When did you know?

[miketwalker]

I went through my build year and just all the goofiness of ComBBAT hooked me.... but not completly. I got really involved, then went to the KSC regional, and I thought it was cool, but I was still anti-social and all... by the time we went to Philadelphia Regional I was talking to people more and being goofy and just slowly networking. When nationals came around.... I was locked... I remember going there and just seeing those massive tents at Epcot, and all the people that saw us, we were the spotlight, we sat right in front of this huge theme park. I know when I COMPLETLY knew I was hooked, we were completly gone from possibly going on to finals, and Billy and I looked at each other and turned around and shouted "Who dat BBAT?" it wasn't our typical chant, but just something we put everything into. A completly down team turned into the most energetic thing I had ever seen, we paraded the pits, teams couldn't stand us... for what must've been at least 30 minutes we cheered and cheered and cheered, and Billy and I just kept it going, it was amazing... we had the 60 minutes II cameras following us a good amount of that, and it was just... unforgettable... it was a complete blyss, we had no chance of going on, a completly upset team, but one chant that brought us all back together and made us realize how great it had been... we hadn't lost... we HAD won, we ALL did... we saw what we had done and were proud of it. I can never get over that feeling, and till this day that's what pushes me, a chant others know... but a chant that at that one time, WAS us, we WERE each other, there were no boundaries, no fighting, no drama, no nothing, just... complete pride in what we HAD accomplished. It was the most amazing experience of my life, something so simple as a chant doing that might not be understood by anyone who reads this, but it was.