Campout 2006

For those who aren’t familiar, it is a tradition among Duke Undergraduates to pitch tents and campout for tickets to the blockbuster basketball games. In that same spirit, graduate students have their own campout, devoting Friday night through Sunday morning to nothing short of “power tenting”.

Along with some fellow ECE students, I began the adventure this past weekend. Friday evening was great. My choice to refrain from drinking beer continued, and for no specific reason, I extended that to alcohol, in general. As predicted and independent of drinking, I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with everyone and meeting new friends.

Unfortunately, with the night air, my throat took a turn for the worse. At around 2am, I lay awake coughing nearly nonstop. In the interest of health, I choose to depart from campout and do my best to recover at my house. It was sad to leave, and sacrifice my share of game tickets, but it was the right choice. Health needs to come before basketball.

However, here’s when things get exciting. I needed to return to campout on Saturday to pick up the rest of my gear. It was around 4 when I decided to make my trip over, debating quickly whether to grab a bite before or afterward. I ended up going directly and arrived just as Johnny Dawkins was announcing the raffle winners. On Friday, I bought $10 of tickets to benefit the Emily Krzyzewski Family LIFE center. First up were two tickets to the men’s basketball game versus Maryland. Next were tickets to the Indiana game. The last prize was 2 tickets to the Duke-UNC game, in Cameron. The winner announced was actually this girl Becky, who I knew. However, she was unable to be there, and so they drew another name. They called my name next!

By this time I was almost back at the tent and literally ran and shouted my way up the hill to claim the prize. Luckily Josh saw me and helped out with a “he’s here” shout. It was all pretty amazing, considering I arrived less than 5 minutes before they called my name.

It looks I will be attending the Duke-UNC game after all. And I get to invite a friend, too. So does anyone need a ticket?