Final Four Chronicles - The Departure

April 9, 2019

So we got an overtime final championship, which is exciting to watch.  Virginia earned their victory this year after the debacle that was University of Maryland-Baltimore County last year.  Not sure what makes up for the Chaminade loss.

Nowhere near as many entries today, as we were travelling home, so we might just make some observations on the Final Four in Minneapolis overall at the completion.

04:30 - Dr. Pepper enters Uber; driver setting his mood by bumping On to the Next One by Jay-Z featuring Swizz Beatz.

By 8:30 - Everyone else is up.  Realizes Dr. Pepper is gone.

Pre-10:00 - Leave the AirBnB as the maid was set to arrive at 10:00.

10:13 - Dr. Pepper is wheels down in Logan (11:13 EDT).

10:17 - Pepster, Sinickal and Tony arrive at Hell's Kitchen.  We ask if they have a spot to place our luggage.  Lo and behold, behind the counter is already other people's luggage.  Apparently this has happened before.

10:45 - Our appetizer plate of sausage arrives.  It is maple bison sausage, so it is unique.  Food runner says that looks like the best appetizer plate ever.

10:59 - Breakfast entrees of Huevos Rancheros with Bison Sausage (for Sinickal and Tony - it's the house favorite) and Bison Benedict (for Pepster).  Breakfast is amazing.  Sinickal and Tony note that there will be breakfasts here when they come back for a conference in a few months.

11:55 - As we carry our luggage up the stairs and out of Hell's Kitchen, Tony says out loud, they should have an elevator.  Hostess hears him, points him to the other end of the restaurant.  He takes the elevator.

11:58 - Since the weather was reasonable, this is our first time in the Skyway this trip.

12:03 - Store our luggage at the Marriott.

12:17 - Enter the Target Center

12:23 - A really good view of Target Field and the plaza entering the baseball field.

12:26 - Kieran's Irish Pub.  We are mostly quiet as we are catching up on the news from the past few days.  Some work-related conversations.

13:45 - Walk back to the Marriott to procure our luggage.

14:00 - Uber to airport.  Pepster's flight is at 15:55 and Sinickal and Tony's are both after 17:00.  We need to recalibrate and catch up on some work for tomorrow.

22:24 - Tony's weekend officially ends as he arrives home.

23:12 - Pepster's enters the fast train from Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach.  It is packed.  Oh, everyone is wearing Dwyane Wade Miami Heat jerseys.  Everyone going home from that game.

00:12 - Pepster arrives home.

Our general observations from the weekend.

1.  The weather was very reasonable.  A bit dreary, a bit chilly, but nothing outrageous.  Could have been A LOT worse.  The lakes were still frozen, piles of snow still in some parks and backyards, and a record setting spring storm to come through on Wednesday, April 10.  This could have been abysmal weather-wise.

2.  Had some issues with Uber/Lyft.  Nothing awful - still easy to summons, reasonable prices (except immediately after the games), but they always seemed to be slow and different drivers always took varying routes, even to the same locations.  More weird than bad - but certainly not optimal.

3.  Food is ridiculous.  Nothing stays open late - even on weekends.  With a big event in town that ends late (after 11 or 12 on Saturday and Monday), you would think it would be easier to find food places that were open.  Even diners were difficult to find, well, actually non-existent.

4.  Lots of establishments seemed to be under staffed.  A very similar problem as Houston had in 2016, but nowhere near as awful.  Houston not only was understaffed but also kept running out of food and closing earlier than the posted times for the establishment.  Minneapolis being understaffed just made things a bit slow, like the ride share.

5.  Our area of town was a very nice, pretty neighborhood.  Kudos to the owner of the house for placing this gem on AirBnB.  It was spacious, fairly close, and very safe.  No "Drive-By" room this year.

6.  The NCAA did a great job with security at this final four with getting people into the stadium.  No real bottlenecks, and we had no problems with ingress and egress at all.  Straight through the magnetometers and into the stadium both nights.  It was a breeze.

7.  On to Atlanta, which although not as good a "Final 4" city, since all of the events will be too spread out, it is still a tremendously fun city where we all have our contacts!