None of the teams that Matt picked in his bracket made it to the Final Four, but we did! I was too busy not moving, or caring, to fill in my own bracket, so I was perfectly fine with just the idea of adventure.

You may be wondering where we got Final Four tickets. Or what the Final Four might be. Or what a wall hanging device has to do with anything. So I shall start from the very beginning.

Matt actively cares about one sport, which happens to be college basketball. After the 2010 season ended, a previously dormant neuron in his brain said, “Hey! You there! Perhaps you should look into getting tickets to see one of those spiffy games in person?”

Obviously, many of the finals tickets go to the schools playing. Others go to media, NCAA peons, the host schools, and other categories that in no way include us. However, those of us not deemed worthy can enter a lottery to buy tickets. Fork over the full price of the tickets and lottery fee upfront, and voila, you are entered. The Final Four consists of two semi-final games (which are the same night and on the same ticket) and the national championship, so for four seats, that’s eight tickets worth of paying upfront. At least they refund the tickets, if not the lottery fee, should you lose.

Sometime over the summer, Matt received an email indicating success. I have to admit, it was hard to get excited over Houston. But, like I said before, adventure.

Now that your curiosity regarding tickets has been appeased, you may be wondering if our little trip got in the way of my being flooded with more chemicals. Well, Dr. Oncologist happens to be a big college basketball fan, so she had no problem making sure that my already aggressive treatment schedule had room for the trip. Also, I needed to finish healing up enough from surgery to be further inundated.

Now for the games. But first, it must be said that Reliant Stadium is freaking huge. No matter how big you are picturing the stadium to be, double it. Then add another thirty percent. Cap it off with a retractable roof and oxygen tanks for the upper tiers. Now you have some idea as to where we were sitting. Being recently built, there was nothing impeding our view but ice cold air. Oh, and our tier had binocular rentals.

Saturday night consisted of two games in a row. In other words, six hours in the stadium. Towards the end, I wasn’t exactly paying the slightest bit of attention to the game, much less holding still. I was originally rooting for VCU, since they have a better looking mascot, but I changed my mind about Butler when they brought out a cute bulldog after winning. As for the UConn Huskies versus the Kentucky Wildcats, that was a no brainer. Husky > Dumb Wildcat.

UConn won, making Monday’s final a dog fight between the Bulldogs and Huskies. In general, I have to prefer a Husky over a Bulldog, but a certain team failed to bring an actual husky to the game. Ergo, I rooted for Butler.

Well, UConn destroyed Butler, even without a cute puppy. We stayed long enough to watch them cut down the nets in celebration. Most people didn’t, which meant no long line for the shuttle back to the hotel when we finally left. Victory was ours!

Matt has already entered the lottery for next year’s Final Four in New Orleans.