The Tourney Coat

Currently Resides: Las Vegas, NV

Western Michigan (2000 – 2004), UNLV (2010 – ?)

Favorite Teams:

1. Western Michigan
2. UNLV
3. Michigan State
4. Minnesota
5. Marquette

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Hated Teams:

1. BYU
2. Central Michigan
3. Michigan
4. North Carolina
5. Wisconsin

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Favorite All Time Player:

• Mike Williams – Western Michigan ( 2002 – 2004), MAC POTY 2004.

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Favorite All Time Team:

• 2003 – 2004 Western Michigan (MAC Champions, MAC Tournament Champions, 11 Seed in the NCAA Tournament, 1st round loss to #6 seed Vanderbilt 71-58.

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All Time Trip Starting 5:

• G – Dwayne Wade, Marquette (Indianapolis ‘03)
• G – Stephon Curry, Davidson (Detroit, ‘08)
• G – AJ Price, Connecticut (Philadelphia, ‘09)
• FC – Greg Oden, Ohio State (Lexington, ‘07)
• C – Roy Hibbert, Georgetown (Minneapolis, ‘06)
• Coach – Tom Izzo, Michigan State (Detroit, ‘09)
• Band – Bandie with a robe from VCU (Philadelphia, ‘09)
• Dance Team – UCLA dance squad (Philadelphia, ‘09)

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Worst Trip Moment:

• 2003 – For unknown reasons, my stomach decided to start eating itself during the second day of games in Indianapolis, resulting in aprox 40 mins of sleep before heading home the following day.
• 2009 – Disposing of my curry’s in a stand alone porta john in a parking lot across the street from Tigers Stadium. Good thing there were a lot of poop tickets on hand.

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Best Trip Moments:

• 2003 (Indianapolis) – Being made fun of by the keeper of the original rules of basketball, written by Dr. James Naismith. Sitting in the lobby of our hotel in Indianapolis, we were called over to take a look. Unfortunately for myself, I was the last person to pick up on who he was, and what a chance this was.
• 2009 (Detroit) – While stumbling out of a random bar, downtown Detroit, for the Final Four, I saw Phil Martelli, and let him know how much we liked him. He then said he appreciated me.

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Worst Trip Basketball Moment:

• 2007 (Lexington) – Having to bear witness to Ohio State being handed a ticket to the sweet sixteen when they were clearly outplayed by a dynasty in what was Xavier.
• 2009 (Detroit) – Watching a handfull of UNC fans celebrate winning a national title at Ford Field.

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Best Trip Basketball Moments:

• 2008 (Detroit) – Stephon Curry single handedly ending the season of Wisconsin and all of their stupid fans looking around everywhere wondering why there were not any more fouls called.
• 2004 (Milwaukee) – Watching Wisconsin lose what was practically a home game to Pittsburgh 55-59. Wisconsin was a #6 seed and hardly deserved a home game, playing the #3 seed Panther team.
• 2009 (Detroit) – Watching Michigan State defeat UConn in front of 50,000+ of their closest friends and relatives at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit, MI

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Trip Philosophy:

• Do your research and be prepared. The off day is a great day to catch the rest of the tourney from a local pub so you can be interviewed by a local news station, and get into fights with huge black ladies in the parking lot. This is also a good chance to check out some local landmarks around town. Remember though -  you’re there to watch the games at your site. No bailing on games from being hung over from the night before. These are the last games of the year, and they’re usually the best. Soak it in and recognize what you’re watching. There’s nothing like it.

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