Curtis Grad in Louisville Band on Cusp of Seeing Cardinals Win Two National Championships

(Editor's note: Patch contacted Carly Kaiser, a Curtis High grad who plays the trumpet for the University of Louisville band and has blogged for us. She's sharing her experiences as both the men's and women's basketball teams are playing in their respective national championship games)

Last time you all read about my experiences seeing one of the worst injuries anyone has ever seen, as well as one of the biggest upsets anyone has ever seen. So, naturally, its time for a follow-up on both of those teams.

On Saturday, our men played a lackluster game against the Cinderella-story Wichita State University. The look on their faces was a bit scary in the sense that they lacked the spark that they normally have. Some of the people I was standing around talked about how we were confident that our boys could win—we’re a better team without a doubt—but were worried about what we were seeing happen. With a packed student section behind us, slowly the Georgia Dome erupted in cheers of “Win for Ware!”

Thankfully for everyone involved, Kevin Ware was able to make it to this gameand spend most of it in the same spot on the bench to watch the game. At one point, he decided to get up and join the rest of the players during a timeout for a pep talk. It was pretty funny seeing their faces when he got up. “What are you doing here?” They were very surprised to see him.

Who knows what he told them there, but something changed and we started to catch up and then pull away from the Shockers. While we all were pumped and jacked for the victory, what most of us felt was relief in that win. Yeah, sure, we are in the Final Four and that is awesome. But we did that last year! All or nothing. Its time to go up against Michigan for the National Championship! I’ve said it more times than I can count, but I am absolutely in love with this basketball team and want the championship win more for them as players than us as fans. But honestly, I still do want it for us, too.

During this timeout, in California, the Santa Anita Derby was being won by a horse named Goldencents, who is partially owned by Coach Rick Pitino and ridden by former-Emerald Downs jockey Kevin Krigger. As a tremendous horse racing fan (whole reason for moving to Kentucky in the first place) this has been wonderful to have a basktball coach with horses. With that win, Coach Pitino has a horse in the Kentucky Derby and a pretty local guy will be on his back.

Being in the pep band is a pretty sweet deal. We bused from Louisville to Atlanta, which was about 6-7 hours so it wasn’t all that bad. Our hotel is awesome and we are having an absolute great time at the ATL. But there’s something else—there are 10 of us who are to board a bus and go another eight hours down to New Orleans for the Women’s Final Four. Luckily, I am one of those 10 people.

I talked before on our women’s team - they’re just all around awesome people and the team is awesome. I suggest looking up on Youtube anything you can about our players and our coach Jeff Walz (love him.) Look at the seeds for these semifinals: 1, 1, 2, and 5. Yup, Louisville is the 5 seed. Meanwhile our men are the No. 1 overall seed over in the other tournament!

Early Sunday morning, those 10 of us boarded another bus and drove down to NOLA and went straight into the New Orleans Arena right next to the Superdome. We were up against Cal, the 2 seed, and they were a formidable foe. The whole first half they absolutely dominated us in nearly every single way. Second half, everything changed. We slowly and slowly snuck up on Cal as their lead dwindled. A charge started on our bench, and our players started lighting it up. As the tide turned, we could see Cal and their fans start to deflate. And then it happened. The buzzer sounded and the University of Louisville is the highest seed to ever make it into the Women’s Championship Game, going up against UConn who won it all in 2009, beating U of L in the Finals.

This post is not as full of all out excitement and emotion as the last, but this is not over yet. There are two more games to go. And you know what? Only four other times in history has a school had a team in both the Championship games. This is an absolutely awesome position to be in! Being able to go to both games is truly wonderful and I cannot get over how lucky I am. When I told people three years ago I was going to Louisville, people asked me why I would go so far from home, if I would know anyone (which I didn’t when I first came out,) and even if it was worth it. Well everyone, this year the Louisville Cardinals have won the Sugar Bowl, and we are in the Championship Game in the men’s and women’s tournament. So you know what? Yeah! It was worth it, and wouldn’t give it up for the world. Go cards! Two more games!