Yes today is April Fools' Day, but your boys are no fools. This is why we actually came to the desert - basketball. Hopefully some good games. It is going to be difficult to top the last Final Four game we saw (Villanova-North Carolina 2016), but they again, that game may never be topped. Here we go.
[Ed. Note: We apologize for some of the language in this post, but as journalists we have to provide the exact quotation where necessary.]
5:15 Tony wakes up.
7:17 Pepster wakes up, a little late for the start of the Chelsea match which started at 7.
7:18 Pepster turns on the Chelsea-Crystal Palace match, and CP is up 2-1 after 16 minutes. Damn you Christian Benteke.
8:55 Hopps wakes up; Pepster is back asleep on the couch.
9:02 Hopps yells at Sinickal, "Coffee and Food".
All morning - Your boys are struggling, for real.
9:21 While in Dunkin Donuts, see the first outfitted South Carolina fans. Let's just say they are off to a strong start.
9:49 Driving by to Coach House to (hopefully) pick up Matt's jacket and notice lots of the street are barricaded in Old Town Scottsdale. Realize it is the Road to the Final Four 5K. This is the 3rd consecutive year that we have missed it. Somewhere Allison is seething mad at us.
9:52 Pull up to the front of Coach House and Matt goes in to find his jacket (he did). As we are parked out front we see a security guard walking to the outside entrance with a large Dunkin Donuts coffee and sets it on top of a table at the entrance. We realize it is Matt's coffee and start taking bets as to whether he initiated a fight with the security (he didn't). The importance of this story is that COACH HOUSE HAD SECURITY AT 9:52 IN THE MORNING. The place was packed with what looked like mostly Oregon fans. We should go in, but we just cannot.
9:59 Pepster notices the first obviously money laundering front, a car wash that costs $4.99.
9:59:13 Tony loudly proclaims that it is OK and people are allowed to open up whatever business they need to in order to make money. He is also quite incredulous that Pepster, a barrister, keeps a written ledger of expenses and transactions
9:59:27 Sinickal realizes that last comment in support of the money laundering operation was made by an Italian ... from Providence.
10:16 Pepster receives a text from Big Wigg thanking us for his headache.
12:16 On the road to Glendale. This is not going to be a short trip as Glendale is about a 3 days' drive away. (OK it is only like 45 minutes, but who on earth decided that it was OK to put the Final Four that far away from civilization. At least Houston had light rail from downtown to the stadium.)
12:27 Hopps invents the term "Bridge Whore". Let's assume he was talking about the 3 crack smokers that collapsed I-85 in Atlanta.
12:32 Tony sees a dude fall off the sidewalk into the bushes alongside a pretty major thoroughfare. Things easily could have ended much worse for that guy if he fell in the other direction.
12:34 Stop by the liquor store for refreshments for the tailgate/game. The liquor store is just off Arizona State's campus. An absolute smoke show exits as we arrive. Arizona State's fan base is strong!
12:46 "Want a black one?" is not a comment one usually hears while out driving.
12:49 Hopps, noticing a young couple walking on the sidewalk angrily yells, "Is that fucking idiot holding hands?" Not sure why Hopps is so angry, as Sinickal notes - "It is just young love".
12:50 Hopps, "Fuck him, he has a full head of hair." Now we know why he was so angry.
12:53 Realize we need some lunch before we get to Glendale, as we have no idea how crazy the restaurant scene is going to be there. Hit Buffalo Wild Wings at Arizona State.
12:55 Hopps goes to the restroom and it isn't until he returns and the waitress brings our beer that we realize we forgot to order him a beer. Immediately apologize for the oversight.
13:03 That's a teachable moment.
13:34 While looking at the several of the televisions showing sports, Pepster turns to Sinickal and asks, "Was it South Carolina or Mississippi State that defeated UConn last night?" Sinickal responds that "It was Mississippi State, we sat and watched the end of the game". Pepster realizes yesterday's blog post congratulated South Carolina on their victory. He honestly thought it was South Carolina the entire time. He must have been distracted by name-dropping track dude.
13:37 First Gonzaga fan sighting.
13:56 While back on the interstate, Hopps asks Sinickal if he is going to make the correct turn this time.
13:58 Sinickal did not. We do a pass through the airport.
14:02 Sinickal declares that it is "a pass-through airport".
14:28 Enter Westgate parking lot. Westgate is a planned business development within short walking distance of both Gila River Arena - whatever that is - and the University of Phoenix Stadium.
As an aside, the University of Phoenix Stadium is the greatest stadium name since stadiums started selling naming rights. Since the University of Phoenix doesn't actually play anything. Just fabulous.
14:56 Parked. Logistically, this situation has not gotten off to a great start.
15:09 Tip-off.
15:18 - Finally enter stadium. Bottlenneck at the entrance to the stadium (security is actually hundreds of feet outside the stadium). Bottleneck caused by the fact the ticket-takers take the tickets at the front door (not just inside or outside), but at the front door. Ridiculously awful.
15:22 Usher at the bottom of our row ask where are seats are located. Sinickal points "Up there". Usher thinks we look confused and wants to look at a ticket and then says, "You are right. Your seats are up there". We knew that.
15:24 In our seats.
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| Our seats |
15:24 Game time - at least for us. Radio silence as we pay attention to the game.
Notes from the first game: These kids behind us are annoying. By kids I mean early teenage years. Commenting on everything, but wrong about everything. During one exchange the kid yells out, "Hey ref, do you know the definition of a foul? Do you know the definition of basketball? Do you know the definition of unbiased? It means you don't help one of the teams." This infuriates Pepster as that is not the definition of unbiased. Hopps, Sinickal and Tony all anticipate Pepster turning around to say something and stop him. These kids were worse than the two Duke girls from Indianapolis 2015.
Friend of Sinickal (Molly) is a UNC fan and decides to edit the photo from our seats. Her fix is to attack the Oregon fan base.
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| Molly's Fix |
Sinickal notes that our consecutive good games at the Final Four streak has now reached 2.
A girl cheering for Gonzaga celebrated the win by jumping into her boyfriend's (we assume) arms and straddling him by wrapping her legs around him. There is no way they make it through the second game.
Although this is our blog, one of the wonderful things about social media is that you can find out what the world thinks of events in real time as they unfold. This is especially true when you follow your favorite sports and news reporters to get there reactions, as we do. Nobody - and we all mean nobody - is better than Sarah Spain from ESPN, so we will guest her a brief mention here. She retweeted this at the end of the first game, "Looks like South Carolina went soft at the end and fell limp. But they had a great run and faced stiff competition." Her reply, "It was a deep run". Gotta love Gamecocks references. It is clear from her posts that she is technically not working tonight. Complaining about the sober crowd, as there are no beer/liquor sales at the Final Four.
Game Two - more radio silence.
Notes from the second game: Guy sitting next to Sinickal is wearing an Oklahoma University shirt. Tony went to Texas and is wearing a Texas shirt. As OU guy and his friend walk through the aisle, his friend - going first - looks at Tony and says, "Like the shirt". OU guy immediately follows, "I don't!" Tony just glared and didn't verbally acknowledge his existence. The hate is real.
Midway through the first half, Hopps is wondering where on the scoreboard the time outs left are listed. Once we inform him of that, Hopps responds, "I was just wondering if Roy Williams knew that he had some time outs". Roy Williams and his time-outs become a running joke throughout the game. Of course, he kept three in his pocket during the game, despite the ridiculous finish.
North Carolina fan about 6 rows up from us keeps standing to taunt Oregon fans in our section. Tony notes that his ridiculous silver North Carolina hat makes it look like the guy is wearing "Jiffy Pop".
Gonzaga girl and her boyfriend indeed do not return for the second game.
4 missed free throws and 2 offensive rebounds in the last 5 seconds. WOW! Our consecutive Final Four good game streak is now at 3.
We check and North Carolina is installed as a 2 1/2 point favorite. We all opine that line is going to be bet down quick. In 2 hours it was already down to 2.
Logistics leaving the stadium is awful. We know that there is going to be problems leaving the parking lot so we look for some place with refreshments. We find a place called Good Bad Ugly Brewing.
20:55 Enter Good Bad Ugly Brewing. It is its first night open, and it is still under construction. I have no idea how the obtained their CO.
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| Good Bad Ugly Brewing Co |
21:19 A younger North Carolina man approaches Sinickal - who is decked out in his Syracuse gear - and whispers "Zone is for cowards". Obviously he listens to Bomani Jones too, as this is not original. Sinickal immediately says to this kid (and by kid I mean early 20s), "Enjoy the probation/death penalty. Plenty of teams have had titles vacated". Kid sleeks away apparently completely oblivious to the pending academic fraud investigation at North Carolina. Sinickal turns back to us, "Why do people test me?"
21:27 Speaking of Bomani Jones, we just re-defined the "Stay Ready All-Stars".
21;36 Although we drove, we curiously checked the Uber rates. It is $223.28 to Scottsdale for an Uber X. Over $300 for XL.
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| Uber Pricing!! |
21:37 We cannot stay in Good Bad Ugly Brewing any longer, and realize we are still not getting out of the parking lot anytime soon, so we wander over to Buffalo Wild Wings (because it doesn't look as crowded as some of the others). Dude standing at a makeshift outside entrance drinking soda (taking up space as it was "One in - one out" tells us that it is going to be about 2 hours until we can get it, because there is a list.
21:37:30 We enter Buffalo Wild Wings
21:42 See a female who is huge sports fan as she is decked out in the colors of her favorite team. In fact, her shirt says "Sports Team".
22:21 We decide we can now leave the parking lot so we walk through the plaza back to our car. Random 40 year old starts yelling as we walk by, "Look at that crew. They are going to get some ass". It becomes clear he WAS talking about us, but not sure even why. We keep walking.
22:23 She needs to go back to the 80s.
22:31 Leave Westgate parking lot.
22:53 Tony notes that "It's a long drive back from New Mexico". Did we mention that the stadium isn't close to anything?
22:58 Hopps to Pepster, "That's why I don't take phone calls at 1:00 in the morning".
23:08 Need dinner. Twin Peaks is right off the interstate. We jump in for a meal.
23:11 Tony is the only person in this breastaurant that talks to the male manager. (Manager was lamenting the fact someone ran into his car; Tony offered to negotiate an appropriate settlement. Hey look, fire axes.)
23:33 See an interview with Tracy McGrady on television. Hopps states, "He looks older than me!" Sinickal asks, "Isn't he older than you". None of us know, so we look it up. He isn't.
23:37 Alyssa, our lovely waitress proceeds to tell us way to much about her personal life.
00:14 Alyssa, as we are saying our thank yous and goodbyes, tells us to come back tomorrow as she is working all day. Then she remarks pointing to Hopps, "Don't bring HIM back".
00:17 On the way to Coach House. So, the NCAA designates different bars around the areas as "team bars" and assigns the four schools to them as way for alumni and fans to congregate together if they so choose. Coach House is the official establishment of Southwestern Central - Go Scorpions.
00:45 - Of course Sinickal and Hopps are playing Golden Tee.
Note - this place is packed, primarily by people way more dressed up than they should be. This is going to be fun.
01:22 As Sinickal and Hopps are inside, Tony and Pepster are at an outside table. A young woman in her 20s, nicely dressed, decides to leave and tells her companion, a 50s looking woman it is time to go. The older woman turns to the guy next to her, says goodbye and starts kissing him. As she turns to leave, he queries much louder than he should, "That's it?" Pepster and Tony decide that this is not going to end well.
01:29 Younger woman comes back in as the older woman has not left yet. Younger woman is angry.
01:33 Younger woman leaves again.
01:39 Younger woman comes back in, gets into a heated discussion with older woman and leaves.
01:45 Younger woman comes back in, yells at older woman and then drags her out of the bar. Their Uber arrived.
01:47 We have confirmation that these two women are mother-daughter.
02:00 A lady falls through a table in Coach House. She is immediately ejected by the bouncers.
02:05 Probably our cue to leave. Go back home.
