Final Four: Highs and lows of the Road to the Final Four

By Jerry Palm - April 03, 2007

I would be remiss if I did not give you some of the highs and lows of this march to Atlanta.

Best band (Atlanta): Ohio St (Chicago, St. Louis or Atlanta): Oregon
Best band unis: UCLA's Hawaiian shirts
Best food: Buffalo meat pot roast at the Montana Grill in Atlanta
Best drink: Mint Juleps at Pittypat's Porch in Atlanta, Beer in a Frozen Fishbowl in St. Louis
Best fans (Atlanta): Ohio St - Buckeyes were everywhere (CSA): Butler in St. Louis
Best cheerleaders: the UCLA veela
Best part of job: Seeing the players up close gives you a deeper appreciation of their abilities than you can get watching on TV or seeing them at a distance.
Best mascot - UCLA Bruin got jiggy with dance team
Best arena - Edward Jones dome, St. Louis
MOP: Corey Brewer
The rest of the All-CSA team: Al Horford, Greg Oden, Michael Conley, Aaron Brooks
MVP: My son, who turned 10 on Monday. Those are his real initials. No, we didn't do that on purpose.

Worst food: Anything we got in the arena in Chicago.
Worst drink: Shot glass of pop in cup overflowing with ice in Atlanta media area.
Hardest part of job: keeping up with David Scott on night patrol.
Worst mascot costume: TAMU-CC Islander, which looked like a third grade art project.
Worst arena: United Center, but I've never really liked that place since they built it.
Worst itinerary: Mine. What idiot booked me a 7:30 flight after a game where I'm not going to be done until after 4 AM? Oh, wait a minute. That was me. Well, at least I can sleep when I get home. Oh, wait a minute. My wife has a list of six months worth of stuff that hasn't gotten done while I've been chasing after ball games. Hey! Maybe I can cover baseball too!

It's been a great season. I can't wait to get after it again next year.