NCAA event draws hordes - and blank stares
They will be piling into cars, driving hundreds of miles with painted faces, letters on their chests, and vocal cords warmed up. (Think "Air ball! Air ball!") Others are making last-minute plans to fly into Logan Airport to join the hunt for hotel rooms and high-priced tickets to see 40 minutes of basketball.
March Madness is coming tonight to Boston, where some of the most closely watched and fiercely fought games of the NCAA men's tournament will be played before 19,000 crazed fans at TD Banknorth Garden.
But what is Boston's response to the Sweet Sixteen frenzy?
So far, a big yawn.
One of the biggest sporting events of the year - one that will decide who goes to the Final Four, where dreams will be made, college careers ended, and office pool bragging rights determined - appears to be having the same impact on the city as a dentist convention, offering further proof that Boston is a pro-sports city that only occasionally flirts with the college game.
"What? What tournament?" said the sales clerk at a downtown Foot Locker, dressed like a referee.
Of two dozen people interviewed in downtown Boston this week in an informal survey, few even knew that the tournament is being played in Boston. Only two could name just one team that is playing, and only one person named all four teams.
There are already banners up around the city proclaiming that the Boston Marathon is coming, but little marks the NCAA Tournament.
"You go to North Carolina or Florida, and I guarantee you see [college] jerseys in the airport," said Thomas Patterson, a 47-year-old computer programmer. "That's the difference."
Even Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who said he was thrilled to have fans bring their money to the city's hotels, shops, and restaurants, couldn't name all four teams.
"I know Duke is coming," Menino said. "And Villanova. . . . You caught me off guard."
He later named Pittsburgh, which is coming, and Louisville, which is not. (Xavier is the fourth team).
This is the first time that any Massachusetts city has hosted the regional finals since the NCAA Tournament began in 1939. Boston has never hosted a men's Final Four, while nearly every major city has - including Seattle, Charlotte, Minneapolis, Dallas, Indianapolis, and, this year, Detroit.
The NCAA picks host sites based on whether a city has enough hotels within 20 miles of the venue, a good transportation network, and a venue with at least 12,000 seats. Boston College is the host of the tournament games here.
"We don't buy this theory that's perpetuated by the media that it's strictly a pro-sports town," said Chris Cameron, an associate athletics director at Boston College.
Ultimately, whether the NCAA deems Boston successful will have little to do with whether the locals get fired up about it. The NCAA tournament, by design, is played on a neutral site, which means teams - and their fans - have to travel and gobble up tickets, which does appear to be happening.
Boston has been sold out for several months, and Craigslist yesterday was full of offers, with one person even willing to trade a pair of April 26 Red Sox-Yankees tickets for seats at the NCAA games.
"It's a great field, and we have no reason to think the energy and excitement in the building won't be at a peak," said David Worlock, the associate director for the Division I Men's Basketball Championship. "But there's no denying that Boston is a pro-sports town first. I don't know anyone who would dispute that."
The region is spoiled with more professional talent than it can handle.
And while there are dozens of colleges and universities in Greater Boston, few have any notable college basketball programs.
The last time a school from the Bay State made it to the Final Four was the University of Massachusetts in 1996.
Several hundred people went to the Garden yesterday to watch free open practices by the teams. College students skipped class to be there, grown men in business suits stopped by for their lunch break, and young children asked players to sign their mini basketballs.
But outside the Garden, on the other side of town, the reaction was much less enthusiastic.
"I don't think people watch those games much," said Oscar Amarante, a 26-year-old flight attendant. "People don't follow it. Unless you go pro, people won't follow you."
Most out-of-state fans and college students will begin their journeys to Boston today.
Duke fans will flood the Garden dressed in royal blue, prepared to shake their hands in unison, as if putting a curse on opponents. Pittsburgh will bring a version of its "Oakland Zoo" cheering section, whose fans are known to dress up in animal costumes. Xavier fans unable to score tickets are planning to gather around a TV at a local bar, and buses from Villanova are carrying members of the Augustinian Army, whose members paint their bodies navy blue.
"Everyone's trying to put the money together to do it," said Greg Karambelas, a 21-year-old junior at Villanova who is originally from Haverhill and is planning to pile into a friend's Honda Civic after his engineering class this afternoon, hoping to make it to Boston for the 7:27 p.m. tip-off. "It's pretty crazy."
And the die-hard fans say the rest of Boston is missing out.
"No matter how good a college team is, it's always going to be a pro town," said Dave Lally, a 61-year-old man from Boston who was watching practices yesterday in a Boston College sweatshirt. "Which is too bad. This is big-time basketball."
Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com. 
