**6:30 p.m.** – Something is going on in the Alamodome right now. I know this because all of the writers are irritated by the music blaring while we’re trying to write bad copy.The media work room is located on the floor of the Alamodome behind the temporary stands south of the court. There’s some 25,000 seats surrounding our work area, but sadly, no one is here watching us in action (which should be a lesson to some egomaniac sportswriters).Anyway, anything going on in this dome echoes into our poor ears, and there’s a college All-Star game going on right now about 100 feet north of us. I know this because a box score just reached my table. The game includes former Jayhawk **David Padgett**, who’s really tearing it up. Check out this halftime line: 8 minutes, 0-1 shooting, 0 points, 4 rebounds. Former Nebrsaka center **Aleks Maric** apparently not only plays poorly against KU, but against former KU players as well. Playing against Padgett, Maric had zero points, one rebound and four fouls in the first half.Oh wait, I just heard “David Padgett!” over the P.A., so he scored. Somewhere, a University Daily Kansan Free-For-All caller is fuming.
**5:14 p.m.** – I was 0-for-8. During Friday’s open practices at the Alamodome, I approached eight KU fans. I wanted to find a Jayhawk fan that attended games last week in Detroit as well as Friday’s practice to compare the fan experience at the different venues.I couldn’t find one. So this is now an opinion blog.The setup in San Antonio is so much better than the [Ford Field configuration][1], it’s not even funny. It’s more depressing than anything.I heard numerous complaints about how awful the sightlines were at Ford Field, how the 27-inch stage setup didn’t help anything and how many people were staring at the back of other people’s heads instead of at the game.The Alamodome isn’t like that. It’s a football stadium too, yes, but the court is squeezed into the corner of the field and the north bowl of the dome is used. The incline of the seats is satisfactory, and attendance will be around 44,000 for Saturday’s games.Ford Field held 72,818, and that’s the problem. The NCAA sees that as a money-making adventure, and we all know they don’t back down from that (oh, shoot, almost forgot [to link NCAA.com][2].)Ford Field will hold the Final Four under a similar setup next year. Future Final Fours in Indianapolis and Houston will be the same way.More people will get in. But more people will be unsatisfied, too. Quantity beats quality, and I wonder if that’s a business model to strive for.
** 4:19 p.m.** – Got to share a hilarious story from the UNC locker room.As you might guess, All-American **Tyler Hansbrough** had a giant mass of media surrounding him asking all sorts of questions. This included print reporters (like me) and television reporters carrying around bulky cameras.Sometimes, those cameras can hurt people, and the constant territorial feuds between TV and newspaper is an endless battle. At one point during the Hansbrough chaos today, a TV reporter almost hit a newspaper reporter in the head with the camera. (I’ll leave the names out of it).The newspaper reporter, irritated, grabbed the TV reporters’ credential, read it and wrote down his name. Newspaper reporter then stuck around for 1-2 more questions.When newspaper reporter turned around to leave the scrum, TV reporter sarcastically grabbed her credential to read it. Newspaper reporter slapped her credential out of his hand and walked away.Thank goodness my tape recorder caught everything Hansbrough said. Because by that point, I really wasn’t paying attention to him.**Quick story No. 2** Some of these TV guys compensate for possibly being at the back of a scrum by bringing a pole, attaching a microphone to the end and sliding it in toward the subject.Now, without getting into simple physics, the problem here is that you have less control of your microphone when it’s on the end of a three-foot pole. For about five minutes, I was watching this microphone wave around Hansbrough’s face like an annoying bee, just sure that he was going to get whacked in the nose with it eventually. It would’ve looked something [like this.][3]In the end, Hansbrough never got clocked. I’m telling you, he came really close once or twice, though.
**3:48 p.m.** – North Carolina is finishing up its open practice, and soon-to-be-former Kansas State standout **Michael Beasley** was watching from courtside.He’s taking North Carolina to beat UCLA for the national title.I’ll have a couple more lengthy posts in a little bit.
**2:16 p.m.** – Injury update: KU coach **Bill Self** said ** Rodrick Stewart** has a fractured knee cap and is done. He will have surgery when they return to Lawrence.Stay tuned for more details. The locker room is open right now.
**2:01 p.m.** – Quick stat: The Tar Heels have played their last nine games in the state of North Carolina, dating back to March 1.I’m off to do interviews for the ‘ol print product. Be back in an hour or two.
**12:50 p.m.** – A few KU players just finished speaking to reporters. The most interesting question was posed to **Sasha Kaun**, who was asked if he feels like [Borat][4] in any way, presumably because of the language barrier. Sasha said no. Apparently he’s never mistaken a giant turtle for a cat in a hat.**Darnell Jackson** was asked how coach **Bill Self** has changed since that 1,200-pound Final Four gorilla was taken off his back last week. Darnell’s reply? “He’s standing up straighter.”The players, you might now assume, were in really good moods today.
**11:56 a.m.** – The interesting part about covering a successful college sports team is the amount of e-mails I get from different publicists wanting their information on different things reported on.I usually ignore them, but I’m in a giving mood today. So here are a lot of them. I might do even more later:- Got an e-mail regarding the amount of eBay sales per Final Four teams. Here’s the rundown: * There have been 1,670 Kansas Jayhawk items bought on eBay in the last month, more than any other Final Four team. * There was a 47.7 percent increase in UCLA Bruins items purchased in the last month, the highest jump of any Final Four team (which shows that KU fans buy Jayhawk items year round).- Fox Sports Radio had **Rick Pitino** on a show Tuesday, and the quotes were sent my way. On UNC-Kansas:”Certainly, (the Tar Heels) haven’t been beaten too many times, but Kansas is the type of team that can run with North Carolina, can execute against them, and it’s a very close, hard-fought ball game. You look for a buzzer beater in that game.”- BodogLife.com, a gambling Web site, sent me an e-mail listing a number of different odds. A couple of days old now, but here they are:Odds to win it: North Carolina 3/2, Memphis 5/2, UCLA 3/1, Kansas 7/2.Odds to win Final Four MVP: **Tyler Hansbrough** 5/2, **Kevin Love** 5/1, **Chris Douglas-Roberts** 13/2, **Brandon Rush** 8/1, **Derrick Rose** 8/1, **Ty Lawson** 8/1, **Wayne Ellington** 8/1. Other Jayhawks: **Mario Chalmers** 12/1, **Darrell Arthur** 13/1, **Sherron Collins** 20/1, **Darnell Jackson** 20/1.How many points will Hansbrough have versus Kansas?: Over/under set at 22.5.How many points will Rush have versus North Carolina? Over/under set at 15.5What will the Nielson TV rating be? Over/under set at 12.0Discuss. Which bets would you take?
**11:11 a.m.** – For those of you in San Antonio, here’s some information on KU’s pep rally, which sounds like quite the event.The rally goes from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, which is right next to the River Walk in downtown.Tickets cost $50 for adults and $35 for children 18 and under. That includes an all-you-can eat Mexican buffet as well as beer, wine and margaritas. A cash bar for all you wild childs is available, as well. The KU band and spirit squads will be there, of course, and I imagine you’ll hear the fight song once or 20 times. Only 2,500 fans will get in due to space issues, but there’s still room. Tickets are on sale at the Hilton Palacio del Rio (also on the River Walk) from noon to 8 p.m. today.If Kansas beats North Carolina on Saturday, another pep rally is scheduled for Monday.
**10:52 a.m.**- Somewhere, adidas is having quite the fiesta here in San Antonio weekend.![][5]For those of you keeping score of apparel providers in the NCAA Tournament, you’ll notice that Nike, technically, is no where to be found in the Final Four. It’s believed to be the first time in more than 20 years that we’ve had a swoosh-less final weekend.Of course, Nike’s not _completely_ shut out. North Carolina is represented by Brand Jordan, a branch of Nike, Inc. Their logo, dubbed “Jumpman,” is to the left. I heard that guy [played at UNC, too.][6]The other three, including Kansas, are represented by adidas. The Jayhawks joined adidas in 2005.Be back soon. [1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2008/mar/27/6news_video_transforming_ford_field/ [2]: http://www.ncaa.com [3]: http://ericboggs.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/tyler.png [4]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443453/ [5]: http://worldonline.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2008/04/04/jumpman.gif [6]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan