March Madness

Michigan (maize-colored uniforms) blew out
Texas A&M (burgundy unies) from the beginning
in the first game of the Sweet 16 doubleheader
at the Staples Center. (Photo by Ed Piper)
 

By Ed Piper

Going to the West Regional of NCAA men's basketball, "March Madness", was interesting and fun.

The fun part was spending three days (65 hours) with high school teammates, two of whom I hadn't seen since the day they graduated with my older brother Steve in 1970. Also, very meaningful to me was telling my high school basketball coach, John McMullen, how much his instruction and mentoring of me to become a better basketball player meant to me.

Humbled, he said, "Thank you very much." I didn't know if, in the hubbub of the Italian lunch we had with him in Culver City, I'd be able to talk with him. A previous get-together including the same guys, when McMullen was still actively coaching, a few years ago when New Mexico played at Long Beach State, hadn't really allowed for any meaningful interaction.

Coach McMullen, now 78 and an inductee into the California Community College Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, was in good shape, sharp, and remembering specific things about our years playing under him. That was pretty exciting and satisfying--when you can swap stories and, at our ages, have recall and enough energy to enjoy it.

Frankly, the interaction with the guys was much more satisfying than the actual games themselves. My energy level being what it is at age 63, by late afternoon and into the evening I'm not brimming with vigor, even on my "extra tank" of adrenaline. Michigan defeating two opponents is pretty much the summation of the three games spread over three days: The Wolverine fans, in maize and blue, dominated to the point of being about 80 percent of the vocal crowd at Saturday's game, March 24, when Michigan overcame a good Florida State squad.

The "interesting" part was staying at a hotel in downtown Los Angeles, near the Staples Center. It is a gritty area, urbanized, rough, and populated with plenty of unfortunate homeless people. Wandering the streets at night is probably not the best option, so that definitely affected the tenor of the trip. Good rate at the hotel, close location to the venue, but not an easy area to negotiate.

On Saturday we happened to be a few blocks from the L.A. version of the anti-gun "March for Our Lives". Some of the participants grabbed a bite to eat at the Subway next to our hotel, and we watched Emma Gonzalez's speech on TV, so I felt like I experienced a tiny bit of the event.

I enjoyed the most like-spirited guys who swapped stories about intermediate school (we didn't have a junior high in Camarillo) and high school. A neat balance, totally unplanned and unintended, was an even three-three split between those of us who had attended Las Posas Elementary School (including myself and my brother) and the trio from El Rancho, across town. The same order persisted two days later, even after two of us six had to depart for other commitments: two from Las Posas (guess who), two who attended El Rancho.