The evening prior to making my way to San Jose for the NCAA March Madness Regionals, I would take in a Kings game at Staples Center against, of course, the San Jose Sharks. With the SAP Center being occupied for the upcoming weekend for the NCAA Regional’s the Sharks would be on the road. Though the Kings have had a rough year on the ice, they would still come out on top on this Thursday evening on a night we’d receive a miniature Wayne Gretzky statue…
This one’s JUST a little larger than our mini statue…
On this night our lovable Lion King of a mascot, Bailey, couldn’t help but poke fun at our NoCal rivals…
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After seeing a rare Kings win, I decide to take in some late night bites at a historic 24-hour L.A. institution, The Pantry…
I can never go wrong with the Ham Steak & Eggs…
Allright, time to head to LAX and TRY, I mean, TRY to get some shut-eye before a Friday Morning 7AM departure…
Little Bailey decided to tag along for this road trip…
Our featured mural for this trip, painted sometime in the mid to late 2000’s with the image of Joe Thornton of the Sharks and HP Pavillion, now the SAP Center. There was recent talk of this iconic mural going away to perhaps make way for (more) Google Transit development, an already sore topic to residents in San Francisco. If visiting San Jose anytime soon, you may want to capture a pic of this mural before it potentially goes away…
SAP Center, home of the San Jose Sharks and host of the NCAA Mens Basketball Regionals
Little Bailey having a great time trolling the streets outside the SAP Center…
Here for my first ever March Madness assignment for Stadium Journey the day would start off early as the first of four games for the day would match the 13th seed UC Irvine Anteaters against the 4th seed Kansas State Wildcats.Â
There’s a reason why they call this March Madness. Schools that you least expect to make in impact end up coming out of nowhere and making a name for themselves. The first game would see UC Irvine pull off the first upset of the day. The win by the Anteaters would be the first ever tournament win for UCI to the delight of many in the building. Though UCI did bring a good contingent up from SoCal, the building was decidedly pulling for the underdog, as most venues in the early rounds tend to do…
The second of four for the day would pit the Pac-12 against the Big-10 as the 12th seed Oregon Ducks would take on the 5th seed Wisconsin Badgers. Any college basketball fan will tell you that 12th seeds have a long history of pulling off first round upsets and the Oregon Ducks, who struggled early in the season but finished strong and we’re one of the hottest teams entering the tournament.Â
As you can see Wisconsin was no match for Oregon as the Ducks would dominate Wisconsin, making them the second team to pull of an upset on this day. On a side note, though Oregon was a 12th seed, it really wasn’t much of an upset as mentioned earlier they we’re one of the hottest teams coming into the tournament and 12 seeds have a history of pulling off first round upsets. But an upset is just that….
Deforest Buckner, defensive tackle for the 49ERS showing support for his alma mater…
Had I known I would cross paths with DeFo I’d have donned my Niner hat. DeFo was very gracious taking pics with the Oregon and Niner Faithful…
Time to do a hard push to set up for games 3 and 4. Do your business before the “under four” timeout…
Time to help myself to a couple cupcakes provided to the media. That’s quite a display. I’m tempted to want to chomp on that chocolate replica trophy…
Counting down the minutes to tip-off between the 12th seed Liberty University Flames and the 5th seed Mississippi State Bulldogs
In spite of Liberty U being one of those lower seed schools that could carry your heartwarming March Madness story-line, not everyone was crazy about jumping on Liberty U’s Cinderella bandwagon.Â
Nonetheless, Liberty U would make their own March Madness history by knocking off Mississippi State and becoming the third double-seed team at the SAP Center. With one more game to go talk started swirling around the building of a complete 4-game sweep by double digit seeded teams. With their victory, Liberty U, like UCI earlier would win their first ever NCAA March Madness game.Â
Liberty U players celebrating with their fans after their first NCAA tourney victory…
One more game to go on this Friday, this time between the 4th seed Virginia Tech Hokies and the 13th seed St. Louis Billikens. Can St. Louis pull off the sweep?
Not quite. A cold start by the Billikens would lead to their demise as Virginia Tech would escape the barrage of upsets…
Counting down the final seconds…
End of Day One. Time to get some rest…
The first day of action would provide plenty of excitement. According to sources, the SAP Center would be the 7th venue to produce 3 double-seed first round winners. Had St. Louis U been able to pull off the sweep, the SAP Center would have been only the second venue to pull off a 4-game first-round sweep by double-seed teams. Hey, 3 of 4 isn’t bad, 2 of the 3 winning their first tourney game ever and the 12th seed Oregon, well, could they really be considered a Cinderella?Â
Saturday, 3/23. Media Day
Interviewing UCI Guard Max Hazzard, the grandson of former UCLA Bruin Walt Hazzard. Max would hit a buzzer beating trey at the end of their first half battle with Kansas State that would send the ‘Eaters into the locker tied at 30 at the half… (Pic credit UCI Mens Basketball)
The day between rounds would give the media a chance to catch up with the players and coaches of the first round victors.Â
Oregon Ducks forward and Bay Area native Kenny Wooten (Check out his tat…). Kenny Wooten is not to be confused with another legendary Kenny from UO, Kenny Wheaton
After the day’s media sessions, I would head over to the Hayes Mansion where a pep rally would be held for UC Irvine. (Hey, I gotta show my support for our states only team in the tourney. Besides, who doesn’t like a good Cinderella story?)
Hey, I’m in Northern California. Why not indulge in some of their finest wine and cheese selections?
Sunday, March 22
Lil’ Bailey sure having a great time “trolling” the streets of San Jose…
We’re doing the best we can to stay out of any mischief before the Sunday games…
The second of two games. The game I wanted to watch but couldn’t because I had to catch my flight out of San Jose. The tipoff for that second game would be later than I expected…
With some time to kill before the first game I decide to stroll the concourse and check out the plaques displayed along the San Jose Sports HOF. Here is one for former MLB Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, who played an instrumental role in landing L.A. the 1984 Olympics…
Throughout the 80’s the 49ERS teams we’re often labled a “finesse” team. If that was the case, Ronnie Lott never got that memo…
The man who started a Dynasty…R.I.P. Dwight Clark
As for the first game of Sunday between Liberty U and Virginia Tech the Hokies would end Liberty U’s dream of moving on to the Sweet 16. The final day of games in San Jose would not produce the dramatics that Friday’s games did as Oregon, in spite of a frantic 2nd half rally by UCI, would be too much for the Anteaters as they would punch their ticket to the Sweet 16…
Lil’ Bailey and Blue we’re on their best behavior during the weekend, even receiving some love from the UCI folks and surprisingly some of the locals as well (They must’ve been A’s fans…)
It was a fun weekend in San Jose. It was fun hearing stories from the visiting fans and reporters particularly those from Kansas and Virginia talking about seeing the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time. That must’ve been some hella-hyphy sight for our visitors (Yup, we just used the Bay-Area slang once again…)
The SAP Center is tied with the Honda Center in Anaheim as the 4th oldest NHL venue. Like the Honda Center, it has that early 90’s feel but like the OC venue, don’t expect it to go anywhere anytime soon…
It was HELLA fun, San Jose! Next stop…The Sweet 16 and Elite 8…Anaheim !!!
ZOT ZOT !!!
It was a great run by UCI…
So that was my weekend in The Bay. Here’s some other bits from my Stadium Journey piece.Â
Kicking it with Peter the Anteater. It was a fun run, stay hungry Pete !!!
Check out my Facebook page, Drei and Company’s Stadium Journeys.Â
The nice thing about El Sabroso is that it’s a convenient 24-hour stop for those drivers along the outskirts of I-5. As for my machaca burrito…
Meh…But what do you expect from your typical rest stop eatery…
The sun is starting to peak through…
Waiting patiently for our driver so we can hit the road…
Gonzaga comes out on top…
Kickin’ it with Don Francisco…
The Purple Haze, Slice House Haight…
You Say Potato, Escape From NY Pizza…
My happy breakfast…
Down 101. Hey, I don’t see Candlestick Park anywhere…
Now we can never go wrong with an In N Out as our pit stop…
Oh yeah, a 3×3 with extra onions…
With fries, Extra Well. I always ask for them extra will. I love that crispiness that gives my fries that hot off the fryer, potato chip texture…
That hella vibe I get when I visit The Bay…I’m almost to that point where every other Hella word I say is gonna Hella turn out to be…Hella
A Good Drei With Kid N Drei 