My March Madness trips

I went through an exercise of writing down where I have been for March Madness after moving out to Colorado (April, 2000). After graduating college, and prior to moving out to Colorado, I was in Bloomington, IL. I simply watched the games at one of the local sports bars in town every year (with one exception - 1998 when I was on vacation in Lake Tahoe and actually watched Illinois State beat Tennessee and Illinois beat South Alabama). I went to Las Vegas 4 times (years listed in bold) in the 9 years out here. Here is what I have done after moving:

2001 - my buddy Tim came from Illinois to Colorado and we watched the games out here at a couple of places. This was the year that #15 Hampton beat #2 Iowa State, but we didn't see the end - it was the last game of the night and we thought the game was over and were pretty lit from drinking beers all day and wanted to make sure we didn't miss the bus back home.

2002 - I went back to Illinois to watch the games in Bloomington. Southern Illinois made it to the sweet 16 this year, and Creighton also won their first round game, so it was exciting to be in Missouri Valley territory for that.

2003 - I went to Las Vegas with friends Tim and Mark. I came there a day late because of a huge snow storm in Colorado that closed the airport for a couple of days. We stayed at Harrah's and watched the games there. We also went to Nikki Lee's to watch some games there.

2004 - I went to Las Vegas with friends Tim, Mark, and Harry. We stayed at Flamingo, and the first night there was my infamous "hurricane" night with 151 rum. I missed the games the next morning, including my chance to bet the money line on #12 Manhattan to beat #5 Florida, which they did. I don't remember what the money line was, but I missed out on a great opportunity.

2005 - I went to Illinois to watch the games. I remember being in Buffalo Wild Wings in Bloomington to watch Illinois beat Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round. This was the year that Illinois was 32-1 going into the NCAA tournament and made it all the way to the championship game before losing to North Carolina.

2006 - I went to Las Vegas with my wife, along with my friend Harry and his girlfriend. We stayed at Flamingo, and watched the games at Las Vegas Hilton and Caesars Palace. This was the year #13 Bradley beat #4 Kansas in the first round (I was at Caesars for that one) and George Mason made their magical run.

2007 - I went to Las Vegas with Tim. We stayed at Sahara and watched the games at Las Vegas Hilton. I remember winning the money line bet on #11 VCU to beat #6 Duke - everyone in the casino was watching and cheering with every possession late in that game.

2008 - I went to Illinois to watch the games. It was actually in the middle of another business trip (Tuesday/Wednesday in Pennsylvania, Thursday-Saturday in Illinois). That was a mistake - I was dead tired by Saturday and ended up changing my trip and coming home on Saturday.

2009 - I went to Cancun on vacation and didn't get to see hardly any of the games. I saw most of Thursday's games, but then we left on Friday and were gone Saturday and Sunday, so I didn't see any of the rest of the first round or second round.

By March of 2010 I had moved back to Illinois. Trips since then have been updated on my web site: http://mattholthe.blogspot.com/2012/07/march-madness-since-2009.html

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