March Madness is in full swing.  There hasn’t been the awesome buzzer beaters that we’ve seen in the past, but many games have gone down to the wire and a few into OT.  Always good stuff.  Added to it this year was the epic NCAA Friday with Shlinklincoln and yours truly Sandcrabs doing our version of the pub crawl culminating in a near brawl to finish the night.  Well, maybe not quite a brawl, but I was going to kick that guy’s ass.

The day began with a great breakfast at the Hot Seat Bar and Grill in Tualatin, Oregon.  And what breakfast is complete without a Jeager bomb?  From there we checked out a couple of card shops.  Heaven Sent Sportscards, also in Tualatin, is extremely overpriced.  It’s a wonder how they’ve stayed in business this long.  From there it was on to the Sportsroom in Beaverton, Shlink’s home base for cards.  I believe he buys exclusively from this shop when not on eBay.  Good selection and we have got some great pulls.

Side note: Late last year I pulled a redemption for a Jerry West Letterman Auto from Topps.  I was stoked.  I registered for the card and was informed it would be February ’09 when I would receive it.  Little did I know that Topps has been rather notorious about not fulfilling this particular card.  Needless to say when it came time to receive this wonderful prize I was first informed there would be a delay.  Next came word that they couldn’t get that exact card (Really?  You make it!?!?!?!) so they were sending a card comparable in value.  What came was a 2008-09 Topps Finest Dwayne Wade auto.  A nice card, but not even close to what I should have received.  I’ve been advised to call and complain and I should get something extra.  Stay tuned.

Anyway, getting back to the odyssey, we then migrated to Bleacher’s also in Beaverton.  I thought I was entering Nirvana as on the outside is a declaration that this was an Oakland Raiders’ bar.  Sweet!!!!  Imagine my disappointment upon viewing only 1 Raiders piece of memorabilia….a helmet.  To make matters worse they had 2 Denver Broncos helmets with one of them situated a little higher on the wall than the lone Raiders helmet.  Further imagine my disgust upon finding two versions of a Patriots helmet!  What self-respecting Raiders’ fan even displays such sacrilege?  At least the food was good.

Which brings us to our final destination, Coach’s Bar and Grill in the Cedar Mill area of Beaverton.  Nice place, great food and located directly across the street from Sunset Strip gentleman’s club.  Several beers and bombs later turned the day into evening and the aforementioned altercation.  Now, the Sandcrabs wasn’t out of line and didn’t get obnoxious.  I politely ask the inebriated individual to leave our female friends alone and vacate the premises, to which I was given a distinct no.  Please and thank you were used, but cooler heads prevailed and the drunkard was escorted from the establishment.  No blood spilled, not even a drink knocked over.  Oh yeah, I even won over $80 on Keno.

Needless to say we had a great time.  We’re down to the Sweet 16 with some epic matchups to come.  Portland, Oregon played host to rounds 1 and 2 and the crowds could not have been better.  Watching on tv, the fans appeared to be louder than other venues.  Could be my biased opinion, so check it out for yourself.  It took the state of Oregon to do away with lottery based NFL wagering, which still angers some.  It really depends on who you talk to about which is better.  I was sorry to see it go, but am happy that we got to host such a great sporting event.  There’s even talk of hosting a future regional, which would be sweet.

Anyway, watch your brackets (go Lousiville!) and be careful how much bar food you consume in a day.  You may just be spending a lot of the next few days trying to purge it.