Final Four Chronicles - The Semi-Finals

April 6, 2019

Today is the day when basketball starts.  Fans of all four teams are hopeful that their team will play well tonight and move on to the championship.  Yes - even Auburn fans who know this tourney run is going to be vacated.  Fans of all four teams are out-and-about, milling around, carousing, and having a good time - as will your crew from WeMakeItRain.

8:00 - Tony and Dr. Pepper wake up, make coffee, and almost break the coffee table, thus waking everyone else up.

8:30 - Sinickal and Pepster finally acknowledge the coffee table incident and decide to get out of bed themselves.

9:50 - We have our second Whip Appeal reference of the weekend.

10:10 - Dr. Pepper explains that "I've got something wrong with me!"

10:22 - Pepster asks Sinickal if just by hanging out with two guys from Providence at one time makes us an accessory to something or if it was a RICO violation.

10:45 - To Breakfast at Our Kitchen.

10:49 - Our Kitchen is closed for Plumbing repairs.  Good thing Gigi's is right across the street.

10:47 - What is that, velvet?

10:52 - Gigi's is a place where you order at the counter and pay, then sit down and they bring the food to you.  Waitress that took our order mistakes Sinickal's and Dr. Pepper's orders and has Dr. Pepper pay for Sinickal's.  When Sinickal steps up to pay, the order she recites to him is wrong, and that is when we realize what happened.  She must think they both look alike.  Pepster and Tony say some version of this to themselves at the exact same time, because, you know, apparently they all look alike to the waitress.

10:59 - Sheena Easton's Strut starts playing over the Muzak.  This was way funnier and more important than we can accurately relay here.

11:17 - Dr. Pepper almost spills his coffee on the floor.  This is going to be a long day, or at least a long breakfast.

11:58 - Back to the house.  Watch CBS basketball program Four Sides while getting ready.  Sinickal takes a quick cat nap, but every now and then comes back into the conversation.  Dr. Pepper dubs him "The corpse".

13:48 - Heading downtown.  Crazily enough, two Uber Xs were cheaper than 1 Uber XL.

14:12 - At Runyon's.  This is going to be the home bar for both the WeMakeItRain crew and the Southwestern Central coaching staff.  All the tables are full when we walk in, but one table starts to leave within minutes.  Five Michigan State guys that just walked into the bar try to go claim to the table, by Dr. Pepper subtly sidles pass them and sits down.  I mean, we were there first.

14:42 - In response to Sinickal blurting out a random comment, Dr. Pepper notes that "A non-sequitur is a thinking man's Tourette's.

15:12 - Our new Patron Saint Adia Barnes leads the Arizona basketball team to the Women's NIT Championship.

15:38 - In response to conversations about older siblings, Dr. Pepper makes the comment "it's a problem when your older sister acts like your momma," to which Pepster sneaks in "that's only a problem if you're Oedipus".

15:50 - Waitress asks if we can stay the rest of the day at Runyon's because we have been "like her bodyguards".  We took this as a compliment.

16:00 - Heading toward the stadium.  We have walked less than 2 blocks and Pepster claims he is already thirsty. It must be the time change.

16:12 - Try to stop into the Pourhouse for one last drink before the games.  We are stopped at the door because The Pourhouse was closed for a private party, which is exactly what the manager said.  "The Pourhouse is closed for a private party".  Not "We are closed".  "The Pourhouse is closed".  Apparently pretentiousness exists in Minneapolis also.

16:13 - A second person in the last 3 blocks screams out "Syracuse sucks" in response to Sinickal's pullover.  Sinickal turns and sees the dude repping nobody and replies, "At least I went to college!"

16:14 - Go to Mercury, across the street from the Pourhouse.  Surprisingly, this place is not that crowded.

16:24 - Jody Cox, Pepster's friend from the West Palm area meets up with us at Mercury.

16:32 - Start talking with Amanda and Amber at the bar.  Amber instinctively says, "No, that isn't my stripper name.  It's my real name.  My stripper name is Autumn!"  They had a third friend who left as we arrived by pseudo-arguing with Amanda and Amber about whether or not they should all sleep naked.

16:52 - Tony, admiring a picture of a woman on Amanda's phone decides to show Sinickal, at which point Sinickal tells him, "That's not a woman, that's art".  It was a wooden sculpture.

16:53 - It turns out that Amanda is like us in that she just likes to go to Final Fours.  She has been going since 1998.  She pulls out a spread sheet with a complete list of Final Four parties.  Not the NCAA's events that you can find in a program or online, but of parties.  We will meet up with them later!  This is Amber's first.

16:54 - After finding out that we chronicle our trips on this blog, Amber exclaims, I am going to add to your blog with this story.  Turns out - she did.

16:56 - Amber isn't very girly when it comes to nail maintenance and other things, and she shows a picture of her feet so that Sinickal can tell her, "Yeah, that isn't open-toe worthy!".

17:16 - Leaving Mercury, a girl outfitted head-to-toe in Texas Tech girl stops Tony, dressed in his University of Texas shirt, to say "Congrats on the NIT; 69th best team in the country!".

17:27 - While taking a picture of the outside of the stadium, a shorter, older couple stands next to Sinickal to do the same thing.  While noting that people kept getting in their way, Sinickal tells her, "Well, I am significantly taller than you".  Thinking Sinickal might have undersold that line, Pepster says "I am not sure significantly is the proper adverb".  Lady responds, "Yes, it is!"

17:29 - Enter the stadium.  Stadium is at the concourse level and just walking into the door you can see that this place is amazing.  GREAT stadium.  Pepster tells the ticket-checker that this stadium looks amazing.  She says, "Thank you, I built it myself".

17:31 - They sell beer.  I repeat - THEY SELL BEER!!!  This is astounding.  This is the first year that has been allowed.  We remark that it is great that they sell beer.  The bartender asks us if we want red or white wine!

Mostly radio silence during the first game, except to say Pepster called out "First team to 50 wins" (That was Virginia, by the way).

17:59 - Once again in the beer line, lady behind us asks what did we order.  Pepster says, this is the best beer I have ever had at the Final 4.  She inquires again, "What is it?" Sinickal says, "Doesn't matter!"

19:09 - Stupidest foul in the history of fouls.  Dumb mistake, but you cannot make that foul.  Either way, it meant that Pepster was right, first team to 50 won.  Pepster proclaims the same rule for the second game.

19:26 - Sinickal asks a woman in a generic gray sweater why she wasn't reppin' her school (Michigan).  She replied that this is what the internet told me to wear when she googled "what to wear to a game when you have no rooting interest!"

Mostly radio silence during the second game.

20:55 - A Texas Tech alumna seeing Tony's Texas shirt asks him, "What do you do with an NIT Championship banner?"

21:23 - Sinickal to Dr. Pepper - "Welcome back, bruh - we missed you."

21:50 - Leave stadium with under 3 minutes to go because the game is over.

22:07 - Guy in Kentucky garb walking behind us is asked for which team he was cheering.  His response, "Alcohol."

22:09 - Pedicab driver on the sidewalk ringing his bell and saying "On your left".  After he says this roughly a dozen times, Sinickal tells him that it wouldn't be a problem if he was either on the street or moving faster than we were walking.  Girl in the back of the Pedicab yells out, "He can't help it, I'm a heavy bitch!"

22:15 - Enter the Pourhouse.  Great music, but we are twice as old as everyone there.  Still stuck around for a couple.

23:20 - Head to City Works to meet back up with Amanda and Amber.  They did not go to the game.  So, Amanda goes to the Final Four - just not the games.

23:27 - Head to Gluek's since City Works was apparently too busy to serve its customers.  We hope that we are not seeing a repeat of Houston.

24:31 - Guy wearing a shirt that says, "Good coaches win.  Great coaches cover!"

23:58 - Walking near a couple of people when Sinickal turns to Pepster and says, "Desperate people look at them to see what desperate looks like".

00:22 - Pizza Luce, because IT IS THE ONLY PLACE SERVING FOOD AFTER 11.  THERE ARE NO PLACES SERVING FOOD LATE IN THIS CITY!

00:28 - A really, REALLY uncoordinated couple from Michigan State in line in front of us at Pizza Luce are trying to floss.  One looks at Sinickal and asks, "Do you know how to floss?"  Sinickal responds, "Yeah, two years ago when people were doing it!"

00:51 - Table behind us is 5 early twenty-somethings that don't seem overserved, but definitely have been served this evening.  They get loud in their conversations every now and then.  Not obnoxious, but loud enough so we can hear parts of their stories.  Like this one from one of the ladies. "Sober sex is overrated!"

00:59 - Same table discussing whether or not some other lady is a lesbian, when one of the ladies offers the definitive statement.  "I think she's a lesbian because she has made out with me!"

01:10 - As we are quietly winding down and finishing our pizza, an older man - 70s or 80s, walks up to us and says, "Are you guys in a gang?"  Sinickal pretends not to hear so that he doesn't have to beat this guy up.

01:18 - Lyft home.