Second Wave...

FINAL FOUR


My travel companion this time is my 12 year old nephew, Jack. Originally, I had three buddies who "committed" to going with me for this trip. I put the word committed in quotes because one by one they dropped from the planning as they realized that 1) this is Easter weekend, 2) this is Passover, 3) this is Spring Break time, and 4) fantasy league baseball drafts typically happen this weekend. Hard to argue with family, religious and/or fantasy baseball commitments. Their loss. They are going to miss a great time.

Taking my nephew with me is a perfect audible on the original plan. I don't think he has slept since I asked him to go back in January. He is a huge sports fan, and a huger college basketball fan. As it turns out, Duke being in the semis is an added bonus for him (and me, BTW) since, as he maintains.."I have been a Duke fan since I was born...or at least six months after I was born." Sports…its in a man’s (boy’s) blood.

The tournament this year has been as good as any I remember. Can't say the same for my pools. There used to be a time when I actually did pretty well in those things. Not this year. The upsets of Villanova and Pitt derailed me early. Kind of funny how, every year, no matter who I have picked in a particular game, I find myself rooting for the underdog team if the game is close.

Closest I've come to a Final Four before was the famous Regional weekend in 1992 held at the old Spectrum in Philly...the one where Duke beat Kentucky in the final on Christian Laetner's turnaround jumper from the key with time expiring after a court-length inbounds pass. "The Greatest College Basketball Game Ever Played" some call it. Duke went on to win the national championship that year. Starting five - Bobby Hurley, Thomas Hill, Grant Hill, Christian Laetner and Brian Davis. How is it I can remember that after all these years and I can't remember what I did last Tuesday? That's sports for you.


-Friday 4/2 morning (Philly)

OK, here we go again. No snow to deal with this time. Gonna' be 80 and sunny in Philly, they say. Not quite as nice, but no snow in Indianapolis either. Seems like a smattering of Final Four bound people will be on our flight this morning. Former Temple coach, John Chaney, heading out to the games also. First time I've ever seen him without a rumpled suit and tie ranting and raving on the sidelines of a b-ball game.

Funny story to start the trip. Another example of how, if left to their own devices, most guys will screw up the best made plans. My sister, Chris, takes my two other nephews on a quick Easter week roadtrip to see a couple of the colleges my oldest nephew is considering. She packs J's bag and leaves my bro-in-law in charge of getting him and it to the airport for our flight while she is away. I guess he heard the part where he was supposed to get J to the airport, but didn't get the bag part. Given the drive time, no way to do another roundtrip to get the bag and J reunited. Nothing like flying light! Let's hope UPS comes through or I'll be underwear shopping in the a.m. in the kidz department at Walmart.


-Friday 4/2 flight to IN

Quiet flight. No cranky babies, talkative travelers, etc. We're going to go straight over to the stadium when we land to see the practices as well as an all-star game later in the afternoon.

No minivan for us this time. Since when is a giant GMC Sierra pickup truck an "Intermediate" rental. A bright red one to boot...with Arkansas plates. Perfect for Indianapolis. Jack was stoked.


-Friday 4/2 Afternoon Lucas Oil Stadium

This place is freakin' big! They could fit a football field in here. Oh, that's right, they do. Flight didn't get us in early enough, so we missed the Butler practice session. Their practice session drew over 29,000 people according to what we heard. WVU is out there now, with MSU and Duke to follow. Lot of people here just to see the practices. Seems to be a lot of locals as well as out-of-towners. Either a lot of people are unemployed or a lot of people have off for Good Friday.

I don't know what it says about who is going to beat who tomorrow, but, while WVU and MSU basically came out and had casual shoot-arounds, Duke has worked a real practice...even running baseline to baseline gassers for the big men to finish up. Their game faces seem to be on.

The stadium seems much more like a gigantic basketball venue than an indoor football stadium that they are using for basketball. A lot different than the Carrier dome, etc where they have the b-ball court off to one side and everything seems sort of off-kilter. The court is centered and everything is appropriately proportioned. The court is even miked so that, no matter where you are in the arena, you can hear the ball bounce and sneakers squeak as if you are close to the action.

BTW - the way they run this would never work in Philly, NY, etc. Free to all comers. No issues, no fights, no problems. You'd have marauding kids and/or a riot if you tried this in Philly.

All-Star game was so-so. It's hard for a game to be exciting when nobody is really rooting or cheering. Can't have good spectator sport without interested spectators, I guess.

All in all a great warm-up for tomorrow.


-Friday 4/2 Evening

No live basketball tonight....other than watching replays of some of the old Final games from back in the 80s and 90s on ESPN Classic.

-Saturday 4/3 Morning

Waiting for a call from my ticket guy to make arrangements for a hand-off. Waiting for UPS to deliver J's bag. Patience isn't one of my virtues.

Sky's are gray and rain is expected. Glad that I haven't been depending on the weather on these YIS trips for a good time.

Spent the majority of the morning waiting on J's bag. UPS delivered it...but to the wrong hotel. By the time we sorted that all out, J and I had gone to Old Navy and gotten him a new wardrobe for the day...all in Duke Blue.


-Saturday 4/3 Afternoon

Drove downtown early to get our tix and to walk around. Stadium is right on the edge of downtown, so it was easy to park and walk around. Finally met Philippe from OnPoint, the ticket/event service I've been talking to about some of my YIS events.

Despite the balky weather, the downtown area is full of people...all in Final Four mode. Bars and restaurants are packed. Very little police presence until you get near the stadium. No apparent need.

Get this...we are walking down a crowded street and who do I come across but Lenny from New York, the guy I bought our USA v Finland Olympic hockey tix from when we were at the Olympics. What a weird coincidence. What a way to make a living!

We came over to the stadium early to see warmups, etc. Let's play some basketball!


-Saturday 4/3 Gametime

Place is full...71,000+, including Magic Johnson and us.

First game - home town Butler Bulldogs v MSU. It's late first half and Butler can't seem to get into a rhythm, but MSU can't get more than 5 points up on 'em.

Butler has hung around all half despite bad shooting by everyone but Gordon Hayward, their star-in-the-making. Twenty seconds left in the half. Game tied. MSU ball. Butler fans makin' some noise. Big stop.

Tie game at the half. Twenty minutes left.

Four minutes left. Butler up 4. Classic NCAA tournament game. Looks like it will go down to the last minute.

Twenty three seconds left. Butler up one. MSU with the ball. Timeout MSU. Pressure.

Missed a shot. Butler rebound. Foul. Six seconds left. Butler shooting two. First one's good…and the second too. Up three. MSU timeout. 5.8 left. MAN! Full court to go. Foul. Hits the first. Intentionally misses the second. Rebound Butler. GAME OVER 52-50.

This city will be hopping on Monday night!

Now for the night cap, Duke v WVU. Butler probably has the most fans here of the four schools, but I think the WVU fans are the loudest ...and very visible in their bright gold shirts, hats, etc.

5:42 left in the half. Duke has pulled out to a 31-21 lead. Kyle Singler making up for his poor shooting in the Elite 8 game. ...Up by 13 now. Duke has the better looking cheerleaders, too :)

Spoke too soon. WVU has it down to 8. These Mountaineer fans are LOUD. 30 seconds left in the half. Duke ball. 19 on the shot clock. Timeout, Duke. Turnover.

Halftime 39-31, Duke.

Duke by 15 with 7 minutes left. WVU's star, Da'Sean Butler, left the game with what appeared to be a bad knee injury.

Duke wins going away by 21. They shot the lights out from the arc. Not a nail-biter, but fun for us Duke fans.

The lure of "beating the traffic" was strong for a good portion of the 71,000+ (even at a Final Four semi). One of life's universal rules, I guess. Couldn't have paid us to leave early.

Quite a sea of humanity flooding out post-game. Glad we parked a fair walk away. One of the things that can ruin the good post-game feeling for me sometimes is a bad traffic jam. We cruised out. Watched all of the highlights back at our hotel before shutting it down after a great day.


-Sunday 4/4 Easter morning

Biscuits and gravy for me for Easter breakfast. Feeling a little under-dressed with all of the people coming in after Easter services. Our Final Four and Duke hats kind of stick out.


-Sunday 4/4 Noon

Bracket Town. Coca Cola's, Lays', etc. marketing shindig with the NCAA. Jack's going to do a basketball skills clinic and then we head to the airport. This must have been crazy on Friday after the Butler practice session. Lot of fun stuff for kidz. Training the new generation of sportsaholics.

-Sunday 4/4 IND Airport

Thought there would be more people from the games leaving. I guess there was more of an exodus first thing in the a.m. Easy trip. No good stories.




Trip takeaway...you consume much less alcohol when you're travelling with your 12 year old nephew than with 50 year old semi-alcoholic bnuddies. I had one beer the entire trip. Think of the calories I saved.



On to the Masters! Will make up for alcohol abstinence, I'm sure.