Wouldn't believe

First off, Russ, I'm definitely thinking about Ryan. It's stunning to think about, and I think his family's sharing the situation with everyone is beneficial to even those of us who don't know him. It has definitely made me think.

We had an interesting evening. Ladies couldn't quite pull it out, but it was a valiant effort. We returned to the hotel after the game, and dropped five people off who did not want food. The other 25 of us headed out to find sustenance. We found a little place that had three food establishments next to one another, and let them go. After they were finished we got everyone back on the bus. My phones rings. It's one of the students we dropped off.

"Uh, there are a bunch of cops around the hotel, and I asked one of them what was going on. He said that some guy had been shot in the back and they were trying to find the shooter."

Hmm. I've had lots of unusual situations with the band, but this was a first.

Not really being the type to bring a bus full of students to a crime scene (especially when their accomodations were at the crime scene), I decided that we would wait right in that fast food parking lot until the situation cleared up. We, of course, had to make contact with all five of the students we dropped off to let them know what was happening and to stay in their rooms with the door double-locked.

It was interesting watching some of the people on the bus deal with the information. Until you learn not to panic, your inclination is, well, to panic.

In any case, we waited for about an hour. Because we have the cheerleaders with us, driving immediately back to Athens was not an option. I had left a message for the lieutenant on the scene to call me and let me know what the situation was before we would return. I wasn't hearing back from him.

I finally decided that I was tired of waiting, so we would drive by the hotel just to see how bad it was, and maybe speak to an officer to find out what the situation was. All this time, my cell phone was failing to receive calls, which is just perfect timing. Russ, pass along my strongest middle finger to your employer for that. I had decided that, if we didn't like the situation, that we would go in and get the students we had dropped off, and would find another hotel somewhere to spend the night. Then we would come back in the morning, get our stuff, and check out.

As we head back to do the drive-by, a voice mail appears on my cell phone. It was the officer from 10 minutes earlier telling me that they had the shooter and that it was safe to return.

So we did, with a few wrinkled nerves and residual uncertainty... nothing that an extra hour of sleep won't fix.