Disappointing

It had been the tournament of the little guy. Two mid-major schools advanced to the NCAA Final Four in the men's basketball tournament. Maybe this would be the year when the small program came out on top.

Nope.

The championship game between Butler and Connecticut was a brutal display. Neither team played particularly well. Butler just happened to play about as poorly as a team can yet lead at halftime and conceivably still have a shot late in the game. So much for pulling for them.

I admit that I invest a lot in wanting to see the smaller schools win. The teams I regularly root for are often the underdogs. Good grief, that's pretty much how I see myself. I really felt like this year the time had arrived for an unlikely champion to emerge. It did happen, and it all went down in the most disappointing of manners.

Maybe next time.

First Four

I've returned to the Dayton area to take in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The play-in game is dead. Long live the play-in games.

The first game between #16 seed contenders University of Arkansas-Little Rock and the University of North Carolina-Asheville was easily the more entertaining of the two. Both teams scrapped to see who gets smashed by a #1 seed on Thursday, but they played energetically and as if they were excited to be there. There was a late shot made to send it into overtime, so it wasn't a bad start to the evening.

The second game between two of the last four teams to receive at-large bids should have been better. Clemson and the University of Alabama-Birmingham have higher caliber players and richer traditions. Maybe it was the late start--tip-off wasn't until almost 9:50 p.m.--but this game was mostly a dud. UAB's passing was terrible, and they dug a hole they never really could climb out of.

Since I didn't get out of the arena until midnight, I was glad I'd already arranged to stay in town overnight. (There are two more games I'm attending Wednesday night.) It's still going to be a crazy day trying to take care of whatever needs to be taken care of, getting home late Wednesday night/Thursday morning, and rising at the crack of dawn to catch a plane to New York City.

Busy times. Hopefully fun times too.

The return

Technically speaking, today has only been 23 hours long for me as I traveled from the Central to Eastern time zone. It's seemed like anything but a short day. In fact, it's felt endless.

In anticipation of the early hour at which we'd be rising for my brothers and I to catch flights out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and my parents to begin making the drive home, I went to bed around 11:15 last night. About a half hour later I hears this horrid sound like a chainsaw. Oh wait, that's my cell phone vibrating because someone is calling. It's my mom wondering if I or the brother sharing the hotel room with me lost a gift card for a gas station in their room. Um, no. And also, what are you doing up, let alone calling at this hour?!

My brother set the room's alarm clock to go off at 5:10 a.m. I set a wake up call for 5:15. Good to go, right? I slept fitfully all night and at one point rolled over to see that the clocked displayed 4:22. I tried to get some more sleep. When I next awoke, I laid in bed just trying to rest and not get up. After awhile I thought that it was unusual that we hadn't been awakened. I looked at the clock to find that it was 5:42. The plan was to leave the hotel at 6:00 for my brothers' 7:30 flight and my 8:00 take-off. I informed my brother of the time and leaped out of bed to get ready in a hurry. Seeing as we were about a half hour from the airport, being deliberate was not an option. That was quite a way to start the day.

We encountered no problems catching our flights, and by 11:20 a.m., my plane had brought me back to Columbus. I hopped into the car of the person picking me up and was promptly taken to...the university's gym to keep stats for four college basketball games. This two-day tournament is long enough without getting up before the sun rises. It was sure to be a bruiser with how the day began.

To top it all, some things were goofed up on the final game, although I'd like to point out that they weren't my fault despite the inclination to suspect they were. (I was more tired in the middle of the day.) So that kept me around even longer. Finally, around 10:30 p.m., I walked through the door of my apartment.

I have four more games to work on Wednesday--that's what day it will be, right?--so hopefully I won't be carrying the wearying effects of travel or an intense amount of time spent with family for nearly a week. After all of this, I look very much to bringing this year to a quiet close at home and doing the same to start 2011.

Big time

You know how in movies when the small time performer, be it an athlete, singer, or actor, marvels at being on a big field, court, or stage for the first time? Perhaps the reality and magnitude of the situation puts some doubt in him even though he's doing something that he's done many times before. That's what I experienced tonight as I took my seat courtside to keep the official statistics for the Ohio State University men's basketball game.

I've been keeping official stats for Division III teams since the fall of 1995, so I've had more than my share of practice. I've worked NCAA Tournament games, high school tournament games, and a nationally televised high school basketball game. Nevertheless, none of those quite compare to sitting two people away from the Ohio State bench with a section of jumping, cheering students directly behind me.

My experience with the stats program is apparently a gift that keeps on giving. (Over the years that extra money adds up.) It boggles my mind how a school as big as OSU didn't have anyone available to input on the primary and backup computers, but that's why I got the proverbial call to do the job this evening.

Although I last used the program nine months ago, I wasn't all that concerned about being able to perform. Then I walked around the court, found my station, and realized how much was riding on my accuracy and speed. My work would be displayed to all media and on the scoreboard. (Now that I think about it, it also went out to everyone in real time on the web.) At TV timeouts I'd need to print multiple copies of the stats for the teams and assorted press. The tasks themselves were nothing I couldn't handle. Being in a bigger spotlight was something I was unaccustomed to, though.

I just sort of inherited the duty of running the primary computer. The other guy didn't seem eager to jump in there and take it, so he took the backup while I had the main one. I figured that I'd be fine once I put on the headset and the game began, but I was a little nervous. The computer's desktop and the process were slightly unfamiliar from what I'm accustomed to. Plus, OSU is ranked #4 in the nation, and this game, as lopsided as it would be surely be, was easily the biggest I would stat.

Luckily the spotters were experienced and made it relatively easy, even if it was kind of intense. To my dismay, about a minute in the person running the shot clock inadvertently reset it, so the referee turned to me to ask when the last missed free throw was. I've never had this happen before--mostly because at the other place I'm not courtside--and the spotters said they'd never witnessed it. I quickly pulled up the answer, but that was a wild way to start off.

Despite the boisterous students a foot or two behind me and being shielded from the action by Ohio State's head coach when the action was at my end of the court, I was able to lock in, press the right keys, and get the job done well. The spotters fed the information to me rapidly and accurately, and I was a machine in punching it into the computer.

In the end I had a good time and didn't feel as pressured as I anticipated in the minutes leading up to tip-off. It helped that I didn't make any massive errors (or am unaware of them) and was intently focused in the midst of the chaos.

Oh yeah, Ohio State cruised to the win.

(And obligatory knitting content: a woman in the front row on the other side was knitting before the game. I didn't notice her doing so during the game. Then again, with as fast as everything went, I honestly couldn't tell you how much of the game I saw that was mere feet in front of me.)

We are the champions

Winning the National Invitation Tournament doesn't come anywhere close to winning the NCAA Tournament in college basketball. Essentially the NIT is a consolation competition for teams that weren't quite good enough to get into the top one. Nevertheless, watching the University of Dayton claim the NIT championship tonight means a lot to me as a lifelong fan of the Flyers. My team, the one I've lived and died with for so many years, has won a title, even if others dismiss the accomplishment as meaning they're the 66th best team in the nation. (The NCAAs take 65 teams.)

In the college basketball pecking order Dayton is usually referred to as a mid-major, which means that they don't play in the top tier conferences, i.e. those that have the most money and pull. Dayton has a storied basketball history and is consistently among the attendance leaders, but they are always fighting for respect rather than having it automatically granted to them. (In fact, the bigger teams often won't play them except under the most favorable conditions because UD doesn't equal an assured win.) That they beat North Carolina, one of the premier programs and one I may loathe more than any other, to win the NIT makes the victory all the sweeter.

Yes, it's "only the NIT, but if I'm being rational, the chance of them ever winning an NCAA championship is unlikely. The way the deck is stacked means that the best Dayton can hope for in any year is a Sweet 16 of Elite 8 finish. Maybe there's a fluke year, like 2010 Final Four qualifier Butler, but it's hardly something to expect. The goal is always going to be making the NCAA Tournament rather than winning the NIT, but as consolations go, this one's pretty satisfying.

The NIT looms large in Dayton basketball history--they last won it in 1968--and growing up I would hear and was told that back when the Flyers racked up NIT appearances, it was more prestigious than the NCAAs. That's certainly not been the case for some time, but it adds more meaning to this title than it might for a school without that history. (UD ranks second all-time in wins in the NIT.)

So an NIT championship has value. The five Flyers wins in this tournament featured the kind of effort and execution that was lacking in many of the close but frustrating losses during what had been a disappointing season. The NIT showed what this team could do if everything was going right. As a fan I was proud to watch them give it their all. Plus, to see the underdog slay giant after giant and be awarded the trophy isn't something that happens very often. For one night, though, the Flyers, a team that has meant as much to me as any other I've followed since I was little, came out on top. In its own way, it meant I did too.

March madness

Tuesday's game aside, the NCAA Tournament really started today as far as most college basketball fans and amateur gamblers are concerned. The first four days of the tourney, especially Thursday and Friday, are one of my favorite sporting events of the year, and I've been glued to much of today's action.

The timing, though, also matches up with the film festival up in Cleveland. It hurts some to miss these games, but the film fest gives me a chance to get out of town and see some movies that may not pass my way again. It's a trade-off, although I can usually squeeze in some basketball viewing when scrambling to get something to eat.

If I think I've been busy, I'm about to get a whole lot busier. On Friday and Saturday I've blocked out times for seven films. Is it madness? Yes. Will it be fun? I hope so.

Gem City hoops

Between keeping up with work and making trips on consecutive days to Dayton for college basketball games, I'm all tuckered out.

A column about Dayton's basketball appetite does an excellent job of explaining what compelled me to go back there for last night's game and why I still feel strongly about the Flyers despite not having lived in the area for a decade and a half.

In an ironic turn, attendance for tonight's NIT game was pretty terrible, although there are several possible explanations (fans disgruntled with the disappointing season, problems in the ticket selling process, short turnaround time after game's announcement, St. Patrick's Day).

Tournament time

In 2001 the NCAA added a 65th team to Division I's annual basketball tournament in 2001. That also meant the need for a play-in game, now referred to as the Opening Round Game, to keep a workable number of teams in the brackets. Each year Dayton has served as the host for this game, probably because the University of Dayton Arena has plenty of experience with tourney games and local support for college basketball. I'd never attended but was feeling the itch to go this year.

I was going more out of a sense of curiosity about the event than a desire to see the teams playing. Let's face it: the two schools squaring off tonight were competing for the right to get drilled by their top-seeded opponent on Friday. No #16 seed, which is where these two teams are slotted, has ever beaten a #1 in tournament history, and based on what I saw this evening, Arkansas-Pine Bluff won't be the first. Congratulations on the win! Now get ready to lose by thirty or more in three days!

Although I was seated about half a section behind the Winthrop band, most everyone around me was probably from the area. A little over eight thousand people showed up for some post-season hoops, but there's no way that a significant percentage of them were from Arkansas or South Carolina.

As a kid I started attending games at UD Arena in the late 1970s or early 1980s. The closest I'd ever been to the court was when I had a seat on it during my high school graduation. We had season tickets in the third row of the upper arena, so that's where I'm most used to watching the action from. They were fairly good seats, but of course there's always a wish to be closer. I sat in the lower arena a few times at some high school tournament games. Tonight, though, I may have witnessed a game from the closest I ever have in the place. I admit that was part of my reason for wanting to be there. In that way the experience didn't disappoint.

Sure, the game was pretty much a dud. Both teams shot under 30% in the first half. Scoring didn't pick up much in the second half. But who cares? I cheered for both teams when they made good plays, and the score stayed relatively close until the last five minutes. All I was hoping for was a good view of a close game, and I got it, more or less. When I return tomorrow night to see the Flyers play Illinois State in the first round of the NIT, then I'll be more invested in the outcome.

A grand day out

With a ticket for tonight's Dayton Flyers college basketball game providing the reason for returning near to my hometown area, I decided to make a full day of revisiting some old favorites and dropping in on a place unfamiliar to me. (Despite that statement, I didn't actually go to my hometown but cities close to the little burg.)

My first stop was for lunch. My love of barbecue and the ridiculous name of the newly opened restaurant motivated me to go here. OinkADoodleMoo in Englewood is sharing space with JD's Old Fashioned Frozen Custard. What a combination this place will be when warmer weather returns.

The barbecue was good. It's better than the national chain joints but not yet on the same level as City Barbecue, which I consider the local standard. That said, the smoky sweet sauce was a nice twist on what I'm accustomed to. They do beat the City in one area, though. Oink's kaiser roll easily tops City's regular white bun.

While the custard shop is closed for the season, their workers were present to fulfill holiday orders. Lucky me. I ordered a scoop of the peppermint. It was amazing. I don't recall this place being there when I lived nearby. Then again, I haven't been around much since midway through my time at college and very little since my parents moved out of state.

When I was looking for things to do during my brief visit, I kept returning to pizza. Having just polished off a good sandwich and great frozen custard, I wasn't hungry, but I figured I'd next get a pizza that I could bring home with me to eat this weekend. Such is the nostalgic pull of local food and eateries.

I've been partial to the Dayton chain Cassano's, although I'll admit to it lacking much substance. This time I thought I'd pop into Marion's Pizza, which was just around the corner from where I had lunch. Yes, I realize how silly it was to buy a pizza that was going directly into my car's trunk, but I can't remember the last time ate something from there. I got an individual size, not the least of which is because they only took cash, and will hopefully enjoy it on Saturday.

Their restuarants are known for having old photos of celebrities eating at their shops. The actors were in town for Kenley Players' summer stock productions. You might be able to pick out a few celebrities you recognize in the above photo I snapped at the Englewood Marion's.

Then it was off to the University of Dayton area for a little bit of browsing. Second Time Around was a place I'd go regularly with my friends to shop for used CDs. I was pleased to see that the store looks to be booming and that the neighborhood it's in has been built up since I was last there. A used CD store with decent selection can be a dangerous place, but I held myself in check and left with just two CDs, which I bought for the price that one of them alone would have been new.

A short walk up the street let me catch a glimpse of the UD campus, seen above, and pop into the fan store for all things Flyers. Then it was a a couple blocks' walk to Cassano's for some pizza that I would actually eat rather than squirreling away for another day.

Finally it was time for the main reason I'd come back here: the basketball game. My dad was a season ticket owner when I was growing up, so my affection for the team runs deep. I try to attend one game a season as a reminder of all the fun I had as a kid going to the games.

I did not have as good of a vantage point as you see in these pictures. (Best I could do was seven rows from the top. Keep in mind I even bought the ticket a couple weeks in advance.) The first was taken upon my entrance during pre-game warm-ups. The last was snapped near the end of the game after I had made my way down to stand at the back of the lower bowl. The idea was to be poised to see the final seconds tick off and then quickly hop outside to be in a prime position to catch one of the first shuttle buses to where I was parked. (The empty seats you see are the result of others doing the same.)

I had a delicious Mar-Chele soft pretzel. The Flyers won. What better way to cap a really good day that gave me tastes of home.

In the arena

Earlier this year I wrote about what University of Dayton Flyers basketball meant to me growing up. That blog entry is probably one of the best pieces I wrote all year, so I'm not going to dare try to repeat it tonight. But what to do when today's quick trip to Dayton and back was to squeeze in my (likely) one game for the season and is the only thing I really have to blog about... Mere reportage?

I picked this match-up because UD was hosting George Mason, a scrappy competitor whose unlikely run in the 2006 NCAA Tournament made them the underdog darlings of the college basketball scene. I figured it would be a good game--it was--and I wasn't sure if my plan to take my dad to the Flyers game at Toledo on Friday, weather permitting, would happen. As I learned via a phone conversation during the drive home, my aunt and uncle are visiting my parents in the coming days, so chances are he can't meet me in northwest Ohio even if the snow and ice hold back. So, it turns out that going to tonight's game was the right decision for more than one reason.

Of course, the fun that comes with going to a tightly contested game attended by a near-sellout crowd of 13,000-plus was reason enough. Since I arrived plenty of time before tip-off, I could quietly marvel at how the arena was spruced up in the last however many years.

It looks quite nice for a building nearing forty years of age, and the exposed, less glamorous parts, like above the concessions area, manage to be invisible. This isn't a sleek, spiffy gym, but it looks plenty sharp and feels cozy like a basketball arena should be rather than like some of the new, slick caverns. The seats look pretty much the same as I remember them, so I'd venture to guess that if they're not the originals, they've been in place for some time. For instance, there are no cupholders. Honestly, I didn't miss them, in part because it gives one more room in the seat or at one's feet.

I enjoyed the game and wish I could see the team in person again on Friday; however, my dad may be doing me a favor in saying he probably can't go. It's been a hectic month and a very busy week. I could use to stay put. Tonight's game was a nice break, but my next break should be parking myself at home. After all, a new year is coming, and next week is sure to bring a flurry of more activity.

Like riding a bike

A quick knit was what I needed. Since some friends recently had a baby girl, a knitted newborn hat was the easy choice to make.

I made a few of these last year around this time, but it's been months since my last. While you may think that this hat would be a snap for me, never underestimate my ability to become afflicted with stupidity.

For instance, I couldn't remember how to do seed stitch in the round. I did a cursory search for the information but was more interested in knitting than doing a lot of looking. One book said that when knitting in the round, you're always knitting on the right side. By that reasoning I should k1, p1 each round, but after the first two rounds I wasn't convinced I was doing the right thing. Instead I ended up following the instructions I found for moss stitch. Good enough.

I smartened up once it came to doing two rounds in garter stitch. That felt like a small victory. All this tells me that if/when I resume knitting socks, I'll need to relearn everything. None of last summer's adventures and failures probably took root.

I have the hat about half finished. I put it down to watch the NCAA Tournament championship more closely. Although I'd already wrapped up titles in the pools in which I participated--darn, only one for money!--I was hoping Kansas would win to complete my nearly flawless Final Four round. (I missed with putting Xavier in UCLA's spot but hit both teams in the final and correctly predicted the winner.) Still, since it didn't make any difference, I was also pulling for Memphis. Tough way for the Tigers to lose. Me, I'll revel in my prognosticating glory and remember that it's not likely to happen again soon.

Season's end

I've made my love for University of Dayton basketball known, so you can imagine that it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to tonight's National Invitational Tournament quarterfinal game in Columbus. UD hasn't played Ohio State in twenty years--a game I attended, by the way--and I was dying to see the Flyers knock off the Buckeyes for a trip to the NIT Final Four.

The match-up took place because both teams won Monday night. Tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, which was when I was on the road driving back to my hometown, among other places. I tried calling the ticket office, but the network was flooded with calls. Fearing that I might never get through on the phone, I called my mom and asked if she could buy a ticket online. Talking her through the process was complicated by the website also acting balky. I told her what I thought she'd need to do, gave her my payment information, and hoped for the best. An hour and a half later the system quit cycling and put her through to place my order.

She did pretty well. I landed a club level seat, which meant I got to be on the hoity-toity level with the private boxes and fewer challengers for concessions and bathrooms. I arrived early to beat the onrush of traffic for the sold out game, so I had time to wander. I ended up talking for awhile with some UD fans, many of whom infiltrated the competitor's arena, while keeping an eye on another NIT game on TV. I must tell you, I was ridiculously excited for the basketball that was to come.

The commonly held opinion is that the NIT is ultimately for losers, but the Schottenstein Center was rocking like this was a huge game. (For what it's worth, I heard that a greater percentage of college football teams earn bowl bids than basketball teams that get berths in the NCAA and NIT combined.) I was thrilled that the Flyers were up at the half. Disappointingly, a win wasn't in the cards for UD, but I enjoyed the experience a lot, save for the nonstop drunken yapping of the sore winners sitting behind me.

A few hours earlier I took some time to soak up the most spring-like temperatures we've had in the young season. It felt so good to see the outside and not be under fluorescent light. This scarf may not get to be used until several months after its completion, but at this point I'm willing to make that trade if it means warmer, sunnier weather.

[Brackets]

This is the one day of the year when newspaper publishers know that their issues will fly off the shelves and libraries will futilely guard the sports section. (At least that's how it used to be.) The field for the NCAA Tournament (PDF) was announced last night, and today's publications have those glorious brackets splashed across their pages.

Although more opportunities than ever to consume Division I men's college basketball have popped up in my post-college years, I've become less informed. There are only so many hours in the day, and I suppose my time doing stats for a D-III teams and keeping up with movies have had a lot to do with that. I still try to follow my team, which was regrettably but not unexpectedly left out of this year's tourney, but even that can be a challenge.

No matter how few games I've seen during the regular season, I still love examining the brackets, reading the capsule information about the teams, and making my picks. While most pools have migrated online, I continue to enjoy using a pen to fill out one set of brackets that I check during the games to see how my selections are faring. I also like having another sheet where I write in the advancing teams. It's a completely unnecessary act, yet I find something gratifying in writing the names of the teams that I don't get from a website doing this.

I've missed a good chunk of the last couple years' tournaments because the film festival has coincided with the first and second weekends. I'm excited to be able to gorge on these games once again, in part because I'm ready to hang around the apartment. (I noticed bags under my eyes last night, something I've rarely seen. That is as accurate of an indicator as anything that I overdid it at the festival.) For several years the cable company has made games from all four regions available, meaning I can watch whatever ones look most appealing. I can't wait.

Flashback

I have been a sports fan for as long as I can remember. University of Dayton Flyers basketball was one of my big obsessions growing up, due in no small part to the fact that our family had season tickets. UD has a rich basketball history, and Dayton is a college basketball town. The Flyer faithful regularly pack the UD Arena so that the school ranks among the top in the nation for home game attendance.

I loved going to the games with my dad. We listened to the pre-game and post-game reports on the AM radio station. Depending on how long it took to get out of the parking lot, we might hear some music--yes, on AM--before getting home. For some reason it seemed liked Matthew Wilder's "Break My Stride" and Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" always popped up then. (Dayton assembled winning teams most of those years, so the latter wasn't being played as a musical response to a loss.)

Sports have always been something my dad and I can talk about. There were many nights spent playing ping pong in the garage while 700 WLW's Sports Talk, hosted by Bob Trumpy (and Cris Collinsworth later on), was on in the background. Of course I am a Reds and Bengals fan like him, but UD games were special because we went to the home games regularly and occasionally made the trip to Oxford when they played at Miami University.

I have no doubt that all of the great games and visiting teams and players I saw spoiled me as far as what I consider the proper basketball environment. UD was one of the few remaining independents when I first started attending games, so they played an impressive schedule to prove their post-season worth. (I'm fairly certain I saw Len Bias play for Maryland, if that means anything to you.)

The music was important too. "Gonna Fly Now", "25 or 6 to 4", and "Fame" were among the songs the pep band blasted their way through. Until a desperate search tonight to name the tune, I never knew the title of "Hot Lunch Jam", one of my favorites the band played then and still performs. Apparently I never heard the Fame soundtrack.

I kept score, at first in game programs and later in a notebook I brought with me. I don't remember if I bought a Marchele soft pretzel every time, but I loved them and probably got one more often than not.

UD Arena was a place where I felt at home, a spot that had a kind of magic about it. For a school assignment--fifth or sixth grade, perhaps--I wrote a short story about being locked in the arena overnight. The details of it are gone, but it was like having a gigantic playground to myself. Of course, I got to go on the floor, that hallowed area of Tartan, at one time, and then hardwood.

I made it onto the floor a couple times. I went to basketball camp, which was held at the fieldhouse, but I'm fairly certain we went to the arena once. In high school I interviewed the team's play-by-play announcer and one of the local newspaper columnists, which got me down there. My neighbor ran the scoreboard or the clock, but I don't recall that earning me a courtside view at any point. Oh yeah, I graduated from high school at UD Arena and was seated on the court.

If that isn't enough, my parents knew I needed glasses when I had trouble reading portions of the scoreboard.

I've tried to get to one game a year since I've been away, although that doesn't always happen. I went tonight, and I'm happy to say the place felt as comfortable as ever. The game was sold out, the Flyers stomped the St. Louis Billikens, and I got to eat one of those terrific pretzels. During the hour-plus drive home I called my dad and talked to him about the game. Since my parents no longer live near where I grew up, he had to listen to the radio broadcast over the internet. Both of us weren't able to be at the game physically, but whether he knew it or not, he was there too.

Home and away

Greetings from northwest Indiana.

This getting up early stuff has to stop. I rose a little after six a.m., hit the road by seven, and arrived at my destination five and a half hours later. A couple brief naps have revived me, but I have a feeling I'll conk out pretty good tonight.

I picked up my great-aunt on the way here. I was kind of surprised that she was willing to make the trip--about four hours from her home--since she doesn't venture far from the farm house where she's lived her whole life. This is probably the farthest she's been away from home in a couple decades, if not more. During the drive I asked her where she'd been out of state. Essentially, if the state doesn't touch Ohio, chances are she's never been there. My dad said that one of her brothers probably traveled no farther than one trip to Indianapolis and didn't go beyond adjacent counties much during his life. We hear a lot these days about eating locally and the like, but I wonder how many would be willing to confine their lives to, say, a fifty-mile radius now.

The drive was uneventful and not terribly interesting. (I suppose that's preferable to a nerve-rattling trip.) The most noteworthy thing may have been passing an alpaca farm, something that was unusual enough to catch my attention.

I left early this morning so one of my brothers and I could take my dad to an afternoon Notre Dame basketball game. My parents live relatively close to South Bend. For years I've seen games at the Edmund P. Joyce Center on TV and didn't think it looked very big, but I was surprised to find how small it is once I set foot inside. I can't believe it seats 11,418 for basketball.

We sat in the bleacher seats. Ordinarily you'd think they would provide a less than desirable view, but there isn't a bad seat in the fieldhouse because everyone is close to the court. I can only imagine what it would be like to see a good game here with the crowd in this basketball-mad state cheering at their loudest. The opponent we saw was San Francisco, a program with a proud tradition but not much relevance in today's college ball universe. Notre Dame should have wiped the floor with them but got sloppy after building a big early lead. The final score was closer than the game was.

In knitting news, I am going to claim early success with casting on for another hat. The cable has not separated from the join. The brother it is for drove the hour-plus back to his place to see if a package arrived, so I may be able to work on it openly and not have him see his gift take shape. I have the soon-to-be crowded basement to myself, at least for one night. Tired as I am, it's a good start to being home for the holidays.