March Sadness

I attended my first NCAA basketball tournament in Anaheim, California from March 2oth through March 22nd. I went with my buddy and coworker Jarom Jordan to cover the BYU men's game verse Texas A&M, but watched all the games at the Anaheim site. Also my sister Ashley and her husband Erin joined us from Atlanta for the games.

During the games due to NCAA regulations I couldn't film anything, so I had to sit around and watch the games from the front row... I know... pretty rough! I was able to see Marquette, Kentucky (no Ashley Judd), Stanford, Cornell, Mississippi Valley State, and UCLA. It was a ton of fun to be so close to all the action. It was a lot of fun to see all the different people supporting their schools.

The BYU game was very disappointing. I had seen every single BYU game this year, and I felt as though they played one of their worst games. Upon further reflection, I think it looked like they played so poorly because Texas A&M was such a good team. Their guys were huge! I was sad that BYU wouldn't get to play through the weekend.

After BYU lost, the next day we went and watched the men's volleyball team play Long Beach State. The games was played in a pyramid. Unfortunately BYU lost. I was finding out that I was bad luck for BYU road games!

On Saturday we went to the other NCAA tournament games (Stanford vs. Marquette and UCLA vs. Texas A&M). The Stanford game was really good because we got to see the Lopez twins play. They are the most athletic seven footers I have ever seen. Also, Marquette was really good and led most of the game. The Stanford coach was ejected early in the game, so that made it even more interesting. Anyway, Brook Lopez hit a shot at the buzzer to win it for the Cardinal.

The UCLA game also didn't disappoint. Texas A&M proved they were good and made UCLA look really bad. It wasn't until late in the game when Kevin Love took over the game and UCLA won. Texas A&M had a shot at the end to tie it, but UCLA "blocked" the shot (I was there and the guy got hammered!) and narrowly escaped with a win.

All in all it was a fun weekend. It was great to see my sister Ashley and her husband, I got to watch some great basketball, the weather was nice, but I was ready to get back home. I missed Amy and wouldn't do another trip like this without her.

-Brandon