Hi Everyone-
Great night! As I type this, I'm still so tired that my eyes hurt when I blink but it was totally worth it.
First, I want to thank Coach Mora, Pat Collins, David Benedict and everyone associated with the UConn football program for a night that neither Keith nor I will remember forever.
Second, I want to thank those of you who stopped by our seats and/or said hello on the concourse. Always great to put faces to names.
Most importantly, I want to thank everyone who contributed to the GoFundMe campaign. Last night, literally, would not have happened without you.
I have a ton of photos and stories. Here are a few of my favorites.
* After completing his pregame "running of the stairs" ritual, Coach Mora came over and spoke to Keith for I would say a good 2 or 3 minutes. Not a quick "Hi, thanks for coming to the game" situation but a genuine conversation. I asked Keith what they talked about. He said "Just about living in the moment and appreciating good people"
* Had a surprise visit towards the end of the first quarter from a certain 7'2" basketball player. Such a great kid. He and Keith talked about, amongst many topics, their favorite music. Speaking of music.......
Coach Collins was able to get us into the locker room post game. As expected, the mood amongst the players was celebratory. The music was blasting. And I'll be the first to admit that the selections weren't exactly the type of songs tailored to my age demographic.
But our friend Keith knew each and every song. The videos I took of him singing and dancing with the players is something I will never forget. They seemed to be enjoying Keith's company as much as he was enjoying theirs. It's the type of thing when I'm having a crappy day, I'll think of those videos and smile.
After we left the locker room, we met up with Victor and his family. Took a photo with them and Coach Barthel (shoutout to Coach Marinelli for taking the picture). Coach Barthel LOVES Keith.
We then headed to the van to go home. Halfway up the ramp, Keith's power chair ran out of juice. It's much heavier than a "manual" wheelchair but can be moved with a little elbow grease. I was making slow and steady progress when I heard a voice say, "Need any help?"
Keith and I turned and immediately started saying, "NO! NO! NO!" when we saw who it was, Justin Joly and his family. All I could think about is if he gets hurt, everyone associated with UConn football and The Boneyard is gonna hate me. Our pleas didn't register with Justin as he helped me push Keith up the ramp in about half a second.
"Don't worry. I won't get hurt. I'm young!" was his rationale. Hilarious now but not so funny, at least as far as I was concerned, in the moment.
I spoke with Keith a little while ago. In addition to being excited that his Instagram is going crazy, he said he was also very tired. He didn't get to bed until 4:30 am. "I was still just overjoyed from last night" was his reply.
