ANAHEIM — The crowd at ESPN Zone grew louder with each point Davidson scored in its NCAA Tournament opening-round game against Gonzaga this morning.
But through all of the cheering and arm waving that was directed at the giant HD screen at the restaurant/sports bar/arcade/lounge, an attractive blond woman named Summer Stevens grimaced with each Tennessee free throw that didn’t go in the basket. No offense, but Stevens wasn’t interested in Gonzaga or any team that didn’t wear Tennessee’s colors.
“We’re known for our women’s basketball, but this is the first time the men’s basketball team is doing really well,” she said.
Stevens, who attended Tennessee and still lives in Knoxville, brought her two children to Disneyland for spring break. Though she was succeeding in making this a memorable vacation for herself and her children, the Volunteers were still on her mind.
She sat about 15 feet away from the bar and watched nervously until her favorite team pulled away in the closing minutes. Her kids, Emily, 9, who is starting to gain an interest in basketball, and Will, 6, who prefers basketball on video games, waited patiently.
“I just came into check the score, but when I saw it was a close game, I decided we had to stay and watch it,” said Stevens, her son perched on her lap. “Sometimes mommy gets her time.”
During the past two days at ESPN Zone, daddies, brothers, sisters, friends and everyone else who is a fan of college basketball got their time as well.
Ryan Matas, the operations manager at ESPN Zone, said patrons were lined up outside 45 minutes before the place opened. The wait was worth it. The early arrivals grabbed the booths, which came with their own TVs in case they wanted to watch a game that wasn’t on the giant screen. They also took the recliners in the front row and made themselves comfortable.
Some fans had the day off. Others, such as “Matt from Orange” (cough, cough), took the day off and preferred to watch without their boss knowing about it.
“I work in finance, and the markets are closed,” Brentwood resident Ben Lipson said. “It’s hard to find great places to watch all of the games. There aren’t that many places in L.A.”
Lipson and his table of friends left Los Angeles about 7 a.m. to get prime seating in Anaheim.
Having the Davidson-Gonzaga game on the big screen was no accident. Matas said that a behind-the-scenes team does research before deciding which game to show. Factors include the popularity of the teams, geographical location and fan response.
“This isn’t just flipping on a TV and hoping the right game is on,” he said. “There’s a whole lot more than that.”
ESPN Zone turns into a melting pot of sorts this time of the year. Fans wore shirts promoting their favorite teams and bracket picks. Drake, Washington State, UCLA, BYU, Texas and Lipson’s San Francisco 49ers were represented.An impromptu survey had seven fans picking UCLA to win this season’s championship. North Carolina and Kansas got two votes. Memphis, Stanford, Tennessee and “any West Coast team” got single votes.
– Al Balderas, The Orange County Register
