Today is the 20 year Anniversary - where were you?

[Zaghuatanejo]

Vegas-MGM Sportsbook

[surfmonkey89]

2 rows behind the Bulldog bench!!

Go Zags!!!!

Oops! I guesss I was two rows behind the bench, not ten.

[jazzdelmar]

Falling in love.

[jazzdelmar]

I was there with my dad. On that day and in that moment, we were hooked on gonzaga basketball.

Priceless, Life. My dad passed a few months later.

[willandi]

I love reading all these responses, but they sure make me feel old.

I was 50 then.

[bballbeachbum]

what a great thread

Tiburon at my buddy's house jumping up and down, "Shannon, from the cornerrrr...."

[Reborn]

Falling in love.

Great post. What a great memory. Priceless.

[Bogozags]

I'm the sentimental type. I believe in history, and I believe real stories that touch my heart. This thread needs to be put into archives. I should have known it has been 20 years, but am too "caught up" in the NOW. And this team. But I love all of the stories from you all, and some of the most touching have been written by fans with less than 100 posts here, Thank you for posting your thoughts.

I was visiting a friend in Omak. I was staying in a motel there. I went down to watch the game. I was by myself but there were about ten people in the bar and we quickly became "family." When Calvary tipped that missed shot in, that was one of my better feelings in my life. I felt for a moment that I was in a dream world. It was like a dream come true....And when I saw the team dive into a pile together at the game's end, I had that feeling that I knew how they felt, even if just for a brief moment, and even if only a tiny bit. I suddenly remembered that day when I too wore a Gonzaga uniform, and I felt the feeling that I'm sure every one who has ever played for Gonzaga felt...the purest of joys.

I also remember watching the coverage of the tournament. There was a segment on Gonzaga and the reporters were filming an interview with students and camera shots of student on campus going crazy. I remember seeing a few male students hanging from a couple of trees upside down and acting like monkeys......hahahahahaha I laughed my arse off with pride, and I could feel them in my heart....I felt a flashback of being on campus and I knew exactly where those students were being filmed. It was quite amazing really.

20 years ago I had lost that special Gonzaga feeling in my heart. I had had little contact with Gonzaga since leaving Spokane in 1971. I hadn't seen a single game in all those years. In many ways I had tried to bury the feelings and memories of once playing for Gonzaga and all the pride it brought to my family and friends. Gonzaga was a world I seldom thought of. My senior year at Gonzaga I quit the team along with two other Zags. Two of us were starters and the 3rd a very promising guard who was a Sophomore who came in off the bench. As the years passed I really did try to bury the memories of playing at Gonzaga: so I seldom thought about it.

By 1999 I was divorced and living alone and recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction. There on that night in that bar in Omak, Washington something happened inside of me. It was a feeling of being Reborn as a Zag. And I have enjoyed this life as a Zag ever since. I have this new feeling of a special pride, grown out of the soil of humility, and I carry it wherever I go. That feeling that I once had when I proudly wore the Gonzaga uniform and played with our band of brothers on the hardwood floors of Kennedy Pavilion (Later named the Kennel) has returned. I have a sense of pride of being a Gonzaga graduate that I never had when I went to school there.
So when it came time to choose a name here on GUboard, I am proud to say that I chose the name Reborn.

Thanks for starting this thread/

Go Zags!!!

Reborn,
This is a GREAT post...you sharing a very personal side of you that most are unaware! I hope one day to meet you! Fingers are crossed that happens...


I had seen many games before on Saturdays in Sacramento in the 60's/70's but was in Alexandria, LA watching at home on TV and was just caught up in the moment...jumping and hollering, when the wife comes in and tells me to be quite as she was on a phone call...needless to say her call was the least of my concerns...the Zags and I were on top of the world!

[jazzdelmar]

As usual, Reborn retires the trophy. Congrats, 'Bornie. Stay strong.

[billyberu]

Working at the long since completed WSU science building on the Riverfront campus in Spokane and listening to the game on the radio.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[GrizZAG]

Attending a food technology conference in Sun Valley Idaho standing around a bar in the sun valley lodge watching this unfold on about a 20" TV mounted up high above the bar. People were gathering and getting excited so I went to see what the hub bub was all about. That was the day that Gonzaga became something in my mind completely different than the team my Montana Griz team used to play and compete with. A lot of people started paying attention that day and here we are 20 years later still smitten with a journey like no other. The impact of that day was monumental. I had no idea it was a gift that would keep giving so much for so long.