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Danielle Gratton
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Feb. 24, 2007
Throughout the season, select Illinois women's basketball players will reveal what life is like behind the scenes in a periodic Women's BasketBlog. In the seventh edition of the season Danielle Gratton talks about blizzard that swept through campus last week and the big win over Michigan State.
Women's BasketBlog // Feb. 24, 2007 // Danielle Gratton
I might as well start with a popular topic, the weather. Last week we were hit with a blizzard. Champaign natives tell me that that doesn't happen very often and the lack of plows and salt trucks proved it. The plus was that the Chancellor canceled classes for two days. No worries though, the Illini all managed to get to Ubben in order to practice. To say the least it wasn't a piece of cake. The apartment complex that Steph Chelleen, Lori Bjork (my roomy), and I live at graciously plowed the parking lot. Which is great, except for one minor detail, they plowed all of our cars in. I think Steph's car was the worst; you could barely see her rear window. My car came in a close second with snow surrounding all sides, while Lori's car came in a disappointing third. Sorry Lori, but you can't win everything and remember what they say, "If you're not first, you're last," or wait that might just be in Talladega Nights. (Note to the reader: The above comment will probably get me locked out of my apartment, but I'll take the risk!)
Earlier this week the temperatures rose a bit. Good news right? Yeah no! I think Vanilla Ice said it best: "Ice, ice, baby!" All the sidewalks were covered with it, which led to very interesting walking styles when trying to cross the sheets of ice on campus. For lack of a better description, I think Erin McCarthy put it best when she said "It looks like we're walking with a stick up our butt." Leave it to her to paint the picture. The ice wasn't too bad; it did provide a great source of entertainment between classes (not to say classes aren't entertaining, but they aren't on my top 10 things I enjoy the most). One example of such entertainment was when a certain someone started to slip on the ice. In a desperate attempt to save herself she resorted to "the Matrix moves," with arms flailing. Unfortunately, the "Matrix moves failed her and she ended up flopping to the ground, much like some people do when they try to take a charge (I won't mention any teammates' names). After the fall and recovery I looked around, smiled, and hurriedly went to class. I am not ashamed because I know I put a smile on quite a few faces in that brief moment. Enough of the weather and its victims on to basketball...
In practice last week we started to get mentally prepared for what was ahead, a win. With every ball that swished the net the gym rang out with "We will beat Michigan State." Well at least that's what we said the first couple times. Then Chelsea Gordon saved us all when she condensed it to "Beat State." It rolled off the tongue a bit better. I think my teammates would agree that each of us was on the same page that game. We believed in each other, we believed in ourselves, and we believed we were going to win. The end result was a "W" in the win column and a step closer to our ultimate goal, the big dance. And there is no one else I'd rather be dancing with!!
But before we start 2-steppin' we need to take care of business which means getting the "W" against Purdue. As I like to say, "They might say Purdue, but we say Pur'don't!!!"
Go Illini!!!
Danielle Gratton #35
