INDIANAPOLIS — Even with the spring rain falling gently upon them early Saturday afternoon, they crowded the decorated streets of downtown Indianapolis.
They swarmed around vendors selling t-shirts and hats. They walked in groups, joking in animated discussion and soaking in the festival-like atmosphere around them. And, virtually all of them had one thing in common: They were wearing the colors of one of the last four teams standing.
As if on cue from a Divine source, the rain stopped and the clouds broke by mid afternoon. The day was suddenly filled with a sunshine that matched the air of optimism surrounding those who descended on downtown – whether they came from the bucolic, rolling hills of West Virginia or the flatlands of Michigan.
Every person on these streets has a different story about their road to the Final Four. Each person is here for a different reason. Some are local vendors trying to make a living. Some are here to display their passion for a team. Some are here simply to be part of the throng of thousands filling the sidewalks, the hotels and the restaurants.
This week in Indianapolis is the Woodstock of basketball. This is the Final Four. These are its sights and sounds.
Sounds of a fighting cry
On the corner of Illinois and Washington Streets earlier this week, the Sax Man cuts the sound of cars with his music.
But he doesn’t just play music. He plays fight songs.
Of his 32 years playing music, the Sax Man, who declined to disclose his name, spent the last three Final Fours in Indianapolis blowing tunes from his saxophone bell during basketball season to the people walking past.
“I play because it’s like practice to me, and I love the people,” he said.
During the Big Ten Tournament, he played all 11 school songs straight. He can even recall any major school song at the passing of a coach. Ohio State coach Thad Matta walked passed as the Sax Man talked, and he stopped the interview to play the Buckeye’s entire fight song.
“This one here is even greater because it looks like I’m growing more than the music,” he said. “I know more what the people want and what they like to hear.”
But he wasn’t ready for all four teams of this showdown.
“I didn’t know Butler was going to win so I don’t know their school song,” he said.
He assured he would know the Butler War Song before game time.
One-day dreams
To Kenya Crandell, dreams in basketball can never be too large.
As assistant coach of a 7-22 Summit League team, Crandell made the trip from Cedar City, Utah, to the Circle City not only to watch good basketball, but to find inspiration.
“This is the cream-of-the-crop, the best-of-the-best, this is the basketball meca right here,” Crandell said.
“Utah has its days of being good. But Southern Utah, we’re still trying to grow as a program and eventually try to get it to the level where hopefully one day we can be that Cinderella.”
A team with only two seniors, Southern Utah went 3-15 in conference play and struggled with the inexperience of their team.
“You just try to soak in the atmosphere,” Crandell said. “As a coach, you hope and dream that one day you can actually be out there on the court, trying to get a national championship.”
No glass slipper here
They may be the underdogs, but don’t call them Cinderella.
To freshman Tyler Pollock and Jordan Burt, Butler earned every sneaker squeak of their first Final Four.
“We deserve to be here,” Burt said. “We have a 24-game winning streak. We know how to win. That’s it.”
This week, Pollock and Burt have sung the fight song, skipped their classes and attended open practice at Lucas Oil Stadium to once more cheer on their fellow students. Pollock and Burt did what students of the other Final Four schools couldn’t. They walked for much of the 7-mile journey from their campus on the north side of Indianapolis to the cavernous stadium downtown.
“We drove as far as we could,” Pollock said.
“We walked pretty far,” Burt added.
Newly chanting ‘Go, Dogs’
Tom Hill and Nick Willey are two Indianapolis-natives who jumped on the bandwagon, the Butler bandwagon.
But the two Hoosiers see nothing wrong with their new fandom since they are supporting their city’s team.
“They’re what IU should be,” Hill said. “They’re Indiana kids. They’ve got 15 kids on the team, 10 are from Indiana. Academics first, athletics second.”
While these two basketball crazies temporarily switched ships, basketball constantly dribbles in their life. Hill said he is a Hoosier so he’s a basketball fan from the start until forever. Willey said he’s loved basketball since he first picked up a remote at age two.
This year, that dribble is helping their hometown. Hill and Willey agreed that the Final Four transformed their downtown.
“They say that the local economy is going to lose $8 million because Butler is in it, but I think as far as people coming in to town, the buzz is going to be more … because you’ve got more locals hanging out versus out-of-towners,” Hill said.
The place to be outside Lucas
Coaches walked in. Players ate and fans drank and since Wednesday night, Hal Yeagy’s bar and restaurant welcomed them all.
The Slippery Noodle Inn owner is prepared for crowds. He holds the experienced of six Indianapolis’ Final Four under his apron and the key to hungry sports’ fans hearts.
“Don’t run out of beer,” Yeagy said.
Besides a fully stocked bar, Yeagy armed his employees with four meetings and six pages of notes on what to expect. But, Yeagy is expecting the first game day of the Final Four to bring the most action since the 1997 Final Four.
Located just three blocks down from Lucas Oil Stadium on the corner of South and Meridian Streets, Yeagy and his staff encounter crowds all through Colts season, but with the first Final Four appearance of a hometown team, the game will be a new experience.
On Colts game days, Yeagy is busy before and after the game. But on Final Four week, Yeagy said, “You’re busy from when you open the doors until when you close the doors. . .This doesn’t stop until we lock the doors and say, ‘You guys, you got to leave.’ ”
The believers
Maybe it’s been said before, but in West Virginia, Mountaineers athletics rule the land.
“We don’t have professional sports and West Virginia is everything to everybody,” David Snyder, a Mountaineers fan, said. “There isn’t a professional team that takes away. We always have to pick a team from out of state so West Virginia does it all for us.”
After driving six hours through the hills of West Virginia and the straight lands of Ohio, David arrived with his wife, Tiffanie, waiting for the opportunity of a lifetime to begin.
Both fans said they were born into WVU, and they can’t see being fans of anything but Mountaineer everything .
“We have a lot of heart,” Tiffanie said.
One could almost hear the racing hearts on the streets of Indianapolis on Saturday afternoon.
It was nearly tip time.
A team of Indiana University journalists is reporting for the Final Four Student News Bureau, a project between IU’s National Sports Journalism Center and the NCAA at the men’s tournament in Indianapolis.
