With the conclusion of basketball at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, my basketball season also comes to an end. Here is a few observations about my visit and the games.
First, this was the first time in all of the years that I have been attending the Tournament that I didn't have a blowout. All 6-games were relatively close and went down to the wire. I enjoyed seeing LaSalle win two games and advance to the Sweet 16.
As expected the Carolina - Kansas Game was sold out and the pro Kansas Crowd made the Sprint Center one of the loudest venues that I have ever been to. While the first half of the game was some of the worst basketball that I had seen all season, the atmosphere created by these two blue blood programs was great.
As hard as I tried, I could not bring myself to pull for either Carolina, or Kansas. Both of their fan bases are annoying and tend to whine and cry when thing are not going their way. Neither team played well during the first half, but the fans wanted to blame the sloppy play on the referee's.
I got to meet Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy and was impressed with him. He was friendly and very kind in talking to me about Wake Forest. But as much as I wanted to pull for him and the Ole Miss Rebels, I couldn't pull against the underdog LaSalle. Plus Ole Miss has Marshall Henderson, who may have some talent, his antics on the court are despicable. After LaSalle defeated the Rebels on Sunday Henderson sent the water bottles flying down the tunnel and a couple of them came close to going into the crowd. That couple with the double finger he gave to the fans show that this young man it totally classless. Even Coach Kennedy said earlier in the Week that "Marshall is a train wreck waiting to happen." Basically Marshall Henderson is the picture of "White Trash."
Finally, a few words about the Sprint Center. While I enjoy the games, the venue has some glaring problems. First I have been to 15-different NCAA Venues and the Sprint Center has the worst security operation of any Venue. It was ill equipped to handle the short turn around between the afternoon and evening sessions.
Once the doors opened for the evening session it took me almost 50-minutes to make it into the arena. Standing in the cold for close to an hour and almost missing the opening tip of the first game of the evening session made for some pissed off fans, me included.
Also the Sprint Center has a policy of no camera's with detachable lenses. I understand the policy and respect it. However if they are going to have this policy it needs to be enforce completely. During Fridays games I counted no less than 6 camera's with detachable lenses in and adjacent to my section. When I attempted to bring my camera in on Sunday, I was stopped and made to return it to the car. Once again I saw at lease 4 detachable lens cameras in or near my section. Once again if they are going to have a policy then they need to enforce it across the board.
Once inside the arena I enjoy the games and the event staff. The ushers and concession workers were friendly and polite and made for an enjoyable experience. But because of the security delays, and the haphazard enforcement of the Camera Policy I probably won't return to events at the Sprint Center.
Well it's time to head home, the snow storm that passed through Kansas City is now bring snow to the folks back in Virginia. So I will let it clear out before ending this edition of my Basketball Vacation.
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