At happy hour one day in college, I saw one of my professors. We nodded as we both realized we were skipping my class.
I imagine a whole lot of class skipping goes on at Pepperdine University, what with the wall-to-wall view of the ocean in Malibu.
I was there last week with my friend Rob. We’re both big college basketball fans, and love see games on campuses on which we’ve never been.
We attended major basketball schools (Syracuse and Maryland), so it’s fascinating to go to these mid-major schools and their less glitzy programs.
At Pepperdine, the arena isn’t big enough to fit locker rooms, so the visiting team walks out through the lobby past the only concession stand, while the home team goes outside through a side door. Also, we parked on campus for free. At Maryland, it costs a fortune for a decent spot.
We must really love hoops, because right after the Pepperdine game, we drove over the hill for another game at Cal State Northridge. This is an even smaller gym, optimistically called the Matadome. It’s an odd state of affairs. While 35,000 students attend CSUN, 95% of them are commuters, so they don’t exactly field a powerhouse team. By the way, the white wall in the background used to be an upper section of seats, before they were crushed by the Northridge earthquake. The space was sealed up and turned into classrooms. It’s such an intimate setting that at one point a local pizza joint marketed itself by delivering a dozen pizzas to the gym. Cheerleaders handed out free slices to anyone in the crowd who raised a hand. Quite cozy.
