What an experience! The NCAA tournament selected Little Rock as one of their eight opening round sites for the 2008 NCAA tournament. I tried to buy tickets when they went on sale last spring, but the $165 ticket per person ended those dreams real fast. As the tournament approached Keri and I became more and more excited because we learned that the practices of all the teams would be open to the public for FREE! We were able to see Oregon, Texas, Miami, Texas Arlington, and Memphis all practice. It was a really neat experience for the two of us. The next day (Friday) the games were going to be taking place at Alltel Arena. The Lord was so good to me! The guy that sits right next to me at work had two tickets given to him for the morning session of the tourney. He couldn't find anyone to go with him so he invited me. I had a blast! I was able to get out of work to watch the NCAA tournament live and it was completely FREE! My seat was tremendous. We were in the fourth row right behind the Texas Long Horns. The games were fun to watch but I felt a little out of place. You see, I was in the Texas section because my friend from work got the tickets from the Assistant Athletic Director for UT. I was in a sea of orange and was sitting next to the Assistant Athletic Director of Texas. To make things even more crazy; I was wearing a Razorback shirt underneath my jacket. Being an avid Hog Fan this was definitely an awkward spot to be in but a fun one nonetheless!
Everything....Even the towels had the NCAA logo on them.
Interesting fact about the NCAA tournament for all of you out there who are so eager to learn! CBS Sports have all the rights to advertisements during the tournament. You can see a small yellow banner sporting CBS SPORTS in blue near the top left hand corner. All the rest of the advertisements in the arena were taken down for the four day event. CBS paid major bucks for this right...It seems to be worth it though since their contract with the tournament extends until 2011.
Derrick Rose and Joey Dorsey during their practice at Alltel Arena during the 1st and 2nd rounds of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Joey and Derrick are both locks for NBA draft even though Joey is a Senior and Derrick is a Freshman.
This is a sweet shot of Derrick Rose, freshman phenom, of the Memphis Tigers. Derrick averaged over 20 points per game during the NCAA tournament and just declared himself eligible for the NBA draft this Summer.
View of Alltel Arena. The time spent watching the practices was really enjoyable. Keri and I thought that Memphis looked the most sharp out of all the teams that we saw practice. Go figure, they make the championship game in the Final Four. 
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