Marshall Street, on the Syracuse University hill.
There was a little warmup for in Syracuse for our quarter slice of the Sweet Sixteen pie.
I took a walk up to the Syracuse University hill because the NCAA opened the Carrier Dome for free to watch the practices for the four squads who’d reached the East Regional portion of the Sweet Sixteen. By the way, did you have North Carolina State, Michigan State, Louisville and Oklahoma advancing this far in your bracket? No, me neither.
School still being in session, it looked fairly normal around Marshall Street, but they did have the merchandise set out front at T-shirt-and-more emporium Manny’s, with a big Syracuse Orange mascot Otto making his appearance for the festivities, trying to woo activity.
Sit i n the silver seats.
Each squad received an hour inside the dome, starting with the Wolfpack of North Carolina State at noon. Ushers told the couple thousand fans they could sit in the lower level, in the silver bleachers. I could tell some portions of the dome seating was cordoned off differently by the NCAA than its is for Syracuse regular season games, to make room for more visiting media.
I interviewed an array of folks and took photos for a piece I plan to post Saturday for my community blog column for Syracuse Public Media site waer.org. But first my dear wife Karen and I will return to the hill after she gets out of work at SMG tonight.
No crickets tonight?
I expect there to be considerably more action than yesterday afternoon at the Syracuse University Sheraton bar, a short walk down the hill from the dome. We have no tickets, but we’ll be talking to folks, and I’ll be taking more photos, and … Who knows where my nose for news will lead me. Tune in here and at waer.org tomorrow morning.
Have you ever gone to watch one of your sports team practice, and who and why? Are you in the market for some T-shirts-and-more, and what would you like? Who are you rooting for the rest of the way in the tournament?
Mark Bialczak 
I love your sports enthusiasm, Mark! 🙂
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Thanks, Rachel. It moves me. 🙂
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Go Irish!
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Still there for you, my friend. 🙂
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Tonight will be a huge test as they battle perfection…
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Kentucky got that game out of the way against West Virginia. Cal should have put players eight through 13 in for the last four minutes and let the vibe get all raggedy to appease the basketball gods. Now they are annoyed at him for rubbing it in to Huggins and the Mountaineers and for playing the perfect game. I like your Irish’s chances.
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The guys on ESPN don’t seem very confident in my Irish. I wore my ND hat out just now, trying to pick up some luck…
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We’ll see soon. I am about to go out to a benefit for one of our friends with my dear wife Karen so I won’t be watching unless they have it on TV there … maybe.
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Well it’s on at 8:30. Won’t you be home by then?
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After the benefit we have the doggie hockey game. Then maybe second half of Notre Dame. Busy day for us!
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Have fun!
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We got home in time time to see the last 10 minutes. What heartbreak, Austin. That last six seconds was totally misplayed by Grant. He should have passed the ball, which takes one second to cover the whole court and possibly leave room for an offensive rebound, not dribble himself to waste the whole clock for one off-balance shot. Knucklehead move.
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They took the undefeated #1 team right down to the buzzer. They played very well…
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Yes, they sure did. Until the last six seconds. Tore me up.
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Sigh. So close.
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It was very exciting, Austin.
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Sigh.
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how lucky for you, your location. i would love to go. mg has taken his grown sons to indy over the years to watch practice and games and enjoy the general mayhem involved. as of now, i have 3 dogs left in the game, with ky taking it all, as you might expect. i had mich state leaving the brackets early on, as they are rivals, but now i’m rooting for them, as i’m loyal to my state as well and i do think they have a chance. can’t wait for tonight!
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Yes, I am very excitedW! MDW Karen bought us two tickets at a deal from work today. We’re going to the games as well as the pre-game festivities. Wowwww! Thanks, Beth. You have three dogs left. That’s good picking!
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I rooting for the Zags. As to watching practices, I used to watch my alma maters’ hoops team practice. We were a small school, in a small cow town; and it was that or count tumbleweeds and cows.
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Watching your friends practice is way better than counting ‘weeds or ‘cud, my friend. Gonzaga! First vote for the Zags. I like your spirit. 🙂
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All my T-shirts are from work, or they have sci-fi references, comic book hero/villain references or Hello Kitty on them.
Oh, wait…I do have my Orioles and Steelers shirts too 😀
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Birds and Terrible Towel shirts count, you know Sheena. You had sports togs and didn’t even realize it, my friend. 🙂
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With my Buckeyes out of it, I’m rooting for the Spartans … but you probably figured that out already. 🙂
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I have indeed put my relationship noodle rightly on that one, Jim. 🙂
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I am a Hoosier so it’s got to be Notre Dame. Or anyone not named Kentucky.
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Kentucky looked kind of tough last night, Benson. Notre Dame gets into the Elite Eight on the same night, too … Oh, boy.
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I had one of those teams in my bracket. Can you guess which one?
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Your team has now become my team, Scott. They looked sharp in the shoot-around. I enjoyed watching Coach Izzo instruct the squad in his wise way. They didn’t let us get close enough to hear anything, though.
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Welcome aboard. Let’s hope it’s a worthwhile ride.
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