Big Ten Tournament Quick Hits: Day 3

The Boiling Point: Quick thoughts on Day 3 of the BTT

Welcome to edition number 3 of Quick Hits. There has been a lot of debate lately if the Big Ten Tournament should be moved to Chicago or stay in Indianapolis or alternate. Let me preface this by saying I am indifferent to if it stayed or went to Chicago. Only benefit Chicago has for me is that since I live in the suburbs I’ll save money on a hotel. I’ve done everything there is to do in Chicago so all the extra things to do are no benefit to me. There are pros and cons to both. Main thing Indianapolis has going for it is how everything is in walking distance. It takes me 10 min to get anywhere from my hotel at the Hilton. Chicago does have more things to do, I don’t think anybody would disagree with that. However, a lot of people don’t realize that the United Center is on the west side of Chicago and not in down town. Let me put that in perspective for you. Using Google Maps for directions, from the United Center to Millenium Park which is on the most famous street in Chicago (Michigan Ave): walking will take you an hour; driving will take 12 min(double with traffic which there will be) plus have fun paying at least $20 to park on top of the $20 you paid to park at the UC; public transportation will take at least 30 min. As you can see, you are quite a ways away from things to do compared to Indy. However, regardless of where it’s held, I’ll still be going. You’re mostly at the games anyways when you have all session passes.

Now onto my quick thoughts on Day 3 of the Big Ten Tournament. Click here for Day 1 and here for Day 2.

-Indianapolis is jam packed today. People are everywhere. There is quite the variety of people in town with the Big Ten Tournament, Motocross at Lucas Oil Stadium, a marathon this morning, and little kid cheer leading tournament going on. I forgot about the little kid cheer leading from last year. It’s like pageant kids even more peppiness which equals terrible and annoying.

-I didn’t think scalpers could get worse than yesterday but I was wrong. They are relentless everywhere and people were definitely getting frustrated with them. If I owned Conseco Fieldhouse I would push Indy to ban scalping like they do on Michigan’s campus. The scalpers are just keeping the tickets if they don’t get a good enough price for them which is leading to empty seats. If I owned a sporting venue I’d be pissed that I’m losing out on concessions and memorabilia sales inside and that my place looks like crap on TV with empty seats.

-All the restaurants/bars are packed. 2 hour waits everywhere. I got a drink at Scotty’s and sat in their outside lounge area then just decided to go to Conseco to eat. Actually probably spent less on food there since there’s no alcohol sold at NCAA events to the “general public.” This wouldn’t happen in Chicago because there are no decent bars or restaurants with-in a mile. At least any I’d feel safe going to.

-Most people before a session I’ve seen so far. It took me 20 minutes to get through the ticket gate an hour before the game even started.

-Maize Rage has figured out how to get people to cheer with them. Just hope that their team advances to play teams people don’t like.

-O$U has joined IU as team that no other schools will root for. Everyone was for Michigan except O$U fans

-Do O$U and Purdue have an agreement I don’t know about where we sell them all our tickets?

-If you see 2 girls in O$U gear by themselves that know nothing about basketball and boo all the time, smack them for me…oh wait that’s their whole fan base.

-Simon Says at halftime. It’s guys versus girls with around 20 people each. O$U guys out immediately. When girls went, it was down to one in about 30 seconds-wow.

-Good thing the Pacers don’t sell out that often. The concourse is packed with people and can barely move anywhere.

-Still not many MSU fans here today. It’s pretty shocking because previous three years I’ve gone to the tournament there were a ton.

-Penn State’s fan total I have seen, excluding student section, has doubled to 6 people. Maybe more will show up for championship. Lucky for them it seems as though they have the majority of the crowd, including Paint Crew, behind them. Almost all Purdue fans have been rooting for them.

-Feel good for Talor Battle. He just competes every time he comes out and has now gotten PSU probably in the tourney. I love how there will for sure be 6 teams with outside chance at 7 from Big Ten in The Big Dance.

With only two games today, that’s all I’ve got. Look for another post tomorrow night when I arrive back in Chicago. Will include pre-game pep rally, how the crowd is split between O$U and PSU, and other random thoughts through out the day.