Goodbye Columbus

From my perspective, the new record for distance from one terminal to another within a single airport is now held by Detroit.  People take cabs for shorter trips.  I was thinking that when I got back to Boston I would need to work out. Probably unnecessary now.  I took an earlier flight from Columbus and this is a good thing as I would never have made the connection to the Boston flight if I had gone on the original one.  I sit now waiting in an airport diner for some sort of cheeseburger. I'm close enough to the serving station to overhear the chatter from the waitstaff who seem to be grousing about customers in their sections.

We saw parts of all the games yesterday.  Best of show was a tie between (a) the Notre Dame Butler thriller and (b) the characters we saw in an Ohio State tavern during the OSU tilt that sent Buckeyes out of the tournament.  Within a short walk of the Nationwide arena were seven establishments with customers watching the games.  One even had an outside area with a fireplace that had dozens of patrons despite the chill in the air.

The chill took care of Villanova as well as Ohio State.  North Carolina State appeared to more poised than Villanova which is surprising since Villanova had only lost twice before yesterday.  Give Cincinnati its due for competing courageously against Kentucky.  Cincinnati could have beaten a lot of teams the way they performed against the undefeated Wildcats.  Notre Dame's victory over Butler was sad for Butler but inflated the sense of my university, Northeastern, as on Thursday we played Notre Dame every bit as well as Butler did. With a bounce one way or another, the Huskies could be in the sweet 16.

The first game of the afternoon has already begun. Maryland leads Virginia 23-18 at the half which is a surprise to me.  Had I been asked for my best bet today it would have been Virginia.  With Villanova out I saw the path clear for a Cavalier visit to the final four.

I was impressed with Columbus.  From our hotel everything was within walking distance-so much so that it made renting a car an excessive and unnecessary cost.  A five minute walk to the arena and much of downtown.

Besides Virginia, today I like Duke, Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Maryland, Dayton, UNI and Wichita State.  Dayton will be playing what amounts to a home game against Oklahoma and while they are not as good, they will have the advantages of home cooking.