From 2014

I went to the Final Four in Dallas two years (2014) ago.  I went to a previous Final Four in Los Angeles back in 1972.  This mega event, as you can read below, has morphed into an event bigger than anything else in collegiate athletics.  And it is even more special this year.  My California Golden Bears made the tournament as the fourth seed (and lost).  And my adopted Fresno State Bulldogs made their first “Big Dance” since 2001 (and lost), by winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.  This year’s Final Four should be bigger and better than ever!

During last year’s shutdown due to the pandemic, the NCAA basketball tournament was not held, hence no Final Four.  The many men and women who play college basketball missed out on the biggest stage of your young lives.  This year has provided some redemption for their many years of hard work and sacrifice.  I hope they enjoy every minute of their moment in the spotlight.

Here is my story from 2014:
All sports fans know when I say Final Four, I mean the NCAA Division 1 basketball tournament, often called either “The Big Dance” or “March Madness”.  The 68 best collegiate basketball teams play a single elimination tournament to determine the National Collegiate Champion in basketball.

The tournament was started back in 1939, and has since been called, among things, March Madness, the Final Four, and The Big Dance.  Thirty two of the teams selected are conference champions.  The other 36 teams are selected by the NCAA Selection Committee.  The selected teams are divided into four regions, seeded based on record and strength of schedule.  After four games played by the lowest eight ranked teams, the remaining 64 play a tournament over three weekends.

Each weekend eliminates three-fourths of the teams.  The final 16 remaining after the first weekend are called, “The Sweet Sixteen”.  The remaining four after the second weekend are called, “The Final Four”.  This “Final Four” weekend is the biggest weekend in college basketball.

The UCLA Bruins have won the most NCAA titles with eleven, ten of which were coached by a legend, John Wooden, often called, “The Wizard of Westwood”.  In fact, the first and only Final Four championship game that I have attended was in 1972 at the old Los Angeles Sports Arena.  UCLA was victorious over Florida State by a score of 81-76.    The famous Wizard of Westwood, Coach John Wooden

My California Golden Bears won their only NCAA Championship in 1959, over West Virginia, 71-70.  The star for West Virginia was Laker great Jerry West.  Cal had no real stars, but was coached by one of the best coaches of all time, Pete Newell.  The following year, Cal was the runner up to Ohio State.  Do you see a resemblance?  Yes, it is Laker great and now Warrior exec, Jerry West, the logo for the NBA

The tournament has grown since I last attended.  The weekend of the Final Four is now an extravaganza much like Super Bowl Weekend.  Between the two semi-final games on Saturday, and the Final on Monday evening, numerous other events are held.  This year, the biggest event is a three day free music concert in downtown Dallas, headlined by “The Boss”, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on April 6.

Officially, it is the March Madness Music Festival, to be held in Reunion Park, on a first come, first served basis.  I wonder what time I need to show up?  Other headliners for the three-day fest are Jason Aldean (it is Texas, after all), The Killers, and Tim McGraw.  I just want to see and hear ‘The Boss”.

Reunion Park is located in downtown Dallas, about 18 miles from Texas Stadium.  The Championship game will be held Monday, April 7. The Texas Stadium venue is also the site of the world record for basketball attendance.  The 2010 NBA All Star game drew a record crowd of 108,713.  I foresee a total madhouse.

My plan is to arrive Saturday, and make sure I secure a good place to hear “The Boss” on Sunday.  But also, when I arrive on Saturday, I plan to buy my tickets for the Championship game on Monday night.  But I will buy my tix from one of the two losing teams’ fans on Saturday, hopefully at a big discount.  As they walk out of the stadium, rather disappointed, I will take advantage of their utter disdain for all things basketball.  After all, 50% of all teams have to lose!!!

When I said the Final Four has grown, the entire CBS package brings $500 million to the NCAA.  The revenue is divided among the teams and conferences, based on a rather complex formula.  You can imagine back in 1972 when I last went, the TV contract was quite small in comparison, and there was no three day music concert.  My how things have changed.  I do not even recall a merchandise tent outside of the old LA Sports Arena.  A good time will be had by all!

PS: I do not have a favorite for tonight, but will root for both an exciting game, and the underdog.  This entire weekend is so different than my first Final Four.  My seat was in a luxury box, of all things.  And the food and booze were flying.  And I had the first $20 burger of my life, certainly Texas sized, I could only eat about a third of it! 

Fast forward to 2016.  Only a single Number One seed made it to the Final Four.  Once our own favorite gets eliminated, I think we tend to root for the underdog.  No doubt these teams that make the Final Four often cheat like crazy.  The problems at both Syracuse and North Carolina have been in the news throughout the past year or more.  My feeling is that the schools should just pay the kids to play a sport, and make a space available in the classroom to the kids that want to be there!!

For 2021:  The west coast has risen again in basketball.  The Conference of Champions (Pac 12) had four teams in the Elite 8.  And now two west coast teams, UCLA, and Gonzaga will play in the Final Four!!!

Just when I was expecting to take my first trip out of the county (after getting my Covid vaccinations) since last March, this happens:
Cactus League officials sought a delay in a letter to Major League Baseball released Monday, saying, “In view of the current state of the pandemic in Maricopa County — with one of the nation’s highest infection rates — we believe it is wise to delay … to allow for the COVID-19 situation here.”  Flash:  Some fans will be allowed, but will I be able to get a ticket?

The letter to MLB, first obtained by Phoenix television station KPNX, suggests mid-March as a potential start date rather than mid-February, explaining that the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projects a sharp decline in infections in Arizona by that point.  Of course, they allowed the NFL to practice and play here.  Even our San Francisco 49ers came down here after getting shut down by the Santa Clara County Health Department.

Commissioner Rob Manfred informed teams two weeks ago to prepare for an on-time start of the season, but in the meantime, Arizona’s infection rate remains the worst in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID Data Tracker. Arizona’s rate of new positive cases over the past week was 95.1 cases per 100,000 people. The U.S. average is 54.4 cases per 100,000 people.

There are 15 teams based in the Phoenix area for spring training, playing at 10 ballparks, but no Cactus League team has begun selling tickets. Ticket sales, once given approval, will be sold in pods of two, four or six, and spaced at least six feet apart from one another.  In my opinion, baseball is in a precarious position.  No fans last year, undecided this year, revenues down, TV and cable viewership down, players unhappy.  That is not a formula for success and profits.

Then again, we still have some idiots:  Mask mockers in the skies: Flight attendants hate being COVID-19 police, scolding people who flout mask-wearing regulations. They’ve experienced passengers nursing a drink or a snack for long periods of the flight in order to keep their masks down when the flight crew is around. They are hoping that a new federal order requiring mask wearing will make their jobs easier, writes Johanna Read. “I get that some [people] don’t like wearing them. I don’t like it either,” says JSX flight attendant Roshonda Payne, “but it’s vitally important to keeping everyone safe and protected.”

So, I still have my flights for March 12 to 15.  I do not have tickets to the game, as they are not yet on sale.  And my other reason for going to the Phoenix area was to visit the Gila Area Indian Reservation, where my parents were incarcerated after Pearl Harbor, during WW2.  I have tried to visit this restricted area for almost ten years now.  And I am no closer today than I was back then!!!  Very frustrating.

Coincidentally, Scottsdale was our last destination prior to the Covid lockdown.  We left Scottsdale a day early, with Lexi, and drove back home in a single day!  Interestingly, we left early since it rained in the Valley of the Sun for several days!

But Scottsdale does have many places that I enjoy.  Some of my favorite restaurants are here, including my favorite Tex Mex place, Los Sombreros.  The weather is fantastic for hiking and biking.  Though I no longer play golf, the courses here are among my favorites, like Troon, and TPC.

Travel and Leisure says:  Hiking trails from easy strolls to challenging climbs are great exercise, and they come with the bonus of spectacular views. The McDowell Sonoran Preserve, 35,000 acres of undeveloped land, provides accessible and dog-friendly trails. If you prefer your outdoor fun on the water, Scottsdale has plenty of that too. The Salt River and Verde River provide for canoeing, kayaking, stand up paddleboarding, fishing, and more. In town, explore the city’s museums and outdoor art, and spend some time in walkable Old Town. 

Some of my dear friends are no longer here, as some have moved away (Debbie), and some have passed on (John).  But new friends await, of that I am certain.

And there is always the charm of the desert, so foreign to most of us city dwellers.  Just the famous Saguaro cactus, often towering above us, seems to create a totally different expectation.  I love to browse around Old Town Scottsdale.  Two Scottsdale standards, the Pink Pony and Don and Charlies are gone.  Town Lake in Tempe sounds good for an afternoon of paddleboats and water balloon fights.

I was able to get tickets to a game over in Phoenix, the home of the Milwaukee Brewers.  Giants games were sold out immediately to spring training season ticket holders.  Scalpers are trying to get well over $150 per ticket on resale.  I remember the “good old days” when we could just walk up to the gate, buy tickets, and sit just about anywhere my son could catch foul balls.

If nothing else, it will feel great to get on a plane, rent a car, check into a hotel, and dine out somewhere.

This was my last Super Bowl, Nawlins, 2013.

Super Bowl 47 will start this afternoon.  I will be there to watch the Forty Niners.  I became a fan in the Fifties, when two players from my hometown, offensive tackle Monte Clark, and all pro defensive back, Jimmy Johnson were drafted by the Forty Niners.

Back then, it would have been difficult to envision the concept of the Super Bowl, or the greatness ahead for these two players.  My Dad would have truly enjoyed being here today.  He introduced me to sports.  He took me to my first college and professional football games.  We started out on a local level, our high school, where the Johnson brothers Rafer and Jimmy) starred in four sports.

I am sure this little story gets repeated over and over across the country.  A young boy is introduced to sports by his father, and stays a sports fan for life.  Thank you, Dad, you were the best!!!! 

Meanwhile, in Nawlins, so far, Niner fans are outnumbered by Ravens fans by ten to one!  There are more Saints fans here, in fact, that Niner fans.  Was it the expense of travel or the ticket shortage out west?  Ravens fans are here, and will outnumber us greatly, unless everyone was hallucinating yesterday.

Speaking of yesterday, I went to the NFL Experience, with my two newest friends from Baltimore, Pat and Mark.  Mark has his own accounting firm, and Pat is an attorney and law prof.  Pat is a little scruffy, but so interesting.  He was a Fulbright Scholar, and has lived all over the world, and is fluent in Mandarin. (I went to visit Pat and his wife Renee in Bucharest, Romania in 2019, while on another Fulbright).

Anyway, we met yesterday morning at a nearby coffee joint, gave each other the “Go Niner, Go Ravens” greeting, sat for about an hour together, and decided to spend the day together.  Fortunately, Pat had his son, Patrick, aka “Little Sh*tty” with us to keep things on the up and up.  In other words, no honky tonks, strip joints, or seedy bars.

If you ever go to a Super Bowl, skip the NFL Experience.  It is mostly for kids to do some football skills, like throw and kick.  The NFL tries to sell a bunch of goods, like GM cars, Bridgestone Tires, Under Armour sporting goods, and propaganda.

Speaking of, do you know the take on locals (Nawlins people) view of “Bountygate?”  They believe that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell penalized the Saints so they would not have any chance of playing in the Super Bowl here.  They say it makes a FIVE fold difference in revenue to the area businesses!  I find that hard to believe, but…..

Meanwhile, in the next few days, after we win our Sixth title, I will tell you more about the great folks here in the Crescent City.  Meanwhile, Go Niners!!!!

Yes, we lost this one, and Super Bowl 54 last year.  But I am still friends with Dirty Pat, after all these years!!!

• I decided $5,000 was too much for Super Bowl 54 last year.  Then we lost in dramatic fasion.  Just imagine how much great wine or single malts I can buy instead!