UST 3.1 Philly March Madness

Mar 19 2009: Philadelphia, PA. Wachovia Center. First Day of March Madness. UST the Clear Winner.

Four games in one day. UConn, Villanova, UCLA, VCU, BYU, Texas A&M, American and Chattanooga. The site of the carnage that was Fred S’ day one March Madness bets. He went 0 for 14. How is that even possible? The last few bets were egged on by Brands. To his credit Fred S manned up and made a couple big bets late in the day that he won to get closer to breakeven. American kept it close with Villanova and kept the home town fans nervous. UConn blew out Chattanooga even though Red had Chattanooga going through on his brackets solely out of hatred for UConn. VCU lost to UCLA by one, which was unfortunate because that meant we didn’t get to see more of the most entertaining student pep band in the NCAA. The band director had a Ric Flair inspired “Total Package” robe that he would strip out of (channelling Ravishing Rick Rude I’m sure) during songs. He’d dance, play the drums with his shoes and mix it up with his bikini wearing horns section. Great entertainment. See more lengthy videos here and here, especially the Requiem for a Dream rendition in the first minute of the first vid.

Mar 20 2009: New York, NY. Madison Square Garden. Kings vs. Knicks. Knicks lose 121 – 94.

Started the day in the ESPN Zone in Times Square to watch the days March Madness games. Tonnes of people. New Yorkers, tourists, lots of different loyalties. The hours flew by. Did a little self guided walking tour of NYC (Canal Street, Little Italy, Chinatown, etc.) then walked over to MSG. The Knicks are terrible and were out of it almost immediately. It was still great to be at MSG for a Knicks game. Highlight was watching Anthony Anderson (Law & Order, Hustle & Flow and who can forget his role in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle) break dance during an intermission, including a classy head spin.

Mar 20 2009: Atlantic City, NJ. Borgata Hotel & Casino. UST vs. Borgata. UST wins $1,000!

Eat it Borgata! Site of the infamous Truba meltdown on Fred S and Brands for playing blackjack to the very last minute, and more, before we had to head back to Philly for round 2 of March Madness. When Truba’s dropping F-Bombs you know he’s at wits end. There are some hard looking people in New Jersey.

Mar 21 2009: Philadelphia, PA. Wachovia Center. Day 2 of March Madness. UST’s Head is Spinning.

Four teams. Two games. UConn vs. Texas A&M and Villanova vs. UCLA. Both games were blow outs. Villanova made a run to the Final Four in The Tournament. Mercifully, UConn lost in the Elite Eight to Michigan State. If I’m being honest, I enjoyed that smug degenerate Hasheem Thabeet going from the #2 overall pick in the NBA draft to the D-League within a few months of the start of his NBA career. Dikembe Mutombo he’s not.

Mar 22 2009: East Rutherford, NJ. IZOD Center. Cavs vs. Nets. Nets lose 96 – 88.

Jay-Z in the house! LeBron in the house! And that wuss Vince Carter in the house (you suck Vince!). Three great highlights: 1) Sitting 10 feet from Jay-Z, 2) Halfway through the fourth quarter some old school Nets fan, straight out of Hoboken, with the full 80’s moustache sitting 10 rows behind the basket stands up and yells “That’s it! I’m outta here. I can’t stand watching the owner of the Nets cheer for the Cavs!” We weren’t even that close to him and yet you could hear him loud and clear. 3) Fred S loves the Raptors. Vince Carter screwed the Raptors and their fans. Thus, Fred S hates Vinsanity. We sat 10 feet behind the Nets bench and were on Vince the whole first half. Nothing particularly creative, just giving him a hard time. On his way to the locker room after the first half we gave him a good “YOU SUCK VINCE!” On his way back out for the second half we gave him another “YOU SUCK VINCE!” and this time he stops and turns around and says “Yeah, just like your Mom.” Haha. We couldn’t believe that we got under his skin that easily. Through the whole second half he wouldn’t sit on our side of the bench and during timeouts would stay as far away as possible. UST declares victory. No pro athlete should be intimidated by a couple of guys yelling uncreative burns in his team’s home building. Eat it Vince!

Other Highlights:

Hit the original Philly Cheese Steak spots in South Philadelphia – Geno’s and Pat’s. It was close, but UST gives Pat’s the upper hand. Lined up around the building. Love the “with whiz” and “without whiz” options. Of course we got them with wiz.

Spectacular cannoli’s in Little Italy. Calories be damned.