“It’s March Madness for microphone shovin’!” I declared as I wandered into Dickie’s Arena in Fort Worth.
The arena is hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament this weekend. They opened Wednesday for fans to watch practice.
I wandered in while Creighton was practicing, having prepared myself with questions about Omaha.
One issue: everyone was from Texas. One woman who lives in Fort Worth had brought her two sons and mother in law to take a look around.
She’s a Baylor grad and was looking forward to Baylor opening against Norfolk State Thursday afternoon.
They’re not pictured above because I was adamant about getting my own shot featuring the balloon, Texas flag waving majestically and just a bit of the Fort Worth skyline in the background. They had already left and her toddler graduated high school before I had framed it to my satisfaction.
I showed up during Creighton’s practice time. So naturally, with a school in Omaha, I saw several people from Boston. They explained how much cleaner and more attractive Fort Worth is than Boston. And how much warmer, as well.
Naturally, to make the story about me, I brought up my parents’ background in New England and how I was mocked and scorned for not owning a snow shovel.
In addition to Fort Worth being a lovely community, her husband said he enjoyed Dickies Arena more than Boston Garden, or Gah-den, if you will.
I found the Creighton fans Thursday, though.
I talked to them before their game, but he was right: Creighton won and will play Kansas Saturday. He may not have enjoyed that overtime situation, though.
Baylor never trailed in their game. They played in front of a hometown crowd, but the Norfolk State fans I talked to explained the had to keep their energy up so the team would know they support them. Their mascot was certainly doing his job.
The fans from Boston, meanwhile, were enjoying their trip. They explain they found us to be very nice [guilty as charged!] and were enjoying the different parts of Fort Worth.
I mentioned in that audio the time #MamaScaia had her picture taken on the docile longhorn they bring out for tourists. I can’t find the picture now, though, which upsets me because it costs, like, five bucks. So here’s a picture of her not knowing the proper way to address a differnt longhorn in a barn.
My parents are from New England, but I grew up in Dayton. If Dayton had made the tournament this year, I wouldn’t have had to search and quest to find any fans. They travel well. And loudly.
Dayton Flyers fans would have shown up for their own tailgate parties with their faces painted red and blue, kegs of Yuengling and loudly telling everyone at the Taco Heads across the street about the real birthplace of aviation, picking fights with people here for the North Carolina game.
