Way cool - the team meter level just tipped over the 190 MM meter milestone. That's incredibly awesome!
And then there were two...
Totally not about rowing...rowing stats are a few paragraphs down the page!
Tomorrow, Baylor vs Notre Dame to determine the 2012 Women's Basketball National Champion. bg asked about the volunteering I just finished. Bringing an event like the Final Four to your city brings a huge economic boost, and really gives marketing the city for other events a boost as well. Estimates are that something on the order of $20 million will be spent by visitors coming into Denver for the Final Four - and with the good weather that we had (at least up until last night's semi-final games), there's sure to be a lot of good press. The sports marketing groups here in Denver (I think it was Denver Sports) tapped some top notch community leaders to head different segments of the event - and these individuals reached out to their own networks to get some volunteers to come help make this a fun experience for all the visitors and locals. I was open to helping out - would be a new experience, and yet as the time got closer to the volunteer duty I thought "why did I get myself into this one???" Volunteer's remorse?
Still, kept my commitment and am glad that I did. The sports world as we all know it is getting bigger each day - big contracts, big players no matter what the sport, and big ticket prices. I have been a fan of Pat Summit (head coach of the Lady Volunteers of Tennessee, and the winningest coach in College Basketball - men or women's) for a long time. I follow college hoops - sometimes only during March Madness when the chosen few who have earned the right to compete for the national championship are playing in a few weeks of crazy times. I'd never experienced what happened at the pinnacle of that tournament series...the Final Four. There is so much more to the experience for these college kids, their families and fans - and the host city - than the games. In fact, just watching the games on tv means you miss a lot of the ingeniousness that goes with college athletics - and that's a factor that sometimes seems to be missing in sports. The "kids" are elite athletes and they are learning all about sports management, being carefully managed by their coaches to reduce fan interaction prior to the games, and yet behind it all they are still 18 to 22 year olds.
The volunteer work was under the umbrella of the Denver Local Organizing Committee - the logistics and operations arm of the event. An estimated 3,000 volunteer shifts (anywhere from 4 to 8 hours or more) were advertised as needed for the events. Throughout it all, the people the DLOC wanted were those who could enthusiastically welcome visitors to the city, provide good info, and work well with kids. The roles offered up were in transporting people to airport, shuttle drivers to the Pepsi Center, workers for Tourney Town (an entire Convention area devoted to young fans with entertainment, games, interactive displays). At one point on Sunday, kids dribbled 2,000 basketballs down a street to the Convention Center (I'm looking for the YouTube video on that one). Another segment of the Final Four is the Women's Basketball Coaches Convention - thousands of coaches of high school and college ball were present. Help with registration, banquets, "So You Want To Be A Coach" events was needed. General activities volunteers helped with greeting people at the hotels, keeping volunteers lined up to support all events, autograph sessions, and youth clinics.
I chose to help out in the Volunteer Command Center - helping to write a volunteer information binder, the Basketball Coaches Convention registration and as a hotel greeter - providing information to fans on events associated with the Final Four and area restaurants, etc. The fan base that these teams have in the form of alumni associations, parents, grandparents - is quite inspiring. The UConn Alumni Association brought a ton of materials with them, organized fan parties. Notre Dame's alumni brought many green tee shirts for its fans to wear - the visual impact of a sea of green, pretty incredible. These folks knew their basketball, too.
And, when Sunday came around, I had had the opportunity to become familiar with the teams that were playing - if only through the interactions with the various fan groups. The games were excellent (and no, volunteers don't get free tickets). Some players will go on to play in the WNBA for lots of $$$. Some will compete for the USA in the Olympics. Some will have played or coached their last official collegiate game - and they'll go on to do and be other things.
So if you do get a chance to volunteer or attend a collegiate sporting event championship, I say GO! DO IT! Gives you a whole new perspective of what the games are about - because these young adults are some really good people. Btw, we have several people on our team who can talk about what it's like to participate in collegiate rowing championships...
Season meters as of 339/366 = 189,996,837 m
Total meters on the day = 743,013 m
Oars in space (participation) = 32 percent
MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:
8.15 MM Jay
7.55 MM Ron - I think you hold the record for half marathons (as opposed to half moons) for this year!
7.05 MM Cathie
5.25 MM MIchelle
4.55 MM Rosi
3.45 MM bg
2.35 MM Katerina
1.95 MM Paul S
1.75 MM Walter
1.25 MM Kiba
720 K Mario Jackson
450 K Ryan
150 K Lori G
150 K Robert H
Million Meter Watch:
David A with (25,295 m) to go!
Anita with (138,587 m) to go!
Million Meter Watch:
Richard T with (62,545 m) to go!
AJ with (78,394 m) to go!
Robyn with (166,166 m) to go! Symmetric numbers!
Tammy with (179,247 m) to go!
Robyn with (228,166 m) to go!
Million Meter Watch:
Harold with (55,199 m) to go!
Million Meter Watch:
Mike C with (34,000 m) to go!
Chris H with (37,806 m) to go!
Thanks for rowing today!
Lily 1,810 m
Gene H 2,300 m
Denny 3,000 m
Mario Jackson 3,000 m
Tony 
m 
Bobbie 4,000 m
Nataliya 4,000 m
Jeri 5,000 m
Ryan 5,195 m
Elton 5,300 m
Lori 5,521 m
Marty 5,500 m
Jim 
m
Harold 5,656 m
David T 6,000 m
Pat S 6,000 m
Paul S 6,167 m
Peter G 6,234 m
Bill 6,900 m
Robert H 7,500 m
Scott 7,500 m
Terri 7,500 m
Jessica 7,759 m
Diana 8,700 m
Tammy 
m the stars were aligned...
Sunny 9,000 m
Roger 
m
Ed 10,000 m
Ken G 10,000 m
Tim P 10,000 m
bg 10,418 m
Anita 11,000 m
Christa 11,000 m
Rivka 11,000 m
Sarah 11,000 m
Zander 11,500 m
Ross 11,800 m
Fritz M 11,820 m
Wim 12,000 m
Ronnie 12,500 m
Minnie 13,127 m
Brian 15,000 m
Katerina 15,000 m
Ken H 15,000 m
Marie 15,000 m
Michelle 20,000 m
Sam 20,000 m
Rosi 21,112 m
David A 21,307 m
Richard T 22,000 m
Robyn 24,000 m
Jay 25,500 m
Cathie 30,000 m
Walter 35,000 m
Ron 45,097 m
Kiba 104,515 m .. I think it's an update, but you've been known to throw down a 100K day...with pizza...
Good to hear from you, Andrea! Hope your knee is on the mend soon!
.
Richard T 22,000 m
The full marathon count currently stands at 55. Let's see, if I did three HM's a day until the end of the season, I could be up there with Minnie and Danno 
Teammates are moving up in the milestone rankings! 85 teammates have reached the first 50K milestone!! Woot !!!