I'm back but not yet fully rested from a long but awesome weekend in San Antonio. I once told a friend of mine from SA that her town was a third-world country, but that observation was dead wrong.
--What a great weather weekend. Sure, it got a little hot Sunday, but for a city that relies on great outdoor weather in its downtown area, it couldn't have been much better. Lots of sun, warm temperatures, no rain.
--Incredibly entertaining title game. As mentioned, I was sitting in the rafters, but the view wasn't really that bad. Last night's game is certainly the best title game I've ever witnessed, although I should note that I'm less than a quarter-century old.
--One of the great things about the Final Four is people-watching. I saw or walked by Jim Boeheim, Phil Martelli, Jeff Capel and Ed Hightower. On Monday at lunch, Jeffrey Martin sat at the table next to me. While standing outside the Alamodome after the title game, Penny Hardaway walked right by, but was not in a very good mood.
--I wonder how geniune John Calipari's assertion is that he was trying to foul Sherron Collins and/or Mario Chalmers on that last play. It's what he should have done, but it didn't look like they were trying that hard.
--Memphis was dead from the second Mario Chalmers' shot went in. You could see the air go out of the Memphis players and fans.
--Free throws?! Good God, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose could not have choked worse than they did. Even hitting their season team average (~60 percent) down the stretch would have been good enough.
--Derrick Rose is incredible, but he shrunk from the spotlight in the overtime. Of course, all of Memphis' team looked a little shellshocked, so maybe it's unfair to single him out.
--The 'beaker fans in my section were dicks to the Memphis fan sitting next to me.
--What was up with Roy Williams wearing a shirt with a chicken sticker on it? Ol' Huckleberry Hound sure does like the spotlight.
--In conclusion, the Final Four is an incredible event, even when you don't have a rooting interest in any of the participating teams. I hope at some point in my lifetime to go to a Final Four with more than a casual basketball observer's interest in the games.