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Sawin' Wood

San Antonio sights and sounds, Saturday Gameday

By Ryan Wood
April 5, 2008 | 5 comments

1:25 a.m. — Rita's. Was. Freaking. Packed.

Rita's, a watering hole on the River Walk, has been dubbed the nightlife headquarters for KU fans. Needless to say, business was booming after KU's 84-66 victory over North Carolina.

It was shoulder-to-shoulder Jayhawk fans. People were screaming for no reason. Flashes from digital cameras blinded you occasionally. Just outside, a group of five college-aged guys paraded down the River Walk. One had his arms stretched high in the air, holding a giant Sasha Kaun head cut-out. Another had a sign that said "Championship Belongs to Sasha." They were high-fiving every KU fan they passed.

I'm telling you, the RIver Walk is the second-best nightlife hangout I've ever been around, behind only the Las Vegas Strip. It is absolutely alive tonight — UCLA and North Carolina fans drowining out their sorrows, Kansas and Memphis fans toasting tonight before becoming enemies tomorrow.

Last story of the night, and it's a feel-good one because I'm corny like Roy: A couple of North Carolina fans in their 50s were walking in front of me. A 20-something Kansas fan walked by, patted one man on the shoulder and said "Good game."

The UNC fan turned around and said, "Thank you."

With that, it's time for bed. The blog will be back tomorrow.




11:20 p.m. — For those keeping score at home:

— The rock chalk chant started with 1:36 left.

— Roy Williams appeared to be emotionally spent, but I didn't see any tears.

— A KU fan behind me, once everything was done, turned to his buddy and shouted "Dude, let's go get some margaritas on the River Walk!"

Be safe, everyone.




9:14 p.m. — Clever sign of the night with multiple dimensions to it: "Hey Roy, you're not in North Carolina anymore!"

The Tar Heels, of course, have played in-state since March 1, including four NCAA Tournament games.




9:03 p.m. — With Kansas up 44-27 at halftime, here's how happy the Jayhawk faithful are: I saw a KU band member prance down a hallway, swinging his arms over his head from side to side, like he was dancing along to a showtune. He was on his way to the bathroom.

Top 5 moment of the day. I'll come up with the other four later.




8:00 p.m. — Eric Chenowith is in the building. So is Mike Maddox and all the ones mentioned below.

Enjoy the game. There's a ton of energy in here.




6:23 p.m. — Waltzed on up to the KU section during halftime, hoping to see some former KU players.

The list so far (and remember, I'm not the Gary Bedore guy who knows everybody): Scot Pollard, Bud Stallworth and Greg Gurley. And of course, Danny Manning and Chris Piper are here working. So are Jerod Haase and C.B. McGrath.

I hear Eric Chenowith is in town, but no confirmation quite yet.




5:52 p.m. — Memphis is to basketball what Michaelangelo is to art. At least tonight.




4:24 p.m.— Time for the weekly "Worst seat in the house" post, brought to you by the NCAA.

This time, my quadriceps took a beating on my way up to section 319. There's a chance you could be closer to the court if you were out in the north parking lot. Swear. And these seats, yes indeedy, were for sale.

Anyway, I went up about 6,000 stairs, did the Rocky dance once I got to the top, then looked around for the basketball court. Found it, snapped a picture and considered just jumping back down to the lower level and risking death.

Said one fan sitting up there: "Why do they even sell these tickets?" She then let out a stream of profanities that I didn't write down fast enough.

On the way down, I had the first celebrity sighting of the night: Comedian Dennis Miller, who was with what I presume to be his son. His boy was wearing North Carolina apparel.

Stay tuned for much more name-dropping — as long as they're not in section 319.




3:26 p.m. — Downtown San Antonio is crazy right now.

Nearly everyone is supporting one of four teams in a variety of ways. I saw an awesome Tar Heel blue Michael Jordan retro jersey on. There are Memphis fans everywhere, KU fans everywhere and UCLA fans everywhere.

I got a shot of a UCLA guy dressed like a complete madman, but there's issues with sizing it and I'm hardly advanced enough to know what I'm doing. Trust me, he looked looney. He had goggles, a cape, a gray wig, a lei, a UCLA powder blue jersey, face paint and a smile on. Yeah. Wacko.

Anyway, meet Alyce Mason, on your left. The Leawood resident (and avid Journal-World reader, yay!) is in San Antonio with her husband, James. I stopped her because I had to ask her about her awesome jacket, filled with enough sequins to make Elvis puke.

Alyce made that jacket by herself, and I had to get a picture of it. Her and her husband are longtime Jayhawk fans who have a basement filled with KU memorabilia, including an old bar from a past watering hole in Lawrence. That's awesome.

I just showed up at the Alamodome, where the Pink song "Get This Party Started" is blaring over the speakers.

Amen.




1:41 p.m. — The sun is out today. It's a beautiful day in San Antonio. So beautiful, I might stop being lazy and actually leave my hotel room soon.

Actually, I'm heading over to the Alamodome in about 90 minutes, as I'm covering UCLA-Memphis as well as Kansas-North Carolina. And of course, I'm blogging it up while I'm there.

I would give you some links, but there are waaaaay too many out there. The amount of media coverage the Final Four gets is crazy. So let's go against the grain, shall we? The grain sucks anyway:

The Onion: With no Cinderellas, Memphis tries to explain that it is the Rumpelstiltzkin of the Final Four.

The Onion: A breakdown of UNC star Tyler Hansbrough. Watch the language.

The Onion: Three people on the street are asked about all four No. 1 seeds making the Final Four. Classic.

Please know, those links are satire.

NCAA.com: Not satire. But necessary.

I'll post again when I get to the dome.

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