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Hubby and I went to the welcome rally for the Lady Huskies yesterday at Bradley Airport. There was a crowd of about 200-250 fans waiting out in the cold, windy weather.

Their charter flight landed about 4:10pm, and their plane had a cool "water cannon" welcome as it pulled right in front of us. Cheerleaders and members of the UConn band exited the plane first, followed by Renee Montgomery toting the huge 2009 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship trophy. (Renee looks a lot smaller than 5'7" up close) The rest of the team and the coaches followed Renee. The fans cheered.

Gov. Jodi Rell greeted each team member with an individual bouquet of flowers, and the team lined up on a wooden stage behind a podium. Gov. Rell was introduced to a rousing round of applause (and some whistles and hoots) and she made a few brief statements, expressing her pride in the UConn Huskies' achievement.

Next, 'RAT Congresscritter Joe Courtney (why did he have to be there?) was introduced - to a smattering of applause - and what's the first thing he says? "Whew, the important thing about the UConn victory is that President Obama's brackets were protected... HaHaHa." (my paraphrase)

More "polite" applause for Courtney's dopey Obama comment (my arms were folded for Courtney - no applause from me... I wasn't alone).

Coach Geno Auriemma, Renee Montgomery, Tina Charles and Maya Moore all made brief remarks and were pretty generous with their time in posing for photos, and most members of the team signed autographs and shook hands with some in the crowd. Each team member seemed to be genuinely touched by the outpouring of affection from the fans.

The team then boarded buses to take them to Gampel Pavilion at UConn in Storrs for the "official" welcome home rally (we didn't attend that rally).