From the day late and a dollar short department...

It's been 11 days since Kansas knocked off Memphis in the national championship game.  I had the privilege to be in San Antonio to see my first ever Final Four with my dad and brother.  I've had the chance to attend a bunch of incredible events thanks to my job, but the Final Four had always alluded me.  We bought tickets, sat in the upper deck of the Alamo Dome and had a phenomenal time.  The entire Final Four weekend was great, and it had very little to do with basketball.  If you've never visited San Antonio, I'm telling you it needs to go to the top of the list of places you need to go...especially in April.  80 degrees every day with little to no humidity...the food was fantastic...and the people are incredibly nice.  For a large city, it's got a very small feel to it.  We walked around town at night, and in some places that weren't lit very well, but there was never a time I didn't feel safe. 

One of the best parts of the trip, especially for my brother, was seeing all of the coaches from pretty much every team in America.  The coaches have their annual convention at the Final Four, so everybody was there.  You'd see them just walking around shopping or eating or whatever.  Tennessee's Bruce Pearl stayed at our hotel.  The first day we got there, my dad and brother went up to check out the pool.  Pearl was up there shirtless (of course, although no painted chest) with his long orange bathing suit.  I got a frantic text message from my brother saying Bruce was there.  I don't know if my brother would have been more excited if Elvis had walked up to him. 

We saw Billy Gillispie eating down on the RiverWalk.  My brother walked up to him, and said "Good luck."  Billy smiled and said thanks.  Of course my brother immediately turned around and said "Why did I wish him luck?  It's not like he's playing this weekend."  I'm sure Billy has heard worse things from people who interrupt him while he's eating. 

All of the coaches stay at the same hotel downtown, and they had security at the door to keep all the riff-raff out of there.  If you didn't have a key, you couldn't get in.  I was able to score a key (you don't need to know how) so we were able to walk in and out whenever we wanted.  Once inside, we hit the jackpot of coaching sightings.  Former Murray coach Steve Newton was holding court with some folks...Tom Izzo (who is incredible small, but still scares the heck out of me)...St. Joseph's Phil Martelli (who I think I saw 12 times during the entire weekend)...SIU's assistants...UT Martin's Bret Campbell fighting off agents who wanted to talk about Lester Hudson...former Georgetown coach John Thompson (who is HUUUUGE by the way)...the list goes on and on.  I think my goal next time is to get a picture with as many random coaches as possible.  Just because.  I need help.

The championship game was obviously amazing.  We were sitting in a section with almost all Kansas people.  With about 2:00 left in the game, I thought I was going to be sitting in the middle of the largest funeral in the state of Texas.  But I have never FELT anything like the roar that came from that building when 45,000 people erupted in either shock or elation when Mario Chalmers hit the three to send it to overtime.  Phenomenal.

Maybe the most underrated portion of the trip...after Kansas cut the nets down, watching "One Shining Moment" with 25,000 people.  They clapped and cheered at all the right parts, but any time a Kansas player showed up on the big screen, the place erupted.  It was special.

To make a really long story short...if you ever have the chance to go to a Final Four...DO IT!  You won't be disappointed.

Other links I've found this week...

• I don't know what to think about this article other than the Ohio Valley Conference apparently gets no respect nationally when it comes to football.  I'm not sure they've done a whole lot to earn that respect, but such is the beast of burden known as 1-AA football.  Is Murray really averaging less than 5 wins a year so far this decade?  Yikes.
• After losing so many stars off last year's team it will be interesting to see how Kentucky's football team bounces back this year.  Former Hopkinsville star Curtis Pulley is in the running for the starting QB job, but it's hardly a lock he'll be leading the Cats in the fall.
• Former Mizzou basketball coach Quin Snyder is now coaching in basketball's version of Siberia.  At least he still has awesome hair.

That's all for today.  Have a great weekend.  As always, the floor is yours.