When I Went to the Final Four...

For a longtime college basketball fan, a dream came true. I can remember watching the Final Four with my family when Arkansas was good, way, way back when. Last weekend I was afforded the opportunity to spend Saturday soaking in the sights and sounds of the Final Four in Atlanta.

After riding MARTA into town -- quite an experience when Atlanta hosts major events -- a couple friends and I walked around the Centennial Park where there was a stage featuring Zac Brown Band, Ludacris and others throughout the weekend. It did not take long to grow wary of the general public, who was there for the free concerts. I've seen concerts but never had I been to a Final Four. There was different end goal on my mind, and I was ready to get into the Georgia Dome as quickly as possible.

The most reasonably priced souvenir,
a mile away from the Georgia Dome 

We hung around the CNN Center before I got a call and left my group to meet up with my ticket holders, family friend Chris Peacock and his son. I walked up and down one of the 17 different Peachtree Streets of Atlanta before finding my way onto the roof of Max's Lager House. There I met a couple of different people who made the confusion of navigating Atlanta well worth the adventure.

First was Kevin Blackistone, former sports columnist at the Dallas Morning Star, journalism professor at the University of Maryland and panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption. He's a star in the sports journalism world so I was immediately at a loss for words. Without hesitation and being that sports is his job, he asked me, "What are you doing down here? Who do you pull for?" (the sports' world pleasantry equivalent of "Hi. How are you?)

Answering with "I am a fan of basketball like everyone here, and my team is the Arkansas Razorbacks." He quickly responded with more knowledge of the 1994 National Championship run and 1995 National Championship game than I ever knew. Granted, it was his job to cover these teams back in the day, but how he could know so much about those squads to this day was astonishing. And to know that he could have that conversation with fans of other teams with ease is shocking. I know this because I saw him talk Elon basketball with guys one table over who recognized Blackistone from his ESPN appearances.

Also at the table was David Jackson, who writes for USA Today and has a blog, The Oval, where he follows President Barrack Obama and the happenings at the White House. He has covered the last five presidential elections and could out duel you in a game of "Name Dropping." I promise. Jackson, also a Northwestern graduate, went to the game with us .While there, I was able to have some lengthy discussions about writing and the journalism business with a veteran high up in the industry.

None of this even involved what I was anticipating most, the basketball games.

The benefit of going on Saturday of the Final Four is that you get to see both semifinal games. Of course I spent a fair amount of the games using binoculars looking for different sports writers, columnists, broadcasters and analysts. Nerd alert.

We got lucky. Both games came down to the final minutes, and on Monday as I watched the game I could claim to have seen both teams live (one of those things only I care about). This is where I could transition into how annoying Syracuse fans are, but I will stay away from that topic until the masses call for it. There's also a good story about my run-in with the Georgia Dome's Director of Concessions about a cup if you ever need a good laugh.

We could get into the details of the game but a quarter of the country watched them, and there were no broken legs. Instead, I will take a second to post some pictures and send out an enormous thank you to Chris and his son for letting me tag along. I got to see meet some people (coaches, writers, analysts)  and see some things I had only dreamed about since I can remember watching basketball.

Inside the CNN Center

CBS Sports setup outside at Centennial Park

Chris and his son

Postgame -- I had a hard time leaving.

I watched the championship game  with my official cup,
which might have come at the expense of someone's job. 

Florida Gulf Coast is Officially Dunk City, USA

America's newest Cinderella is at it again, reminding our short memories what they do best.


This is Florida Gulf Coast's Brett Comer feeding Eric McKnight a pass to put the Eagles up by two over San Diego State for a potential trip to the Sweet 16. They defeated the No. 2-seeded Georgetown on Friday, and the 15th-seeded Eagles have showcased more of their arsenal of high-flying tricks.

Seriously. Watch it again, and try to explain how anyone can cock the ball back that far and still dunk it. Best college basketball play I've ever seen? I can't think of any better

This was even more impressive than Friday's alley-oop (below), which was assisted by Comer as well.


Not to be forgotten in this little gem is that it meant more because of the time during the game it happened and who it happened against. Both are absurd for a mid-major program to be pulling off in the biggest game of the programs' six-year career. Yeah... FGCU was founded in 1991. Every player on the team is older than the school.

If the Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul needs a back-up point guard to throw passes in Lob City, I know the name of a guard in Florida who might can fill the void.

(h/t Run the Floor)

We All Are Wrong, Yet We Continue to Try...

Every year millions of my Americans complete an enjoyable process, in which we write team names in series of lines and boxes. Then we sit back and watch in angst as 18-22 year old men play a child's game in which they try to throw an orange ball into a metal circle that is suspended ten feet above ground more times than the other team does for 40 minutes.  Many Americans like to think they have the correct combination of teams to create a perfect bracket, though the actual odds of that happening are 1-in-100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. For those of you who were not math whizzes, that is 1-in-100 million trillion.

International affairs come in second place to March Madness.
Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

But not me. No, filling out the bracket is a miserable process. I overthink lay-up picks and underthink the halfcourt shots. I become enamored with a team solely because every one in my bracket pools and the experts have a popular choice. Instead of picking a mid-major like VCU, Butler or George Mason that completes their Final Four journey, my dark horse pick is usually gone by the end of the first weekend. It is a agonizing process to fill out my bracket every year, which is why I limit myself to only one bracket--as you should to if you have any integrity. 

I like to think I know basketball. I do my homework, and follow it closely (though I rarely write about it), but there is no way to know what team will go on to the next round in a single-elimination tournament like the NCAA Tournament. It is because said zaniness and no-sense order that those like myself, who pay attention to the game, are just as lost as everyone else from from the middle of March to early April in the realm of college basketball.

John Calipari's Kentucky team is the early favorite, but we all know what
that means... nothing.

So here's to you casual fan who will win the office pool because you picked Loyola (Md.) because you picked the team that would win if the mascots raced that a greyhound would dominate the competition. And to you casual fan who wins a lump sum of money between old college friends because you had a Wichita State-St. Louis-Harvard-Purdue Final Four because you had no idea what a Shocker, Billeken, Crimson or Boilermaker is or does. 

Here is my bracket, open to humiliation for all of the world to see. I know my picks are bad and do not be afraid to call me out on them if you please. Regardless of how you came to your Final Four, it has to be more correct than mine, thus closer to that 1-in-100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Today's Happenings

I wish there was time during the day on a normal basis to write about what is going on in the sports world. Or in a dream world, I would have a talk radio show on which I could express my opinions. Maybe one day...

 The Cam Newton saga continues as he had a workout for invited members of the media. The one thing I don't like about preparation for the NFL Draft is when armatures hold pro days for scouts. Not much can be learned when there is no defense and the player throws scripted routes. Yesterday, there weren't even pro scouts there. It was strictly media members to get the Cam Newton buzz back up.

In other Newton news Auburn said the athletic department has spent $170,000 in attorney fees this season in the Cam Newton case. 170,000+ 180,000= 2010 National Championship. Not a bad investment.

CBS announced with the help of TBS they will cover every March Madness game this year. Great idea, but I feel like the cutaways while watching one game to buzzer beater after buzzer beater. I think this takes away a little of the magic. Plus, I unlike my father, am not a seasoned veteran at changing channels effectively.

Jerry Sloan resigned from the head coaching job of the Utah Jazz, a title he has heald for more than 23 years. During his tenure he never won a championship, but also sufffered only one losing season. He would have a ring if his best teams hadn't had to go against Michael Jordan in his prime.

The Cleveland Caveliers now have a good argument in the case for the worse team in professional sports history after losing their 26th straight game. They now have the most consecutive losses of any team from the four major professsional sports.

Great article by SI.com's Andy Staples rating recruiting classes they should be.... looking back at how they fared in their time at college.

I know the "sports blogs" may not be the most interesting to my family who wants to know what is going on, but maybe you learned a little something. I know my Mom is learning a lot about sports and that is enough reason to keep on writing.