TAMPA, Fla. —<\/b> The three buses pulled out of Big Rapids, Mich., at nine in the morning on Wednesday. They arrived in Tampa on Thursday morning at 11.<\/p>\n
A mere 26-hour bus ride. Not exactly the stuff of travel brochures.<\/p>\n
“It really wasn’t that bad,” said John Roy, a Ferris State fan who rates his enthusiasm on a one-to-10 scale as a 10 and a half. “We got a break about every four to five hours.”<\/p>\n
During the hour-long breaks, the Bulldogs fans got food and walked around, hoping to sleep when they boarded the buses again.<\/p>\n
“It wasn’t the most comfortable thing, but you’re on the bus with all your friends,” said Roy. “It was people spending quality time, creating memories.”<\/p>\n
Rick Eldridge, a season ticket holder for going on a dozen years, conceded that the 26 hours were a little rough but still a price worth paying. Interviewed between the second and third periods while the score still stood 1-1 and a championship game berth wasn’t yet assured, Eldridge said that even if the Bulldogs lost to Union, the trip for a single game still would have been worth it.<\/p>\n
“Oh yeah, big time,” he said. “Big time<\/em>. Other than riding in the bus, it’s been so much fun, just hanging out and having a good time.”<\/p>\n The opinion was shared unanimously by the half dozen Ferris fans interviewed, almost all of which saw every Ferris home game this year and a few road ones, too.<\/p>\n “Definitely still worth it,” John Roy and Kelly Robertson said in unison.<\/p>\n “It’s my senior year and Ferris made it,” said Andrew Shaw. “I had to do it.”<\/p>\n Shaw hadn’t made it to the regional in Green Bay because of classes, but when kidded that perhaps his priorities had been misplaced, tried to set that notion to rest.<\/p>\n “Hey, I skipped on Wednesday to come down here,” he said with a grin.<\/p>\n Now the Ferris faithful will be getting a second game for their marathon trip, a game for the national championship. They didn’t know that while being interviewed but speculated on that possible dream come true.<\/p>\n “Oh yeah,” said Eldridge. “We’ll be talking about that for a long time.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TAMPA, Fla. — The three buses pulled out of Big Rapids, Mich., at nine in the morning on Wednesday. They arrived in Tampa on Thursday morning at 11. A mere 26-hour bus ride. Not exactly the stuff of travel brochures. “It really wasn’t that bad,” said John Roy, a Ferris State fan who rates his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1426],"tags":[692],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n