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Big 12 Tournament: Watching The Games While In School

It's been over a decade but my folks will probably still get upset with me about this. I've never told them but I skipped high school one time in my life. I wasn't skipping out on a test, or avoiding a big project. No, I wasn't going out to use some sort of illicit drugs either.

I wrote a fake doctor's note, got out of school, and went down to Kemper Arena to watch the Big 12 tournament all day.

Indeed, the best time to skip school is when you can spend it downtown around a ton of people a la Ferris Bueller's Day Off (except I wasn't in a parade like Ferris).

First, let's get this out of the way -- we're not condoning skipping school. It's not cool and you shouldn't do it. Now, if your'e a good student, participate in extra curricular activities and generally have your act together, it's not the end of the world to skip school and head down to Kemper Arena Sprint Center for a day of games. Just don't tell your parents you read that here.

Second, if you're a high school student, you're probably broke, and getting a ticket is tough. At least that's the way it was for me. (In fact, i think I still owe a buddy $80 for an afternoon pass we ended up buying but, shh, that was in 2001). So you've got no money which means you need a strategy when you head down there to get tickets. I think Nebraska and Oklahoma State folks are going to be your best bet. They play at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday and the fans of whoever loses that game are likely to be heading back home which means you need to buy whatever tickets they have. Hopefully, that can secure you some day one tickets. If not, the winner of Nebraska/Oklahoma State will play Kansas and almost certainly lose. After that game, the Nebraska/Oklahoma  State folks are going to be leaving so you need to get their morning or afternoon passes if possible. Identify which teams will lose -- upsets are nice ways to get tickets because fans are pissed and just want to leave -- and focus on those fans to buy tickets.

Third, if you can't skip school, that's fine. You have other options. You can run headphones under your shirt and into your ears. If that's too obvious, there are wireless buds you can put in your ear. That would help from the math teacher noticing it. You can also get a handheld TV, sit towards the back of class and turn the game on mute and watch it. The good thing is that the first game starts at 11:30 a.m. so there will be some time during your lunch period to watch it.