March Madness is certainly an interesting event live. Weirdly, stubhub switched our tickets 90 minutes before tipoff. We went from 2nd row on the floor, under the hoop to 3rd row center court. Was annoyed at first, but I think we actually ended up with better seats. We’re able to sit next to the Marquette fans on our left and MsU fans on our right. The other side of the court had Bryant and Lobos fans.
Outside of the player families and older school couples that traveled with teams, it really was predominantly male population. What was also weird was the amount of lates 20’s to early 40’s males that were constantly betting on items in games and vocal about it. $1,000 bet on the Lobos to get to 10 points first. Just weird.
I’ve seen plenty of Cavs games with seats this close, but I really enjoyed the college game so much more. We only have Cleveland State locally for a somewhat competitive team. The college game this close is incredibly quick. I don’t think you get to appreciate it enough on tv. Almost like watching hockey on tv to be close to the rink.
Was really cool to be this close to Shaka and Izzo. As much as we watched the game, we watched them very closely. How they coach, communication, mannerisms. Was awesome. Izzo had a meltdown over a call. He was justified but it was awesome to see him still with so much fire.
Lastly, MSU fans were awesome. East Lansing is a pretty easy travel time so they had a lot of fans in Cleveland and they were vocal and 90% of the ones sitting around us or I interacted with were great. Even in the concession line I struck up convo with a family and they were really put off when I answered I was a Michigan fan after they asked, but by the end of the waiting it was pleasantries and the response of “I wish all Michigan fans were like you.” Funny, but I wished my interactions with a lot of OSU fans were like the MSU fans ha.
I will say, definitely an awesome event. I’ll probably return and take my kids next time Cleveland hosts, but likely the day and not evening session as maybe a better shot of a few more families than drunk gamblers although I’m not sure.
