Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991 TAG: 9103080622
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"We came to stay the weekend," Jerry said. "We didn't plan on losing."
They bypassed the beer, the barbecue, the pizza and the popcorn and lined up to buy scratch-off lottery tickets in the "party tent" outside the Roanoke Civic Center.
Well, when you're hot, you're hot. John spent $2 and won $5. Jerry spent $1 and won $10.
A few minutes earlier, the tent had been almost empty.
But by the time the Kulp brothers pocketed their winnings, the music was blasting and the tent was packed - and almost everyone was wearing red.
"I loved it," Cardinal fan Ben McDonald Jr. said. "It's been a rough year." (Louisville was 12-15 in regular-season play.)
McDonald was looking forward to the weekend regardless of whether his team survived the first round. "I'm a Civil War nut, and I'm in my element here," he said.
He and his friend, Jane Deutsch, planned to get up early today and drive to Appomattox. They might have time to see the graves of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in Lexington, too, before they head home.
"This is my fifth Metro Tournament," McDonald said. "I've gotten to see the whole South." Last year, when the tournament was held in Biloxi, Miss., he took a day trip to Vicksburg, another Civil War battle site.
Of course, the out-of-towners who were whooping it up between games Thursday hadn't had time to see much of the Roanoke Valley. As for first impressions . . . .
"This is a lot better than Biloxi," said Kenn Burkhead of Louisville. "You can see they were ready for us. Last year, a lot of people didn't know we were coming. But here, you see banners everywhere. . . . I like the tent. This is a neat concept."
Burkhead also was high on Dominion Bankshares executive John Clarke, who lined up unprecedented corporate support for the tournament. Clarke "came over and talked at the pep rally this morning. . . . You could tell his heart was in it."
Tom Ashton, a 1978 Cincinnati graduate, said he always enjoys his annual trips to Blacksburg to see the Bearcats play Virginia Tech. "Blacksburg's real friendly. I like the atmosphere. People back home say, `What do you do in Blacksburg?' But we always have a lot of fun."
He and an old fraternity brother, Art Hermes, planned to be here for the entire tournament - "even though, when you're for Cincinnati, you get used to losing in the first round."
Even some Southern Mississippi alumni who were drowning their sorrows after the game said they were happy to be in Roanoke. "It's a very charming town," said 66-year-old W.J. Gay - who added that he and his three younger friends "just want to stay out of jail" while they're here.
Dominion Bankshares employee Denise Alphin, a volunteer at the Hires Root Beer/Rocky Top Cola soft-drink booth, is a Carolina Blue Tar Heel, so she doesn't keep up with the Metro Conference. But even she was excited by the tournament. "I got to go inside and watch a little of the game. . . . It's a fun atmosphere."
When the afternoon's second game began at 3:30, the tent emptied almost as quickly as it filled, its trash cans and tabletops cluttered with cups, cans and pizza crusts.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB