in hopes that they win the geographical lottery. It's a good feeling to get back to being realistic in one's hopes for an appearance. I've seen one supplication to the basketball deities for a Portland berth so far, any others?

I'm hoping for Pittsburgh. It's around a 4.5 hour drive, and I'd about have to pull the trigger on it, since my work schedule has me off Th, Fr, and Sa that week.

I concede that I have a rough track record for Tourney games - was there for the Lexington debacle versus (read: at) Xavier, and also the Philly game v. aTm. At least the Philly trip was a funny story.

I was backup lead of my engineering team at the time, on a night rotation, and my lead was stuck in India with visa problems. There was no way I'd be able to take time off. Nobody else was there to lead the team. Was down to me, and I'd have to work both Wednesday night AND Thursday night.
Philly was a Th/Sa venue, and only 3 hours away (without traffic). Going into Selection Sunday, I knew the ONLY way I'd be able to go to the game was if it was in Philly AND the first game of the day. Miracle number 1: we get placed in Philly! A couple hours later, miracle number 2: we get game 1!

My wife picked me up from work at 7am that morning, we drove straight there, got to the arena about an hour before the game started, watched the game (were heartbroken at how flat we played, and amazed at how possessed A&M played. What'd they make? 10 of their first 11 shots, all contested and well-defended?), got in the car, drove straight back, no stops, MAYBE dozed for an hour, and my wife dropped me back off at work at 6:30pm. How I made it through the next 12 hours of work I don't know. My team cracked up when I told them, then made sure to keep me away from the heavy machinery.

If I win the geographical lottery this year, it'll be a lot more relaxed. Here's hoping!