missed its soft comfort when I decided to take a nap midway through the trip.

Before my nap, we began the trek to Missouri by watching and analyzing some game film of our first round opponent, Aquinas College (MI). We put in "Rocky III" after watching the first half of Aquinas versus our Mid-Central College Conference rival Huntington University. Most of the team relaxed and went to sleep while others took in a game of euchre. I uncomfortably took a nap without a pillow.

I woke up and read a book before we decided to watch "The Greatest Game Ever Played." We arrived in St. Louis around six o`clock to the bright city lights reflecting off of the Arch. We stopped at Smokin Al`s BBQ where we enjoyed barbecued ribs, chicken, and pulled pork with sides of homemade coleslaw and baked beans.

We spent the night in St. Louis at a Courtyard by Marriot. The coaches held a quick team meeting in a conference room before the team relaxed in the pool and hot tub. We had curfew at 10:30 p.m. Central time (11:30 p.m. Eastern time) and I fell asleep soon after.

The Wildcats first game in the NAIA DII National Tournament is Thursday morning at 8:30 and the coaches are training the players to get up earlier and earlier each day beginning by getting up at 7:30 today. Our hotel is located next to St. Louis University, home of the NCAA DI Billikens. The coaches arranged a practice at the University’s practice facility where the team was able to fire up some shots and handle the ball to stay in rhythm in between long bus rides. We were back on the highway around 11:30 a.m.

We made two stops on our way to Branson, Missouri. Our first stop was Bass Pro Shop where we wandered around for forty minutes. The Shop is huge and has something for about everyone. One of the most intriguing sights was a 170 pound, seventy year old turtle in one of the aquariums. Our second stop was for food at Lambert`s--Home of Throwed Rolls. The team received plenty of rolls thrown in their direction from the waiter as well as thrown at each other. We concluded our trip at Comfort Inn in Branson, our home for the next week hopefully, and settled in for the night with comfortable pillows to rest our heads on.