When Billy and I were skyping during the Syracuse-Marquette regional final (as we often do during Syracuse games) and it became clear Syracuse was going to Atlanta, we debated whether we should join them. Billy was gung-ho and steadfast on going solo if I didn't join him.
Eventually I was persuaded and we immediately hopped on vividseats to get our tickets. Vividseats is a little better than stubhub and generally has cheaper ticket prices. We decided to spend a little more to get seats in the 200 level. Our seats were $305, and after the ridiculous, borderline-criminal fees, they came out to $390, but I think stubhub would have been similar.
Then I booked my flight, which I got for $550 because I was willing to stop and change planes in Charlotte. For the record, Billy drove to Baltimore to get a cheaper flight, but he flew direct.
I took the NJ Transit train, switched at Secaucus, and went right to the airport. It actually was pretty convenient and a lot easier than finding someone to drive you.
Flight to Charlotte was delayed slightly but I still had plenty of time to catch my plane. I found my gate and it was easy enough to spot because everyone there was wearing either orange or yellow. The gateside seating area was literally segregated. One creepy 30-ish Michigan guy was kicking it to every young Michigan girl who looked like a student. Unfortunately the seating on the plane was not as well-designed. I was in a 3-person row on the window, with a fellow Syracuse person on the aisle, but a fat dude with a yellow hat sat in between us. The conversation was mostly pleasant and there was no incident.
We go to the airport and hopped on the shuttle to our hotel, the Courtyard Marriott. Little did we know there was a Courtyard North, South and West, all in the area by the airport. So we got on the wrong shuttle, to the wrong hotel but eventually got to the correct one, checked in quickly and headed right back town. That required getting back on the shuttle to the airport and taking MARTA from there.
Marta is pretty good as big city mass transit systems go. Everything is arranged around a junction called 5 points, everything meets there. The airport is south, so you gotta go about 15 minutes north through College Park (made famous by Luda) to 5 Points, then one stop over the Georgia Dome, Phillips Arena, Olympic Centennial Park and CNN Center.
So we got off there and went to the game, which
you can read about in a separate post.
After the game, downtrodden and devastated we went back to Marta, caught two incredibly packed trains and made our way back to the airport to catch a shuttle to the hotel. The train was absolutely packed, so much so that we got delayed because someone was blocking the door. At least that's what they told us the first time. Then they said someone was leaning on the door. Then they said police were conducting business on the train. Huge delays in a packed train, after midnight, after losing the game. Unpleasant. It took about an hour to get back to the airport at which point we engaged in a pushing and shoving match with a huge crowd to get on the shuttle back to our hotel. I won and got a nice seat in the back, Billy lost and barely made it on the bus.
I was seated next to a couple of SU students who had driven down on Friday (18 hours in one day). They relayed to me their horrible experience at the game. Each team had a big student section right behind the basket, and when the first game ended they cleared out Wichita State's and brought in Michigan's and Syracuse's moved to where Louisville's was. So during the first game, the Syracuse students were herded into a convention center across the street and given tickets. Towards the end of the first game they were let into the Georgia Dome into an empty section. When the game ended the students ran for any seat regardless of assigned ticket. This poor girl, from the Five Towns (so probably one of ours) didn't get a seat and had to stand under the basket to watch the game. But she said, it would have all been worth it had they won. That must have been a miserable 15 hour car ride back to Syracuse.
The next morning Billy and I tried to salvage some semblance of fun from our trip so we headed back downtown to find a Waffle House. A real Southern tradition, Sunday morning breakfast at the Waffle House. We found one that looked nice enough but the neighborhood must not be that great, because the menu said we would be charged a 20% security fee on our bill. And Billy and his tiny bladder had to be buzzed into the bathroom.
Our waitress was so nice, and I felt badly that she had to work in what I presumed was an unsafe hellhole, so I gave her a 100% tip on my $5 meal. People definitely are different down south. Everyone was so much nicer. Low wage, menial task employees in New York would have been rude and disinterested. In Atlanta everyone we saw was friendly and helpful, going out of their way to help us, including the Waffle House employee who walked outside with us to show us how to get to CNN Center.
Obviously I had heard a lot about the place in my 8.5 years there, but had never visited it, so it was a cool experience, even though I wasn't able to connect with any friends for a behind the scenes tour. CNN Center has a mall on the ground floor where there was a giant bracket.
There was also a Braves team store. Braves fans are so stupid they need a t-shirt to teach them how to do the tomahawk chop.
Then we walked through the shops and bought a little souvenir for Mrs. Poop and AliNatPro.
Then we went into the huge convention center where they were hosting Bracket Town, basically a huge fanfest. $10 to get in, but well worth it, because we got to:
See Christian Laettner, but we didn't have time nor motivation to wait on line for his autograph.
Pretend to cut down the net (scissors were glued shut)
Posterize me (I let Billy be the dunker, even though his pit stain is repulsive)
Pose for a picture with the rest of the team
But then it was time to go home. We took the train back to the airport and parted right before security, the lines for which were ridiculous. I was actually late to my flight, one of the last people on, so late that they stewardesses had a list of people missing, it was me, and the two people next to me. Just when I thought I might have the entire row to myself a woman gets on with a 1-year-old kid, and a 4-week old baby. And she didn't have the car seat. So she had to hold the baby and and a stewardess had to hold the older boy. For the whole flight this stewardess did nothing but hold this lady's kids. And why the fuck would you take a 4-week old from Atlanta to St. Louis? What the fuck is so important? Thankfully the kids didn't cry and disturb the entire flight.
When I got to Charlotte I had almost two hours to kill, so I sat down for some traditional carolina BBQ. That thing next to my cornbread is a fried pickle.
There was an EA Sports store and it had a Robert Griffin III jersey shirt for $20, so I bought it. I didn't notice a tiny hole on the shoulder. Tried to contact the company and they didn't respond. Never buy shit at the airport.
I made it home safely and spent the last week or so contemplating the trip. It sucked because they lost. No getting around that. I would not have gone had I know they were going to lose. But I didn't know, I took a chance. I had a nice time seeing a city I had never seen before, rooting on my team in an important game, experiencing something I may never get to experience again. And I did it all with my best friend.
So I guess the trip wasn't that bad.
and we got to our seats in plenty of time to see the first fight.
There were two on the Facebook undercard, 4 on the FX undercard and 5 more on the main card. 11 fights, 5 1/2 hours, not bad when you compare it to a baseball or basketball game that lasts 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The first two fights were boring, the next two fights, including the women's match were pretty good, and that's when the craziness started.
A pretty boring fight between Ovince St. Preux and Gian Villante had one of the most controversial endings you'll ever see. OSP hit Villante with a thumb to the eye, an accidental foul that is quite common in MMA. The referee saw the poke and almost immediately called off the fight. In the arena we had no idea what happened (though I did guess correctly) and no idea how the fight would be decided. Because it was the third round, it went to the referees' scorecards. They all scored the 3rd round (all 33 seconds of it) 10-10, so OSP won the fight by winning the first two rounds on two of the judges' scorecards.
When I watched the fight back later on TV, you could clearly hear referee Kevin Mulhall ask Villante if he could see. He said "no" and Mulhall waved off the fight. Horrible refereeing. Of course he couldn't see, he'd just been poked in the eye. But vision can return quickly in those situations. Give him a minute, call in the doctor, don't just wave off the fight. Stupid incompetent referee. Even Villante was pleading with him to let the fight continue.
But that was just the beginning, the next fight ended in a similarly disappointing way. Rustam Khabilow was suplexing Yancy Medeiros all over the octagon. On one of the throws Medeiros put his hand down, and broke or dislocated his thumb. Not as gruesome as it could have been. But bad enough so that Medeiros could not continue.
So that fight had to end early also, but Khabilow won due to TKO, which was unsatisfying, but at least fair, because the injury came out of something Khabilow was doing.
That marked the end of the free card and on to PPV we went. If you ever watch the live prelims you know Dana White and Joe Rogan scream at each other while the "Teenage Wasteland" plays and the crowd screams. What is the crowd reacting to? An awesome montage of the best fighters and moments in UFC plays on the jumbotron while Joe and Dana preview the upcoming card.
It was kind of a lull after that while Mike Goldberg and Rogan introduce the card. And they actually used "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by Whitney Houston during that interval. Strange.
To keep the weirdness going, we had the first ever Bruce Buffer fuckup. In his normal overdramatic scream he announced the winner of the first fight, "Jiiiimmmmmmmmm Millllllllerrrrrrrrrrrr." Unfortunately, Pat Healy won, and Buffer quickly corrected himself.
Phil Davis and Vinny Magalhaes was a boring fight.
But then came what I think was the fight of the night. Roy Nelson vs. Cheick Kongo. This is what they looked like at the beginning of the fight (roughly)
And this is what they looked like at the end of the fight when Nelson KTFOed Kongo, pretty much with one punch. 
You can't judge a book by its cover in MMA. If it were a body-building contest, Kongo would win. If it were an eating contest, Nelson would win. But it's a fight, and the worst physique in the UFC beat the best.
And yes, I understand all that, and it's all true. But if Roy Nelson dedicated himself to getting in better shape, losing 10 pounds of fat, he'd be a much better fighter. He'd have better endurance and he'd be quicker. He wouldn't be as funny but he might be a much more serious fighter.
Up next was Alan Belcher vs Michael Bisping. Another pretty boring fight. Belcher did absolutely nothing, so Bisping decided he only need to do a little more to win. He threw jabs, a couple of combinations but nothing too damaging. But then he accidentally poked Belcher in the eye. This time Herb Dean called the doctor in, who said Belcher could not continue because his eyelid was lacerated. Again, for the second time we went to technical decision. Bisping won easily.
And finally it was time for the main event.
Unfortunately it wasn't much of a fight. Jones dominated Sonnen, knocking him out in the first round in what wasn't even much of a fight.
The most exciting part took place afterwards when Joe Rogan noticed (because Bones hadn't) that Bones had broken his toe during the fight.
He had to do the postfight interview while sitting on a stool.
Luckily he got the first round KO and didn't have to either continue with a broken toe, or lose the fight because of it. A fourth medical stoppage would have ruined the night completely. But because Bones knocked out that loudmouth Chael Sonnen I got what I came to see, so the night was a success.
