Detroit isn't so bad

I had low expectations going in, but they were exceeded by quite a bit. I've just returned from my trip to Detroit for my annual trip the Final Four. Here's a short recap:

Friday, 4.3.09
My flight left at 7:50, so I was able to celebrate my favorite part of any trip in the proper fashion. What's my favorite part, you ask? Sitting at the airport bar, enjoying an ice-cold beer prior to takeoff. There were some delays due to wind in Detroit so I had more than one ice-cold Stella. Regardless, they were delicious.

Jamie and I landed around the same time, so we met up to pick up the car. Because we didn't get in until about 10:30 Detroit time, we headed straight out to a bar. We met up with Jamie's co-worker Nick and his wife at a bar in Royal Oak (a burb of Detroit, since everyone lives in burbs, no one goes out in the city). We had a few beers there and made our way to my friend Chris's's's's place for the night.

Saturday, 4.4.09
Semi-finals game day. Jamie, Chris, Laurel and I made our way downtown around 12:30 PM to hang out with the college basketball riff raff. After wandering from crowded bar to crowded bar, we found a place (Coaches Corner) that had some space in their outside beer garden. We spent our afternoon here, meeting up with Teri & her mom/sister, as well as Nate and Nadine - our Minnesota fans whom we met at the Atlanta Final Four in 2007, who have since become friends.

Jamie and I were able to scalp tickets to the weekend games (2 on Saturday/1 on Monday) for $200 each. Face value for these tickets is $150 - and we've paid around $250-300 for the same tickets in the past (and friends were paying $400+ for tickets) so we were pretty pleased with ourselves. Michigan State beat UConn in a good game, UNC beat Villanova in a blowout from the beginning. On our way into the game, someone came up to us and said hello (because we were wearing some Illinois stuff. It was none other than Jerrance Howard. Love the guy. See him at the final four quite a bit - always the networker. We took a picture with him and thanked him for what he's brought to the program in the short period of time he's been here.

After the game, we decided to drive Nate and Nadine back to Windsor, ON and stay with them for the night. We finally made it back and were out at the Caesar's Hotel by 1:30AM. Not good for drinking or seeing coaches, but we managed. The hotel bar bartender had to cut us off since we ordered more than the allowed 3 drinks per person/per hour limit (that I think he made up). We ended up stopping at a burrito joint on the way back to the hotel. I only mention this because it had techno music playing, served our orders separately (one burrito came out, one quesadilla came out, another quesadilla came out, and the final quesadilla came out - all within about 5 minutes of one another. It was so odd). I forgot to mention - we had our first head coach siting of the weekend at the casino at Caesars. I know this will surprise most everyone, but we saw Billy Gillespie at 2:30AM stumbling around the casino. Apparently the night before, he had been playing craps with at least $5,000 worth of chips.

Sunday, 4.5.09
Sunday is usually the day spent relaxing and at the bar in the coaches hotel. We did not stray from tradition this year, and despite there not being an official coaches hotel (Detroit hotels don't have the capacity), we decided Caesar's would be the best place to spot coaches.

Jamie and I were up earlier than Nate and Nadine, so we headed over to the hotel around 11. As soon as we walk in, we see Bruce Weber stumbling across the lobby, getting ready to check out. He sees us, stops and asks, "What are you guys doing here?" - Um, watching college basketball? Oy vey, not a charismatic man at all. We chatted a little more, but let him get on his way.

Over the course of the day, we ended up seeing many coaches:
Wisconsin's Bo Ryan, Georgia Tech’s Paul Hewitt, KU’s Danny Manning, St. John’s Norm Roberts and Fred Quartlebaum, Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel, UCLA’s Matt Howland, Cregiton’s Dana Altman, and Minnesota's Tubby Smith, but none were as awesome as seeing Bill Self.

Now, because of the games we used to go to for Illinois, and always being at Final Four's, Bill has come to recognize us and always takes time to talk with us. This year was no exception. When we first saw him, he said his usual, "You girls are the only Illinois fans who still talk to me." Even though he was on his way to dinner, he continued the conversation with us, asking how Chicago was and how we were in general. He took his picture with us, gave us hugs, and asked if we'd still be around later. We congratulated him on his championship, he congratulated us on our season and complimented Bruce's coaching (sort of a slam at the talent level, but whatever, he's right).

I swear to goodness that I understand he has to be cordial and charismatic, but he's always been accessible and welcoming to us, and I think that's awesome. We ended up seeing him later at the sports bar in the casino, where he took time to talk with us again. He also mentioned that even though he was only at Illinois for 3 years, he thoroughly enjoyed himself while there. I wish he were still our coach, but I'm also happy for him and where he's gone in his career.

Ok, enough with the Bill slobberfest.

We ended up exploring more of Windsor on Sunday night - checking out other bars - my favorite stop was at the Pour House - food/drinks were good and cheap.

Monday, 4.6.09
Championship Monday. We drove back from Windsor to Chris's's's's place in Novi (another burb of Detroit). I was sick with a headache, so when we got back, I laid down in hopes of it going away. As I did, Jamie met her cousin and his wife out for drinks & catching up. I chilled out at Chris's's's's's for most of the day, before we headed downtown around 6PM.

We partied in a "bar" - which ended up being the ground floor of a parking garage. It was right across the street from Ford Field, free, had cheap beer, TVs and live music. Sold.

The game ended up being pretty yawn-worthy, which sort of stunk - but not without some cool guests - Larry Bird and Magic Johnson carried out the game ball, Michael Jordan, Jim Sloan, David Robinson & John Stockton were all honored at halftime for being nominated for the NBA Hall of Fame. That was pretty cool.

Since the game let out so late on Monday, and because we stay all the way until the playing of One Shining Moment, we didn't end up getting back to Chris's's's's until about 1:30AM. Headed to bed to get up at 7 for our flights home.

Overall, Detroit was pretty fun. It's not an ideal place for a Final Four (too spread out and sort of yucky), but we found fun. The weather was pretty crappy & I have to say, MSU being in the final game really saved this Final Four. Had they not been there, I can't say it'd be as successful.

One final observation: people in Detroit/Windsor are about the slowest human beings I've ever seen. I don't know how to explain it, but no one cared about timely service when it came to ordering food or drinks. It was very odd.