I was born on a warm spring day in the year of America's bicentennial

Thirty years later, I spent 2 hours in line waiting to buy basketball tickets to maybe see Purdue play. Oh, Brad was there too.

You see, 13 years ago I didn't go to Purdue University. I was apparently one to get rather homesick and I believe that the fam didn't think I'd survive far away. So, they limited me to a 400-mile radius from my hometown. I went to the farthest away within the set perimeters that I could find — 406 miles from their driveway to my dorm freshman year.

Back to the present day, the Purdue Boilermakers will be playing in the Maui Invitational basketball tournament coming up next month. I said, "Oh Brad, we have to go. We have to see Purdue." But our schedules don't work to see them on the first day, so we bought tickets for the consolation game that Purdue would be in if they lost the first day. Now, I hate to wish someone bad luck, but I'd really like to see them so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

And since I'm focusing on the upcoming tournament, here are some highlights from previous years:
• I almost plowed over then-Kansas coach Roy Williams.
• T.Roy somehow got VIP tickets that he couldn't use and gave them to us. We ate like royalty.
• Brad and I appeared in the same TV frame as Kentucky coach Tubby Smith.
• And in 2004 I was brought to tears when I met former University of Iowa player BJ Armstrong. I was gasping for air and bumbling like an idiot as he signed my ticket.