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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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One-site shopping for Spokane’s NCAA stories

NCAA BASKETBALL

If you are interested in reading all our stories from Spokane – and there are a lot, ranging from game stories of Oregon and USC's wins to a piece on George Raveling – you can find them at our tournament web site, NCAA 2007.

The S-R's Ryan Pitts, one of our web crew, did a great job on this site, which is filled with pictures, stories, multi-media presentations and a blog.

Kim picked me up at the airport yesterday and we went immediately to the Arena, paid our $5 to park, pulled out the tickets we sent for on the very first day they went on sale, passed through the doors, ran into Sean Mallon, and plopped ourselves into our seats – where we couldn't see much.

Yes, after spending hundreds of dollars for seats, after following the guidelines set down by the NCAA and the Arena, we received seats right behind and even with the east basket. Much of the game was a mystery.

When Kim asked last Wednesday if we could exchange these obstructed view seats – which most facilities charge an appropriately reduced price – for tickets returned from the participating schools, she was told, "sorry, no exchanges." Wasn't that nice?

We support the community's bid to entice the NCAA to continue holding events here by buying our tickets early and we get crappy, can't-see-much-of-the-game seats. Others swoop in late and get a better vantage point. And, when we ask to just let us have those better seats, and sell the late-comers the obstructed-view seats we were given (and, to be fair, they should be sold at a lesser price), Kim is treated like dirt.

What's wrong with this picture?

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By the way, the Pac-10 showed its strength yesterday, with Oregon gliding past Winthrop and USC proving once again quickness is more important than size (though both combined is the best attribute).

Of all the interesting stories I read over the past week, I liked this one the most. It's from the Seattle Times' Jerry Brewer and it was written before the Ducks' game with Winthrop. And it catches perfectly a generation's obessession with branding.

• Here's Brewer's column from this morning.



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Looking for a Grip on Sports?

Vince Grippi's daily take on all things regional sports has been moved to our main sports section online. You can find a collection of these columns here.