Pamplin Media Group – March Madness: Zips, Zags and other fans hit Portland

Visitors come from across the nation to eat, drink and be very worried as their teams play.

As fans gathered for March Madness across the country, Thursday was the first game day in Portland. Indiana University, The Hoosiers, were set to play against St. Mary’s at 4:20 p.m., Pacific Standard Time, but Salem, Indiana residents Jennifer Jordan and Amy Whistler came three hours early.

“We’re ready, we’re ready!” exclaimed Jordan. The Gonzaga game was still in the first quarter and the Moda Center was deserted outside, but the pair couldn’t contain their excitement. “We got in at 2 a.m. our time, because we had to see if they won on Tuesday.”

They are staying on the east side near the arena, and are sufficiently confident that they are here through Sunday and will visit Multnomah Falls. “We went shopping this morning, at the mall thing,” said Whistler, referring to Lloyd Center, showing off their new kicks.

They are from Southern Indian, stressing that it is nearer Louisville, Kentucky than Chicago. “Can’t you tell by our accents?” said Jordan, who got her BA from Indiana University and likes all the Hoosier teams. “I have tickets for basketball, football, baseball, soccer and volleyball,” she said. She’s a nurse practitioner, dual certified in family and psych. She works four 10-hour days and can travel a lot.

Whistler is slightly less invested. “I’m her sidekick,” she said. Asked what she does, Whistler said, flexing her slight twang, “Realtor. I do what I want.”

Did they know anything about Portland before they came? “Nothing,” they both said. “I’ve never been to the West Coast before,” said Jordan. “I don’t watch the news. I like to travel, so I don’t like negative impressions before I go somewhere. If I watch the news, it’s overseas news.”

Tar Heels

Standing outside the Fields sports bar in the Pearl District waiting for a Lyft to the Moda Center, North Carolina fans Dani Callahan and her brothers, twins Justin Smith and Lane Smith, had big smiles on their faces. They made sure they stood in front of the window of Marquette fans. “They had a VIP room and we just whooped Memphis,” Callahan said with a laugh (not realizing his mistake about UNC’s opponent; see below).

Callahan got into UNC basketball because she was a big Michael Jordan fan and he went there. “I’m 31 and they are 18, so I just recruited them. They have never been to March Madness.” The three bought their tickets in 2020 but COVID cancelled that, so they took their credit in Portland. They are staying near the Moda Center, but came into the Pearl to be around fans, even though the lunchtime atmosphere was more like a country club.

They live in Royal City, a farming community in Central Washington. “But we’re not Gonzaga fans, we were hoping they would lose,” said Callahan. “We get so much crap for being UNC fans (at home). We also have shirts mocking Duke,” she added, asking Justin to remove his hoodie to show off the trolling of Coach K’s 94-81 loss to UNC.

Excitedly they got into the Lyft, then Callahan jumped out and came running back. “I meant Marquette, not Memphis,” she said. “I’m nervous.”

Talking hoops

On Wednesday night The Independent, a sports bar on Southwest Broadway, was filling up with unmasked patrons watching a mix of ice hockey, NBA (Celtics at Golden State), and a lone college game, Notre Dame vs. Rutgers.

Dave Lees is from Portland but has lived in Spokane, Washington, for three years. He was back to visit his son in Gresham. His son, Sam, was at the University of Oregon, so he had the relaxed air of a neutral fan. They and a friend were sitting by the big screen, chatting and looking at their phones, easing into the tournament in a very laid-back manner.

Lees is from Pennsylvania and his true team is Villanova, the Wildcats. They’re a No. 2 seed, but are playing Friday and Sunday in Pittsburgh. “They’re not playing here, and since I live in Spokane, I’ll be rooting for Gonzaga as my new hometown team.”

Lees has been following college hoops for 30 years. The attraction? He said: The “college game was different from the professional game. There was a purity to the college basketball game that isn’t necessarily there when they get into the NBA. College players can now have their NFTs and the NIL, their name image and likeness, and make money off it. I’m 57 years old, so things have changed in 30 years of being passionate about the sport.”

The NCAA basketball tournament is near the top of his sporting calendar. “He always used to take Thursday and Friday off,” interjected his friend, a Beaver. “Just to watch the games from home when they weren’t playing in Portland,” Lees said.

Dunk University

Across the aisle was a four top consisting of Kimberly MacCaferri and her mother, Cheryl Bisagno, both in Duke jackets, her husband, and her father, who preferred to remain nameless but had a lot to say.

“We do it every year. March Madness is the best time of the year.” MacCaferri and her husband, who is in the Coast Guard, live in Sacramento, California. Her parents are in Santa Rosa. Each year they buy a package of tickets for six games in the West before they know who will be playing. Their Duke, and the coach they love, are not playing here. “It’s coach K’s (Mike Krzyzewski) last year,” she said. Coach K is in his 42nd and final season.

MacCaferri and her husband didn’t attend Duke University, but they went to a game together and were hooked. “We follow them because of Coach K,” she said. “It’s all in good fun; it’s like a family. They knew Indiana were staying at the Hilton, and Boise State were in their hotel, the Marriott Bidwell just up Broadway.

“The attraction is they try harder, they care, and we love it. And their shoes sound amazing on the floor. You get that in the NBA too, but they care more,” MacCaferri said. They are here for four days. “We’re going to try all the food. All the food.” They are using the trip as a family vacation. “It’s our first time back after two years.”

Devin Reid and his colleagues were in the bar at the Downtown Hilton Wednesday night watching the thrilling Notre Dame vs. Rutgers double overtime game. Reid is the band director at Georgia State University in Atlanta, a 54,000-student institution where 250 band members play for a football game.

For this paid road trip to Portland, however, he could only bring 29 musicians and himself. They had spent team practice in the Moda Center with the team and the cheerleaders. Reid said they’ll play the Panthers’ fight song, and the CBS March Madness theme, the state song “Georgia on My Mind,” plus a lot of pop like “Poison” by Bell Biv DeVoe, “Finesse” by Bruno Mars, probably “Africa” by Toto.

“All kinds of things, new and old. Just things that sound exciting. It’s exciting for us to be able to perform and support them and encourage them and cheer them on,” Reid said.

“And they play better the louder we play.” While the players have a little downtime, for Reid his time is all band stuff or laptop in his room — no tourism.

“I told them to go to make sure they went to Powell’s Books, just because that’s legendary. And certainly grab an espresso while they’re here, just because it’s different than it is back home.”

Reid said Portlanders have been very friendly so far, and he ate great Mexican food at Maya’s Taqueria on Morrison, and went to Killer Burger for lunch.

And if Georgia State doesn’t beat No. 1 seed Gonzaga on Thursday afternoon?

“I hope we don’t have to find out that scenario,” he said. “It’s definitely not a vacation. Definitely. I expect Georgia State will shock the world tomorrow.”

Not only fans

Akron and UCLA are staying at the Benson, while Gonzaga has the place where the NBA and MLS stars stay, The Nines Hotel in the old Meier & Frank building. But it’s not only fans who hang around outside. On Wednesday night, three men with a dozen flattened new Wilson basketballs were waiting a few yards down from the entrance for autographs. Sam Jones of Vancouver, Washington, was forthright in describing what he does. “I’m a memorabilia dealer. Gonna get them signed by the players and sell them on the internet — Amazon, OfferUp, Craigslist. They have the NILs now,” he says by way of explanation.

And how do people know it’s authentic?

“They don’t. That’s autographs for you. Right? It’s flip a coin.” He adds that there’s a local guy, Marcus, who sometimes authenticates them.

Sam’s travel buddy who lives in the Bay Area was with him. Sam says he prefers collecting and selling celebrity autographs to sports and travels all the time for them.

A signed basketball by the whole Gonzaga team, if they win the national championship, could sell for $5,000. To sell it in a couple of days he might get $500 for it. If the team loses, it’s worth nothing.

“It could be a fan. Or a dealer that would flip it. Honestly, I hope that these balls aren’t around that long. I’d like to get them signed this weekend. And for all of them to be sold by then. I’m not that big of a gambler.”

You count on us to stay informed and we depend on you to fund our efforts. Quality local journalism takes time and money. Please support us to protect the future of community journalism.