Follow along as the Concordia women's basketball team hits the road for the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The Cobbers are competing in their 16th NCAA Tournament and will play their regional games at UW-Stevens Point.

SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2009

7:55 a.m.

The morning after has come way too early. After throwing all the clothes and gear into their respective bags I head to the dining area to pick up a muffin, some juice and a roll for breakfast. Most of the team is eating breakfast still and Jessica is talking with some parents so I know the 8 a.m. departure time won't be adhered to in that strict of a manner. Now that the season is over, itinerary times can be tweaked just a bit.

8:21 a.m.

Everyone finally stumbles onto the bus and we roll out of the parking lot one final time. The players all settle into their seats and lay down for some extra sleep to pass the first leg of the trip. Jenna Freudenberg comes to the front of the bus to explain the final scene of the practical joke that she and Sara Sorbo played on Rachel last night. It seems that they pulled off the prank to perfection and Rachel took the bait. She was upset with the two and wanted to know "how they could do such a thing" and "you should have known better". At this point the joke goes south because fellow assistant coach Steph is a little leery of the whole scene and asks to smell the blood. The pair try to shrug off Steph's doubting Thomas ways but can't cover up their scheme for very long as Jenna starts to crack up. Rachel eventually laughs after realizing that there will be no late night trip to the hospital. All four have a good laugh at the one last practical joke of the year.

Two thoughts come into my head at this point; 1) Jenna could never carry out a practical joke for very long. She likes to laugh too much and is always busting up over a joke or story. 2) If Sara acts too serious off the court for too long you should know something is up (note - she can be very serious and knows the time and place for everything but if she ever comes up to you out of the blue and is trying to get a reaction - you know something is up).

The players then head back to their seats.

Jessica is wasting little time on getting the jump for recruiting. She is already pouring over the schedule of games for the next couple of weeks and trying to decide which games to go see so that she can get the team back to the same point next year. She asks me to pull up some info on one of the high schools on my phone and wants to know why they have made such a dramatic turnaround this season.

That's one thing that people fail to realize about college coaching - there is never an off season. As soon as one season ends, there is always recruiting to dive into, clinics to attend, camps to schedule, after season player interviews to conduct - and the list goes on and on. The really successful coaches rarely go a day without doing something related to the team and program. That includes weekends, holidays and supposedly summer vacation. It's no wonder that coaches get burned out in a very short time. I believe that the days of coaches being a coach for 30-plus years are over. It's just too taxing, to time consuming and takes way too much out of the coach.

11:09 a.m.

After a short nap everyone is feeling rested and ready for some entertainment. Jenna comes up to the front of the bus to put on a movie. She puts in "The Wedding Date". She says she doesn't want any sports movies to remind her of what happened, no movies that make her think. Just a movie where she can be swept away and not have to be reminded of the situation at hand.

We are just outside the Cities and the coaching staff discusses a plan of action for lunch and dropping Jessica off at her car at the hotel where we stayed on Wednesday night (which now seems like a season ago).

The bus pulls into the Roseville Center Mall so the team can get out of the bus and walk around a little before they head off to eat. Jessica polls the players as to where they would like to eat so she can give the different groups money. After a short debate the team all decides to eat at Panera Bread on the other side of the mall. As it has been all season long, there are no splinter groups or individuals thinking for themselves. It is a team decision with everyone agreeing on the outcome. That is one of the things I have been so amazed at during the trip. This team gets along incredibly well together and all form one group - a team. There is a reason they have been so successful this year and that is the main ingredient. They have put aside their own goals for the one common goal of being a team, a family. Little do they realize but well after their playing days are over they won't remember the games, stats or tournament games. Instead they will remember the friends they had on the team and the feeling of being part of a family that all cared for each other.

As we wait in line to order our lunch Jessica asks me about the volleyball team and how they are to travel with during the NCAA Tournament. I try to explain how incredibly similar both teams are. How the players are all really great student/athletes, they all get along and they both have incredible senior leaders. There is a reason that both programs made the NCAA Tournament and were so successful throughout the season - they are both really great "teams".

We finally get to order lunch after wading through the packed lunch crowd at the restaurant. The service people at Panera were extremely nice and patient. As we are about to leave, the manager comes over to Jessica and hands her a couple dozen bagels for the ride home. He wants to thank her for coming and understands the rigors of travel. Jessica is taken aback by the gesture and the team is pumped to be taking home great bagels - just another item in their supermarket located in the fifth row on the bus!

1:50 p.m.

We are on the final leg of the trip and are headed for home. We drop off Jessica and Cassidy at the hotel and they walk slowly to the car. The season is now officially over for the two and they are off to watch their son/brother at a hockey game - like I said, it never ends!

After finishing up "The Wedding Date" Rachel convinces the team to watch "Step Up". She has already watched the movie once today but is excited to see it again. Seems she is a fan of dance movies and really likes watching well casted films.

I take the opportunity to catch up on the other Cobber teams in action on Saturday. My main concern is to find out if Phil Moenkedick has won his semifinal match and will be wrestling for the national title. I try and pull the result up on my phone but the only place they have the brackets have them in a PDF format and the file is too small to see the winner once I call it up on my screen. I try to enlarge it, stick it right next to my eye, shield it from any light but nothing works. I finally end up calling Anna Tinkham, my SID assistant, who is working the high school sectional games at Concordia. She pulls up the result on the computer and lets me know that Phil has indeed won the semifinal and will be wrestling for a national championship. I let out a yell and Rachel knows that it must be good news. She gets excited and asks when the championship match will take place. That's another nice thing about working at Concordia. All the coaches genuinely root for the other teams and athletes. They understand one team's or individual's success helps make all the other programs better.

At this point in time freshman Abby Evavold, the ice cream princess, walks to the front of the bus looking for her cell phone. It seems that she has either misplaced it or someone is pulling a prank. Can you guess the answer?

At that point the phone has been passed up to Rachel who is trying to hide it as Abby is letting her know of the situation. She is asking Rachel if someone would take her phone and who would do such a thing (hmmm...don't have to think about that one for very long!). Abby then turns towards the back of the bus and Rachel flips the phone over to me. I am now sucked into the prank and try to stash the phone before Abby turns around.

Abby sensed some commotion and turned around and looked at Rachel. She asks Rachel if she has the phone. The answer is no and Abby pleads the team to give the phone back. She looks at me and asks if I have seen it. I stumble through an answer and then Rachel lets me off the hook by telling Abby that she had given me the phone and that it wasn't my fault. Abby shoots me a look that asks "how could a person that I barely know do that to me?" I feel bad. Little do I know that she will end up getting the last laugh.

The rest of the trip is spent watching the movie. The only other highlight comes when the baseball approaches coming from the opposite direction. They are headed down to the Metrodome to play a doubleheader starting at 10 p.m. Buck Burgau, Rachel's Dad, is the head baseball coach and for the trip has brought his wife and Rachel's sister Jennifer. Jennifer and Rachel have been in contact for the past hour discussing the point they will see each other as they drive past.

The moment finally arrives and Rachel waves out the front window to her Mom, Dad and sister. Rachel's Mom, Penny, nearly jumps out the front of the other bus to wave across the median. Later I would hear from Buck that it was the highlight of her trip!

4:08

The bus turns the corner into Memorial Auditorium parking lot. The lot is overflowing with the crowd from the high school games. Like all season-ending trips, the bus empties without much chatter as everyone heads off to their car or to find a ride back to their dorm room. I try and gather all my gear and get it into my office so I can start the second half of my work day back at Concordia. In my hurry I forget to pick up my phone from the front seat. I don't realize this until I have gone into full panic mode and have searched my office, my luggage and every bag I brought on the trip. Sensing the worst, that if fell out of my pocket between my office and the bus, I retrace my steps. Still no sign of my lifeline. I walk onto the bus and look at my seat and the area around the front row - nothing. I look up to see two people left on the bus. One is Brittany Jossart and the other is Abby. They don't pay any attention to me and I fear that the phone is lost. They finally look up at me and I ask if they have seen my phone. Abby stumbles through an answer and then the pair crack up. They had me going and then let me off easy as Abby shows me my phone. We all laugh as I realize kharma bit me hard!

I get off the bus and head for my office to recall another set of great memories that were made by another great Concordia team.

Sometimes my job really isn't work!

Postscript

I would like to thank Jessica, Rachel, Steph and the entire Cobber women's basketball team for allowing me to tag along with them on the trip to the NCAA Tournament. They were very welcoming, made me feel like a part of the program and didn't hold back when they knew I would be writing about their exploits in the journal or Twittering constant updates throughout the day.

The monotony of the day-to-day, week-to-week tasks of being the SID make you forget how special the athletes at Concordia really are. It only takes a couple of days on the road to realize how fortunate I am to be able to spend time around the coaches and players at Concordia. They keep my hopes up and keep me looking at the glass is if it is always half full!

Special thanks goes out to Jenna Freudenberg. She is a shining example of what a player can accomplish if they work hard and be the type of person everyone wants to be around. Hopefully you will look back on your playing days with fond memories and realize how special your four years at Concordia really were. You had a tremendous group of coaches to learn from and special set of teammates that pushed you throughout your four years. I can honestly say that I have never seen an athlete so totally respected by every one of their teammates in all my years of coaching and being the SID. When next year rolls around I will miss seeing No. 10 take the court for the Cobbers. I know your teammates will miss you even more and hopefully they will carry your spirit onto the court every time they play so that the trip to the NCAA Tournament will be an annual event!

Go Cobbers!