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SPORTS

If you want to take a seat for tourney, it will cost $129

Sunday, March 22, 2009
(Updated 7:05 am)

GREENSBORO -- Even if you can't play like Ty Lawson or Gerald Henderson, you can sit like them.

A Chicago company called Spec Seats will be selling black, padded chairs like the ones players and others used during the NCAA tournament, which ended its run Saturday at the Greensboro Coliseum.

The cost: $129.

The chairs carry the NCAA logo and the words "2009 Basketball Championship" and "We Are The Game."

"What makes this chair great is the quality," said Jordan Hergott, national sales manager for Spec Seat. "It's designed to hold a lot of weight. It's designed for arena abuse."

Hergott said his company also will be selling chairs like those used at the Final Four. They'll go for $150.

To order, call (800) 535-2048.

So what happens to the sideline chairs that the players used at the coliseum? The teams and members of the local tournament organizing groups get to buy those.

NO BILLY, NO PROBLEM: Greensboro attracted the No. 1 team from CBS Sports.

Jim Nantz and his new partner, Clark Kellogg, broadcast from court side at the coliseum Thursday and Saturday.

But it just didn't seem the same without Billy Packer, who was dropped by the network after last year's tournament.

Packer, a former Wake Forest guard, had become the voice of college basketball and a fixture at the Final Four.

But don't worry about Packer. During this year's tournament, he's teamed up with former coach Bob Knight for a Fox Sports program called "Survive and Advance."

As for Kellogg, he'll be remembered as the analyst who coined the phrase "spurtability," a word for a team's tendency to go on a long scoring run.

RIDE-ALONG PROGRAM: Why would four Greensboro motorcycle cops be poised along the driveway behind the coliseum the past four days?

They weren't looking for speeders. They had been assigned to escort team buses to and from their hotels.

Police figured the cycle escorts would get the teams to their destination more quickly and with less traffic hassles.

BUSING: The coliseum staff must have thought of everything.

The arena even has a bus driver holding area. It features two couches, a refrigerator stocked with drinks and a flat-screen television so drivers can watch the games.

Why such a courtesy? The staff wants to know where to find the drivers quickly in case a bus needs to be moved.

THE TV PICTURE: Speaking of televisions, the coliseum has more than most hotels in the city.

The staff estimates that the arena has about 200 sets and most of those were on during the games. Some rooms, such as the media dinning area, had more than one.

PRIME SPACE: Who gets the best parking space at the coliseum at tournament time?

That honor goes to ACC Commissioner John Swofford. His space sits less than 50 feet from the back door.

DEVIL OF A SONG: What was the best fight song heard at the coliseum last week?

That's an easy one. Even fans who don't like Duke found themselves rocking to "Devil With The Blue Dress On."

Even before the band arrived, the team played a recorded version during their practice session Wednesday.

VOICE OF THE TAR HEELS: Woody Durham may have been the one of the most popular celebrities at Wednesday's open practice.

The veteran North Carolina broadcaster signed autographs for nearly an hour.

Durham's explanation for all the attention: "I was the only Tar Heel in sight."

SHIRT OFF THEIR BACK: Rick Barnes and his Texas players sure knew how to win friends and influence people.

After their practice Wednesday, the players threw Longhorns' T-shirts into the throngs of Duke and Carolina fans.

 

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don. patterson@news-record.com

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