Biggest Fan of the Big East Challenge 8: The Journey Comes to An End

As March Madness approaches and the 2011-2012 basketball season slowly comes to an end, the Biggest Fan of the Big East Challenge comes to an end as well.  Since day one, Volvo and the Big East have challenged myself and the other contestants in one of the most intense contests around and I have enjoyed every second of it. 

No words can thank Volvo for the incredible opportunity they have given me over the past few months.

The Volvo Big East Challenge has been an epic journey, challenging everything we have been made of from start to finish.  For this final challenge, Volvo is challenging me to recap the entire contest, looking at everything, from the start of the contest, the progress we all have made as friends and writers, and what we have learned during the course of the entire challenge. So, buckle up one last time as we take a last drive down memory lane and look back at the beginning of the challenge.

Wish I could have been there for media day!

The challenge all started with an email requesting my participation.  At first, I was a bit hesitant.  I wasn't sure it the contest was the real, almost too good to be true.  Here I sat, a small USF writer, and a large corporation and huge contest was selecting me to write for them.  After pinching myself, I joined the contest and began the writing challenges, interacting with the other Volvo contestants.

The Volvo Challenges forced me and the other writers to dig deep and do our homework on the Big East.

The contest themselves were always a challenge, challenging our Big East knowledge, take a look at the Garden 30 and our Ultimate Big East team if you don't believe what I am talking about.  The challenge also had us take a trip back through memory to share all of our favorite stomping grounds and unique areas that make our alma mater's so unique (make sure to take a look at all the best places around the USF/Tampa area that I thought I should share with the Big East world to show them what they are missing).

The challenge also introduced me to another great and talented writers that not only helped me increase my knowledge of the Big East, also helped add information to my website and became comrades during the challenges to share ideas and talk about basketball and the state of the Big East.  Talented writers such as Nicole and Miggy helped lead by their writing skills and helped share their knowledge with me.  I am forever grateful for the people I have been able to work with during this challenge.  Not only have they increased my knowledge, but have also helped me become a better writer in the process (sappy, whatever!)

One of the highlights of the entire contest of course was the alma mater weekend back to USF, all sponsored by Volvo.  I wasn't able to make it to the Big East Media Day to start the 2011-2012 season (had to work in Denver, trust me, it was worst than it sounds).  Volvo gave me an all expense paid weekend back to the USF campus, putting me up in a great hotel, tickets to the great game that USF won over Providence, and the biggest highlight, the Volvo S60 over the weekend.  There really are now words to describe this car.  Over 250 HP, all wheel drive, controls and gauges that make you feel like your on an episode of Star Trek, yes, driving the car alone was an honor, but the entire weekend was a memory I will never forget.

The Volvo Big East Challenge has been one of the greatest writing challenges I have ever been apart of.  From post one to the this final post, we have all come a long way.  From day one to the end, this challenge was been a great and rewarding contest that has not only challenged me as a writer, but has led me to new levels of writing, creativity, and ability that I never though possible.  Once more, I would like to thank the incredible people of Volvo, Aaron, and the great contestants that have been part of this contest that have been there since day one.  This has been a lot of fun, it is sad to see it come to end, but what an epic journey it has been.