Normally in this space we celebrate seven little kernels of joy from the past week in the world of sports. Today we’re doing something a little different.
With March Madness upon us, I wanted to find out why we’re so mad about schools we never attended and players we didn’t know a week ago.
So Friday I set out for The Basketball Social House in Centennial, Colorado, about 12 miles south of downtown Denver. From the parking lot of the nondescript strip mall, it’s hard to tell what’s behind the storefront.
But get in inside and you’re in a whole new world, one that looks like your favorite food trucks had a high-speed collision and smashed through the walls of a rec center and a sports bar.
The 22k-square-foot House includes a 5x5 court; 3x3 arena (that doubled as a viewing lounge when I was there); multiple smaller courts to rent and shoot around in; bars for drinks, ice cream, and lattes; a kitchen (breakfast burrito was muy bueno!); a Wall of Hoops (below); and of course TVs everywhere with NCAA basketball playing.
Teenage boys were scrimmaging on the big court Friday, while some of their parents were in the bar. The House also offers clinics and leagues and hosts tournaments.
When I walked into the bar area, I immediately spotted Matt Barnett, who along with Jimmy Bemis, founded the House. At 6’8” Barnett is hard to miss. I sat down with the former Colorado State player and several of his patrons to find out their March Madness stories.
These interviews were lightly edited for brevity and clarity. Hope you enjoy them half as much as these folks enjoy March Madness and I enjoyed talking to them about it.
— Kal
Matt Barnett, co-founder of The Basketball Social House
Thursday night was brutal (with CSU losing to Texas in the round of 64).
Eleven points in the first half? After we were making fun of Virginia for only scoring 14 points in the first half [Tuesday vs CSU]. It was tough. Texas just played way more physical than us in the first half. We made a great run in the second half, but just couldn’t get over it.
How hard is that emotionally for you, having played there?
You still have a loyalty and a feeling for the school just because you went there, and spent four, five years of your life just giving everything you had to them. It’s a big piece of my life. It’s a core memory of my life, right?
You feel for those kids. Just to play in that tournament is crazy. I never got the opportunity. We only made it to the NIT. For them to make it to the tournament and actually be favored to win the game, and then they got smacked. It’s gotta be hard, especially as a senior.
This is such a unique place. What were some of the challenges getting this open.
It was all one massive challenge [laughs]. Every step along the way there was a major hurdle to be overtaken. It’s easy to throw floorplans down on a grid piece of paper and say this is what I dream of what we’ll have, but then try looking for space with this much ceiling space. Then you’re going through the city, then you’re going through liquor licenses, then contractors.
Even yesterday morning, for some reason our DirecTV didn’t want to work, and we’re like, “This is the wrong day for this to happen.” It’s every step along the way you’re always being challenged.
Luckily for my partner [Jimmy Bemis] and I, we don’t see those challenges as things to slow us down. We just see them as, “Alright, this is a learning lesson. Let’s figure out how to make it work.”
What were your backgrounds before you did this?
My partner was in the finance world. Right before all of this, he was working for a private equity firm flipping businesses that were failing. He would get them profitable and sell them.
And then, me, I’ve always been an entrepreneur from Day 1. I’ve run my own basketball business for over 20 years now. I was doing individual instruction, working with kids from five years old to fifth pick in the NBA lottery.
Who’d you have that was a fifth pick?
Jason Richardson, from Michigan State.
[Richardson won an NCAA title as a freshman reserve in 2000, led the Spartans back to the Final Four as a sophomore, played 13 seasons in the NBA and won two NBA Slam Dunk Contests.]
What’s next for the business?
We have so much opportunity in front of us, which is cool. We have been through so much with this particular facility that I think any other place that we go, we’re already gonna know how to react.
This is one of one in the world. We have opportunities to go overseas. We want to expand here. We want to make sure that The Basketball Social House is a name that everyone associates with basketball and entertainment. We want to very much be everyone’s go-to spot for everything basketball.
What’s been the most fun with this?
Honestly the people. They’re the most fun, and the most not-fun all at the same time [laughs]. Just to watch people’s reactions. I’m sitting here watching people walk in right now. Most of the time, it’s the first time people have ever been here, and they’re like “Holy Sh…!” [Barnett actually stopped himself.] They just look and stop and pause, and they just try to take it all in. They’re like, “What can we really do here?” What can’t you do here?
With March Madness, a lot of guys come in here with their buddies, have food and drink, get on their betting apps. It’s a fun, fun, place.
Family hoopsters Lea Norberg, Joe Eichenberger & Austin Eichenberger
I caught up with Lea, Joe & Austin having fun at the Wall of Hoops. Each stall has a different configuration of hoops and therefore games you can invent and play. Cost: free! This trio played a game like darts where they had to make a hoop in each numbered basket in order.
Lea and Joe are married and live in Westminster, Colorado. Austin is 14 and Joe’s nephew.
Who are your teams?
Lea: Iowa and Colorado.
So are you more focused on the men or the women?
Lea: The women.
Joe: Yeah, this season for sure. Caitlin Clark, yeah! I’m from Iowa, so I’ve always been a Hawkeye fan.
Lea: That’s why I have them now.
Joe: The men aren’t in the tournament, so it’s more about watching all the games.
Lea: Usually every year for the first Thursday and Friday we get together and watch them all day.
Have you been here before?
Austin: I’ve been here once.
Lea: We have not. We were actually trying to go to the Varsity Inn, but they’re closed right now [laughs].
What do you think of this place?
Joe: I think it’s really cool!
Lea: Awesome! We had no idea how big it was. We saw it next to the ARC [thrift store], and it doesn’t look that big, but you come in and it’s massive.
You do March Madness every year, what do you love about it?
Lea: The uncertainty.
Joe: I’d say that’s a big one.
Lea: Watching games literally all day the first two days.
Joe: You find yourself cheering for underdogs you haven’t watched all year.
Austin: Some you haven’t even heard of.
Do you have any favorite March Madness memories?
Joe: Iowa State getting beat as a 2-seed! That was a long time ago [2001]. Purdue losing last year.
Lea: Virginia losing in 2018.
Joe: Like last night even, that dude for Oakland [Jack Gohlke] making 10 threes. I won’t forget that for a while.
Lea: And we never heard of him before. That’s what’s fun, then you actually start knowing some of these players.
Austin: He was Division-2 last year.
Joe: Was he really?
Lea: That’s crazy.
And Oakland’s coach has been there…
Joe: 40 years! I couldn’t believe that when I saw that. That’s cool, learning stuff like that. You don’t know that if you don’t follow them.
Have you ever had a chance to see a March Madness game?
Joe: It’s been to Denver a few times, but I never went, ‘cause I’d rather watch on TV.
Lea: Then you can watch all of them!
Work buddies Brian Lee & Frankie Martinez
Frankie, 30, and Brian, 43, were watching all the games. They work together at Costco and have known each other since UConn won it all a decade ago.
Who are you guys rooting for today?
Frankie: UConn because that’s who I have most of my investment in. But I’m excited to watch all of it.
How many pools are you in?
Frankie: Just one pool, but two brackets.
You said most of my investment, do you have any serious money in?
Frankie: No, just $20.
Have you ever won a pool before?
Frankie: Yes.
What’s your strategy?
Frankie: I like to look at a few stats — 3-point shooting, fouling, and free-throw shooting percentage. It doesn’t seem like a big deal because in the pros everybody makes their free throws, but in college not everybody does and that’s crucial down the stretch.
How about your strategy for picks, Brian? What do you do?
Brian: I guess.
I went with Houston because of their defense. I went to Memphis State for college, so I’ve always followed Houston because they competed. I don’t really want ‘em, ‘cause I’m a Memphis fan, but they’ve been strong and this year I have a little faith in them.
I don’t want Tennessee Vols to go. Kentucky, I’m glad they got knocked out. I can’t stand [Kentucky coach & former Memphis coach John] Calipari. I made three brackets and threw the one away that had Kentucky losing in the first round.
Frankie: [laughing] Should’ve kept that one in!
Brian: So I made a mistake. My strategy failed.
How do you guys know each other?
Frankie: We’ve been friends at work for coming up on 10 years now.
Brian: It’s our anniversary.
Frankie: And you’re ruining it. I’m just kidding.
Do you have any fond March Madness memories?
Brian: I have a disappointing one. Memphis vs Kansas [2008]. That’s when Derrick Rose was there, with Calipari.
Did it go into overtime? Mario Chalmers hit that rainbow shot to tie it?
Brian: Yes it did, and what’s-his-name [Chris Douglas-Roberts] missed his free throws.
Frankie: What did I say? Free throws, baby! I’m tellin’ ya!
Why do you guys love March Madness?
Brian: For the madness!
Frankie: I like the camaraderie of it. It includes people that don’t necessarily watch basketball or college sports. They can still put a bracket in and go, “Who’d you pick?” Even if they don’t really care, they can still jaw at you and it’s fun.
Small-world homie Jason Ezell
I met Jason Ezell of Morrison, Colorado. Turns out we hail from the same small town in Indiana. If you know March Madness history, you’ll recognize the name.
Where are you from?
Originally northwest Indiana, just outside Chicago. Lived in Colorado since 1999.
Okay, well then I’ve gotta tell you where I’m from. I grew up in Valparaiso and South Bend.
That’s where I’m from, Valpo. Yeah.
No kidding?
That’s incredible. I still have family there.
Who’s your team?
I don’t really have a team. I grew up a Georgetown fan, but they have become insignificant in college basketball. And that hurts my heart.
Where did you go to school?
I went to IU [Indiana] Northwest in Gary. I began working at VU, at Valpo. I was campus police there for a couple years and got my master’s degree there.
My brother, an uncle and a grandfather went to VU. My brother studied engineering, but I think he majored in beer.
[Laughs] Okay. That’s very possible.
If you don’t have a team, what brings you here watching all these games?
Man, for a lot of people, for me, I think it brings back the excitement of childhood. Of knowing, my team’s in it, my team is one of 64 and we have a chance. And then the excitement of watching your team play on a neutral court, a court you’ve never seen. Against a team you’ve never seen. And knowing that everybody’s watching your team. It just brings that back, I think.
My team has not been in it for longer than I want to admit. But still you get excited about watching it. There’s a game going on in Indianapolis. Oh wait, there’s a game going on in Boise. Oh, there’s also a game in Arizona. Wait, there’s a game in Connecticut. All at the same time. And they all matter! Which is probably the coolest thing about it. Every game matters. One and done.
Do you have any March Madness memories that stick out to you?
Back in ’98 I worked at Valparaiso University and they made it to the Sweet 16. That’s probably my Number 1 memory.
When Drew hit that runner at the buzzer, that was a great play.
Yeah, Jamie Sykes to Bill Jenkins to Bryce Drew, I will never forget that. That was amazing, and they beat Mississippi State. It was incredible.
Bryce Drew and his brother Scott have followed in their dad Homer’s footsteps and become successful coaches.
Bryce led his old Valpo Crusaders to four Horizon League title in five years and notched two upset NCAA wins. Now at Grand Canyon, he has led the Antelopes to three NCAA tourneys in four years, and to their first NCAA tourney win Friday.
Scott has made Baylor into a perennial power and has 20 NCAA tourney wins and the 2021 championship to show for it.
Both Baylor and Grand Canyon were ousted from the tourney Sunday.
Brickyard-burned Brad Lee
Brad went to North Carolina State the year following their improbable Survive & Advance title in 1983. And he paid a price for that.
Do you have a favorite team?
Yeah, NC State.
Oh, it’s a good time to have NC State. They’ve been on a nice run. Did you go to school there?
I did.
What do you remember about the ’83 run?
Most importantly, I didn’t have a desk in my room when I was a freshman because it was burned on the brickyard. They would do a bonfire after every win in the NCAA tournament, so my desk was a casualty of one of those bonfires.
Really? Wait, was this your choice or someone else’s?
Oh, I wasn’t there yet. So when I got there, they were like, “You used to have a desk, but it was burned on the brickyard.”
When the regular season ended two weeks ago, NC State had lost four straight and stood at 17-14. Their only chance to continue their season was to win, to survive and advance. They won five games in five days to win the ACC Tournament and reach the NCAA. Then they won again Thursday and Saturday to reach the Sweet 16, where they are the lowest seed (11) remaining.
Can they continue surviving and advancing? As Jim Valvano said: “Every single day in every walk of life, ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things!”
High school buddies Cam Posey, Joe Azar& Alex Gebhart
I wrapped up my field trip visiting with Cam, Joe & Alex, who all graduated from Chaparral High School in Parker, Colorado a decade ago. They watched the men’s games on the walls and the women’s on two iPads at their table.
What do you love about March Madness?
Alex: It’s the biggest tournament in college sports. The first weekend is always crazy. Never fails to have so many upsets.
Joe: Just a good excuse to see friends. “Hey, do you want to sit here for a couple hours and watch some basketball, grab some drinks and catch up?” It’s during the time when football is gone, baseball’s not back for another week. You can kinda keep up with NBA or hockey or whatever. For the first two days, it’s actually really exciting.
Cam: I just love the upset story. This is probably the most realistic time or sport that you can see so many upsets in such a time frame. It’s mass chaos. Really you can have a 2-seed fall to a 15-seed. We saw that yesterday. It’s just the aspect of this is a fair shot for the little guys to get a chance.
Joe: To his point, it’s a little bit of luck. Sometimes you get white hot, like the guy from Oakland, 10 three pointers. He probably has the game of his life. That guy’s probably going to be working a corporate job in a year, but he’ll always be remembered because on national TV he caused an upset.
Are you an Auburn fan, Cam?
Cam: I am. Actually I’m going there right now for my master’s. I’ll graduate in May.
I’ve got them in my Final Four this year. I’m a little biased, but they have a very good team.
Unfortunately for him, that very good team lost shortly after our interview.
Are you guys hard-core fans during the season or casual?
Joe: I’m a casual fan, I’ll be honest with you.
Cam: I’ve probably seen two of Auburn’s games during the regular season. And we’ve probably watched 90% of March Madness already. Like game to game.
Joe: I took both of these iPads to work yesterday.
Cam: And we are involved in both men’s and women’s.
Alex: Yeah, the women’s brackets we’re invested.
Did you grow up caring about the women’s game, or is that more recent?
Cam: Probably three or four years.
Joe: They have more stars. They have more personalities, at least in my opinion. They stay in school longer. They don’t have the one-and-done rule as much. So it’s cool to have like Caitlin Clark.
One last question, kind of a weird one: Do you think March Madness has anything to say about life or is related to life in any way?
Joe: Heavy question, three drinks in.
Alex: I think it gives us a chance to all come together and reconnect over common interests. Keep those friendships and connections going.
Cam: Things work fast during March Madness. There’s always going to be times of chaos, right? And March Madness is complete chaos. But in the end of it, you come out, right? Maybe a little better, and maybe with a ring, we don’t know.
It’s kinda like a relationship if you think about it, right? In reality, it’s complete chaos. You might be sad, you might get a ring. We don’t know.
Aw shucks 🌽. That’s it for this week. Thanks for digesting Corny Sports. May we all survive and advance another week.