I finally have a weekend that is relatively free.  And I realized this week that it's been 30 yrs since I last set foot in the Convo.  So so I decided to catch today's game.  My wife has a knee issue, so I enticed my 13-year-old son to join me by used promising him there would be cheerleaders and lunch at one his favorite road-trip restaurants (Bob Evans).  Some observations on the day:

* As much as I love Nelsonville, I thank God and ODOT for the new bypass.  It takes at least fifteen minutes off the trip.  And the rattlesnake fences are interesting.

* The Athens Bob Evans is a lot easier getting into and out of on a b-ball day than on any football day.  I'm sure it's the same with most Athens restaurants.

* The football team's indoor facility looks first-rate. 

* The Convo is holding up well after 36 years.  Got some cracks in the outside concrete that need fixing, but it still is a jewel.

* Yes, we do need an overhead scoreboard.  The auxiliary scoreboards that have been added since I was there last may have been ok in the day but they seem cheesy now.

* When I was in school, the band sat on risers in the end zone near the Ohio bench.  Like them better across from the visitors' bench.  Great intimidation factor.

* I thought the crowd was about 1,000 less than the 3,500 announced, but I could be wrong.  It was still a typical Ohio crowd.  It took the team to get them going.  Might've had a bigger crowd if it wasn't so nice out today.  Would've been a great day for a football game.

* OZone's "You suck, Dixon" chant was great.

* Campbell is much more  intimidating in person than on streaming video.  He had three blocks on one possession and was a monster, even against Wright's big guys.

* Wadly is a diamond in the rough.  If he gets more PT next season, he could be just like Campbell.

* Nick and Travis drew a lot of attention today.  That gave some open looks to others from beyond the arc (even Campbell -- his shot wasn't that bad).

* Wright looked a lot sharper than we did.  Imagine what the game would've been like if we had our A game.

* Bean had a great day and has improved tremendously this season.  He's still a bit inconsistent, and he needs to stay away from the tall trees -- he doesn't finesse them like DJ used to and more often than not winds up getting stuffed.

* The refs in the CIT seem to be letting them play more than we saw during the season.  I think there were only 13 fouls combined in the first half.

* Even though the game was sloppy, it was still entertaining.  It's hard to keep teams from being sloppy in these minor tournaments.

* My son seems to run into people he knows anywhere he goes.  The cashier from his middle school was sitting behind the basket next to the Ohio bench.

* The Convo is still about the best place in the world to watch b-ball.  It won't be another 30 yrs before I'm back there.

I've been in Central Ohio only since 1996.  Up until about five years ago it was easier to make the effort to go to a football game than a b-ball game because the weather is more reliable in the fall.  Since then it's been a matter of workload. Haven't been to a football game the past two seasons.

My last game in the Convo was against Miami and Billy Hahn was the coach.  The game before that I was the floor engineer for the TV broadcast during the NIT game against O$U in 1986.

Attended the UVA game in Charlottesville in 2000/01 and have a perfect record this decade attending the Richmond game.