Dome sweet dome — ’Twas the night before Duke

Growing up I was lucky enough to call the Dogie Dome home, especially with my father being everything from announcer to coach. I spent a lot of time in that gym, and as a young girl, I was amazed by the Dome and thought it was the coolest room I had ever been in.

As I got older, I had the opportunity to play in the gym I was in awe of for all those years, but so many of my childhood memories come from sitting on the top bleacher with my friends cheering the Dogies on. While I did get the chance to play for the Dogies myself and see the gym from a different perspective, one of the best ways to experience the Dogie Dome is by being a part of the student section. I remember going and sitting on the top bleacher in the corner with my friends, content with my pom poms, but eager and excited to be a freshman so I could join the Coral of Chaos.

I am now a college junior at the University of Arizona and now have the pleasure of calling legendary McKale Stadium home, and last month I took the “home” aspect literally and moved into McKale for one night.

That Friday, the Wildcats men’s basketball team faced off against the Duke Blue Devils — and perhaps the only thing that the University of Arizona fans hate more than a (Arizona State) Sun Devil is a Blue Devil.

The Wildcats have not hosted Duke since 1991, and until this year they had a 100% win streak playing Duke at home. Naturally, this historic rivalry made for a very intense game and a lot of hype campus wide.

To account for the excitement from students over this game and the demand for tickets it produced, the school had to create a tier system in order for fans to get tickets to the game. Attendance at a series of games for other University of Arizona sports earned points that allowed students to rank themselves higher in the tier system, and I was able to go to enough of those other games to put myself in the first of four tiers and secure a ticket.

There was one more obstacle to clear though. The university offered an opportunity for students to camp out for a night in McKale to receive a wristband and secure a spot in the “lower bowl” for the big game, and my friends and I lined up outside of the stadium at 7 p.m. on Thursday night, along with over 600 Wildcat fans, to secure those coveted seats.

We were shuffled into the stadium after two hours of waiting in line and were lucky enough to be among the first 600 people who were allowed in the stadium that night.

Students got creative with their sleeping arrangements. I saw some people haul in everything from an air mattress and other accessories, while others brought nothing except their phone and a dream to be in the lower bowl. As kids got settled into McKale, some broke out their laptops and did homework, while others rigged the concession stand TVs to their Xbox. Some even set up poker games around the concourse.

I went to bed dreaming of the 8:30 p.m. tip-off the next day, and at 5 a.m. I was awoken by the stadium lights coming on and security personnel telling us to go outside. Upon leaving the stadium, however, we were given our wristbands to grant us a fast pass into the game later that night.

There was a group of real die-hard fans who, after leaving the stadium in the morning, immediately got into line for the game, which was more than 12 hours away. These students were essentially chained to McKale for almost 30 hours, but I didn’t join that bunch.

My own efforts were made worthwhile the next day when I was lucky enough to be in the center of the student section, seven rows up, with only the band between me and the court. Although the Wildcats lost the game, the energy in the stadium and the history surrounding this face-off was enough to keep spirits high.

I can’t believe I had the opportunity to watch these two teams play in our home stadium – and to be so close to the magic, and the experience was all the more surreal for a small-town girl from Wyoming. I went from being a part of a student section with fewer than 100 fans to being a member of one of the biggest student sections in the nation.

My humble beginnings in the Dogie Dome could never have prepared me for what I would experience in college. That being said, nothing can compare to my childhood and experiences I had growing up in Newcastle and being a Dogie.

I am forever grateful for the Dogie Dome and the opportunity to be a part of the Newcastle community. Now, as a junior at UA, I find it exciting to look back and remember where I came from and how I got here.