Very Quick Trip Recap

Pun City took a trip last week. Saw the entire MAC Tournament and the NEC final. Some random thoughts:

1. How has the MAC fallen so badly? Akron won the tournament but looked thoroughly unimpressive. Pun City predicts a blowout first round loss for them in the NCAAs. Beyond this, UA beat up on Buffalo, the favorite in their title game. This blog remembers when the MAC was a force to be reckoned with, but they have some major strides to make before those days will return.

2. The NEC was a breath of fresh air before the slog that was the MAC semifinals and final. Robert Morris is a fairly small campus that was mostly closed down at 6:00 on a Wednesday. (Pun City assumes they had Spring break in process). In spite of this, their fans (and those of Mount St. Mary's, who made the approximately 4 hour trip) packed the Charles Sewall Center. Despite a high schoolesque arena, scoreboard, concession prices, and offensive output, the game and atmosphere were fantastic. This blog wishes it could see that type of a game all the time.

3. Thumbs up to the season ticket holders that this blog was sitting next to at RMU. They were really cool and welcoming of a visiting Brewers fan. This blog will try and heed their recommendation of visiting PNC Park in Pittsburgh in the near future.

4. Huge thumbs up to the RMU ticket office. Pun City wound up with a 2nd row, chairback seat. Maybe 1/8th of the actual seating structures actually had backs, and this one was the same price as a bleacher. Not to mention that sitting second row was a major bonus for an out of towner that was expecting bleachers at best, standing room only at worst. Pun City probably couldn't have chosen a better seat in an empty arena.

5. Thumbs down to MAC fans in general. Other than the overtime Akron-Toledo game (where Pun City was behind the Toledo bench amongst some UT managers), no one really got into the games other than to be obnoxious (Pun City is talking about you, Akron fans). One Bowling Green fan was halfway friendly to this blog, but for the most part, a lackluster tournament was not improved with lackluster fans.

6. Thumbs down to the economy. This blog got one free shirt and a couple free pens and pencils at the MAC, which was where it was thinking most of the freebies would be purveyed. The NEC chipped in with free towels, but Pun City believes that a more sound economy would have led to greater amounts of branded freebies from a higher number of corporate sponsors.

7. Pun City probably needs to think through its next trip's itinerary more than it did here. Aside from one day with only 2.5 hours of driving, this blog drove at least 5 hours each day. Needless to say, that got old. On a positive note, only one hotel night did keep expenses way down, so this goal was accomplished. Alternately, this blog had very gracious hosts, and Pun City can't thank them enough. If somehow Pun City has the option of cool hosts and maybe about 2 hours driving each day next time, that would be awesome.

8. Thumbs up to the Quicken Loans Arena and surrounding area. Quaker Steak & Lube was a sweet option to have in the arena, and a good "value" for ballpark food on their hotwings. Tower City Mall is an okay mall, but its location upgrades it to good. Being able to access a food court in between sessions was a plus, and kept this blog's food intake more varied than usual. (Well, than usual for trips).

9. Rockne's in Kent, Ohio was a decent spot to stop and eat while watching the Marquette-St. John's game. Service wasn't fantastic, but the huge burger was great, and the large number of televisions tuned to sports was cool. Kent State's campus hid their basketball arena, but their football stadium was good to visit.

10. Congratulations to Western Kentucky and North Dakota State for winning automatic bids to the NCAA tournament. For varying reasons, Pun City is a fan of each of these programs. Good work Saul and Big Red.

Horizon League First Round Note

This blog hasn't posted in an absurdly long time, but Pun City was inspired, so here we go:

Pun City was on the scene when Milwaukee hosted a first round Horizon League tournament game versus Loyola-Chicago last Wednesday. It was pretty cool. The differences from the normal floor alignment were as follows:

1. Speedway replaced Adidas as the basket support sponsor.

2. Speedway signs adorned the 4 tunnels near media row.

3. Speedway decals were opposite the US Cellular Arena logos on the court.

4. UWM's band was shifted from directly behind the hoop to the far (non-bench/Panther tunnel) side of the student section.

5. Loyola's band, cheerleaders, and dance team were present. They were stationed behind the Loyola bench, but very close to the UWM student section.

It was great to see the Panthers play well one last time at home. It's now appearing unlikely that they'll play again. However, there are 4 postseason tournaments this year, so it's not unreasonable that they'd be able to get a bid in one of the NIT, CBI, or CollegeInsider.com tournaments.

Pun City is cautiously hopeful that UWM would get in to the CIT, because UWM is ranked 128th in RPI now, and theoretically the top 129 teams would qualify for the postseason. A major problem with this theory is that sub-129 teams are going to make the NCAA tournament, and probably the NIT, due to automatic qualifying. Oh well, gotta dare to dream.

Some songs played by each of the bands on Wednesday:

UWM - The Hey Song, If You Be My Bodyguard, Born To Be Wild, Roll Out The Barrel, La Bamba, and Jump (Van Halen).

Loyola - Let's See How Far We've Come (Matchbox 20), We've Got The Funk, Stacy's Mom, Holiday (Green Day), Jump On It, Angel Is The Centerfold, Ironman, and Hot Hot Hot.

It was a good effort by the Rambler band. Pun City is very hopeful for some more posts the next coupla weeks. Heading to MAC-land and hopefully NEC-land as well. Later.

Brewers to the 2034 Series!

Thanks Brewers. That was awesome. Pun City was at the Brewer game on Saturday, and it was the most fun this blog has ever had at a baseball game. Such a positive atmosphere, so many fans that had suffered through the losing seasons, but not in Cubs-fan fashion where you can't walk three blocks without hearing how miserable it is having to deal with about 6 postseason appearances in the last 26 years. No, fans that had suffered through 0 postseason appearances in the same time span, but national media really only stumbled on that in the last week here. Whoa, the Brewers haven't made the playoffs in 26 years? Wow, huh.

So yeah, it was great to be at the party that was Miller Park on Saturday, and even though they couldn't pull it out today, it was an amazing run, and now there is sure to be clearance Wild Card gear around since retailers overstocked. Another 26 years before the next postseason appearance would be fine with this blog. It was a sweet run.

Favre Be It For Pun City To Comment

As you may know, there's a certain retired Green Bay Packer that has been in the news a lot lately. The rest of the nation seems to care more about the Brett Favre saga than Wisconsin does, so for the rest of the nation's benefit, here's what your Average Wisconsin Joe is thinking.

Q: What do you think of this whole Brett Favre situation?

A: Messy, a tough situation for both sides. Both could have probably handled it better but at this point we mainly just want a resolution (as long as Favre doesn't end up with the Bears or Vikings).

Q: Do you want Brett Favre to comeback?

A: Yes, in general this isn't a problem. If it means coming back in division, that's not cool, but it seems like the Packers won't let that happen anyway (as they shouldn't).

Q: If Favre comes back to the Packers, would you welcome him?

A: Definitely.

Q: If Favre comes back to the Packers, should he start or should Aaron Rodgers?

A: Wisconsin doesn't care. Whoever gets the job done. While it would be weird to see Favre holding a clipboard, this is much better than seeing Favre on another team.

Q: If Favre played against the Packers, who would you root for?

A: Oof, rough. Both, as much as possible. Slight edge to the Packers if it's close in the end.

Q: What are you going to do with all the Favre retirement commemorative stuff they came out with?

A: From that perspective, Wisconsin is hoping Favre stays retired. It'd be somewhat reminiscent of all of the "County Stadium 1953-1999" memorabilia that came out, only to see County Stadium forced into service for 2000 as well. If Favre plays again, the large amount of memorabilia would be weird, and too overproduced to have any great value.

Q: Given the acrimony between Favre and Packer management, will Favre go into the Hall of Fame as a Falcon or a Raven?

A: That's not funny.

What is funny is this pun: The model said the internet gave her a lot of exposure.

No ESPNZone and No ESPN Make Pun City Go Crazy

Continuing the Pun City trip, and in doing so, continuing March 12th. This blog had tickets to 4 women's games for the rest of the day, but hadn't been to Las Vegas before, so this blog wanted to check in to its hotel and check out the city for the evening.

Getting to the hotel was a little challenging. Mapquest routed this blog uniquely, to say the least. This blog ended up out in the middle of nowhere, passing an enormous junkyard until eventually getting some good directions from a gas station.

Pun City checked in fairly uneventfully, then headed back to the strip to check out some casinos. This blog had heard that the best sports book was at the Bellagio, and Pun City also wanted to check out the ESPNZone at New York, New York.

The Bellagio was alright, except this blog didn't get chips or tickets for cheap slots so it had to pay for drinks. If this blog had it to do over again, it'd put in some money for chips, then gamble just enough to be able to drink for free. Upon realizing the drinks weren't going to be free and the seats weren't completely comfortable at the Bellagio, this blog thought it'd be better to check out the ESPNZone and maybe get some dinner.

Unfortunately, the ESPNZone was closed for a private party. This was excruciating. Not only was this blog relegated to the lobby to watch Marquette's opening round Big East Tournament game, but there would be no food while watching. Fortunately Marquette won, so this blog decided to head back to the Thomas & Mack Center to watch the remaining women's games (and eat).

There was a definite advantage to coming back for these. First off, there was a new crew working the State Farm stand, so this blog got another wristband and a different pair of flip flops. Also, this blog got to see 4 more teams' bands perform, plus the game action was pretty good too.

The games didn't end until about 1:00 AM though, so this blog was a little out of it. Pun City got back to the hotel and wanted to find out the scores from other conference tournament games. This blog flipped on the TV and searched for sports. The first channel it found was Fox Sports Net, but it had something like "Best Damn Interview Blowups" or something like that, no highlights.

No worries, just switch to ESPN. Wait, where's ESPN? Everyone in the world has ESPN, why isn't it on the directory? How is there no ESPN!? Pun City logs on to their free WiFi, they say they have ESPN, but their site hasn't been updated since last year. Complaining to the front desk's late crew (so you know they're the best crew) revealed they did not have ESPN and hadn't for several months. Per the dude, it was a corporate decision. This blog highly doubts that Days Inn decided on a national level to exclude ESPN. But be forewarned, the North Las Vegas Days Inn doesn't have ESPN. This proved somewhat frustrating when trying to find scores at night, this blog had to rely on the internet or the very few times it would be able to track down The Final Report at night.

Very frustrating to say the least. On a positive note though, the place was easily within walking distance of a Jack-In-The-Box, and the route to the arena had several more Jack-In-The-Boxes plus a couple Del Tacos. Additionally, the room was pretty good with the exception of the TV.

Pun City always took for granted that hotels have ESPN. Let this blog tell you, it really hurts to miss ESPN when on vacation. A station that you can count on to display scores at all hours of the night is a good way to get a connection back home. When on the road, a lot of times the only "local news" you can get from the home front would be the home teams' scores. Since Fox Sports doesn't currently have a permanent "bottom line" similar to ESPN, count this blog as one of what should be many advocates for either ESPN in all hotel rooms, or Fox Sports Net coming up with a permanent score updating somewhere on screen. Let's make it happen!