Florida Repeats!

And they deserved it.

Ohio State scored the first bucket, but from tip to buzzer it was all Gators. Larry Munson may have proclaimed there was sugar falling from the sky, but tonight, it was raining threes for Florida inside the Georgia Dome. At the half, it was 40-29 -- a gap that Ohio State would narrow to six, but from which it could never recover.



Being a Georgia Tech grad, I'm not particularly a Florida fan, but you've gotta respect a bunch of kids who stayed in school to build something great. They shot; they rebounded; they stole the ball and buried threes at the right times to keep twisting the dagger in Ohio State's back. I guarantee you this Florida squad's picture will be in the next dictionary, under the definition of "team."

And despite the loss, you've also got to give credit to Greg Oden. It looked like he missed about half his shots in the first half, including the easy ones in the paint, but he finished with 25 points. Dad doesn't think he's ready for the NBA, and Mom said the TV cameras were zooming in on him huffing and puffing. No matter how talented he is, you couldn't ask him to carry the whole team against the Gator onslaught.

A Gator fan gets Uppity

This text message came in from my buddy Mark this morning:

U guys need new shirts

Nyuk nyuk. Whatta comedian. You guys still need to play 40 minutes of basketball.

UCLA Disappoints

76 - 66

Our seats ended up being in the UCLA section. Directly across the aisle from us had to have been the oldest fans in attendance: a cute little elderly couple decked out head-to-toe in UCLA blue. We also ran into this guy at half-time:



The game got off to a pretty slow start -- it was something like 6-5 after the first six minutes. Gator fans may talk about the Championship Sandwich, but Saturday night Joakim Noah was in a UCLA sandwich every time he got the ball down low. Certainly a testament to UCLA's defensive skills.

But this ain't soccer, and you can't win a game with just defense. UCLA just couldn't produce any baskets. Arron Afflalo got into foul trouble early and watched the first half from the bench. Then Florida cracked that defense, the "3"s started flying and that's all she wrote.

Ohio State Wins

Final score: 67-60

Lotsa happy red-shirted fans over in that section. And the two guys behind us.

Dad was right: the zone defense just shut down Georgetown's backdoor.

15 Minutes till tip

Thanks to the Ohio State fans who snapped the pic

[Edit 4/1]:

The Ohio State fans right behind us were also a father-son team who drove in for this great experience. Once again, Dad's Georgetown shirt got the rivalry going. Best fifteen bucks I ever spent!

Same goes for the tickets, although they were a lot more than fifteen bucks! Our view is fantastic:

Hooters and Dick

There's a joke there somewhere.

[Edit 4/1]:

OK, so back onto MARTA for a trek to the Peachtree Center station, which has the longest escalator in the Southeast. One block up, we found the Hooters. It was packed.

We BS'ed with some guys from Chicago. Seems like every conversation got started because of Dad's Georgetown T-shirt!

Dick showed up and after a while we started wondering where he disappeared to. It didn't take too long to figure it out -- his voice started booming over the speakers chatting with 790 The Zone sports radio at a tiny table crammed in the back. Ten minutes later, Dad elbows me and says, "I don't think Dick's come up for air yet!"

When we finally made it over to see Dick, he pulls his producer over and says about my dad: "You shoulda seen this kid -- St. Bonaventure's -- he scored 30 points a game! .... about 50 pounds ago!" That's why my Dad is smiling so big. The two of them met years ago when they were both at Seton Hall, and there can't be a nicer guy than Dick Vitale. He should be in the Hall of Fame.

ESPN at Atlantic Station

We're here. Dickie V says hi.

[Edit 4/1]:

We made it over to Atlantic Station with no problems. Actually, MARTA makes it pretty easy -- just hop off at the Arts Center station and pick up a shuttle van over for free.

When we got there, Dick and the other commentators were already busy working. All we had to do to find the ESPN set was just follow Dick's voice!



After the show ended, Dad got a handshake with Digger Phelps, who, as my dad pointed out, coached Notre Dame in the game that ended UCLA's 88-game winning streak in 1974. Granted, I was only 4 when that happened, but I still don't know how he remembers stuff like that!



Dick got hustled out of there for his next speaking engagement, so the best we could do was snap a quick picture and follow along: to Hooters downtown!

Here We Go...

And we're off to March Madness!

First stop: Atlantic Station to see Dick Vitale broadcasting for ESPN.

Final Four, Here We Come!

I'm surprising my Dad with Final Four tickets this year. I got the idea after going to a Georgia Tech game recently and thinking, "Man, I almost forgot how fun these games are." It also reminded me of the time we snuck him into a game with a borrowed student ID. Good times.

Keep your eye on this blog. I've set it up so I can post to it live from my cell phone.