The power was out at home due to three power lines across the street that were snapped in the storm, so my husband and I, and another friend, drove around town to find a place to watch the game. We drove to two different sports bars, both of which were completely full, before we came to the Applebee’s on west 6th st. There we sat in a booth right next to a TV, ate lunch, and watched the game. By the start of the 2nd half, the place was packed, and by the end everyone, including those working (the wait staff, managers, and even cook staff) were watching the game – it was a great environment. The whole place was going insane for Julian’s 360 dunk, and as the seconds counted down, everyone was screaming and cheering, and high-fiving each other! It was a great highlight to quite a memorable day!

Marcy Rutan, Lawrence

I know that you asked for storm damage stories, but I thought you might want to hear a different difficulty.

I live outside of Larned in southwest Kansas. At the start of the second half, my wife and I noticed a haze in the clear, 45mph wind sky. We didn’t think much of it, other than we might be in for a dust storm. After a short time, we realized that it was not dust, but smoke. A large range fire was heading our way. We loaded our car with pictures of the family during breaks, called a friend that was more in the direct line of the fire, (found out they were ok due to great work by our volunteer fire department) and were able to finish watching the game. The fire ended up about 3/4 of a mile away before it was diverted by a wind shift.

Today, the fire is still burning, but the only thing lost, other than habitat, was a barn. We hope that the Jayhawks are also still hot.

Matt Stucker, BA 1980

I live about 20 miles east of Lawrence. What a mess that was. I lost my electricity about 1.5 hours before the game. The power company said that it could take up to 2.5 hours to restore power. I then called my sister and made plans to go to her house to watch the game. I arrived at her house about 15 minutes before game time and just as 2:00 rang on the clock, her satellite went out. AAARRRGGGHH.

Since it was on ESPN I had no way to watch it by turning off satellite. I started calling people to see if I could show up to watch the game. Just as game time hit, I heard that my power came back on. I headed back to my house, right during the brunt of the hail storm, receving some hail damage on my car only to get home and watch 10 minutes of Duke interviews before the game finally came on. Of course, I did listen on a radio, but due to the severe weather, they kept cutting away.

But of course, it was all worth the trouble as the outcome was outstanding!

Thanks, Mike.

I missed the storm but I did not miss the game. I graduated from KU two years ago and still have many friends that live in town. I live in Japan now but I dont miss a game from espn’s full court to cstv’s webcasts I watch every one. But yesterday was difficult as I was trying to watch I couldn’t stop worrying about my friends and wondering how they all were.

Well all is well. Everyone came away unscathed and the JayHawks are champions.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk GO KU!

Mark E. Baczynski, Class of 2004

At my fraternity house a tree fell in the backyard of the house, taking the power to all but two of the rooms in the house with it. Three more trees fell in the parking lot, totalling two cars and damaging others. Instead of fixing the cars, all we wanted to know was whether we would have power by 2 pm to watch the game. Luckily, one of the guys who still had power let us know that his room was fine. According to fire code, maximum occupancy of the room is 5 people; as of a halftime head count we had 26 people in the main room and another 2 or 3 in the sleeping dorm watching the game, cheering and screaming together. When Julian threw down his “360-degree left-hand whammy” to put the final nail in the coffin, everyone jumped up together and started screaming until the game was over, at which time we started shouting for everyone to be quiet so we could hear what Coach Self had to say about the game. The Rock Chalk Chant started with about 1 minute and 30 seconds to go. It was one of the best that I have ever participated in.

Sincerely, Nick Lush, Loyal Jayhawk by way of Sacramento, CA.

PS, I am writing this from my girlfriend’s house because we still don’t have power at our fraternity. Instead of watching TV or using compters, we talked about the game and the impending tournament run from about noon until sun-down.

I was scheduled to go to my girlfriends bridal shower, thank god we were all KU fans. It was the best bridal shower ever! 14 women watching the game, cheering and we had champagne to pop after the victory! We called it the day KU won the big 12 tournament, oh and the bridal shower. We did play one bridal shower game at half time. Did I mention it was the best bridal shower ever!

Alexis, West Lawrence

Here is my story … My boss called me last week and let me know that I would be on temporary assignment in Chihuahua, Mexico for the foreseeable future. Since the game was not on ESPNdeportes, I watched the LJW real time scoreboard in conjunction with ESPN.com side by side for the entire game on the Hotel Soberano computer! No storm but, a worthy anecdote.

Buenas Noches,

Tim Downs, Kansas ’89

I live in the Brook Creek Neighborhood (East Lawrence), east of Haskell near 13th. Our neighborhood was hit hard — power only being restored late Monday night. I awoke to the dramatic sounds of the gustanado approaching and, recognizing the sound as tornado like, I screamed at my girlfriend to get up immediately and get to the basement. In our sprint from the second floor to the basement, my wonderful girlfriend took a tumble and knocker her knee very hard. (On the run downstairs, as we passed the living room windows, we saw a big flash – there goes the electricity! Once downstairs we could hear what sounded like a train going overhead and THEN the sirens began sounding – oops!). ANYWAY, that tumble of my girlfiend’s, as the morning progressed that bump turned into a golfball or bigger sized swelling on her knee. I was getting edgy and was talking about going to the emergency room. She was getting edgy too…. no WAY was she going to miss the KU game. 😛 So we left East Lawrence (with firetrucks driving about which I think meant we were supposed to stay in our homes) and we headed out West for JB Stouts. We found a table (very lucky), and an extra stool to prop the very expanding knee on. The staff was great… they kept us in bags of ice as we enjoyed watching our Hawks ice the Horns. Knees fine. Later we contacted the doctor who said we’d made the right choice…. watching the Hawks over going to the emergency room. Take a tournament title and call me in the morning!

Dan Spurgin