Got back a few days ago after spending most of a week in the icy Midwest. While in Milwaukee and Chicago, I was fortunate to see a lot more than just my breath: I also visited with my son and daughter and their wonderful spouses; my little brother and his fiancee; college buddies; former neighbors; Marquette's incredible student media set-up; and last but definitely not least, 2 (more) wins by my Marquette Warrior Eagles.
Wow ... what a trip!
SATURDAY, JANUARY 19
With about 6 inches of snow falling in Milwaukee, Robbie and I weren't sure our flight was going to take off. After all, such a snowfall in Charlotte would have shut down the airport for about a month.
Thankfully, Milwaukee is used to handling wintry conditions with ease, and our flight actually landed early. My brother Dave and his son Connor picked us up at the airport and took us to their house in Mequon, where we met Dave's future wife Heather. We also posed for this picture as proof that we were, indeed, officially in the frozen tundra. Brrrr!
After dinner with Dave and Heather, we went to a bar in downtown Milwaukee to meet up with my old college buddies Tom, John and Jim. (Jim also brought his wife Mary Ellen and son Brian.) Tom drove in from Detroit and the others from the Chicago burbs.
It was great catching up with the boyz. At various stages of my MU life, the 3 were my roommates. Junior year, Tom, Jim and I shared one of the diviest dives ever with a fourth guy. (Wherefore art thou, Mike Greene?) John was my roommate senior year. I hadn't seen John in several years, so it was great to finally spend some time with him. He was the best man at our wedding, but he isn't the greatest at keeping in touch. (And I'm not blameless, either.)
While we were flying from Charlotte to Milwaukee on Saturday, my daughter Katie and her husband Ben were flying from Seattle to Chicago. They also made it in and stayed the night with my son Ben (yes ... lots of Bens) and his wife Sammi in their place on the North Side.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 20
The kids (and kids-in-law) drove up from Chicago to join us in Section 224 at the Fiserv Forum -- the new home of our Marquette Warrior Eagles. All in all, we had 13 in our group.
Here's the family, looking very blue and gold ...
And here's my Class of '82 gang ...
Our heroes treated us to a nice come-from-behind victory over Providence on Dwyane Wade Day, a great experience from start to finish.
Afterward, we said our goodbyes to our friends and then the 8 of us headed to the greatest frozen treat emporium in the world ...
Ben (the son) couldn't limit himself to a double-dip of Leon's amazing butter pecan frozen custard, so he got a triple. Not to be topped, Ben (the son-in-law) went back and got a second double-dip. I'd call 'em pigs ... but it's hard to blame 'em!!
After snarfing down our Leon's, we said goodbye to Dave and Heather. We then drove to the Marquette campus for a tour of Johnston Hall, where Robbie and I spent a huge percentage of our time as students. In addition to being home of the College of Journalism (now called the College of Communications), Johnston is where all the student media is housed.
Robbie and I both worked at the Tribune (newspaper), and I also wrote for the Journal (magazine). In fact, in 1981-82 -- when I was Trib managing editor as a senior and Rob was sports editor as a junior -- we were part of the very first Tribune staff to use computers to produce the newspaper. Quaint, eh?
As you might imagine, things have changed a little since then.
Mark, who is in charge of student media, and student editors Sydney and Tara gave us a personal tour of the state-of-the-art newsroom, TV studio, radio station, server room and lots of other cool spots that weren't even a twinkle in Marquette's eye back in the early-80s.
Here we are in the middle of the newsroom ...
After going to the Marquette Spirit Shop to buy some new gear to wear at future events, we got on the road and drove to the Chicago burbs. There, we met up with Sammi's parents Linda and Mickey and sister Jenna to catch up on everything going on in our extended family. We hadn't gotten to spend time with them since Sammi and Ben got married some 10 months earlier, and it was nice seeing them again.
Following our meal, we drove to Sammi and Ben's place for a couple days/nights of Nadel family fun.
Much merriment ensued, including libations, food and, naturally, board games. I'd love to say I emerged victorious more than the others, but that would be lying.
MONDAY, JANUARY 21
One of the highlights of the trip was the big lunch we had Monday with our great friends from our old Bell School neighborhood -- the Brundidges. It's always wonderful getting together with Darcia and Mike, and this time was even better because their sons Troy and Chris were able to join us, too.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22
Katie and her Ben had to get back to Seattle, and Rob eventually made her way to the el to start her trip back to Charlotte -- I mean, somebody has to support me, and I can think of nobody better at it than my Sugar Mama!
I decided to stay a couple extra days to hang out with my Marquette bud Tom, and we had primo seats to see the Blackhawks beat the Islanders in a shootout.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23
Tom and I drove back up to Milwaukee for the Marquette-DePaul game. Another resounding success for our 12th-ranked heroes.
First, I had to get a shot of me chilling with Bango ...
My friend Rob Judson, special assistant to MU coach Steve Wojciechowski, was kind enough to get us a couple of amazing seats -- 5th row center court. Here was our view from the best seats I've ever occupied as a non-journalist "civilian" at a major sporting event ...
THURSDAY, JANUARY 24
The problem with great trips is that they have to end. Tom dropped me off at Midway Airport and I flew home to Charlotte, where Robbie picked me up.
+++
POST-MORTEM
Thankfully, my wonderful week didn't end with the trip.
On Friday, it was nice to re-join my Ardrey Kell Lady Knights for our big conference game against Providence. They had upset us at our place back in December and we not only wanted a little payback but we needed to win to stay in the conference race.
In an exciting game, we kept building small leads and Providence kept cutting into them, but we finally held them off at the end, 57-53.
I really appreciate Coach Buseick (and the girls) for giving me a little time to spend with my family and close friends, and I was glad to be back for that wonderful, hard-fought victory. We're now 14-5 overall and 5-2 in the league.
And then on Saturday, Marquette wrapped up a stellar 3-0 week by rallying for a gutty road win at Xavier, improving the record to 18-3 overall and 7-1 in the Big East. What a season for the guys!
Life is good, baby! Hope all y'all can say the same.
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