I suppose I will begin this entry with a warning of how picture heavy it will be. So you probably should save this glory of an article for when you can enjoy it in its full optimal experience on a PC if you are reading from a phone. But what can you expect when the Louisville Cardinals win the national championship?

This story begins the week before when I was still recovering from the excitement of knowing that we would be attending the final four for a second year in a row. Except this time we were favored to win it all. I knew this was my best opportunity in life to see the Cards win it all so I didn’t hesitate to book my flight to Atlanta. Actually, I even requested off from work when the Cards were still in the Sweet 16. That’s how confident I was this season. But after the plans were arranged and the plane tickets were bought, I knew I needed some sweet attire for the big game. So I went to eBay and this badass vintage trucker hat is what I ended up with. Somehow it made it via USPS from Kentucky to Saint Pete in a day in a half. Thank God! My trip would have been incomplete without.

The plane lands and because coordinating things is my forte, three of my fraternity brothers are in a car waiting to pick me up. I hop in the car and we head to the hotel room I reserved for a single night. We ended up having six dudes stay in a one bed hotel room. Reminds me of college already. And from that point on the shenanigans rolled for the next four days nonstop.

At some point in the first night we decided we wanted to checkout the bar in the hotel. Little did we know that there was no bar in the hotel. Just some common area which could be used for a bar if the hotel chose. We asked the receptionist if we could use it and they had no problem. We then drank coffee at a vacant hotel bar room until 4AM.

Saturday. Wake up and its time to get our game faces on. First we had to check out of my hotel room. We would be transferring into another buddy’s room. The total amount of frat guys in one room would total up to 10. But hey, at least the cost would only be $140 per person.

Its Final Four game day against Wichita State. All I know is one thing, there has got to be an abundance of Cards fan somewhere and I am going to find them. We hop on the MARTA, walk through some hipster college area and somehow end up at Centennial Park. This is where the festivities were.

I was starting to run into old friends and became lost in a sea of red. Finally after hours of searching, I found my buddy Shawn. Shawn was who I purchased tickets to the games with. It was imperative that I find him and I was so relieved once I found him and the people he came with.

Not Shawn. But a close friend from college who rode down with Shawn throwing up the L.

Anyways we partied in Centennial for a while and eventually made our way to the Georgia Dome.

As we approached we were with my comrade’s brother and his wife. His wife stumbled upon a passed out fan in the lawn in front of the Dome and decided an L was much needed.

What’s a shocker?

Before we entered I asked a very vital question and probably took my favorite picture of the entire trip. What exactly is a shocker?

The Georgia Dome before the Final Four

We get into the dome and make it to our final resting place. The $300 nosebleed section.

The dome was bigger than I could have imagined but more importantly, Card~nation was repping more than I could have imagined.

One other funny thing about this night. Guess who my seats in the nose bleed section just happened to be beside? An ex-girlfriend from high school  Life is funny sometimes. Good thing we have always been on good terms! More importantly, we both were there for one thing…To see the Cards take it home.

Anyways, I don’t remember a lot about the final four game. Just that my blood pressure was through the roof and I might have been closer to a heart attack that night than I have ever been. After the game Shawn and I headed towards Peachtree to find a random restaurant to get some grub before we caught the last MARTA ride back to the hotel.

Sunday. Big day here. I didn’t even realize it until the day was over. We woke and everyone went their separate ways. My old roommate Scar wanted to check out the free concerts in Centennial Park. While my body was exhausted, I didn’t want to waste my vacation days in the hotel room doing nothing. Apparently Dave Matthews was the headlining band for Sunday and while I’m not necessarily the biggest fan in the world, I wont turn down a free concert. When we arrived at Centennial Park we were surprised to see the mile long line to get in.

After sitting in line for an hour and not getting the front row my former roommate and I took the opportunity to grab some merchandise, drinks and pictures. Then somehow, unbeknownst to me, Scar managed to get us to the very front of the crowd. Some indie band played first. I can’t say I was really impressed.

Afterwards, my mind became blown. A new rock goddess graced me with her musical presence. Grace Potter rocked and rolled. I will be purchasing her record on vinyl in the near present future.

There was also a Charles Barkley sighting.

It is important to note that on this particular Sunday a very big event is held. That event…is Wrestlemania. There were a lot of wrestling fans in the crew but most preferred the concerts over wrestling. I on the other hand was still wanting to watch Wrestlemania. When my buddy Ilya texted me to let me know he was down, we rendezvoused back at the hotel and watched with excitement.

To even further the excitement for the night, the Louisville Lady Cards were also in the Final Four and playing for an opportunity to compete for the National Championship. So what did we do? We set up two screen and watched both events simultaneously.

Notice the hotel room damage in the background

Sunday. Game Day. I crashed not to long after mania(which was subpar this year but whatever). When I woke up everyone was full of excitement and adrenaline. It was going to be a day long marathon of partying and celebrating late into the night.

We pregamed at Dairy Queen and then took the Marta back to the action. This time we ended up at the bars and food court in the mall next to the Georgia dome.

My one buddy Steve made a cleverly witty sign simply labeled “Gorgui Dome”. So many Cards Fans took pictures with us all day long due to the hilarity of the sign.

Finally it was game time and there was a universal flock of the masses towards the dome. This was the moment we as Cards fans have been waiting on for twenty some years. Longer than I have even been alive. But the wait was worth it.

Before we got in, Steve was flagged by security for his sign. Not sure what words of magic he spoke to them but they eventually let him pass. And from that point on it was game on.

I would like to note that the NCAA doesn’t allow alcohol sales at it’s sporting events which is super lame. I don’t know what they are thinking. But the Turkey might have made an appearance.

It was a hard fought battle. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. The game was probably one of the best championship games ever played. But my Cardinals proved to the world that they were the Champions.

I was overwhelmed with excitement.

From this point on partying would ensue until five in the morning. At one point we even decided that we were going to party so late into the night that we would wait it out until the MARTA reopened at 6AM.

We settled on an all-night diner instead.

Eventually we gave up on the idea of waiting the subway out and instead caught a cab. This only gave me a few hours to rest, get cleaned up and get out of the hotel by the noon checkout time. We said our goodbyes, cried our tears, shared our love for the Cardinals and parted ways. I headed for the airports and had hours to kill. So I decided to find some grub.

The cancerous smoke rose up into my nose as I sat in the Budweiser Sports Bar and Grill. I was starving. I hadn’t eaten since the small meal I had the day before at DQ. That is of course if you don’t count the drunk diner food I partially threw up the previous night.

The Budweiser Smokers Lounge was not my first choice by far. But why was I here? I pondered this question for a minute while I waited on my food to arrive. The silverware the waitress brought me was plastic yet it had a silver coating on it so that it would appear as if it was real. How classy! And then it came to me. The airports and major food chains must do heavy research on what areas of the nation are the biggest income providers. From this data, they can do research on what terminals go to what part of the country. With this combined knowledge they can place they locations in particular terminals where they might profit slightly more. Far fetched? Maybe. But its all about saving a few dimes each quarter and I know McDonalds will go to whatever lengths it must to to be in the black at the end of a quarter. So because of this greedy CEO culture we live in I am forced to either inhale smoke and die of cancer or eat cholesterol filled Big Macs when I am in the Atlanta airport heading toward Tampa.

Regardless, my Cardinals won the National Championship and now it was time for me to head home and watch the Lady Cards try and win the Women’s National Championship. Unfortunately their dream run would be cut short by the ladies of UConn. While I am upset I cannot be too upset because two National Championships in what was already one of the best weekends in my life might have been too much for me to handle.