We arrive at the Greensboro Coliseum at 3pm. With the parking lot almost completely deserted, we decided on a prime location just in front of the arena. There were a few cars there setting up tailgating, and they quickly waved us over to join their party.
Nic, Terry, and the gang, all North Carolina residents, were there setting up an elaborate tent structure, DirecTV projection system, and food from heaven. Clearly, we had arrived at the right place. "We do this every year," Nic says. And by "do this" they mean go huge in the parking lot of the ACC tournament arena. "We'll feed you guys all weekend if we can use the side of the rig as our projection screen." Needless to say, the prospect of eating well far outweighed our desire to have the world see the USA logo.
The Thursday night game, a "play-in" between the 8th and 9th ranked teams, Florida State and Clemson, was pretty much a sleeper. WebTickets.com, with a huge presence at the ACC Tournament, was able to secure us excellent seats underneath the basket. With the over/under and game lines set, Rafe decides on Clemson and the under for a bill each.
Although the game was quite slow and sloppy, we were very pleased with the FSU cheerleading team. Spirited, quick, athletic, and plenty-o-spunk, they were quite talented. Both of us decided to root for FSU based on their presence alone - a victory tonight and they just might be out on the town later, while a loss would almost assuredly send them packing back to Florida.
After the FSU victory, we headed back to the RV where we met Carl from WebTickets.com. He generously offered to drive us out on the town, where we were sure there would be ACC Tournament vibe all around. After a few wrong turns, we eventually ended up at J.P. Looney's, Greensboro's #1 sports bar. We chat for awhile amongst ourselves and get the scoop from Carl on the ticket brokering business.
With only a few hours left before closing time, we get a tip from the bar manager that it might just be going off at a club on downtown's Green Street. With Carl driving, we were off for another adventure and, eventual, dead end.
The ACC Tournament semi-finals have been termed by many to be the best day in college basketball. We were genuinely excited about the prospects of four great college games in a single day on this, the 50th anniversary of the ACC Tournament.
We awoke at around 10 to the first of many knocks on the RV door: "Do you guys have my tickets?" they would ask. "No, I'm sorry, but WebTickets.com will be right here at the time they told you." See, WebTickets.com uses the USA RV as a ticket pickup location at major events. It's great for them, of course, because you can't miss the 36' blue monster in any parking lot. They come in the RV, get a nice look around, and sign their paperwork. It also gives us a chance to talk about USA, hand them flyers, solicit donations for the charity, etc. Win-win situation for all. Of course, it's a little "interesting" having strangers waiting on your couch when you're taking a shower, changing clothes, popping the first beer of the morning, and secretively checking the lines for the game on the internet.
With the first game at noon, we were very happy to see FOX-8 News pull up with their live broadcast vehicle. "Heard about you guys from a crew that was out here last night," Steve, their investigative reporter, said. "We figured you'd be willing to work with us at the last second. We'll be going live, at around noon, for a look at USA." Fantastic! So, for the next hour, we did a walk through of the interview, and chatted with Steve and their sports anchor, Rich.
A few minutes after noon, Steve interviewed Phil outside the RV for about a minute and then the crew, with Steve, headed inside to talk to Rafe about the RV and technology on board. Five minutes later, the crew was gone, we had tickets in hand, and we were off for the first of four games.
For the games today, we decided to take turns setting the over/under and the game line. With visions of getting each other seriously stuck, we pumped up the action so that, with some luck, one of us would be steaming by the end of the day.
FSU and Wake Forest played first. FSU Cheerleaders were still ridiculously cute, but FSU still ridiculously stunk it up. Wake walked on them.
After a twenty minute break between games, next came NC State and Georgia Tech, Phil's alma mater. Rafe, in a moment of insight, picks Tech so that Phil has to root against his own team. But, Phil countered with an offer Rafe couldn't refuse: a two point teaser to get Rafe to switch teams.
Although the game was pretty close most of the way, State eventually took it over Tech. And after four bets, we're still all square. Be it noted, however, that this game had the biggest disparity of all between cheerleading squads. Tech's cheerleaders were, arguably, even cuter than FSU's, while NC State's squad were apparently selected from their women's lacrosse team.
With an hour intermission, we vacate the stadium after the second game and head back to the RV. Our neighbors have the grill going strong, excellent ribs, backed beans, and all the fixings falling off the bone. It's about this time we ask how they are enjoying the games. "We don't go to the games" they say. "It's all about the tailgate party. Going to the games would actually be too much of a distraction."
We walk down to the RV parking area and visit with our buddy, Brian, who we met at the Daytona 500. Brian, the guy with almost as cool a gig as we have, is in charge of "hospitality RV's" for some of the biggest names in corporate America. He's got a million dollar rig with all -- and we mean all -- of the amenities. He's a very likable guy, and boy does he know how to tailgate. We decide to meet up after the games for a night on the town. Brian's wife gives him permission to join us, despite the fact that he's been on the road for about 40 days in a row and he only lives a few miles from Greensboro (how cool is she?!)
Maryland vs. UNC is next, and we're thrilled with the seats that WebTickets.com has arranged. We're sitting front row, right behind the media table, on the three point line. There isn't a better seat in the house. We'd like to think that we got the seats because Carl was impressed with the business we'd brought for WebTickets.com during the weekend, but it was more likely the fact that we bailed him out with a $3000 loan - ticket orders were coming in so fast that he got tapped out. For seats like that, we were more than happy to be able to help.
In a huge upset, UNC kicked Maryland's butt. They looked absolutely great, with excellent ball movement and unbelievable three point shooting. The UNC fans were going absolutely crazy. Fortunately, the cheerleaders for both sides were awful enough that we could actually focus on the game.
By the time the fourth game, Duke vs. Virginia, came around, we were exhausted. Yelling and screaming for teams you hardly care about but who will definitely affect your bankroll is a draining experience. Add to that the fact that you can't buy beer inside the Greensboro Coliseum during college events, and it is easy to understand how our energy level was a bit low. Duke, a prohibitive 9.5 point favorite, was supposed to trounce VA.
Since we were still even after three games, we came out stronger with even bigger bets on the last game. Phil had Duke and the over, Rafe UVA and the under. By halftime, UVA's strong start combined with Duke's lackluster performance made Rafe look like an immortal lock on both bets.
Fortunately, the second half started strong and got stronger, with Duke coming out on top as expected. Unfortunately, we were still even, as we split the bet.
Back to the RV after the game, quickly gearing up, and off with Brian to J.P. Looney's, video camera in hand, ready to rage and get some candid coverage of ACC fans. For the second night in a row, however, there were very few fans out on the town. Although we got some very good interviews, the night was less than successful by any other measure.
Late to bed, early to rise. We head out of Greensboro and to the Raleigh/Cary area for our much anticipated CRPF fundraising St. Patrick's Day party. After a quick stop at a Kinko's to make some signage, we arrive at around noon.
Connolly's Irish Pub, owned by Phil's best friend from high school, Rick, is a quaint place in Cary, NC off High House Rd. For St. Patrick's Day, they have a huge white tent erected in the parking lot, Guinness stations abound, stage for live bands, and a projection screen for watching the semi-finals of the ACC Tournament.
After a quick "pub-grub" lunch of corned beef and cabbage, Rafe and Rick go off for an hour to secure the hoop we're using for the "WebTickets.com ACC Charity Challenge." Dick's Sporting Goods generously donated the use of the hoop and WebTickets.com the two tickets to the finals. Here's the format we came up with: For $5, a participant would get 5 free throws. Make 3/5, and you get one entry into the drawing, 4/5 gets you two entries, and 5/5 gets you three entries. We draw the winner randomly from all of the entries.
The first band started up at around 4pm, but it was clear that the combination of cold, rain, and ACC Semi-finals was keeping the crowds away. It was six before we had our first contest entries, but with word of mouth and some excellent "wrangling" by our friend, Lyda, we soon had a line up and a short wait. Amazingly, almost every single person that entered was successful, with several contestants going 5/5!
Second band started up, and taking advantage of our friendship with the bar owner's offer of an "open tab" policy for us, we started pounding Guinness. Lynn, one of the more buxom bartenders we've ever encountered, seemed to divine exactly when we were needing another beer - a fresh Guinness was only seconds away whenever we visited her station.
Around the fifth pint, our friends from Raleigh, Crystal and Tasha showed up. This, dear readers, was a very good thing. Soon enough, we were all out on the dance floor cutting it up, ordering yet more Guinness, and partying like rock stars. Tasha, Crystal, Lyda, Anna Maria all wanted a tour of the RV, and so, yes, pints of Guinness in hand, we assented to their wishes. Soon thereafter, we were joined by Rick, our friend Mike, and God-only-knows how many others.
In what surely must be a first for the tour, we actually had restaurant food delivered to the RV - Rick made sure everyone had their fill of potato skins and French fries. Someone had the bright idea to make some shots (an not the basketball kind either), and the rest of the night is completely a blur. With Lyda's help, we counted the charity money and came up with $293. (Fortunately, a sober recount the next morning yielded a total a little more acceptable, $388.)
"Phil, kick the girls out of the RV and get down here to the Coliseum." No, not Rafe, but a message from our ticket sponsor Carl wondering why in the world we weren't where we said we were going to be at 11am. We were only a few minutes late, however. The hour drive back to Greensboro little more than a nuisance, and what probably should have been a monstrous headache nothing more than a faint notion that 12 pints of Guinness in a single night is not genius.
Duke vs. NC State, the ACC Finals, would prove to be a great game. Although their cheerleading squads rank at the damned bottom of the conference, their basketball programs were clearly respectable. Pre-game Roshambo left Rafe to choose for the game: line of 144.5, Duke by 7.5. He quickly chose Duke, with Phil flipping a coin to chose the over/under - heads meant over.
Out to a quick start, NC State led at half time by 10 or so, and later took a 14 point lead with about 8 minutes to go in the game. Duke, however, would not quit. Their freshman sensation, Redick, started lighting NC State up from downtown, and before you know it, Duke was back in the game.
One of the joys of betting both the total and a team, is that you can quickly attain a lock for at least a tie, with a total free-roll against your opponent. For instance, in this game, the over 144.5 /NCS+7.5 bet, meant that as soon as NCS scored 69 points that Rafe could not win, but could potentially lose both bets (because 69 + (69+7) > 144.5). This happened with about 5 minutes left in the game, which left him only hope for a tie.
Rafe looked locked for a tie, when with 20 seconds left in the game and Duke up by 6, 94% foul shooter Redick went to the line for two shots. He swished the first, then banged the second off the back of the rim, a quick two pointer for State left Rafe without a chance. Here's a final recap of the ACC tournament standings:
1. Georgia Tech
2. Florida State
3. Clemson
4. Wake Forest
5. Virginia
6. Maryland
7. North Carolina
8. Duke
9. NC State
That's the rankings for cheerleaders of course. For the hoops recap, go to sports.yahoo.com :-)
Note from Phil: I wrote this article and used the word 'literally' literally 10 times. My "editor," otherwise known as Rafe, has banned the use of that word in my writing for some unknown reason. I literally have no idea what his objection is, but I literally don't frickin' care. Figuratively speaking, he can kiss my literal butt.
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