MY FINAL FOUR
I entered the NCAA ticket lottery and won tickets to Seattle Final Four!
Back in the day, I always entered the NCAA ticket lottery. One day, I got lucky! I got tickets in the mail! NCAA men’s Final Four in Seattle. What a thrill !! The finals were played on April 3.
Millions of people sent in money. When you sent it in, you had no idea who would be playing in the Final Four — or even in the first 64, for that matter! All money was deposited in an interest-bearing account. A drawing was held; tickets were mailed out to the winners. A refund was mailed to the losers. The interest was used to fund summer sports camps for kids. It is probably the only lottery in history where there are no losers — you always get your money back! I don’t know how it works now — but probably pretty much the same!
After I got the tickets - I got airplane and motel reservations. What a dream trip — Seattle was basketball crazzzzy! Basketball fans EVERYwhere! I loved Seattle. The games were in the King Dome. There was an elevated monorail that ran all around the city. There was a trolley down by the water. You could take a ferry boat over to the island. And THE Space Needle — I went up six or seven times! I lay down on my back on the sidewalk, and took a photo looking up the Space Needle (wish I could find that photo!). There was seafood everywhere, even in little walk-up stands like snow-cone vendors have.
Michigan over Seton Hall in the finals! Steve Fisher was appointed interim-coach at the last minute, after some Athletic Department goings-on at Michigan. Glen Rice (Michigan) was the Most Outstanding Player with 184 points in the six tournament games. Seton Hall (Coach P.J.Carlesimo) defeated Duke (Coach Mike Krzyzewski) to make it to the finals. Michigan (Coach Steve Fisher) over Illinois (Coach Lou Henson) in the semi-finals. The whole experience was amazing. I think I’ll send in money again!
My only regret — could have gone down the road on a bus to see the women’s final four at Tacoma. Didn’t do it. Whyyyy? IDK! :-(
