The Final Four Chronicles: Day 2 - The Semifinals

 

Yes, we are here for fun and camaraderie, but it is all about the games - AND BOY WERE WE TREATED TO TWO GREAT ONES (at least the endings).  But, we will get to that.

07:00 - Sinickal awakens.

07:30 - Pepster comes downstairs.

07:42 - Liz, who was too tired to drive home last night, stayed in our spare bedroom.  She departs for home.

08:00 - Kev-O comes downstairs, all showered and ready for the day.

08:44 - Talking football and in somehow defending Bryce Young in that he just has a horrible team around him.  To prove it, Kev-O starts asking us (a) if we know who some of the players on their roster are; and (2) if we know where they went to college.  Pepster gets way more right (3) than he should have, but we went through like 20 people on the roster.  It is putrid.

0:900 - Nothing like a pre-10:00 Fat Joe reference.

09:45 - 8 mile is on, and it is the final rap battle scene!

10:12 - Everybody screaming "3-1-3.  Fuck Free World!"

10:30 - No Crossover:  The Trial of Allen Iverson.  Got to start off with a basketball 30-for-30.

11:00 - Heading to the Pearl for breakfast.

11:12 - Find $14 per 24-hour parking.

11:24 - Enter Southerleigh.  It turns out that Southerleigh received a Michelin Bib Gourmand.  And they are very proud of that.  Something "Michelin" is on every apron, and other accoutrements of the employees.

11:25 - See a Happy Hour table tent that advertises $1 wings.  Sinickal asks the bartender if those are available now.  Bartender says no, only on happy hour during the week.  Sinickal goes - well that was my next question.

11:42 - Tony drops fork, with sausage link still attached. Tony nearly jumped out of his skin trying to catch the falling fork. This was way funnier than it should have been.

11:52 - Our primary orders arrive (2 chicken and waffles, 1 sausage hash and 1 fried chieken-egg-cheese-bacon sandwich), and it is good.

13:03 - Tony comes back from the restroom and says, "You should never take a phone call while you are grunting in the bathroom."

13:05 - Sinickal and Tony's friends arrive, whom they know from "The Profession." Rozbeh and Krystina have their 2-year daughter Riley with them and although she is super tired, she is high fiving, toasting, and giving kisses to everyone. She is having a ball and so are we. 

13:25 - Sinickal relays the story from Krystina and Rozbeh's wedding of another of their geotechnical engineering friends, who asked Allison "Do you work outside of the home?"  Allison only is able to reply with, "Do you mean do I have a job?"

13:53 - A group of Houston fans walk in with a shirt that reads:  "Ready 4 more" - More what?  Final Four losses?

13:58 - Great discussion on the overrated academic credentials of the University of Virginia.

14:28 - Group picture before we all have to spilt up.

15:21 - Uber Ordered.  Not giving up this precious parking space.

15:37 - Driver immediately calls us to negotiate a route and a drop off point. He takes a weird route, but gets us really close to where we wanted to be in the Riverwalk!

15:41 - Holey Moley?  Kev-O asks.  "You mean like the Steph Curry tv show?"

15:41:15 - Yes, it is.  We are not here for indoor mini-golf, but they do have beer!

15:58 - Start our way up out of the Riverwalk and toward the Alamodome.

16:27 - Stop into Francis Bogside Irish Pub, one of a string a bars just a couple of blocks from the dome.  Turns out it is the Duke home bar.  Interestingly, the bartender only pours Kev-O, who is wearing his Kentucky shirt - a half pour.

16:30 - Sinickal walks out back to discover that Duke has used the patio areas in the back to link four bars together. All one big Duke bar. This makes Kev-O very unhappy. He doesn't need another reason to hate private equity.

16:34 - Discussed possible majors of some of the Duke fans we see.  That is all.

16:42 - Stop one Duke fan to ask, "Why are you wearing Carolina blue Jordans?"

16:43 - Tell another group of Duke fans to, "Not get cocky.  You only have Cooper Flagg for a few more days.  Maybe 1!"

16:49 - Discuss possible reactions by Duke fans if Kev-O makes, and wears, his "Christian Laettner was offsides" t-shirt.

16:54 - In Alamodome.

17:08 - In seats!!!  We are way up!

17:09 - Dude about 12 rows in front of us wearing a Harvard Jeremy Lin jersey.  Sinickal remarks that you couldn't even buy one of those when he was playing for Harvard.

17:10 - Tipoff of Florida-Auburn!

17:11 - Radio Silence for the first half.

17:11:05 - Pepster says, "A 7'9" guy would have won that tip!"

17:12 - Who are we kidding.  Kevin had this gem, "Is there a limit on ear size for males to be admitted to Auburn?"

17:13 - And, we found the blimp parking!

17:19 - From up here we can't tell the difference between Condon, Haugh, and Handlogten.  Chinyelu, though ...

17:52 - The McNeese State team manager comes up the stairs.  He is two seats in front of us and is a star.  We watched him take pictures with practically everybody.

18:39 - Auburn player flops.  Tony says, "Shoot him like a horse!"

18:57 - An older Duke fan was walking down the stairs.  He stops, puts on his sunglasses, and then puts two hands on the railing as he goes step-by-step, Kev-O asks if he is repelling.

19:49 - Florida wins behind Walter Clayton, Jr.'s 34 points and Alijah Martin's mesmerizing slam over two defenders.

20:25 - Auburn kids sitting next to Tony do not return to their seats for game 2.

20:26 - Tipoff Game 2.

21:19 - Kev-O, observationally, "Do they not teach college guys to wear a belt anymore?"

21:44 - On the concourse, Sinickal encounters members of the USA Basketball Under 19 team. They are trying to pick up some University of Houston students. Elite work from the young men.

22:43 - Put back dunk!!!!  WOW!!!

22:50 - HOUSTON WINS!!!

22:57 - As we are outside the Alamodome making our way off the campus, we pass an older guy with a really big Southern drawl talking on the phone.  he says, "They were crying like a little bitch!" Kev-O then walks into a pole.

23:04 - Head back to Francis Bogsides - Duke's home bar.  The bourbon tastes just a little sweeter.  Tony orders a vodka - ginger ale - with Duke tears!

23:42 - Head to Yardhouse, as it is the closest above-street access point to the Riverwalk.

23:43 - On our way out of Bogsides, Pepster starts a "Fi-re.  Shey-er!" Chant.

23:51 - Enter Yardhouse.  It is crowded!

23:52 - Exit Yardhouse.

00:09 - Pass by a Mobile smoke shop.  Think food truck, but for weed!

00:15 - Enter Dick's.

00:23 - We are in the streetside entrance, which has a bar for about 15 people.  Lots of Houston fans in this area of Dick's.  One of the particularly friendly Houston fans is from South Africa.  We tell him to take Elon back.

00:23:20 - "Elon is f'in American.  He is yours now!"

00:29 - White boy walks into Dick's wearing a "White Boy of the Year" hat!

00:57 - Acquiesce.  It's a big word like mayonnaise.

01:10 - Sinickal and Pepster explain the story behind Pepster's 2003 R. Kelly joke to Kev-O.

01:25 - Head home.

01:40 - Kev-O orders Taco Cabana breakfast tacos. Shooting for Bacon,egg and cheese. Uber Eats shows that the delivery person is on a bike. on the interstate. Shows up completely wrong order, but hey free tacos...

The Final Four Chronicles: Day 1 - The Arrival

One of the best events in the world, in a very interestingly, fun city, with the four number 1 teams in the country - let's get after it.  As always, all times listed in the time zone in which they occur.

Thursday, April 3

Time unknown - Tony leaves for Austin, and eventually arrives!

Friday, April 4

05:27 (E.D.T) - Pepster leaves for FLL.

05:50 - Sinical arrives at DCA after a morning that includes putting on the same shirt backwards.  Twice.

06:05 - Delta agent at the Sky Club in DCA is first person today to ask what Sinickal's shirt means.

06:09 - Sinickal has a bourbon and soda at the bar in the Sky Club with a guy on his way to Tulum.  Guy says it's OK for him to drink since he was awake at 1:30 am and has already had a flight from Dulles canceled that morning.

6:27 -  Pepster spills his drink on his shirt as he is exiting his car at the airport.  This is only being listed here in case it becomes some sort of theme or we can look back on this as an omen of sorts.  At least he hadn't checked his bag yet so he could change.  Bye-bye "Eric B. and Rakim 1988" shirt.

6:29 - Kev-O walking by Sinickal's first class seat to the steerage section of the boat. Kev-O has to get his Delta numbers up as this is becoming a yearly tradition and he was only one slot behind Sinickal for upgrades this year.

6:31 - Guy from the Delta Sky Club ends up in a seat next to Sinickal.  He kept tapping to get Sinickal to take out his earbuds so that he could talk his ear off about nothing.

06:38 - Pepster sees the world's skinniest bachelorette party.  Five of the young ladies have pink/purple wigs; one has a tiara.  They collectively weigh 321 pounds.  Not skinny-shaming, just noticing.  I would have thought they were going to Nashville, but they were at the gate for a flight to Las Vegas.

06:59 - Kev-O has boarded the plane and the guy in the aisle seat in his row is watching Fox News and just blurted out loud, "Go get 'em Trump," like he was watching Alabama play and Trump had a third-and-7.

07:14 - Pepster boards and passes two rows of guys all decked out in Florida gear, and they are clearly travelling together.  Much larger man, not with them on the aisle.  He tells them he is not going to the Final Four, but the flight to San Antonio was the closest he could get to Houston after his original flight got canceled.  He then starts giving them the business about rooting for Florida.  Turns out he played for Florida State.  I cannot confirm whether he was on the 2020 National Championship team or not.

07:38 - Pepster wheels up to San Antonio.

09:22 - Flight from Atlanta to Austin delayed.  So, Sinickal and Kev-O jump on some work calls in Atlanta Terminal A.

09:22 (C.D.T.) - Pepster lands early!

09:35 - After deplaning, Pepster walks past a gate in which the San Antonio Fire Department EMTs are tending to a woman.  I don't think she is going to San Diego as originally planned.  But, she did look OK from my perspective, so hopefully they were able to take care of her!

11:08 (E.D.T.) - 40-something Duke Frat Bro next to Sinickal on the flight to Austin won't stop coughing.

10:14 (C.D.T.) - Pepster enters Wild Barley Kitchen and Brewery, a breakfast spot that makes its own beer!

10:17 - Starting light - a Tripel Knot Triple

11:50 - Call Uber to get closer to the AirBnB.  Idle Beer Hall it is.

11:59 - Uber driver - Brandon - asks if Pepster is coach in town for the Final Four.  Pepster explains to him the situation where we created a school so we can walk around the Final Four talking ball with other coaches here for the NABC.  He laughs and then asks what we named it.  After Pepster told him "Southwestern Central," he responds with, "Where is it located?  Damn, you just told me it was fake!"

12:08 - Pepster arrives at the destination and Brandon says, "Have a good day Coach!"

12:08:30 - Pepster walks into Idle Beer Hall.

12:11 - Pepster, asks the bartender what he recommends.  He says that the Dad Bod light lager is really good.  Pepster says, "I already have one of those!"  Manager, who was sitting at the other end of the bar drinking a beer, does a spittake.

12:13 - Pepster drinks his beer, opens up his computer to do some work while he waits for the rest of the crew.

12:21 - Sinickal and Kev-O arrive in Austin.  Delta airlines is handing out free Final Four hats.  Sinickal approved.

12:35 - Tony who has been in Austin already for other purposes, picks up Sinickal and Kev-O at the airport.  Off to San Antonio and to meet Pepster.

14:03 - WE ARE WHOLE!

14:51 - Kev-O tells a story about how he ended up playing in a 3-v-3 tournament in Vegas during the 2017 Final Four.  Tony asks, "Weren't you a little old for college?

14:56 - Silas relays the story of the time he ended up in Des Moines, Iowa at the Marriott and the Convention Center was hosting the Iowa Pork Queen Competition.  Kev-O, "The noun or the verb?"

15:27 - Discussing foreign basketball players in the NBA and Jaime Jacquez, Jr. of the Miami Heat came up as the best Mexican player.  Kev-O then discusses whether Edward Navarro of Oklahoma was any better.  Pepster goes, "You mean Eduardo Najera?"

15:38 - Baseball conversation ensues, and this line came up from Pepster:  "Trevor Bauer is a less articulate Curt Schilling."  Sinickal adds, "And a more articulate John Rocker!"

16:21 - Blondequito.  That is all.

16:32 - Enter house.  It is really nice.  Five bedrooms, three baths, weird setup to the kitchen, but at least we won't really need it (except the refrigerator!).  The 5th bedroom - the one that is unused - has 2 sets of bunkbeds!

17:12 - Stumble on to Harlem Nights.  We must watch.  It's the pinky toe scene!

17:29 - See the announcement that Julio Jones retired.  Sinickal says, "I don't know.  If you look outside Julio Jones is open.

18:21 - To Riverwalk.

18:33 - Woman wearing a black t-shirt with the word "Cougar" on it, and nothing else.  Not sure if she even knows Houston is in the Final Four.

18:57 - Found the Auburn home bar on the Riverwalk.  The trees on the property are tp'd.  Sinical asks one of the kids standing by the trees if he is worried about someone coming and poisoning the tree.

19:10 - Into Agave Bar for dinner.  You guessed it "Tex-Mex."

19:15 - Liz, who Sinickal and Tony know through work, and who happened to have given a speech at a conference in San Antonio this morning, joins us at Agave Bar.

20:07 - South Carolina wins 74-57.

20:15 - Straight up pouring outside.  OK, well have another round.

20:24 - Venture out of Agave Bar walk around some of the Riverwalk before going topside.

20:45 - See Club Sirius, has tvs on, and the bouncer says, "No cover!"  We're in.

20:46 - We might have made a mistake.  Everything is fine, but definitely not our crowd.  And, for a really small place, it looks like they are setting up for a birthday party which will take up virtually the whole bar.  OK, just one.

21:18 - Enter Dick's, but upstairs, not the downstairs entrance by the River Walk.  Much more serene upstairs and it seems as if the people at the bar are regulars, as they are very comfortable talking smack to the bartendress.

21:30 - One particular regular notices the bartender yawning and yells at her to "Go home if you want to sleep!"

21:31 - "I wish I could!"

21:32 - "I am only yawning because you people up here are so f'in boring.  I want to be working downstairs instead of this fuckin' retirement home!"  She told him!

21:48 - To Yardhouse and to watch the end of the UConn-UCLA game.  Ah, it's over.  It's in the third quarter.

23:40 - Walking back to the car and see some Auburn people which leads to the conversation in which we decide there might be some redeemable areas in Alabama.  Tony goes, "It's called Atlanta!"

23:48 - C'mon Kayleigh get out of the way, Kev-O yells to a young girl who just starts walking out in front of our car and right behind a Kia Sorrento backing into the spot ahead of us.  Kevin insists her name is spelled K-a-y-l-e-i-g-h, since he "knows his people!  Now, we were inside the car so she heard none of this conversation, but still.

23:49 - Circle K for supplies as grocery stores are closed.  Have you ever spent $99 at Circle K without getting gas?

23:50 - Young lady opens up the door, and barely utters to the clerk, "Public bathroom?"  He tells her back to the right and Kev-O and Pepster just hopes she made it.

23:52 - Back home for the night.  Eat snacks, drink water, go to bed.

Final Four Chronicles - The Finals

The Finals are here, and we all expect Villanova to run right through Michigan.  Michigan just doesn't have enough people that can score for them, and Villanova has those players, everywhere, even on the bench.  Here is our the route we took to the final game.

8:55 - Everyone is awake.

9:28 - Hopps and Pepster head to the store/coffee shop for well, coffee and breakfast.  Three doors down there is a gentlemen outside his house (decrepit with a weed-ridden yard) pointing at things and discussing with a woman who looked like she was a neighbor walking down the sidewalk before he stopped her.  Hopps says, "Is he trying to convince her that his house is nice?"  We were pretty sure that he was hitting on her.

10:07 - Hopps pulls into the Church's Fried Chicken parking lot as the sign on the door says they open at 10.  (Yes, there was a Church's in our neighborhood).  Hopps goes to the door, but it is locked.  Waits for several minutes until he sees someone inside and goes back to the door.  It turns out the sign says open at 10:30.  Hopps blames his glaucoma.

Entire morning - We do work.  It is a Monday after all.

12:20 - Uber downtown.

12:28 - We pass the Texas Liver Institute, conveniently located within blocks of the Riverwalk.

12:31 - Strong opening presence for Villanova.

12:36 - At MadDogs for lunch.

12:45 - 8 ladies in Villanova garb sit down at the table near us and immediately order shots of Jameson's.  We take bets as to whether they will make it to the game or not.

13:13 - This bar serves Coors Lite or water in tins that resemble large solo cups.  The cans are Coors Lite swag given to the bar.  Sinickal asks the bartender if he can have his water in a regular cup and his Bud Light in the tin.  The bartender tells him that it would feel like lying if he did that since the cups were from Coors Lite, and then continues, "I only lie to girls."  The other bartender has no such qualms.

14:10 - Finish lunch and go to the Alamo.  This is the quickest academic trip any of us have ever taken.

15:00 - Some homeless guys on the Riverwalk go to toast us because they also have "energy drinks".  The toast ends with them saying, "And don't forget to, uh ... uh ... well ... just be careful tonight."

15:25 - At Durty Nelly's on Riverwalk.  As we approach the bar a piano player is playing Country Roads.  Pepster remarks that "If he really liked country roads, he wouldn't have flown his own airplane!"

15:32 - See a lady walking wearing a "Michigan Alumna" shirt.  Pepster applaudes her because it says "alumna" where all the rest of the shirts say "alumni", and this annoys admittedly way more than it should.

15:40 - As we sit at the outside patio tables at Durty Nelly's, gusts of wind blow all types of "things" off the trees on the Riverwalk.  Hopps is annoyed (go figure).  Hopps responds that, "In Quincy [MA} the trash is on the streets."  Sinickal reminds  him that "In Quincy, the trash walks the streets!"

15:41 - Pepster just responds to Hopps (about something different from the above statement), "Really Hopps?  We are in public!"

15:43 - After a random discussion, Sinickal mentions that, "We party so hard we brought our lawyer.".  Lady sitting alone at the table next to Hopps and Pepster and across from Tony and Sinickal finally laughs.  It should be noted that she is alone because her husband has been out of the restaurant on the phone for about 20 minutes.  She has been trying to ignore us, but this line brought her into the conversation.

15:45 - Sinickal decides that next year we all share our phones with each other's location finders because "Racsan always turns right".  Racsan in this situation is Hopps, and it is Nascar spelled backwards.  (For those that don't understand, the Nascar races on ovals, or most of the races, only include left turns.  This is not the first nickname for Hopps (See "K-Fed" 2007; See also De Angelo Russell 2016).

15:46 - The husband of the lady at the table next to us returns from phone calls and texts.  It turns out he is just like us, travelling to as many final fours as possible.  This is also his fourth in a row, just as it is for Pepster, Sinickal and Tony.  It's Hopps's third out of four years.  We tentatively make plans to meet in Minneapolis.

15:48 - It is becoming increasingly hot outside.  Sinickal wants to find some air conditioner, at states, "We need some shade."  Hopps responds that "I have been trying to throw shade for 4 days!"

16:00 - We meet Mike and Larissa at The River's Edge.  Mike is a fellow member at Sinickal's golf club in the D.C. area.

16:00 - 18:00 - Mostly radio silence as we try to make Hopps behave in front of Mike and Larissa.

18:22 - While discussing a memorial golf tourney in honor of Dr. Hopps, which will be in D.C. later this year, Sinickal tells Mike that "This is something that you want to be a part of",  Mike, grasping his beer for another sip says, "Thing is, I don't drink."

18:41 - We seea young girl walking on a stone wall on the Riverwalk near her parents but not really paying attention to her surroundings.  She hits a tree, causing her to fall onto the wall and then onto the sidewalk.  We think she is OK.

As an aside, we have no idea how more people don't fall into the river at the Riverwalk.  The walkways are narrow, made mostly of uneven stone, with no guardrails of any kind, with too many people, and lots of beverages.  It is a good thing the river is only about 5 feet wide and 3 feet deep.

19:00 - We notice that at the table next to us is Tubby Smith, Lute Olson, and their respective wives.  Go Cats!

19:02 - Hopps actually takes a picture with Tubby Smith, but Hopps doesn't share.

19:34 - After finally getting our tab (boy is service generally bad here), we head to the Alamodome.

20:01 - In the concourse, see 3 of 8 Villanova girls that had the early Jameson shot at lunch.  I guess some of them were able to make the game.

20:08 - In seats for the championship game.

20:12 - 20:14 - After watching Michigan's dapmaster, we determine that a dapmaster is somebody that everyone should recruit for their team!

20:20 - Tipoff.  Mostly radio silence.

21:47 - Villanova's band plays Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas.  After destroying Kansas in the semi-finals, this is funny.

22:30 - Villanova Wildcats - YOUR NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!

As a side note on the game, despite jumping out to a lead, the Wolverines never had a chance, especially once Mo Wagner caught a personal and a double foul on the same play early in the second half.  He was legitimately the only scoring threat on Michigan's team, and he had to monitor his play in the second half to keep from getting an early fourth.  This is coincidentally when Donte DiVincenzo went on his second run of the game.  We glossed him "Donny Buckets!"

22:45 - Villanova's band plays All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled.

22:52 - One Shining Moment!  The pinnacle of the Final Four.

22:57 - Sarah Spain tweats, "Is it better to be on One Shining Moment crying, or not on One Shining Moment.  We all agree the former.

As an aside, watching a game like this while simultaneously monitoring social media - especially twitter - is AMAZING!!!! (Assuming your follow sports writers and commentators).

23:18 - Off the Alamodome campus.

23:31 - Meet up with Hopps at Durty Nelly's.  (Hopps left before the end of the game to beat the rush).

00:38 - Order Uber home.  The drive that picks us up is the same driver that took us to Riverwalk.

00:40 - We try to calculate the percentage likelihood that this would happen.  Driver reminds us that only 30% of Uber vehicles classify as "Uber XL".

00:56 - Go to sleep.  Pepster has to leave at 5:00 to go to the airport in the morning.

00:57 - Immediately start planning to go to Minneapolis 2019.

Final Four Chronicles - The Semi-Finals

THE SEMI-FINALS

Day 3

Saturday, March 31, 2018

            We all wake up flummoxed on the events of yesterday, and a little tired as it was a long, long day.  But that is OK because today is all about the basketball.  We have semi-final action between Loyola and Michigan, followed by Kansas versus Villanova.  As much as this trip is about friendship, camaraderie, having fun and good cities – the purpose is basketball, and that starts today.

6:30 – Road to the Final Four 5K registration.

8:00 – Road to the Final Four 5K race begins.

7:30 – 8:40 – We all wake up.  Thus, once again we missed the Road to the Final Four 5K.  Congratulations to all participants who helped to raise money for the Coaches versus Cancer charity and other pediatric oncology servicing organizations.

8:51 – Hopps and Tony make a coffee/breakfast run.  Some days breakfast sandwiches just taste better.

9:41 – Sinickal and Tony just now receive the text that Hopps and Pepster ducked into the Republic of Texas last night.

9:47 – Hopps screams out Oh My God!  Nobody moves, turns around or in any way acknowledges Hopps.  Sinickal notes that we should be worried that nobody even flinches when he does that anymore.

10:13 – SportsCenter showing the Cleveland Cavaliers highlights, specifically about LeBron breaking the consecutive games record for scoring double digit points.  Hopps, at the dining room table behind everyone in the living room, exclaims that LeBron has three people above him.  After a brief pause, Pepster turns his head, rolls his eyes and says, “OK, I’ll bite.  Who are the three?”  Jordan (of course) Russell (Hopps is a Boston homer) and Magic (at least he didn’t say Bird).  [Ed. Note – Not a bad three, but if Chamberlain switches places with Russell, the Celtics probably have 15 or 16 championships in a row, and although Magic is great, he might not even be the best Laker.  See Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem.

11:00 – We turn on Thursdays episode of the Dan BeBatard Show just to hear his live call of Ian Happ’s home run on the first pitch of the entire MLB season against the Marlins.  The call consists of massive laughter, screaming, the phrase “Welcome Derek Jeter” and “That concludes our Marlins coverage for the season.

11:10 – We decide to watch Friday’s episode of the Dan LeBatard Show because he is hilarious.  The highlights, Stugotz’s rant on Sister Jean which concludes by him saying, “If Loyola makes it to the Championship game, I guarantee she makes it into the Basketball Hall of Fame” (then under his breath “Mo Cheeks”) .  For those that don’t know, former Philadelphia Sixer Very Good (I cannot call him great) was just elected into the basketball Hall of Fame, along with such luminaries as Dino Radja and Charlie Scott.  Another highlight of the show is LeBatard’s interview with Ice-T, who admits that growing up he robbed banks.  When LeBatard tells him that he might want to disclaim that and say he was just joking on the air, Ice-T mentions that “We have a wonderful thing is this country called the Statute of Limitations.”

11:13 – In the entrances and exits of the Dan LeBatard Show, the camera pans out from a picture of the beach.  Today – or actually Friday’s show, we clearly see a red and blue flag hanging from the lifeguard tower, which Pepster points out generally means no swimming because of rough, or rip tides (red) and Portuguese Man-O-War (blue).  Tony the exclaims that he hopes President Trump doesn’t find out the Portuguese are getting into the country via the shore.  And this concludes the political portion of the show.

11:30 – Pepster and Sinickal struggle with which 30 for 30 to watch on demand.  Settle on something basketball related, and decide not to watch any of them because we don’t want to get stuck going down that rabbit hole and end up missing the games.

12:40 – Leave for downtown.

13:19 – Lost Hopps already.

13:21 – Strong Michigan entry into the Riverwalk

13:30 – Pop into the Thirsty Aztec.  Young college-aged kid wearing a Villanova Scottie Reynolds jersey exits the establishment saying loudly, “I didn’t realize until I just realized”.

13:42 – Walking down the Riverwalk and see a guy in a powder blue shirt that says simply “Duke sucks”.  Since we virtually have to walk single file on the RiverWalk, Sinickal sees it first and toasts him.  Tony toasts him.  Pepster toasts him.  Hopps toasts him.  Then other people we don’t know behind us toast him.

13:50 – Head into Tex’s Sports Bar for some food because it has a good punny name.  And an available table which is not the norm at the restaurants along the Riverwalk.  In fact, one restaurant even had a sign “We are no longer taking names for our Wait List”.

14:07 – Four guys settle in at the table next to us all wearing Villanova gear.  Start up a conversation with Sinickal since he is wearing his Syracuse shirt and the former Big East rivalry between to two clubs.  Guys assume we all went to Syracuse, not noticing Tony’s Texas shirt and Hopps’s BC pullover.  Sinickal tells them Pepster went to an Ivy-covered school near Boston.  Guys obviously missing Sinickal’s context cluse reply, “Which one?”

14:26 – Pepster and Sinickal engage in a conversation about the old Big East.  Noting that Villanova has a great history with the league, Pepster queries if anyone from Villanova even makes an All-Time Big East squad.  Without going into much discussion of the bench, Sinickal and Pepster, settle on a starting 5 of:  PG – Pearl Washington (Syracuse); SG – Ray Allen (Connecticut); SF – Chris Mullins (St. John’s); PF – Derrick Coleman (Syracuse); C – Patrick Ewing (Georgetown).  Others on the team would be: C - Alonzo Mourning (Georgetown); PF – Jerome Lane (Pittsburgh); PG – Allen Iverson (Georgetown) (who would start except his college career was only 2 years);  PG – Kemba Walker (Connecticut).  OK, I guess we did discuss the bench.

14:51 – Hopps is astounded at the number of people wearing Loyola gear.  Sinickal explains to him that Chicago is the third largest city in the country, and has no natural college affiliation like places we are used to, and that the City of Chicago is supporting Loyola as a city, regardless of college affiliation.  Hopps is struggling to believe him.  (By the way, if Northwestern ever makes a final four, that city will be inundated with purple).

14:54 – Young, twenty-something wearing Loyola gear asks if he can sit at the table recently vacated by the Villanova guys.  We tell him yes and then start discussing the Final Four.  Guy admits he did not go to Loyola, but knew someone who dated someone that knew someone who did.  Hopps becomes annoyed (well, even more annoyed than usual).

14:57 – We realize that our food has not arrived yet.   Hopps is even more annoyed (as are the rest of us).  This is a bit of foreshadowing on service for the day, only we didn’t know it at the time.

15:26 – Food FINALLY arrives.

15:58 – To the Alamodome.

16:17 – Pass by an NCAA Final Four employee carrying a sign with a question mark on it.  Sinickal asks him, “What does the sign mean?”  Employee answers “Information.”  Sinickal responds, thanks, I just was looking for that information”. 

16:18 – Sinickal to Pepster, “Those guys hate guys like us.  Just asking them purposefully dumb questions every two minutes”.

16:23 – After the off ramp from the walkover to the stadium, Army band is Playing Michael Jackson’s Rock With You.

16:28 – On the Alamodome campus.  The way they are funneling people here and there and splitting up the crowd entering the campus is logistically great.  Makes things a lot easier, and no long lines, even through security (which was set up well outside the perimeter of the stadium.)  Unfortunately the people and the signage that make for great entrance logistics ended up making horrible exit logistics.

16:32 – See a guy wearing a hoodie that says, “I DISAGREE.  But I respect your right to be stupid.”

16:33 – And Loyola takes the lead.

16:38 – Seeing two more Loyola fans, Hopps exclaims, “That’s Chicago”.  This we are sure will not come off anywhere near as funny as it was at the time.

16:47 – Settle into seats for the games.

16:59 – Great rendition of the national anthem as the NCAA did it right this time.  They had one student from each of the four participating institutions.  Each student sang two lines solo, then finished the song together.  Michigan’s grad student clearly studies opera and dominates the end of the song, but it was amazing.

17:09 – Tip-off to Game 1.

Radio Silence (mostly) during the game.

In the first half Michigan shoots 9/31 and Loyola shoots 10/25.  Not good basketball.  Second half is much, much better and played at a faster pace.

18:12 - The spirit teams for Michigan and Loyola are not very strong at all.  Not a whole lot of spirit going on.

19:45 – We head to the concourse for some nourishment between the games.  Concessions are out of almost everything meaningful.

Radio silence (mostly) during game 2.

Entire game:  Villanova is ON FIRE from three.  In fact, we see security running toward the extinguishers.

21:02 – If I ever have to answer the question “Do you remember the worst version of Jungle Boogie that you ever heard”, the answer is “Yes I do.  March 31, 2018 at 21:02 by the University of Kansas Pep Band.”

21:15 – Kansas band now butchers Cameo’s Word Up.  Hopps remarks, “The Kansas band has no soul”.

Villanova shows why they are easily the best team in the NCAA right now, and have been all year long.  They should be a heavy favorite for the championship game.

22:20 – After trying to coordinate a meet-up all afternoon, we run into Christy and her friend Kat to say hello after the game.

22:22 – Say goodbye to Christy and Kat as we go our respective ways for dinner.

22:41 – We have comfortably vacated the Alamodome vicinity and outside of the crowd.  There is NO chance we hit the Riverwalk tonight as it is hard to maneuver down there with just a light crowd.  We can only imagine what it will be like with 77,000 people vacating the game just blocks away.

22:56 – Hit La Gloria for dinner as we hear that San Antonio has pretty good Mexican food, or at least Tex-Mex.  That statement is accurate as our dinner is really good.  In a continuation of today’s lunch problems, service is really SLOW.  Unlike lunch, this place is staffed correctly for a big event as there are employees everywhere; ours is just slow.  Food comes up fairly quickly, so we don’t mind the rest of slowness too much.

00:09 – On the Lyft ride home we end up in a discussion in which Tony recounts some of the weirdest situations that he has ever been in, concluding with “In my past I have had some unsavory friends”.  Sinickal responds with, “I have too”.  Pepster adds that “some of them might be in this car”.   Hopps, “Come on guys, I am sitting right here!”

00:17 – Off to bed.  We have another tee time tomorrow.