6:30 - Allison wakes up so she can run in the Road to the Final Four 5K.
6:30 - Racecar's alarm goes off for her to wake up so she can run in the Road to the Final Four 5K.
6:35 - Racecar's first snooze on her alarm goes off, and she tells Pepster, "I have to do some work before we go downtown".
6:40 - Racecar's second snooze on her alarm goes off and she tells Pepster, "Can you tell Allison that I am just not going to be able to make it".
8:00 - Allison runs in the Road to the Final Four 5K. She notices that there are tons of Kentucky fans running in this charity fund raiser, a lot of Wisconsin fans, a decent amount of Michigan State fans, and absolutely nobody repping Duke. Figures.
9:00 - On her drive back to the house from the race, Allison notices that we are staying just off Foolish Pleasure Lane. Of course, we are.
10:52 - First round of Bloody Mary's.
11:12 - Pepster's NBA app notification rings, with a note that Pacers Forward Paul George plans to make his season debut against the Miami Heat tomorrow. Sinickal immediately purchase 6 tickets for us (at only $10 per!). A note, Pepster and Racecar are actual Heat fans, while Sinickal and Allison are HUGE NBA fans. Hopps and Tony like to party.
11:34 - Depart for downtown, after all we do have noon lunch reservations.
11:38 - After seeing some decently-sized properties on the drive, one of the lighter shaded people in the car remarked about the "country estates", while one of the darker shaded people in our car - one who knows the history of former General Nathan Bedford Forrest and Indiana - stated, "You say country estate, I see plantation!"
11:58 - Arrive at St. Elmo. While waiting for the hostess to show us to the table, we notice the private bottle reserved shelf, including one labeled "Nantz".
12:07 - During a random discussion on the movie Mannequin, waiter comes out cracking jokes.
12:18 - SHRIMP COCKTAIL!!! If you don't know about St. Elmo's shrimp cocktail, then you don't know.
13:03 - We had to discuss the purse/bag policies with the women in the group to make sure we are all in compliance, at which point Sinickal summarizes the policy by stating, "If it's more than 6 inches, it has to be see through",
13:05 - Pepster pontificates about something, Hopps declares, "Well that's 30 seconds we won't get back".
13:15 - The steaks arrive. Now, both Pepster and Sinickal have been to St. Elmo's before and have been bragging to Racecar, Allison, Hopps, Tony and anyone else who will listen just how great this restaurant is, so it is understandable if it may not live up to the hype that we have built for the establishment. After everyone tries their meals, Hopps exclaims, "I want to hug this steak"!
13:18 - Tony, Sinickal and Pepster order a bourbon to drink with the steak, a Woodford that is especially and solely made for St. Elmo's. They have two flavors of Woodford made especially for St. Elmo's, and in a newsflash, we will try them both.
13:48 - Tony explaining the complexity, depth and quantity of an Italian meal from his home growing up. Allison reminds him that she does not eat red meat, to which Tony responds, "That's OK, my Mom will make you a ham".
14:40 - Our short lunch is complete. Pepster announces that St. Elmo Steak House is number 2 on his list of steak houses in the country, behind only Bern's in Tampa and just ahead of the Chicago Chop House. Sinickal proclaims that St. Elmo, "Is number 1, has always been number 1, and is still number 1 with a bullet".
14:48 - Kentucky is out IN FORCE. They must have all just driven in today.
15:01 - Best shirt seen so far. Red, with a white outline of the State of Wisconsin with the words written across it, "Drink Wisconsibly".
15:08 - Walk into Dick's Last Resort, and this place is PACKED. Try to sidle up to the bar when a bartender tells people just to shout out their order. Sinickal from the back is the loudest, so we get our drinks first. At least one person in front of us remarks, "Did you just skip us?"
15:11 - Hopps sees that one of the girls that shouted that out has a shirt that reads "Free Hugs".
15:15 - While Sinickal, Pepster, Hopps and Tony are wearing their Southwestern Central shirt, a couple of older Wisconsin fans ask Pepster about SWC. We explain that we are coaches of the small SWC school in town for the National Association of Basketball Coaches conference. Pepster gets them to say "Stick 'em Scorpions".
15:17 - Almost identical conversation between Sinickal and three gentlemen at the bar, except Sinickal sees their NABC lanyards and credentials. He tells them directly, "Because you guys are actual coaches, we just had these shirts made so we can walk around and act like coaches and try to get into a party or two. One of the guys from Yale doubles over in laughter and exclaims, "I wish I was smart enough to think of that". Pepster thought to tell him that if he was from Harvard he would have been, but thought better of it.
15:28 - Roll back in to the Cadillac Ranch. See the same bartender from the night before. Tired of cheap tips from young students/recent alums, she serves us immediately.
15:37 - Michigan State alums start up their "Go Green", "Go White" chant. Pepster is incredulous that someone would be yelling out go whites in this day and age.
15:51 - Sinickal notices a man wearing a Syracuse shirt, so he walk by and states, "Go Orange". Dude goes nuts celebrating and gesticulating wildly.
15:57 - Bartender hands Sinickal a Cinnamon Toast Crunch shot. When Sinickal inquires where it came from, she pointed to the Syracuse guy. Somebody has an admirer.
16:11 - Two female Michigan State fans spotted walking down the street wearing green-and-white tutus. Sinickal notes that he didn't even know Michigan State had a ballet team.
16:34 - As Pepster was doing some maintenance, he hears another man ask the restroom attendant in Cadillac Ranch which team he was cheering for. The attendant declares, "Senegal"!
16:45 - Head into Taps and Dolls. Very understated/underrated establishment. We will hit this one up again.
16:51 - Hopps discovers Golden Tee. He and Sinickal begin round 2.
17:15 - The group spots a kid (early 20's) wearing an Indianapolis Colts Pat McAfee jersey. That's right a punter. Racecar remarks, "I didn't think they let punters even have jerseys".
17:28 - Fireball shots as we have to now walk to the stadium. A note for any future attendees, alcohol is not served in the stadiums for any NCAA tournament games.
17:29 - Just a note to put things in context, we only had 4 tickets, so Hopps and Tony remain at Taps and Dolls.
17:51 - Entering Lucas Oil stadium. No notes during the games from the stadium.
18:31 - Hopps and Tony are now friends with everyone in Taps and Dolls.
19:11 - Two girls approach Hopps and Tony, and one of them - a Michigan State alumna with a Spartan helmet painted on her face -asks Hopps and Tony, "Why do you hate unions?" They were not discussing unions. Second girl says that "I am sorry".
19:19 - Second girl states again, "I am sorry".
19:22 - First girl walks up to Tony and says that she has on video that he pushed her, and was going to show the cops. Tony did not push her, or anyone else. In fact, girl just walked up to Tony and said it.
19:22.1 - Somebody in our group in the bar is now angry, and it isn't Hopps.
19:22.3 - Second girl, "Oh my God, I am so sorry, I am so sorry, I am so sorry".
19:26 - Bartender's boyfriend sees what is going on and buys Hopps and Tony a shot. We told you Hopps and Tony had made friends with everyone in the bar - well, except for girl 1.
19:33 - Bartender buy's Hopps and Tony a shot.
20:41 - I lied, but I had to mention this. Inside Lucas Oil Stadium is the "Indiana Football Hall of Fame". It consists of two bookcases placed side-to-side in one of the concourses. Just two bookcases.
21:21 - Hopps and Tony head home.
23:44 - Head to Granite City Brewery for some post game food.
23:44.1 - Sinickal realizes the kid next to him is an absolutely despondent Kentucky fan.
23:58 - The kid next to Sinickal starts talking about how he played for Shaka Smart in Dayton when Smart was a video coach. The time frame doesn't match up, so Sinickal starts questioning him. During the conversation the kid asks Sinickal where he went, and Sinickal said Syracuse. Kid starts to pontificate about how tough 1998 was for them losing to Kentucky in 1998 with Michael Doleac and Keith van Horn. Sinickal reminds him that those two guys played for Utah and that Sinickal said S-Y-R-A-C-U-S-E. Taps Pepster in and remarks that the kid was bringing up big, slow white guys from Utah. Pepster responds by saying that Utah did have Andre Miller. Sinickal says, "Oh yeah, short, slow, white dude". This kid - who for reference was not white - becomes even more despondent and subsequently leaves.
24:02 - Racecar strikes up a conversation with the couple next to her who traveled 9 1/2 hours from Omaha just for the Final Four with no rooting interest for any team. States that the 9 1/2 hour drive was nice, but there is nothing between Omaha and Indianapolis, well, except a few casinos.
24:05 - Same lady shows Racecar a picture of Shaq, who happened to stop by the suite she was in. We are going to try to find them Monday, for sure.
24:14 - Food finally arrives. I say finally because at that hour the bar only serves appetizers. Definitely not the same experience as Champs.
Time unknown - Return home.
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