There are a lot of very tall people in town today, as the Kentucky, Cornell, West Virginia, and Washington basketball teams are here for the NCAA Hoops East Regionals. OK, maybe not Cornell. They’re probably still down in Ithaca. But the other fellas (and their fans) are here. I feel kinda sorry for the fans, really. While I think this is a good place to live (if you have a job), it’s not exactly what I’d call a tourist spot. Not at the end of March, anyway. If it was winter or summer, you’d have lots of outdoor activities to partake in, but right now things are kinda yucky (no snow, no green; mostly dirt and left-over road sand), and your choices are pretty much the bars or the malls. Oh, I suppose you could go to the Everson Art Museum or the Museum of Science and Technology, but, well, somehow I don’t see UK and WVU fans as big on modern art (or science). No offense to our friends from south of the Mason-Dixon line, of course. And the Washington fans won’t care either way; they’ll feel at home with the rain, and will probably have real good pot with them, so they can hang in their hotels and chill. But odds are we’ll have some Ashley Judd sightings around here, and it would be really nice to see her cry when Cornell beats Kentucky tomorrow night (not that I want to see her cry, mind you; she’s darn cute, and definitely the pick of the litter in that family. I’d just love to see Kentucky lose – not enough to stay up past midnight to see it, though).

Not that SU fans traveling out West are faring any better. I’m honestly not familiar with Salt Lake City, but I’m guessing the bars aren’t real exciting. My tip for fans would be to rent the first three seasons of ‘Big Love’ and get familiar with the natives.

In one of the most boneheaded scheduling moves ever, the NCAA (or CBS, or whatever cartel calls the shots) has scheduled Syracuse to play at the same time that the Eastern Regionals are taking place here. Pretty stupid, no? This has resulted in “only” 21,000 something tickets being sold (at $148 a pop).

Oh well, a relatively horrible day to deal with today. A stupid meeting at nine, a demo in front of uber-upper mucky mucks at three, and then a wake to attend after work. A very good day to get over with already.

Watch out for runaway monkeys.