"We're getting to that game," Schrager vowed.
"Yeah sure, kid," I responded.
But Schrager and Butler are motivated types. Real go- getters. And, besides, they're sort of sick in the head about Temple basketball.
The two juniors are part of a crew called the Cherry Crusade, a group of super fans who attend every game and scream until they're all, well, cherry-colored. Butler is the president. He paints himself red for each game and stencils a Superman logo on his chest in white. The center of the logo has a "T" instead of an "S." Naturally.
After the NCAA selection show, Butler and Schrager and some other Cherry Crusaders gathered to plan the trip to Miami. Airfare was ruled out. Too expensive. But if they chartered a bus, and the school and alumni association chipped in, they figured they could swing it.
On Monday night, Butler set up a PayPal account and sent out a schoolwide plea asking people to join the trip or, barring that, contribute money. He figured they'd need 25 to 30 students and $15,000 to rent a tour bus, secure hotel rooms, and pay for tickets.
Butler and Schrager and some other Cherry Crusaders skipped St. Patty's Day in order to recruit people. They handed out fliers to intramural refs and fraternity brothers and bartenders. They stapled them all over campus and slid them under the door of every room at six of Temple's dorms. They worked on it from sundown until midnight, then got up and worked some more.
"I kept thinking, 'There will be a bus with kids on it going to Miami,' " Butler said. "I don't know how it will happen, but it will."
And it did. Thanks to help from the administration and a last-second, generous donation by an anonymous donor, 30 excited Temple students boarded a bus and headed south yesterday. They left at noon.
