My March Madness continued with people watching--a fine sort of sport--in the gusting, blowing wind outside the Rose Garden Arena

When this man approached from my right, just as he got even with me, his hat blew right off! "Your hat!" I hollered. He had felt it lift off his head and altered his course to chase it down. I had no hope after watching it flip a couple of times. Imagine my surprise when it landed just as you see it and sat there! I saw him later on inside the arena and said, "I'm so glad you got your hat back!" He replied, "I am, too. Where are you from?" I guess my Mississippi accent gave me away.


I saw these two coming and decided to take a photo just after they had passed me by. Look how the wind is plastering that man's pants to his legs! He's smart to hold onto his cap. She's probably wishing that she hadn't opened her umbrella which looks to have been a nice one for keeping the rain off. And how about the new part in her short hair, center-back-of-the-head? I had a blast watching people while waiting for the doors to open.


I hope the look on these three faces gives you an idea of just how cold that blowing wind really was. A cold that hurts. If I were the man in the red hat, I would have had my friends wait for a moment, turned my back to wind, and zipped up my jacket before taking another step. Does it look to you like the youngster on the left is pulling his hands into his sleeves? To keep them warm? He's wearing shorts, for goodness sakes, and he's worried about his hands?


Just after the man in the cap handed the Session 1 ticket to his friend who must be truly grateful that he has real hair and not a toupee, the man in the cap walked away to my left. The envelope flew out of his hand, and he didn't feel a thing! I yelled, "Something blew away!" His friend with the great hair had seen it and was fast after what turned out to be the envelope which held the rest of the duo's tickets. The man in the hat rejoined his friend who had retrieved the envelope. Smiling at me, he walked left again, envelope still in hand. If it blew away again, I didn't know about it.