On Monday night, I had a Final Four adventure and left with some pearls of wisdom. At six o’clock I was sitting on my couch watching SportsCenter, and by nine I was standing on the championship floor going to my free courtside seats. That’s right-free. Being on the floor with all the players, coaches, members of the media and crazed fans looking down at me was quite an experience. To be honest, I was speechless.
This season’s Final Four wasn’t very important to me. The quality of basketball, although still competitive, lacked the high level of talent that has been seen in years past. Not to gloat, but I didn’t really understand why all these people flocked to St. Louis just to take part in this one event. That was, until I stepped onto the floor and realized that this was perhaps the greatest event in all of sports.
It all started last Thursday night when my Dad met Rick Majerus, former University of Utah coach and current ESPN analyst. My Dad thought I would love to meet him and called me and told me to contact Larry Thompson, the general manager of the Missouri Athletic Club. I arranged to meet Majerus on Friday afternoon.
Before I get started, a little bit of background information on Majerus should be important. He has had bypass surgery, is vastly overweight and spent his time at Utah living in a hotel while coaching at the university. He also had a .700-plus winning percentage at Utah and led them to a National Championship game before losing to Kentucky in 1998.
I arrived Friday afternoon at the Missouri Athletic Club downtown, met Majerus at Larry’s office and then proceeded to run some “errands” with him that were only going to last a short 30 minutes. Two and a half hours later, I was an hour late to work and Majerus, his two personal assistants and myself sat down to eat and have what Majerus called a “snack.” The man loves to eat and began to quiz me on my closest favorite restaurants. During our two-and-a-half-hour “errand” we picked up his media pass, dropped off two packages at the Westin and Hilton, ate a lavish meal and did a radio show and a Sports Illustrated On Campus interview (about food). All the while I was also attempting to squeeze in my own interview and score a free ticket to the championships.
Fast forward to Monday night, and I still didn’t have a ticket and was running out of ideas. At 6:30 p.m. my Dad ran into Majerus in the lobby of the Missouri Athletic Club and discovered that Majerus had an extra media pass for me. I caught a ride down to the Edward Jones Dome and picked up the pass.
Although I anticipated a slew of potential problems, I walked right through every security checkpoint and decided to take it all the way to the court. All of a sudden, I was standing courtside at the NCAA championship game. For free! As I walked over to the ESPN media section to sit in Majerus’ seat, I saw the likes of Andy Katz and several other well-known media figures and decided to sit down and enjoy the game in the second row of the press seats.
For nearly ten minutes I was just sitting there. The Tarheels and Fighting Illini were going head-to-head in one of the most exciting championship games to date. Despite the strange looks from the people around me, I was too busy watching the game to care. That is, until I was confronted by the head of NCAA security.
After being confronted by the security officer and laughing when he asked if I was actually Rick Majerus (who is easily 120 pounds heavier than I am), I was taken into St. Louis Police Department custody and charged by the NCAA for several unclear accounts. After being informed that I was going to be arrested, the two St. Louis police officers led me off the court and began questioning me.
At first I was somewhat nervous because I had never been arrested, and I wasn’t completely sure what they were going to do-but my biggest worry was getting kicked out of the game. I told the officers who I was and how I met Rick Majerus and that I wasn’t a threat, just some little punk college kid trying to see the game courtside for free. The officers told me not to worry and that all I had to do was give up the press pass and then I could go as I pleased-as long as I didn’t come back, in which case I would actually be arrested. I quickly agreed and then worked my way back up to the club seats, where I snuck in to catch the second half.
Most people who have heard this story have a variety of questions. Most want to know if I was scared, or if, since I avoided arrest, I consider myself $500 ahead of the game, and if so, why don’t I buy them some beer? I’m not going to lie. I was a little nervous, but then I realized, hey, this is the city police, they have a lot more stuff to worry about then some kid like me watching a basketball game. I wouldn’t have changed this experience for anything, and I will always remember my Final Four experience.