I don't think I'm in a very serious funk, but yes, I did feel a bit of nostalgia while composing that post. And I suppose it's fair to say that today's post is a continuation of that funk.
I hadn't worn my navy blue 2008 Butler University men's basketball Horizon League Conference Champions T-shirt in probably two or three months (possibly even longer), but something (um, nostalgia, perhaps?) nudged me to slip it on yesterday. Maybe what was on the brain was the wave of preseason college basketball stories I've been reading in the past week ... and my fond memories of following the Bulldogs exploits (including attending a dozen or so games at Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse and yes, photographing a few of them) during their halcyon years of the early 2000s and 2010s.
My eyes came upon the T-shirt when I scanned my closet yesterday to dress for the day. I then paused to contemplate how I came about acquiring the shirt, and I reflected back to March 11, 2008, when the Bulldogs defeated Cleveland State to win the Horizon League postseason tournament, thereby qualifying for an automatic berth in the upcoming NCAA Basketball Tournament. Within a few days after that, I hopped into my car and drove to the Butler campus to shop for memorabilia in the campus spirit shop, walking out after purchasing that shirt.
After my brief flashback, I walked to the kitchen and asked Lee Ann to take a picture of the shirt's front design, which is what you see in the lead-off photo. Several hours later -- it was an absolutely gorgeous day here in Raleigh -- Lee Ann and I worked a couple hours installing the first seven pavers that will serve as a walkway from the detached garage to the back patio and deck.
While we were working, and while I was unawares, Lee Ann used her iPhone X to snap the photo of me above. I was using my foot to push and smooth sand between the cracks of the latest paver we had placed in the pathway. As you can see, I'm wearing the Butler T-shirt.
Lee Ann didn't show me the picture until this morning, after which ... I decided to do this post because I figured that everything that happened yesterday was a sign of some kind -- the combination of recognizing I was in a nostalgia funk, the fact that I asked Lee Ann to photograph the T-shirt graphic (I didn't tell her why I wanted the photo), and the coincidence of her taking the candid photograph of me working on the sidewalk ... while wearing the T-shirt.
The Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team has had a few down years, and I haven't made the effort to hunt around on the Internet on a regular basis to stay plugged in to what is happening with the team since I moved to Raleigh. So I really don't have a clue what to expect with the 2019-20 team. But I will look in on the Bulldogs from time to time when their games appear on national television (Fox Sports has been telecasting a lot of their games in recent years after purchasing rights to broadcast games in the Big East, of which Butler has been a member for several years now).
Go Bulldogs!
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