Because I’m neither emotionally involved nor especially confident in my pick to win it all, I’m not all that sorry that none of my upsets came through for me. My pick to win is still alive and three of my final four picks are still dancing, but my overall hopes were dashed when none of my upset picks won on Thursday or Friday.

By the time I got in the car yesterday morning for a trip to Milwaukee, I had given up hope of winning the contest I entered. By the time Opening Day arrives on Thursday, I will have already forgotten anything I witnessed over the weekend.

Because I didn’t care for any of the teams playing in Milwaukee (Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa and Mississippi States) I had no intention of attending the games. However, I did want to soak up the atmosphere in the heart of Cream City.

Forty years ago I attended my first Final Four in Lexington Kentucky. Honestly, I remember more about the games than the surrounding noise. Rupp Arena was a great place to see a tournament, but I was only a college student traveling with my aunt, uncle, their longtime friends and a cousin. Ten years later, I went to Seattle with that same uncle, and his daughter and son in law. On that adventure, I was able to soak up so much more of the scene and enjoyed that thoroughly.

There is something special about the tournament in general, being around large groups of fans/alums/students of different schools and traditions. I have yet to catch a game at FiServ Forum, but am very familiar with the Deer District and downtown Milwaukee in general. The former is similar to Rickettsville (a contrived entertainment district) and the latter is like Wrigleyville with numerous watering holes. Both can survive and thrive and since there is plenty of demand, I’m not complaining although several friends and relatives are not as keen on Rickettsville.

My information was faulty and at first, I wondered where everyone was at 11:30. I had read somewhere that tipoff for the first game was 2:15. The streets of Milwaukee resembled a ghost town. Surprisingly, nobody was stumbling out the many watering holes in the Third Ward. I later found out the first game tipped off at 4:15 which was entirely too late. I did find out what hotels hosted Kentucky, Ole Miss and Xavier. A couple hours later I did spot more Cyclones and Illini sporting their colors. However, both groups were surprisingly subdued.

Rather than overpaying at one of the newer hotspot in the Deer District, I snuck into Major Goolsby’s, an old school sports bar in the shadow of the UW Milwaukee Panther Arena-better known as the Mecca. Major would fit in perfectly in Wrigleyville, think Sports Corner or any joint in that neighborhood that’s been around for 50 years. It was a great place to watch Florida v UConn and observe the dynamics (minus the typical Big Ten obnoxiousness) of the four schools and many local sports fans.

I expect that many of the folks that chose to hang in the Deer District remained there for the entirety of the games. As is the case with neighborhood ballparks, fans like to hang around the parks during the game. Not everyone can stomach sitting through 9 innings in the park. Just being at one (or multiple) joints near Wrigley Field and Fenway Park is the experience. You can feel a part of the game even if you only hear the roar of the crowd. That’s the nice thing about arenas like FiServ, several hotels and the Marquette campus are within easy walking distance. For as wonderful as the United Center is, the neighborhood doesn’t lend itself to that same experience yet.

I’m sure the four schools that played yesterday got out of Dodge as soon as their games ended, but I imagine some of the fans spent the night celebrating or crying in Milwaukee last night. I made it home before that first game started.