Oh, The Fun Places my kathy's bag and I go!

I rarely leave the house without 

a kathy's bag on my shoulder.  

If I need a wallet and keys my kathy's bag is with me. 

This year the first and second rounds of the mans NCAA tournament where held in Spokane. Tickets are not easy to obtain, but last year when the women's NCAA tournament was held in Spokane they had a promotion:  If you purchased women's 2013 ticket you would automatically be eligible to purchase tickets for the men's 2014 tournament.  The sports junkie that I am, I jumped on the opportunity back then.  When the men's tickets arrived a month before the event, I found I had been assigned seats on the second level of the Spokane Arena.  No problem. I was not there to watch any particular team, I just wanted to watch some good basketball.  Now here is the twist.  A few days before the tournament I was sent an email informing me that CBS wanted to use my seats for their camera platform, so they needed to reassign me.  The new seats just happened to be front row on the floor, right behind the the players'  bench.  Some may have found these seat too close, since you have to put up with the excitement of the team in front of you, which meant they often stood up to cheer for their men on the floor, blocking your view of the action.  For me that just added to the excitement of the event.  I also found it fascinating to see all that goes on behind the scenes.  Every person on the floor had a job.  Here are a few of the things you are allowed to experience when you're seated on the floor.
There was alway a person sitting near the corner of the court with rubber gloves, a spray bottle and a towel.  Whenever a timeout was called that person stood up in a ready position in case a cheerleader hit the deck and they needed to wipe up the blood.  Not sure!   Then there was a man I called "bossman." He was in charge of making sure the NCAA rules were always being followed.  One team had one too many men on the bench.  He kept on walking back and forth counting the men on the bench, then he brought it to the team's attention and finally one man (a non-player) got up jumped the railing and sat in a seat several rows up from us.  Another time one of the assistant coach's NCAA lapel pin was twisted and bossman made him put it in the right position.  Then I saw bossman run out of the stadium and come back in with the official blue NCAA sticker.  When the next time out was called he gave it to one of the Harvard players whose official NCAA patch had fallen off.  The players were only allowed on the floor with the NCAA patch on their uniforms. NCAA is BIG business.  I was able to see a mom and grandma being interviewed right next to us.  She had two sons playing in the tournament, one on the Harvard team the other one on the Oklahoma State team.  How cool was that!  Both teams were playing in Spokane.  I was able to slap the hand of the 7'5'' New Mexico State player.  His 7'3"younger brother was a red shirt freshman on the bench.  Michigan State Adrian Payne was a total package, very impressive to watch.  The list could go on and on.  But most of all I was very impressed with the actions of all the teams and their coach.

 Me up close and personal with the Aztec mascot.

 CBS reporter

 And her posse that is by her side at all times making sure all runs smoothly. 

 I was only allowed my iPhone for a camera but these guys had some topnotch equipment.  

Very impressive.

Most of our brackets were busted when some big name schools
 went out early.  

Mine isn't looking very good besides Wisconsin.
I got them going to the final. 

Won't you join me on Saturday as we cheer the Badger's on to a WIN?