NCAA Championship 4/5/2010

April 5th, 2010. NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Indianapolis, Indiana. The Hated Duke Blue Devils...The beloved underdog Butler Bulldogs. Duke is filled with future NBA players and a Hall of Fame coach. Most people assume Jimmy Chitwood and Gene Hackman are on Butler's roster. With 4 Championship tickets in hand, the KMan hopped in the jeep, picked up his buddy Verbal, and hit the highway to Indy. A quick 3 hour drive went by in no time, partially in thanks to opening day baseball on the radio.

Before the game, Verbal and I went to Scotty's Brewhouse for a burger and a beer. Unfortunately, the brewhouse was packed to the brim and it became clear that getting a table and a waitress would be impossible. Directly across the street was an Irish Pub called O'Reilly's. O'Reilly's, like every other bar in downtown Indy, was crowded, but there was enough room to comfortably stand and drink. The KMan roots for the MSU Spartans, and was happy to see many other people wearing green and white around town. Numerous teams were represented by their respective fans in Indy. The Kman and Verbal struck up a conversation with a pair of Syracuse fans. They, like so many others, expected their team to be playing that night. Other teams represented were West Virginia, Kentucky, Kansas, Purdue, and one confused Michigan fan. The Michigan fan explained to me that he thought he had traveled back to 1990 in a hot tub time machine. He was not happy when I told him it was 2010. While walking to Lucas Oil Stadium, KMan and Verbal tried to unload the extra two tickets for face value. Once we got in front of the stadium we were joined by approximately 500 other people trying to get rid of extra tickets. After about 20 minutes of unsuccessful bartering, KMan and Verbal decided that they now had two expensive souveniers.

The game itself was very exciting. Our seats were in the club level, just above the lower bowl and just below the sky box seats. In our row, several West Virginia fans sat to the right of us. When asked who they are cheering for, they stated "anybody but Duke." While scanning Lucas Oil Field, a familiar face was spotted. In the skybox directly behind and to the left of KMan, was Peyton Manning. Peyton took time to shake hands and wave to fans. Several people approached him for an autograph. To my surprise, Peyton reached into his right khaki pocket and pulled out a Sharpie and began signing autographs. The KMan believes Peyton Manning is the best football player in the world, and thought it was great that he carries a pen around with him to sign autographs. In another skybox behind and to the right of us sat Hall of Famer Bill Walton. At halftime, the NCAA honored the 2010 basketball Hall of Fame inductees including Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, and the 1992 Dream Team (represented by Larry Bird). While running to the bathroom prior to the start of the 2nd half, another familiar face was recognized. Johhny Spirit was in the house. For those non Spartans out there, Johnny Spirit is a guy who goes full body paint in MSU green and has a giant Block "S" painted on his chest. Johnny Spirit attends every home MSU sporting event and sometimes can be seen at big road games. The game stayed close in score for all 40 minutes and the home town Bulldogs came up just 2 points short. A crowd of 70,000 fans (approx 60,000 rooting for butler/against Duke) left disappointed.



The game finished and the post game festivities ended around 12:30, which gave us a few hours of post game bar hopping. Our first stop was at the Wild Beaver Saloon. I know what you are thinking, and no, the Wild Beaver is NOT a strip club. It is, however, a more fun/trendy bar only version of hooters. All the wait staff were attractive females, and they all wore tight jeans with the ass cut out in the back. We stayed for a few beers and a few car bombs before we got the hunger pain. Right down the street was a Hard Rock Cafe. The Hard Rock recently upgraded their menu to include 2 pages of gourmet burgers. The Kman got a Red, White, and Blue Burger, which included blue cheese, buffalo wing sauce, and an onion ring topper. After our pit stop, we hopped over to the Hard Rock Bar, where KMan had a cold Miller Lite and Verbal sipped on a White Russian. We made it back to our hotel at about 3:30 AM, and were back on the road home 7 hours later.



Indianapolis is a great city. It has all the amenities of a big town with the midwestern small town feeling. The city assigns all the Final 4 schools their own personal bars so you can co-mingle with your fellow Spartans, Blue Devils, Bulldogs, or Mountaineers. The beer is cheep, the streets are clean, and the people are friendly. I'm always excited to spend time in Indy, and always bummed when I have to leave.

Wild Beaver Saloon Website
http://www.wildbeaversaloon.com/gen4/index.htm