NCAA Tournament Pool - FINAL RESULTS

It was a hard-fought, close battle to the end, but after the Finals, we have crowned an almost wire-to-wire champion.  Congratulations to longtime participant Kingfish Rod Parham from Atlanta, Georgia – who it should be noted joined us for a portion of the 2007 Final Four festivities.  Finishing in second place was first time entrant Si Nichols.  For the first time ever, we had a tiebreaker for the money.   Congratulations to first time entrant Paul John Reichert IV from – at least he last I knew, Atlanta, Georgia.  Losing the tiebreaker for the money was George Walks 1, from West Palm Beach. To the winners, I am taking a break from basketball for a couple of days, and I will organize the pool money (I am still waiting on a couple of payments), and then contact you about sending you the winnings.  The final tally is $255 for first, $106.25 for second and $63.75 for third.

A hearty non-congratulations to Braeden Helland of Jacksonville, Florida for finishing in 86^th place.  He wins his money back!

The pick of the weekend goes to Team Sheehan, consisting of Traci and Kyle Sheehan of Jupiter, Florida, who correctly selected Duke over Wisconsin in the Final game.  They were the highest team to have selected both finalists and a Duke champion.  Rumor has it that this was truly a collaborative effort in that both Traci and Kyle would select who they wanted for each game, and if there was a difference, they selected Traci’s choice!

For those that still need to pay, PayPal can be sent to sosalaw@yahoo.com and for Google Wallet please use pepsosa21@gmail.com.

I apologize for the last standings, as it seems all entrants did not show on the website, but they did all show on the mobile version.  I am retyping this from scratch to try to avoid this problem.

Please check my math for any mistakes and let me know if you find a discrepancy, unless it does not affect the money – then don’t bother!

Thanks again for a great tournament.  I hope to see everyone next year.  I might be recalibrating the point system to make next year even more exciting, but don’t worry – we will still give bonus points for upsets!!!

NCAA TOURNAMENT POOL FINAL STADINGS

1.            Kingfish Rod Parham – 134

2.            Si Nichols 1 – 131

3.            Paul John Reichert IV 2 – 130 Wins via tiebreaker

                George Walks 1 – 130

5.            Adam Jorgenson – 128

6.            Paul John Reichert IV 1 – 123

7.            Silas Nichols – 121

8.            Debbie Nieman – 120

9.            Traci and Kyle Sheehan – 117

10.          Jacey Fowler II – 115

11.          Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 2 – 113

                Si Nichols 2 – 113

13.          Anthony LaPira – 110

                Steven Usma 2 – 110

15.          Joshua Zdrowak – 109

16.          Cory Mauro – 108

                Allison Parker – 108

18.          Greg Kummerlen  - 107

19.          Ty Leatherman – 105

                Day Yi – 105

21.          Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds – 103

                Koma Gandy – 103

23.          Griffey Parker – 101

24.          Brent Bellinger – 99

                Brian Spatchek – 99

26.          Jacey Fowler I – 98

                George Walks 4 – 98

28.          Sasha Moon – 97

29.          Trenton May – 94

                Ashley Poer 1 – 94

                Stacia Wilkaitis 2 – 94

32.          Albert Harper III – 92

                Barkley Sosa – 92

                George Walks 2 – 92

35.          Colleen Hamilton – 91

                Kim Bancsi Lumpkin 1 – 91

                Noel Martinez – 91

38.          Steffan Alexander – 90

                Serena Davila – 90

                Jed Dorsey – 90

                Matt Hopps – 90

                Jonathan Wasserman – 90

                Amy Zdrowak – 90

44.          Hannah Sosa – 89

                Cheryl Spuhler – 89

46.          Alex King – 88

                Sam Lozier – 88

48.          Eric Inge – 87

                Karen Katz – 87

                Michael Litsey – 87

                Kareem Montague – 87

52.          Jessica Koch – 86

                Steven Usma 1 – 86

54.          Alvaro Gonzalez – 85

                Arlene Hopps – 85

                Matt Nieman – 85

57.          George Walks 3 – 83

58.          Rich Samuels 2 – 82

59.          Carolyn Fowler – 81

60.          Jen Mahoney - 80

61.          Ashley Poer 2 – 79

                Jason Schultz – 79

                Abigail Sosa – 79

                Steven Usma 4 – 79

65.          Mac Kroesen – 78

                Pepe Sosa – 78

67.          Kyle Henderson 2 – 77

                Stacia Wilkaitis 1 – 77

                Hershey Zdrowak – 77

70.          Steven Usma 3 – 76

71.          Erin Devlin – 75

                Katie Butler Litsey – 75

                Chad Upson – 75

                Katie Zdrowak – 75

75.          Rich Samuels 1 – 74

                Justin Yung – 74

77.          Vic LaPira – 73

                Jane Reynolds – 73

79.          George Walks 5 – 71

80.          Rich Samuels 3 – 69

                Keith Zdrowak – 69

82.          Martha Kroesen – 68

83.          Jason Spuhler – 67

84.          Kyle Henderson 1 – 65

85.          Chris Kroesen – 56

86.          Braeden Helland - 51

Final Four Chronicles - The Departure (Day 5)

Today is the day that we all return to our respective homes, families, jobs and responsibilities.  So rather than take everyone through a diary, I want to just share with you some of my thoughts about the Final Four, Indianapolis, and other thoughts of the weekend.  This our my thoughts, and I am sure that some are the same as the rest of the entourage, while some might be different.

First off, Indianapolis is an amazing city to host a big event.  It is small and compact so that nearly everyone in town for the event is in the same 8 or 10 square block area.  Some may not like the congestion, but it makes it really easy to spot those like-minded individuals that are all in town for the same reason.  Plus, it has St. Elmo!

As far as the atmosphere surrounding the event, one thing stood out among all others.  The stupid multi-colored overalls.  Now, this must be predominately a Midwest thing as almost all of the overalls were red-white (Wisconsin) or green-white (Michigan State), and almost always worn with the buttons undone.  This trend needs to stop and it needs to stop NOW!

Also, we could not turn anywhere during the day without encountering Pedal Bars.  These are the 8/10/12 seater bikes with the people facing each other and pedaling to move the bike forward - in traffic - while drinking.  Although some in our group like them and think they are fun, others hated them and wanted to physically destroy the vehicles.  I am not quite at either extreme, but I do not understand them at all.  If you want to ride bikes with your friends, by all means do, but if you want to hang out and drink with your friends, you can do that almost anywhere - without having to bike.  Plus, the questions of open container and driving under the influence are in play.  How is this legal?

I also want to commend the "new" business models, as they helped us tremendously, were incredibly reliable and cheap.  We stayed in a home that we found on AirBnB - or somewhere similar - and the house was great, close, and allowed us to relax a lot more than we could have in a hotel.  All 6 of us stayed in the house together, rather than in just individual rooms, and it was by far cheaper overall than the 4 hotel rooms we would have needed.  Likewise, Uber was a blessing.  It was quick - just as quick as a cab - reliable, and much cheaper than a cab.  If you are not using Uber for your public transportation, you need to look into it.  It is fantastic, and the arguments against it fascinate me as they are so asinine and irrelevant.

One other corporate note, Pepster and Racecar missed their connecting flight home because of a delay in their first leg.  As the de-plane in Philadelphia, an agent for US Airways meets them in the concourse with new boarding passes for their new flight.  Even though we got home 2 hours later than normal, thank you US Airways for making the missed flight situation much easier.

As for basketball, Lucas Oil Stadium is tremendous.  It is large, but no bad sight-lines.  It must be awesome to watch a football game at that stadium.

As for the games, the first semi-final was a bore, and in the second, which was the best game of the weekend, Kentucky self-destructed rather than Wisconsin winning.  Even with the no call on the shot clock violation, which was obvious even in the upper section where we were located, Kentucky's play-calling - or lack thereof - down the stretch was the Wildcats' demise.  It is a shame too, because the Towns-Okafor matchup is what everyone in college basketball needed to see.  After watching the final, which was exciting, but sloppy, I am convinced that Kentucky beats Duke.  But, alas, that is why you have to win 6 games.

Being at an invent like this, especially in the games, you miss the the post-game stuff, so I didn't even know anything about Andrew Harrison's comment about Frank Kaminsky, which albeit crude, was more of a non-issue than anything else.  Bo Ryan's comments, however, were not a non-issue.

First he basically blamed the officials for Wisconsin losing the game.  Wisconsin, you were up 9 in the second half.  Okafor and Winslow had 4 fouls each, while Okafor missed most of the game due to foul trouble.  And, how come you didn't complain about the officiating the game before when you benefited from the obvious no call on the shot-clock violation?

Second, he goes off on the one-and-done players, saying he is close to his seniors because they stay in college their entire career.  Like Ryan would not have taken Jones and Okafor if they wanted to stay in the Midwest and go the Wisconsin.  And if that is the case, Sam Dekker better stay for his senior year, or else Ryan is a hypocrite.  Some have suggested that by "one-and-done" Bo Ryan meant the fifth year seniors that come to a team for only 1 year and then leave.  That cannot be true, but if it is, Duke and Kentucky do not have those players.  A good example of that type of player is Russell Wilson.

So on the big stage, Wisconsin makes it to the championship game, plays well enough to win, and their players are stuck with a hypocrite, sore-loser coach.  Immediately after Ryan's press conference Doug Gottlieb tweeted out that this is the coach that Big 10 journalists cover all year.  It's a good thing Ryan didn't make the Hall of Fame or else the fans would have booed him like they did Calipari - oh wait - that was the Wisconsin fans!

Final Four Chronicles - The Final (Day 4)

The Finals are upon us, and although today would be much better if Kentucky were in the Finals (primarily because Pepster is a Kentucky fan and Racecar is by proxy, but also because the Towns v. Okafor head-to-head match up is what college basketball needed to see), we are going to more than enjoy it anyway.

Morning - No Zing Zang, so no bloody marys.

10:23 - As we are getting ready, Trading Places comes on television.  A quick IMDB search shows that Kristin Holby, who played Penelope, did exactly 2 movies:  Trading Places and Manhunter.  She established her own line of dresses and owns a dress shop in Larchmont, NY.  Who knew?

11:37 - Depart for downtown.

11:45 - Pass by a Ponderosa - keep driving.

11:57 - Milktooth for brunch, and it is much less crowded today.

12:04 - Sinickal sees Stroh's on the menu, so he orders one, quickly followed by Hopps, Tony and Pepster.  After a brief discussion about the nostalgia of Stroh's, Racecar sees that it is only $3 and states "Drink up boys".

13:15 - After a brilliant brunch for all (but a little small for Hopps), Hopps inquires, "Where are we going to eat?"

13:29 - Leave Milktooth.

14:01 - After some delay in finding a space, we are finally parked downtown.  At this point we decide to split up.  Sinickal, Hopps, Tony, Racecar and Pepster proceed to the NCAA Hall of Champions while Allison goes to the neighboring Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.

14:06 - Allison enters the Eiteljorg.

14:09 - Everyone else enters the NCAA Hall of Champions.  Racecar's entry is free because she "ran" the Road to the Final Four 5K.

14:12 - We find the video trivia games related to NCAA sports.  We skip the rowing, lacrosse, softball, cross-country, outdoor track and field, indoor track and field, wrestling, volleyball and others, while sticking to football and basketball.

14:14 - Racecar notices a tribute to a golfer, with a quote from the golfer's coach.  Racecar knows the coach, and immediately texts him a picture of his attributed quote in the NCAA Hall of Champions.

14:29 - Enter the actual Hall of Champions with all of the yearly plaques.  So many great and recognizable athletes from across the spectrum of sports.

14:31 - Allison sees a display which includes pictures and information about a known relative of hers!!!

14:44 - Sinickal notices the almost half court set up in the Hall of Champions, and more importantly notices the sign, "No scrimmaging for your safety".

14:45 - Sinickal and Pepster go into the half court to put up some shots.  Pepster hits a few, and they stay until Sinickal hits one.

14:46 - Although no scrimmaging is allowed, a young kid drives to the hoop on an adult - who is most likely an older relative.  The relative blocks the kids shot off the wall.

14:47 - Notice marks on the floor of the gym with names, dates and information on famous last second shots.  Just behind the free throw line is, of course, Laettner.  Pepster laments the absence of a Keith Smart notation.

14:49 - Pepster and Sinickal cannot find the "One Shining Moment" tribute, which contains every single one ever made.  When inquiring about the location of "One Shining Moment", a hall worker explains that after the electrical fire to the building in 2006, they never replaced the One Shining Moment.  This is absolutely devastating.

15:09 - Enter TGI Fridays.  This also answers the question why did Sinickal and Pepster even go to TGI Fridays during the 2006 Final Four - it was because it is the closest bar to the Hall of Champions.  Also, it is the location of the meeting that Pepster and Sinickal had with the UCLA cheerleader sin 2006, when the discussion of Joakim Noah's ugliness occurred.  For those that remember, the UCLA cheerleaders later chastised Noah about his looks during the game.  Neither Pepster or Sinickal take DIRECT credit for that.

15:11 - Notify Allison that we are at TGI Fridays.  She is now at the Hall of Champions.

15:41 - Racecar, while catching up on some work related e-mails, orders a second beverage, while the guys who were mostly chatting and talking smack to each other notice that they are not yet ready for a second.  Racecar informs them that it is "Time to put on your big boy pants".

16:34 - Allison re-joins the group after having some much needed time away.

17:22 - After attempting to have dinner at the Weber Grill (1 1/2 hour wait), the group heads to Champps.  Tony's bartender is NOT there.

17:49 - Hopps comes out of the restroom stating that there was an "appropriate level of ass fresh".  Assuming he meant air freshener, this was a funny Freudian slip.  He didn't.

19:14 - After getting a roadie, which is legal in Indianapolis so long as it comes in the original container in which it was sold - no unnecessary plastic cups - we wander around some merchandise tents.  The group decides to split up.  Tony, Allison, Racecar and Pepster head over to the NCAA promenade by the stadium, Sinickal and Hopps head to ... wait for it ... Taps and Dolls.

19:30 - Sinickal and Hopps begin playing Golden Tee.

19:51 - While in the craft beer line, Pepster hears the two guys behind us talking television shows when one states - rather emphatically - the best show of all times is The Simpsons.  The second says that he automatically discounts this because it is a cartoon.  Pepster cannot refrain and just tears down the second guy with facts like the length of time The Simpsons has been on the air, the number of Emmys, and starts rattling off countless classic episodes, especially ones that have been repeated.  He even cites a South Park  episode in which the kids try to come up with plans to take over the world - only each of their plans was already on The Simpsons.  The guys notice Pepster and Tony's Southwestern Central shirts and inquire, and they immediately eat up the story.  Pepster and Tony fully convince these guys that the programming at the NABC conference was exceptional - including the seminar on addressing student-athlete's social media accounts.

19:54 - A side note, these two guys were Wisconsin fans, as were 97% of all people in the promenade.  2.8% were neutral.

19:59 - Arriving at the beer truck to order, and the two bartenders on that side are arguing with each other.  After about 30 seconds, Pepster rattles off the four beers for Allison, Tony, Racecar, and him.  Bartender turns to Pepster and says, "we will be with you in a minute".  Pepster responds by repeating his order.  These bartenders probably made thousands this week, but if they hustled, they could have made tens of thousands!

20:30 - The NCAA Promenade is practically empty.  It is almost game time!

20:34 - Sinickal and Hopps reappear.  We only have four tickets, so the two ladies head for home.

21:01 - Enter Lucas Oil stadium.  As we enter the north entrance, two ushers are yelling to the crowd that it is easier to use the south or west gates, while another is saying that it is easier to use the east or west gates.  The north seemed pretty easy, it took us 30 seconds.

21:10 - At our seats.  The crowd is 99% red.  The Duke student section behind the basket is not even full.

21:18 - Game time!  No posts during the game.

21:24 - OK, so I lied.  There are four Duke fans in front of us.  The all have face paint and one of them has E-K-U-D painted on her cheek.  So the mirrored lied and none of her friends said anything about it.

22:45 - Jump Around comes on the loudspeaker and predictably, the Wisconsin fans go nuts.  Sinickal wants to know why Wisconsin is stuck in 1993.

23:50 - They show One Shining Moment on the jumbotrons and large screen.  Pepster is incredibly happy.

23:52 - Pepster and Sinickal notice that Jahlil Okafor doesn't not even make the All-Tournament team.  They both figure he went for a work out because he didn't even break a sweat during the game.

23:54 - Leave Lucas Oil stadium.

00:05 - Enter Taps and Dolls.  Doorman just waves Hopps, Tony, Sinickal and Pepster in, despite the line.

00:06 - Hopps and Sinickal play Golden Tee - AGAIN!  This is well passed a problem for these two.

1:02 - Sinickal wants it known that he beat Hopps at Golden Tee by a hole-in-one on 16, thus tying the match, and holing out on 18.  Nobody else cares.

01:15 - Time to go.  However, the owner notices Tony and Hopps and decides to give the four of us a tour of the entire place.  They are remodeling, but the building will be about 6 separate bars, one of which has the capacity of 1,800.
02:10 - Uber home.  As we leave downtown Sinickal asks the driver, Sherry, what the towns people thought of Lucas Oil Stadium because it looks enormous from the outside.  Sherry responds that "nothing can ever be too big".

02:16 - Hopps notes that "It gets dark early here".  Pepster responds, yeah, like 2:30 in the morning.

02:24 - Arrive at the house.

Final Four Chronicles - The Interregnum (Day 3)

No games today, so we are getting a little later (read slower) start than usual.  Let's see where the day takes us.

11:23 - First bloody Mary.  Must remember to buy more Zing Zang for tomorrow.

11:44 - ESPN shows a random tweet from a viewer/listener to SVP, Russillo and Stanford Steve, "Don't you think a 1 loss SEC team should make the championship game?"

12:58 - Depart for downtown.  Very interested in having brunch at Milktooth.

13:31 - Hoaglin-to-go for brunch.  Milktooth was way too crowded.  We don't mind waiting, but the hostess could not guarantee we would be seated before they closed.  Brunch was still fantastic.  Perhaps Milktooth tomorrow.

13:45 - While ordering our meal, Mandy, our waitress, asked Racecar which type of potatoes she wanted for her side.  Racecar asked what was the difference between the two.  Mandy's response, "Depends on if you are dieting".  Racecar ordered one and Mandy said, "Apparently you aren't dieting".

15:21 - We split off into two groups.  One consisting of Hopps, Sinickal and Tony, with the other being Pepster, Racecar and Allison.

15:22 - The first group heads to Tilted Kilt for beers and Golden Tee, while the second heads to the NCAA Hall of Champions.

15:56 - After stopping through the NCAA outdoor promenade for some fun, Pepster, Racecar and Allison realize that the Hall of Champions is a bit further away than they thought.  They decide to head into the NCAA FanFest, which is right where they are.

16:03 - Encounter with 6 of the Colts cheerleaders.

17:01 - Racecar and Allison go to see Christian Laettner.  Pepster goes to the restroom and the bar so that he doesn't do something that will get him arrested.

17:51 - Pepster, Racecar and Allison meet up with the others at the Tilted Kilt to head to the Heat-Pacers game.  Hopps and Sinickal are still playing Golden Tee.  When asked if anything interesting happened for use in this diary, Sinickal replied, "Just this".

18:22 - Entered Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

18:56 - During a time out, the Indiana Pacemates perform.  They are NOT, the Miami Heat dancers.

19:05 - CJ Miles hits two consecutive threes and hits three out of four shots.  Hopps remarks that this might be his second favorite CJ Miles.

19:27 - Pepster, Sinickal and Hopps leave the seats to purchase refreshments during halftime.  Sinickal and Pepster strike up a conversation with a security guard, who for some reason decides he wants to show them the picture he has on his phone of a picture of Bobby Knight being ejected from the game where he threw the chair onto the basketball court.  Why did he show us the picture, because he was in the background!  We somehow attract all the crazies.

20:32 - Pepster sees a guy wearing a Pacers shirt that read vertically, John Paul George Ringo, with Paul George highlighted.

20:39 - Leave Bankers Life.

20:42 - Hopps sees a group of young (boys, males, guys?) all wearing skinny jeans. Hopps believe they misunderstood the old adage, "trying to get into girls pants".

20:51 - Head to Taps and Dolls.  As the doorman goes to check our ideas, the managers calls the doorman over.  Doorman let's us straight in and comes up and high fives Hopps and Tony.  We told you they became friends with everyone there yesterday.

20:52 - In what is starting to become a pattern, Hopps and Sinickal head straight to the Golden Tee machine.

21:46 - Pepster and Racecar strike up a conversation with two distraught Kentucky fans.  One of them happens to be State Representative Dean Schamore, a Democrat from Breckenridge, Hancock and Hardin.  

21:57 - Just as Pepster's set he entered on his TouchTunes app was about to start - literally Fat Joe's We Make It Rain was next on the queue - the machine shuts off so the DJ can start.  The DJ plays Taylor Swift and Adele in his first two songs, a far cry from the list Pepster had, which included BBD's Poison, Big Sean, Nelly's Ride Wit Me, Run-DMC, Shaggy's Hey Sexy Lady, The Humpty Dance among others.  Playing the role of Hopps tonight will be Pepster.

22:31 - Pepster heads to the bar to order the next round.  The girl next to him is also waiting, when her friend runs up to her and says, "Don't forget another round of shots".  First girl tells her that they just finished shots, should just drink their beers for a bit, and be responsible.  Second girl says, "Fuck Responsibility".  First girl turns to me and says, "It's easy to say that when it's not your tab".  Way too early for her to be bitter at her friend - but she was.

23:02 - Pepster wins a Dougie contest.  He just brought out his B-minus game because everyone else was from Wisconsin.

Time Unknown - Leave for home, but not before a spirited debate in the care fueled by "what should we have to eat".  The group pulls a Harold and Kumar.  Too bad we forgot the Zing Zang.

Time Really Unknown - Pepster - who is not necessarily a light sleeper - is awakened by a light noise.  After laying in bed, he determines that it sounds like someone in the room is talking lightly and he concludes it must be a ghost.  After investigating a bit more, he learns that it is Hopps who is just snoring - 3 ROOMS AWAY!

Final Four Chronicles - The Semis (Day 2)

Day Two has arrived, and the games will commence.  And, we will have our first basketball of the weekend as well.

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.

Final Four Chronicles - The Arrival (Day 1)

As many of you loyal readers already know, the entirety of WeMakeItRain have traveled together to Indianapolis, Indiana, for the Final Four, the first time Hopps, Pepster and Sinickal have been to a Final Four together since Atlanta 2007.  This time we brought reinforcements in the persons of Racecar, Allison, and Tony.  Unlike whatever CBS tells you, it was not a road, per se, as we arrived via air (at least to Cincinnati) then drove in from there.  The adventures started early.

6:08 - Pepster and Racecar are stopped by security so that TSA can check Racecar's carry-on.  The find the contraband - a wine key!  The crazy part of this is that we packed two in our checked luggage!  I guess you cannot have too many wine keys, and this trip is not lacking in the proper preparation.

6:50 - Pepster and Racecar are wheels up to Cincinnati (via Charlotte).

8:22 - Sinickal and Allison are wheels up to Cincinnati.

8:30 - Tony is wheels up to Cincinnati.

10:30 - Tony arrives in Cincinnati, but he cannot have a drink because the airport bars are all closed.

10:30 - Hopps is wheels up to Cincinnati.

11:08 - Sinickal and Allison arrive in Cincinnati, but they cannot have a drink because the airport bars are all closed.

11:17 - Pepster and Racecar arrive in Cincinnati; meet up with the others; decide that Hopps arrives significantly later enough to rent the car and go out of the airport to eat.

11:54 - Arrive and Hebron Brew House, first group beer (minus Hopps).

12:53 - Hopps texts us that he has arrived at the airport.  Sinickal and Pepster decide to give him the address to the restaurant and he can cab it to us.  In the meantime, Sinickal and Tony regale Racecar with stories of times that Hopps has become angry over absolutely nothing before, including the time a Potbelly employee heated his tuna sandwich.

13:12 - We look outside the window of HBH to see Hopps arguing with the cabbie.  

13:18 - AND WE'RE OFF!!!  Hopps tells first joke that is not printable.  It is not quite R. Kelly 2003 bad, but still will not be printed here.  The joke includes death.

13:48 - While talking about things from the 90's, Hopps tells the story of his appearance on the Game Show Studs.  He forgot that he was to go on the dates, took both of the girls out on the last day allowable to appear on the show, and the first one had a broken leg.

14:21 - We see an anti-abortion sign on the sign of the highway, Hopps states that "Nothing takes a kid out of you like abortion".  Not having seen the sign, Racecar asks, "Is that a bumper sticker"?

14:37 - Tony to Hopps, after some interesting, intellectual conversations about the religious significance of this weekend - Hopps has two degrees in religion - sorry to gang up on you Hopps, but we felt we had to crucify someone.

14:40 - Stopped at a rest area, and see a truck stop hooker leave one 18-wheeler and get into another one.

14:44 - While discussing what "groceries" we are going to buy when we get to the house, Hopps exclaims, "Jameson's is f'n CANDY at 7:00 in the morning".

15:00 - Salt-n-Pepa comes on iTunes, and discussion about just how good Spinderella looks followed by Hopps stating, "The others look the back side of a nut sack".  He is definitely on a roll, and we are 15 minutes out from meeting the realtor at our house for the weekend.

15:08 - Realtor calls and thought we said 6:30.  A bit of a setback, but we find close to the house:

15:13 - Murphy's Pub House.

17:50 - Check into house.  It is much, much better than any hotel (and cheaper too!).

18:10 - Grocery run.

18:57 - After bringing in the groceries, Hopps states, "Crack me open a beer; I'll go shut the tailgate".

20:23 - Ubering to downtown sans Allison - let the festivities begin.  Allison's excuse - she is running the Road to the Final Four 5K in the morning.  So is Racecar!

20:35 - We walk into the first bar we see and then promptly leave. $10 cover.  Pepster tells the doorman that he is 41 and doesn't pay cover.  Doorman emphatically states that "Everyone is charging a cover tonight".

20:38 - We walk into Cadillac Ranch - right next door to the previous establishment.  They are not charging a cover.  Wisconsin fans are out in full force.

20:48 - During a random discussion, Tony turns to Hopps to ask, "Who aren't you mad at?"

21:33 - Walking the streets to find another establishment, we come upon Claddagh (on the same block), and enter.  They also do not have a cover.

22:40 - Tilted Kilt!  Pepster observes that almost all of the employees should most definitely NOT be working here.  Wisconsin is REALLY out in full force.

22:43 - Sinickal and Hopps start a Golden Tee competition.

22:57 - Racecar Ubers home.

23:00 - Pepster returns inside the Tilted Kilt and Sinickal and Hopps are STILL playing Golden Tee.

23:39 - Leave Titled Kilt and on the street Tony remarks "All Wisconsin fans are pale".

23:43 - During Pepster's and Sinickal's pilgrimage, we walk into Le Meridian hotel bar and engage in a discussion in which both of us were right and wrong.  Sinickal insists the hotel was the Mike Tyson bar.  Pepster vehemently disagrees.  The magic answer box (smart phone), reminds us that it was the Canterbury hotel.  Pepster is right!!!  Then we leave to look at the address, the Canterbury hotel has become Le Meridian.  It WAS the actual location.  Sinickal was right!!!!

23:58 - Walk next door to St. Elmo to confirm our lunch reservation tomorrow!!!

00:05 - Walk into Champs to find some late night food.  Tony is mesmerized by the skirt of the bartender, or at least how she fills it out.  All the guys finish the evening with a various assortment of food, drink and stories!

 Time unknown - Uber home.  Yes it is still early - we think - but it is only Day 1.

My Final Four...

On Friday, We Make it Rain travels to Indianapolis for the Final Four. It will be my eighth time attending this event. I truly love attending this event, and I truly love attending it in mid-sized cities such as Indianapolis (religious freedoms aside). I got to thinking that I should rank my previous seven. Which was the best, and what did I like (not like) about each.

So without further ado, Sinickal's Final Fours, worst to best:

7.   Atlanta 2013 - Just an awful trip. I made a last minute decision to drive down to Atlanta since Syracuse made a nice run through the East Region including a dominant performance against Region #1 Seed, Indiana. I don’t even want to talk about this trip as Syracuse suffered an awful loss to Michigan in the semi-finals and I drove back to Washington DC in the middle of the night.

An. Awful. Trip.

Grade: D

6.   Indianapolis 2006 – This trip was okay, not great. Quite honestly, I don’t remember too much about it. Pepster and I were there, but I can’t remember who else. We were completely unprepared for Indiana’s Blue Laws and were essentially sober on Sunday Funday. I remember that there was a hotel west of the city. I am sure that we had fun.

      It was certainly better than Atlanta in 2013…

      Grade: C

5.   Atlanta 2007 – Home games suck! My advice to you is to always travel to big events. I was living approximately 500 yards from the Georgia Dome in 2007 and while it was great to hang out with Pepster and Hopps for the week, it was disappointing to do it at home. I get that there are a lot of South Florida people in the We Make It Rain Tournament Pool and I know that people come to you often for big events. I am telling you that home games suck and you should try to travel for Super Bowls, NCAA Bowl Games or the Final Four.

      Home games should be reserved for local teams and circuit events like golf tournaments and car races. All in all, still a really fun time.

      Grade: B-

4.   San Antonio 1998 – “Oh, what $1 can buy you in San Anton!” The defining quote by friend of the program, Marc R. Ended up with tickets to this Final Four and spent an abnormal amount of time on the Riverwalk hoping that we were not so drunk that we would fall in. San Antonio is a great big event city! All activities, including eating and drinking occur in a central area, and it attracts all of the teams, all of the fans and all of the celebrities. I am pretty sure that there is a picture of me and the entire UNC cheerleading squad.

      Good times. Really good times.

      Grade: B

3.   Minneapolis 1992 – This was my first Final Four, and it was outstanding! Duke chasing back-to-back national championships, the Fab Five as freshmen, and an underrated host city. This trip was made spectacular by a family friend who joined Sinickal and my father. Turned out, we were guests of former Texas head coach Tom Penders and had access to the National Association of Basketball Coaches social events. Great parties with iconic coaches and television personalities, and unbelievable seats to the games.

By all accounts, this trip should be ranked higher. You will see momentarily why it is not.

Grade: A

2.   East Rutherford 1996 – This was the last time that a Final Four was played in an arena, and I was in attendance. Kentucky and Syracuse in the finals and I was in attendance! Seats at mid court, row 17 for $35. Let me repeat that, the face value on the tickets was $35. We sat with NY Governor George Pataki and his family surrounded by security. We had better seats than most celebrities.

      And then…

      Tony. F. Delk.

      New York overwhelms anything going on in its metro area, and the Final Four was no different. You really couldn’t tell that you were attending something special. No matter, this was one of the great experiences I have ever had and it ranks second for me.

      Grade: A

1.      New Orleans 2003 – Your National Champion Syracuse Orangemen complete a spectacular tournament run on the backs of Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara. Pepster and I were in town for this one and it was one for the ages!

The drinking was excessive with beer and hurricanes at all hours.

The meals we cared about were out of this world.

The host (Pepster’s Aunt) was tolerant and entertaining.

The jokes are still funny…and I still can’t print the R. Kelly joke.

Alas, the precursor to this blog is no longer.

Grade: A+

I have no idea where this Final Four will rank, but I expect that on April 7^th I will be smiling again about another great trip to my favorite event.