Go to Krannert Uncorked and See Underneath the Assembly Hall - Done and Done!

On the last Thursday before graduation (after waiting in a terribly long line for my cap and gown), Katherine and I met Ashley and Heather at Krannert for some wine tasting and to check another item off the list. We got to taste 3 different wines and had free cheese and crackers. I definitely approve of this event and am glad I finally made it over there to do it!

Me and Ashley/Heather and Katherine

On Monday, Katherine and I used our friend connections to get a personalized tour of some "secret" places in the bowels of the Assembly Hall (that's not the official name of all the stuff underneath the hall, but that's what I like to call it). We saw some of the star dressing rooms, lots of tunnels and offices, and the men's basketball locker room. I let Mike Davis's space hold my bag while we took a picture. We also saw the basketball court being stored in pieces and the 3 goals for basketball - yes, 3 - they keep a spare around in case one breaks. The jumbo-tron was down on the floor so we saw that up close, too. Another item to check off the list!

Me and Katherine in the locker room. Here's the basketball court all stacked up.

*I know the list is things to do before I toss my cap which I kind of did on Saturday, however, I'm still technically a student so I figure I have until the end of the summer to complete the rest of the list.

YES!

This was my Saturday night at work. And the best game I have ever seen at the Assembly Hall.

What I Learned Sitting Behind the Illini Bench

Tonight at work I was positioned in the players' comp area meaning I just had to make sure everyone was doing ok over there. It also meant that I got to sit right behind the Illini bench. Sitting here, I heard saw some interesting things which I will share with you below.

• The players put this weird powder-y stuff on their hands before the game starts. I'm assuming it's like anti-persperant for the hand.
• D.J. Richardson sweats. A lot. Like a copious amount.
• The guys wear some weird textured pad thing under their shorts on their lower back/booty. I now don't feel as bad for them when they fall on their butts.
• They have a play called "53Z" that they use when in-bounding the ball. I saw/heard it called many times.
• When Bruce sends someone in he said something like "Billy, go get Brandon."
  
• Bruce Weber said many things, many of which I didn't hear. But I did hear "Man, they're kicking our butts!"
• Bruce Weber needs serious voice therapy.
• I know now what the code phrase is for Michael Jordan being at a game even though he wasn't there tonight. It still made me feel like a secret agent.
• One of my friends saw me on TV. Many times.
• You can actually see the game from this position despite the gigantic people sitting a few rows in front.
  
• Mike Tisdale is a good team cheerleader.
  

Supervision = Sweat

Last Tuesday, I worked my first event as an usher supervisor at the Assembly Hall. I really had no idea what to do before I got there since, as an usher, I would just go tell my supervisor when I didn't know something. Now I was the supervisor and would have to answer those questions. I got there early and got lessons on using the radio and how to use the re-location seats. Armed with my radio, notes, and stack of re-location tickets, I was ready to go. I had a couple new ushers and a couple old ones and I was up in C so it was pretty calm up there. And the event was The Fray concert so the crowd shouldn't be too rough. When a new usher couldn't open his doors and I helped him, I felt like I at least knew how to do something. I was able to answer all questions except "How many people does this set-up hold?" I should look that up... Anyway, here are some interesting tidbits from the evening:

• I think I lost about 3.5 pounds from sweating. I was nervous so that accounts for some persperation but then I was running around C section and up and down the stairs to help seat people. Since I didn't have to stay in one spot, I was constantly going around to help people out and it was HOT in there! Luckily, we got to shed the heavy jackets after not too long so that helped. I seriously think I sweat more than I had the night before when I went to the gym.
• I had to do a couple re-locations: one pair of people had seats 5 rows apart and another pair was disturbed by the non-stop talker behind them. Basically I give them new seats/tickets from the wad in my pocket. Easy stuff.
• I didn't have to use the radio at all which was nice; I just got to listen to things that were going on.
• Nikki and the other supervisor guys all checked on me to make sure I was ok and had everything under control which was really nice.
• This was probably my favorite: one of the new ushers came over to me and said "Ok, I think there's people in the wrong seats; what do we do?!" So I had to nicely tell him to move them and what to say/do in order to move them. Later he asked me "So, it's our prerogative to move people?" to which I said, "Yeah, it's your job." He'll learn quick enough.
• The Fray was really good and it was a fun show. Especially after everyone got seated and I got to relax and watch (while still checking on the ushers, of course!).
  

All in all, it was a good first event to work as a supervisor as there was no drama and everything remained under control. Now I just need to remember to wear light-weight clothing and lots of deodorant.

Assembly Hall Ushers: Protecting Patrons From Falling Ice One Door at a Time

A few weeks ago I was working at a basketball game at the Assembly Hall. It was quite warm and much of our snow and ice was melting. As I walked up to the front entrance, I noticed all sorts of security guards, caution tape, and people. I was told to go around and go into this little tiny glass-ish building. So I continued to this little building and went down some stairs into the bowels of the Assembly Hall. I kept getting pointed in the right direction by security guards that had been carefully placed along the path. I was seriously confused as to what was going on because I'd also seen a couple police cars and I was wondering if I should even be going into the building. I went through the loading area, went up some stairs, and then into this super secret hallway with offices and what looked like a room leading into some locker rooms or dressing rooms. If I hadn't been so weirded out, I would have snooped a little bit more. It's not every day that lowly ushers get to go into the depths of the Assembly Hall! After a few more twists and turns (pointed out by the faithful security guards) I boarded an elevator. That's right, they try to lie and say there's no elevators, but there are. Not many people can say they've ridden in an elevator at the Assembly Hall. Then I got off the elevator and had to figure out where the heck I was to check in at the usher room. Whew, an entire maze just to get to work when I normally just walk in the front door.

I found out that the reason no one could go in the regular doors yet was because all of the ice that had accumulated on the roof was melting and falling. Yikes. I knew that was some serious business because a few weeks earlier I saw a huge chunk of ice fall off the Hancock in Chicago and shatter when it hit the ground. So, people were only allowed in and out of the Assembly Hall via the main west door. This wasn't too big of a problem til after the game. They made a bunch of us stand out on the concourse to prevent people from using other doors. Just imagine me, the big bad usher, stopping people from going out of a door. We then waited around for about 45 minutes after the game because it took that long for people to filter out of one door. You never realize how many people 16,000 is until you're waiting around for them to get out. Oh Assembly Hall, good job keeping things interesting.