Much More Denver

Well I have been back in Morehead since Sunday night, and finally starting to get back in my daily routine. Still on that Rocky Mountain High from last Thursday's win against Louisville.
It has been great being back and still seeing the school spirit across campus. The University Bookstore can not keep shirts in stock, and we even got national attention through ESPN and Yahoo news on our "Yum! Tastes like Victory" shirt.

The bus ride home from Denver, was entertaining just like the way there. We really did travel with a great group of students, and it was fun to see our bus become great friends when just a few days before no one really knew each other. It was definitely a great way for the students to kick off their spring break. Thanks to the awesome buses, we had direct tv, so a lot of basketball was watched with a few movies in between. Kansas, even though I slept through most of it, was still crazy long. I would wake up through out the night and we would still be in Kansas! How does that happen, I am still trying to figure out. We couldn't have asked for better weather, beside a little wind it was blue skies and sunshine. When we would stop for a break, I could smell spring!  This has been such a life memory, that I can say years from now; I was physically in Denver and witnessed Morehead State beating the University of Louisville, and I got there in a bus!!!!

Once again, I would just like to thank our wonderful bus drivers from Free Enterprise and the hotel staff from the Denver Hyatt Tech Center. They were some of our biggest MSU supporters!

I hope you all enjoyed the Much More Denver blog. I know Lauren and I had a great time with it. 

For those in the Rowan County area, there will be a community wide Victory Celebration Parade for Lakeside Christian Girls' Basketball Team, Rowan Co. Boys' Basketball Team, and MSU's Mens' Basketball Team this Wednesday, March 30 at 5pm on Main St in Morehead. So make sure you are there to cheer on all of our local basketball successes!

-Jenny

 By now you have seen we are all over the news and ESPN! MSU upsets UofL!!! I’m sure many of you have celebrated our win last night and we have done the same here in Denver, CO. We woke up this morning to what could be described as natures confetti for the MSU win, or if you want to be technical it’s call snow! It’s not a ridiculous amount of snow but our Rowan Co. friends would not have had school today.

The MSU fans here have a free day to go out and explore Denver and sleep of their celebrations. It may be a few more hours until we can get you all some student feedback but we will get you something. MSU faculty reading this blog: the students here have mentioned they have assignments due and things they need to read, so don’t worry they are still doing homework, or at least thinking about it.  

It is amazing to see all of the alumni on Facebook and Twitter showing their support for MSU. Seeing all of the encouraging comments brings tears of joy to my eyes. I especially love the new Morehead State Eagle fans that are letting us know Morehead State is their new favorite team! I recently said that “social media never sleeps” and it was reaffirmed last night. Every minute there was a new post from someone saying way to go Morehead State! On twitter #Morehead was the 3^rd most trending topic in the United States. Take that Justin Bieber! Magic Johnson, the Magic Johnson, tweeted yesterday, “13 seed Morehead State upsets Louisville! This is what makes the NCAA Tournament so great-anybody can beat anybody on any given day.”

So keep those comments coming on Facebook and Twitter. Change your profile picture to Morehead State, you can get our March Madness picture from www.moreheadstate.edu/bigdance Let’s keep Morehead State the topic everyone is talking about! 

Tomorrow’s game against the No. 12 Richmond Spiders will be at 5:15 pm EST.  Call Athletics at 606.783.2088 for ticket information. The game will air on CBS or online at www.ncaa.com

-Jenny and Lauren

Check out Jenny and Lauren's thoughts about today's bracketbuster win against Louisville. Stay tune for a written blog post!

Video Blog #3

Hi everyone! Thank you for keeping up with us, we just wanted to let you know we all made it to Denver safely and we are all still on speaking terms! This trip has been great so far; everyone is still getting along, smiling and laughing. I think now that everyone is at the hotel, can rest comfortably, and shower things will only get better.

As you know we are on the cool bus and we have done some great things with our students. Check out our video blog that is finally posted on YouTube. We are going to have some guest bloggers from our students so you can get to know a few of them (I’m sure you are sick of us!) and we will try to do a video blog with Kevin Koett our Dean of Students to get his perspective and some highlights from the not so cool bus.

The sun is finally up here in Denver and the view from our hotel is amazing, hard to believe that we are a mile high right now. Today is a life memory day for the players, the coaches, the staff, students & the whole MSU family. I know the students on the buses are very grateful for the opportunity to be here in Denver and what a college memory they can talk about years later. 

During the game be sure to keep up with the MSU facebook page, as well as MSU Twitter. As much as we want to, it may be a little difficult trying to blog on a laptop during the game! But check back afterwards for another post.

Go Eagles! 

Our first attempt of a video blog... we are still learning! 

View Denver Video Blog #1

Thanks to the Hyatt Internet here is Video Blog 2!!!

View Denver Video Blog #2 

3 at last! 3 at last!

Hello Eagle faithful! We are around 3 hours out from our destination of Denver, CO. I am showing it is almost 5 A.M. where you all are and 3 A.M. here on the cool bus, and we have one sleepy bus! We stopped at our last rest stop until we arrive, and let me tell you, people out west must not go to the bathroom much because the amount of stalls in these places keeps on shrinking! But if that is our only complaint I have heard so far we are doing great!

I have to admit, this is the first time I have traveled by bus this far west, I figured it couldn’t get anymore boring than Illinois but I was wrong (apologies to my Illinois friends)! I once heard a joke about a Kansas man who watched his dog run away for days because it’s so flat here, I no longer think it’s a joke but a very true statement! We did a poll of our students to see who brought any good luck charms with them and also asked if anyone had any pre-game rituals they wanted to share. You know how some of these super-fans get! My sister will only watch her beloved alma mater while wearing an odd number of paraphernalia, I know one man who will start out with one jersey on and if he feels it isn’t working he will change into another one or take it off part way through the game. So far we have seen only one brave soul on this bus willing to share that his lucky charm is his #35 MSU jersey, and we all know who he is a fan of!!!!

We have one amazing group of students on this bus, I don’t mean to brag but these students have been so fun! MSU has a way of bringing a diverse population together and under the right circumstances they become a small family. These students will remember this bus trip in a positive way for years to come, I feel bad for those students who did not get to come experience this. We now have some amazing bus drivers as well! We pulled into a gas station in Kansas and picked up 2 MSU wearing bus drivers that excited these students, and then the Dean freaked them out by wearing a pink bikini that I have on video (it’s not pretty).

We are still struggling to load our video so hopefully we can at least get our first one posted at the hotel. Keep checking back often for all of the excitement!!

-Lauren 

It is now officially Thursday, March 17^th ,  which used to be known as St. Patrick’s Day, but now on the fan buses it is known as “Game Day”  Even though we still have many miles to go, the excitement for us is building. I know I am ready to arrive at the Denver’s Pepsi Center and show Denver just who Morehead State is. 

As we travel through the flatlands of Kansas, “The Wizard of OZ” comes to mind, and how Dorothy said, “There is No Place Like Home.” I think that Dorothy is right, and I can guarantee, that there are many people who consider Morehead “home” even though they may not have been there in quite some time.

It is great to see on all of MSU’s social media outlets the amount of alumni who are supporting the team, the coaches, the fans traveling on the buses, and the University in general in our quest to the Big Dance. I love logging into my facebook and seeing all of my friends who attended Morehead State with their profile pic as something MSU related. Or checking out the MSU FB www.facebook.com/MoreheadStateUniversity and seeing all of the “Go Eagles” and “I will be watching the game” comments. I hope that this sense of camaraderie will carry on well into 2011 and later.  

You have a lot of time to think on a 20 hour bus ride, and for me I have thought about  my life in undergrad and graduate school. The lunches in ADUC, the Free Friday Movies in the old Theater downtown, the MTV Real World people that would come and speak to students, the concerts in the AAC, the 2 life changing opportunities I had going on the Spring Break, Spring Back Trips to Gulfport, MS to help with Katrina Relief, the list can go on and on, but if you can’t tell already MSU is a very special place to me. In the words of Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt- “It Feels Like Home to Me.”

So if you haven’t had the chance to be on campus lately, I highly encourage you to do so. There has been so many great additions like the new Space Science Building, the Center for Health, Education and Research where our Nursing and Imaging Sciences classes are now located,  and the new Student Recreation Center which will be finished soon. 

If you know a high school student who is trying to narrow down their college choice, have them visit campus and see why so many people wish that they can click their heels 3 times and appear on campus. You can schedule a campus visit at www.moreheadstate.edu/visit

-Jenny 

We are nearing the end of our journey in the show me state! Once we hit Kansas we will have only 2 states left.  We would like to give a shout out to the Golden Corral in Columbia, MO for hosting us for dinner. Everywhere we go people are excited that so many fans are traveling 1200 miles to support our Eagles. We are also turning many people into Eagle Fans, they all want to see us beat the Cards tomorrow.  While the Dean thinks his bus is the best, we beg to differ. We are the #Winning bus! It is fun to see how just 12 hours ago we were all strangers and now we are a big family. That is one of the reasons why I chose Morehead State as my home. Everyone is so personable and one happy family. Attitudes are very positive, and everyone is enjoying our question and answer time for wonderful snacks! Currently all of our friends are engrossed in the 1999 hit movie “Varsity Blues.” Hopefully we will be able to get some video posted soon.  We are ready to show the entire country what the Eagle Nation is about, so make sure you tune in online or on TBS tomorrow at 1:40 p.m. EST. 

Now, if you are on campus or close by and need a place to watch tomorrow’s game -Join the Eagle Rally Zone in ADUC beginning at 1pm. There will be food and festivities, the game starts at 1:40. So make sure to wear your MSU Blue & Gold and not another Blue that is known in Kentucky and cheer on as we beat UofL.

-Jenny and Lauren

To quote Journey, “the wheels in the sky keep on turning” its more like the wheels on the bus keep on turning, and turning. We are now on state number 4 of this journey!  Lauren or myself have never been to St. Louis, so driving past the Arch was something to see. All the students had their phones out taking pictures and getting upset when the semis would block their view. I was right there with them trying to get the perfect picture. However no signs of Judy Garland or Nelly as well traveled through. We did get to see Busch Stadium and the Dome where the St. Louis Rams play. Lots of traffic right now since it is rush hour, too bad we didn’t get to write “Denver or bust” or even “Go head!” on the bus windows. Dinner will be soon and hopefully a video blog! Lauren and I have attempted our first video blog please don’t judge. However, while we are so excited to have Internet on the bus, it is a little sketch so loading photos and video is taking for-ev-er.

On to Kansas City… K.C. BBQ??? 

-Jenny & Lauren 

EAGLE FANS!!!  18 hours down! We stopped inside Indiana to get gas where we picked up new bus drivers, we now have Tony and he is amazing. All I want for Christmas is for Morehead State to beat Louisville… Why am I thinking about Christmas? Because, we are currently passing through Santa Clause, IN.  Maybe I should break out some NSYNC Christmas to commemorate this stop… or not.  So far everyone is happy, and at least the fans on our bus are, they rocked out some Morehead State Trivia, the prize was a Root-a-Baker cupcake provided by Ms. Susette Redwine (Thanks boss!!!!). Can you name the 4 words on the bell tower? As we prepare to stop for lunch the bus is enjoying the gift bags provided by the Office of Communications and Marketing while watching “Due Date.”

Stay tuned for pictures and maybe some video footage!

-Jenny and Lauren

Hi Everyone! I am one of the bloggers for the NCAA journey here at MSU. I am so excited to be sharing this experience with you as we get “Rocky Mountain High!!” Follow along with us as we document all the fun things that my closest friends and I will be sharing while we follow the Eagles!

Where are my manners? Let me properly introduce myself, My name is Lauren Buck, a 2 time graduate of Morehead State University and the Business Manager of the University Center and Conference Services. I was very involved as a student and have many fun memories of good ol’MSU! This will be my second time traveling with the Eagles to the NCAA tournament and I couldn’t be more excited!!! We have around 100 dedicated MSU fans made up of mostly students and a few staff members who have decided to come along. 

Please check back often for pictures, videos and updates of our 20 hour bus ride of fun! Break out the John Denver kids, it’s going to be one heck of a journey!!!

Hello my name is Jenny Frazier and I will be one of the bloggers giving you updates of the Eagles journey in the NCAA Tournament as I travel with 99 of my closest friends (20 hour bus ride; pretty sure we will all be best friends by the 10th corn field we pass!) on the Eagle Fan Bus to DENVER COLORADO to watch our Morehead State Eagles take on the Louisville Cardinals. It’s the I-64 showdown being played 1200 miles away; and you will be able to get a first hand account of the experience.   

First I would like to give you a little background about me. I currently work in the Office of Communications & Marketing as the Online Content Specialist. I work with the MSU website & MSU’s social media. I am a two-time graduate of Morehead State and have been here for almost 10 years. As a student I was very involved in many campus organizations and that has continued throughout my professional career here where I currently advise a Sorority on campus.  My student involvement is a huge reason why Morehead State means so much to me and so many memories that I hold dear to my heart.

Speaking of memories one of my all time favorite MSU memories, was having the chance to see the men’s basketball team play in the 2009 NCAA Tournament in Dayton, Ohio. It was great to see our guys work so hard in the regular season and especially in the OVC Tournament to make our 1^st appearance in the Big Dance in 25 years!  I thought the chance of actually going to the Tournament to cheer on our team could just happen once for me. I was so wrong, here it is 2011 and I am on my way to see it again, even willing to travel in a bus for 20 hours across our Nation to the Rocky Mountains.   

Please check back throughout the week for many updates from the trip. Hopefully, you will even see some video blogs from Eagle Fans making the journey. So dust off your Joe Walsh record of Rocky Mountain Way, or make sure to download it from iTunes, and get ready to watch Morehead State to make history!

Much More Denver!

Jenny