Final Four - Houston

Rameen <3's denim

I can’t believe that Kentucky made it to the Final Four this year. We had a lot of disappointing losses and most of them were by less than 5 points. The guys started clicking at the right time and swept through the SEC tournament, then beat OSU and UNC on the way to Houston. I knew that UConn would be a tough opponent – I actually picked us to lose to OSU in my bracket but I did choose UConn to go to the Final Four.

Since I had the time and frequent flier miles, I started looking up ticket prices on the internet. I found tickets through the NCAA website that ranged from $150-3000. You could buy a semifinal and final combo but I went with the semifinal only (but you can watch both games). I found some decently priced seats in the upper level for $200 (plus a $40 surcharge that I didn’t find out about until later – ouch) and convinced Rameen to buy one. He only lives 4 hours away in Dallas and was going to ride in with a friend. The upper level was waaaaaay up there in Reliant Stadium, but I hoped that it would be worth it.

The tickets were mailed to me overnight and that’s when I found out that they retailed for $90. In hindsight it may have been cheaper to scalp lower level seats. I think we could’ve gotten them for around the same price that we paid. There is also something to be said about the peace of mind that goes with guaranteed seats and not having to worry, haggle, and hope they’re not counterfeit.

Our friend Mark moved from Atlanta to Houston a few years ago for work, plus after Brandon graduated from GT he and Kelly moved there for his job. The fact that so many of my friends have moved to random places out of Atlanta has been one of the reasons that I have been so happy to travel all of the time and be away from home. They offered up their places to stay but I have to give a shout out to my friend Tag that got us a free room at a Hilton closer to the stadium so we wouldn't be spending too much time in commute.

Rameen and I met up with Kelly and Brandon along with Mark and some of his friends at Dog House Tavern in Midtown, one of the main nightlife spots of Houston. We took it easy on Friday night and then just relaxed in the hotel on Saturday morning. The official Final Four tailgate started at 1 pm but we didn't stroll in until after 2.

There were all kinds of events going on and at least half of the crowd was for UK. There were some confused Duke, Kansas and OSU fans walking around... I guess they didn't want to waste their tickets. It wasn't that great and we ended up finding a random tailgate party in the parking lot with some UK grads. We didn't know each other in school but ended up having mutual friends.

Snagged lower level seats at upper level prices!

Rameen and I went in at halftime of the Butler/VCU game but immediately left because we didn't realize that they didn't serve beer at NCAA events. Rookie mistake. Luckily, they let us scan our tickets out so we could re-enter later. We rejoined the dwindling tailgate for another hour or so. I hatched a plan to bum lower level tickets off of VCU fans leaving the stadium. We could get back in with our legit tickets and then just use the stubs to sit in the seats of people that were leaving.

After VCU lost and fans poured out, we walked up to a guy and got his tickets for section 105, row 15. That was easy. The seats were so much better than our original seats, I can't even tell you.  Our new friend Peyton tagged along with us since all of her friends had their tickets together.

It was a great game and although we didn't win I wasn't too upset.  A one point loss was a long way from the shellacking they gave us in November.  The 2010 team had much higher expectations and next year's team has the same, but no one expected these guys to make it this far.  Next year's tournament is in New Orleans.  I don't want to jinx it, but is anybody down for the trip?

After the game we met back up with Peyton and her friends and went to Sawyer Park, a bar in The Heights part of town.  They had all been there the night before and met up with some native Houstonians that were absolutely crazy.  They kept taking off their shirts and pouring drinks on each others heads like they were water boarding.  When a bucket of beer was emptied, they would put it on as a hat and beat each other over the head.  It was great to watch but you had to keep your distance or else they would try to get you to participate.

We had to walk for about 15 minutes to find a taxi but we made it back to the hotel on the campus of the University of Houston.  After sleeping late, Mark met up with us again and we had lunch on campus.  Rameen said it reminded me of Louisville's, but I guess I haven't enough time there to recognize it.  He had to catch a ride back to Dallas and Mark was going to take me to the airport.

I got an email that my flight was going to be delayed so Mark drove me around the city for a while.  We stopped at a folk art museum in the middle of a neighborhood called The Beer Can House.  The owner started siding his house with old beer cans in the late 60's and continued the project until he died.  What you see in the picture is the result.  The curtains hanging from the eaves were links of aluminum can rims connected by pop tabs.  Beer cans were cut and stretched, then nailed to the siding.  There was a movie and gift shop as well as a few other small works of art inside the house.  It's really the only unique, must see piece of Houston that I would recommend (and only cost $2).

Mark also took me to the Art Car Museum which was only about 5 minutes away from The Beer Can House. An artist/mechanic/engineer created all kinds of automobiles out of parts from junkyards. Some were actual cars, but more were random collections of wheels, hoses, metal and propane tanks to shoot fire.

I wasn't that impressed with Houston... but with all I heard about it from friends, I didn't expect to be. It's not a place I would vacation and not a great place to do sightseeing. Everything is spread out and there are strip malls and big box stores everywhere you look. I'm sure there is some culture somewhere, but even my friends that live there have said they're getting out as soon as they can.

Next up for me is Austin in a few weeks to see a concert. I have high hopes for that city - I've heard nothing but good things!