North Carolina / Duke ; SEC Tournament & Tornado ; NCAA Tournament in Raleigh, NC - 3 weekends of great basketball!

So let me tell you about my travels over the last 3 weeks. I have been fortunate enough to attend the Duke vs North Carolina game in Cameron, the SEC Tournament in Atlanta, and then the 1st round of the NCAA tournament in Raleigh, North Carolina. For each of the 3 consecutive weekends I was able to see great basketball, do some work on behalf of the players at American Heritage, and , of course, have some fun along the way.
When I arrived at Duke we were met by the coaching staff and treated to the behind the scenes tour of the facilities. The cool part was that this was the day of the game, and with ESPN's GAMEDAY on hand, the Cameron Crazies sleeping out for multiple nights, the players getting ready for their biggest game of the year (to date), it was terrific. Now keep in mind that I am Gator, and some would say (ESPN the Magazine, for instance) that the atmosphere for Gator home games is the best in the country, but I can tell you that Cameron Indoor Stadium was amazing for this game. The fans are smart and knowledgable, yet insulting and rude to the away team. The place is small and cozy, loud, and, very very hot. In fact, the guy next to me (I sat right behind the Duke bench) passed out from the heat - and it was 29 degrees outside. It was a great game, with the Tar Heels holding Duke scoreless for the final 5 minutes of the game to come away with the victory. An incredible night, and I was very glad to have made the trip up to Durham.
The following week I made the trip up to Atlanta for the SEC tournament. I arrived on the Thursday to see my alma mater, The University of Florida take on Alabama in a first round game. This was one of the worst (if not THE worst) performances of the year for the Gators, and it was the game that forced Coach Donovan to pull the players' access to the practice facility in preparation for the NIT games. This was also the game that doomed any chances that the Gators had of competing in the NCAA tournament. It was a let down for me and the rest of the Gator fans, as Alabama won the game by a rather wide margin. I came back to the Georgia Dome for the Friday games, and then again for the Friday night games. During the night session the city of Atlanta was hit with a tornado, and I was inside the dome when it hit. This was a very scary event, mostly because as I was sitting there watching things fall from the roof and seeing the scoreboard that was hanging from the roof about to fall down, I heard the very loud sound of what I thought was a train coming through the Dome. It was scary ; but ; what was even scarier was the fact that we had no clue if it was over, and we were told that there could be another one coming. Kind of nuts, if you ask me. I went to Atlanta to watch the tournament and support the Gators, and yet I saw a tornado. I did put multiple pictures up on the website - http://www.goodbasketball.com/ - if you want to see them.
This weekend saw me in Raleigh, NC for the 1st round of the NCAA's. Now I must be honest and tell you that I LOVE the 1st weekend of the tournament. It is fun and exciting, and, each host site has 8 sets of fans who believe that their team can win. In Raleigh I saw Davidson, Gonzaga, Georgetown, Maryland Baltimore County, North Carolina, Mount St Mary's, Arkansas, and Indiana. Great day of action, and I was fortunate enough to be seated for most of the day on Press Row, and then for the Indiana vs Arkansas game I moved back to the 4th row of seats behind the Indiana bench. Interesting stuff to see, and I did attend all 8 coaches news conferences. I love to listen to coaches, and see how they deal with the media.
As a basketball fan and junkie, I have really enjoyed these past 3 weekends.
Now it is off to the off season for American Heritage Basketball.