March Madness!

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I took a half day off work and David and I headed over to Indianapolis for March Madness. We stopped early on 74 and picked a Chinese buffet to eat. It didn't look like much, but the food was not bad. After we got back on the highway, we got stuck in stand-still traffic on 74, where we sat still for about 40 minutes. David was wanting to back up and try to get off at the last exit, but I talked him out of it. When we got to the hotel, we checked in and got settled. We could see the Fieldhouse out our hotel window (3rd floor, right off the elevator, a handicapped room). At one point I thought they had opened the doors, so we headed across the street. I was able to sneak into the Fan Zone, and eventually David came in too. Not much there, but I did get to try a sample of Spiced Coke (bleck). They were not in fact opening the doors yet. It was kinda chilly, so we went back to our room. When David turned on the TV, we saw that the 2nd game of session 1 was still going. So that explained the doors not being opened. That game did not go into OT, but the final score was 102-100. Wow. Eventually we heard a cheer from across the street. They had opened the doors. We kept an eye on the crowd, but at 7 minutes to tip off it had still not cleared out. When the game started (we watched on TV) we headed over. It really didn't take long to get in. When we got to our seats, it was about 7 minutes into the first half. The game was Purdue (1 seed) vs Grambling State (16 seed). Purdue was only 80 minutes from the venue, and it was absolutely packed with their fans. I have a lot of videos of that. After David sat down, I headed back to the first floor to get us Ben's Pretzels. It was the most delicious pretzel I have ever had. Grambling State kept it close during the first half, but Purdue took control in the second. Even when they were up 20 points or more, the crowd roared with every basket. I found it annoying. David loved the atmosphere.

After the Purdue game, almost half the crowd left. The second game was TCU (9) vs Utah State (8). I felt bad for the teams - pretty much no one cared what happened in this second game. Plus, it was getting late. At halftime, more fans left and the arena felt almost empty. I wanted to stay - mostly because this was probably the only time I would be at a March Madness game. I was rooting for TCU, and Utah State started to build a lead. I told David if they got up by 20, we would go. They never did, but with about 5 mins left in the game we headed out anyway. It was very nice to be right across the street. I tried to find milk, but with no luck. I should have brought some with me. I settled for a Snickers bar. Neither of us slept great the first night. David had forgotten his CPAP machine. I didn't bring my pillow, and the hotel pillow was too fat.

We got up at 9a and went down to the included breakfast. It was pretty good, I especially liked the eggs. It was also crowded, but we did find a place to sit. After breakfast, we took our showers and rested a bit. Then we headed over to City Centre mall. It was only 2-3 blocks away. We got a couple drinks, looked around, and ended up spending a lot of time at the Convention Center, which was connected to the mall by a skywalk. There was a Comicon there, and we spent time peoplewatching. I got some pictures to document the experience. We also watched a free wrestling show, which David loved. Then we headed back to the mall to watch Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. The theater was huge, so many rows. We got popcorn, but unfortunately no Coke. After the movie, I rushed to CVS because they closed at 6p and it was after 5p. I got milk and Oreos. I was excited to use my $5 coupon. Then we headed to the hotel and relaxed in the room a bit. At about 8p, we headed out to go to Steak n Shake. Although there was a huge SnS sign across from our hotel, it turns out that was the headquarters and not an actual restaurant. But we found one near the mall. It was packed, but we got our food quickly (love the new format without waitresses). After SnS we went back to the room, watched some basketball, and went to bed. I slept much better this time. It always seems to be the first night I have trouble with, and then I settle in. In the morning we got up and did breakfast again, packed up, and headed home. No traffic this time, so that was good.

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