Following Bloomington's Final Four craze

IDS reporter Elise LeBlanc traveled the town on the eve of IU's biggest victory since 1992. She encountered "alumni losers," athletic exhibitionists and beloved police officers. This is what she saw. \n4:50 p.m. -- Depart house, armed with disposable camera for blackmail and mini recorder to verify quotes fans probably won't remember saying. \n4:54 p.m. -- Stop at Video World. Employees are twiddling thumbs, waiting for customers. Only action they've seen so far is at the drop-off box. \nAssistant Manager Eric Dinwiddie is wholly unconcerned with the basketball game.\n"The game's definitely interfering with business," Dinwiddie said. "When is it even on? Six? Seven?" \n5:01 p.m. -- Final Four paraphernalia booth set up at old Marathon station. Fans are making last-minute T-shirt purchases. \n5:09 p.m.-- Cars spilling out of parking lot. People inside are lined up with cases of beer. \nAssistant Manager Todd Francoeur, recent IU graduate, said they will be even busier later tonight if IU wins the game. \n"If we win tonight, it will be pandemonium. Tomorrow's Sunday, so people will be drinking without any fear of repercussions," Francoeur said. "It kind of pisses me off because we're finally going to the Final Four and I'm not a student anymore! But I'm just happy that they're going."\n5:25 p.m. -- Side of Assembly Hall littered with news vans. WRTV6 employee Dan Wills is not worried about potential damages to vehicle, in case of a stampede. He said he's more concerned with police, because they are the ones who had climbed on top of their van last time to see over crowd.\n5:35 p.m. -- People in hallways are decked out in red and white, and lining up to get their precious concessions before the game. The inside of Assembly Hall is packed with students, families, alumni, children and security to watch the game on big screen set up in middle of court. Three cheerleaders are flipping across the floor, and band members play the fight song.\nThe band members who were allowed to play in Atlanta were determined by seniority. Fifth and fourth years got to go first, then the oldest after that. Sophomore Joseph Heuring isn't too upset he didn't get to with them.\n"I think it's going to be just as rowdy down here as it will in Atlanta," Heuring said.\nA man is stumbling across seats, scrambling to unravel extension cord for a camera woman. One camera person zeroes in on Chancellor Sharon Brehm, who came with friends and was in wonderful spirits.\n"I think this is great…especially the support of the faculty, staff and students," Brehm said.\n6:05 p.m.-- Fans are behaving as if the game is actually at Assembly Hall. Sooners bounce on to court. Crowd boos a lot. Hoosiers come on screen and are given a standing ovation. Lots of love for A.J. Moye, who gets extra loud cheers and people chanting his name. Some are debating how his last name is pronounced. Everyone roared at the announcement that Coverdale will start.\nGame starts. Fans collectively hold their breath, gasp or explode into cheers whenever something good happens. \n6:35 p.m. -- Howling comes from all corners of the Kirkwood area. It's like the whole campus is cheering in surround sound. Even in my car with the doors shut, I can still hear the cheers loud and clear. \n7 p.m. -- Halftime at Kilroy's Sports bar. Unbelievable. They have extra tents set up to accommodate the nearly 2,000 customers present. More than 30 empty kegs are on back stoop. Inebriated customer is asking nearby cop to baby-sit his half-empty pitcher of beer while he goes into the tent for a few minutes.\n"People have been here since noon. Some were already lined up when we showed up to open at 11…they're wasted," said employee senior Mike Shander. \n7:20 p.m. -- Spot Fred Durst wannabe making cellular calls from his Escalade, updating everyone on game.\n7:43 p.m.-- Avert potential disaster. Make it to car before Parking Operations man can ticket car parked at Taco Bell. He admitted they bumped up number of employees to bust people making unintelligent (illegal) parking decisions.\nOperations have plenty to pick from this evening. Resourceful students are making do with every inch of available space in the Kirkwood area.\n7:45 p.m. -- Heading down Third Street. No one else is on the road. Not even a cop car.\n8:04 p.m. -- Find out not everyone is watching game. Dedicated parishioners are attending an evening Easter Mass at St. Charles Catholic church and making no effort to check up on the game. Am feeling quite bad; my priorities are a little different tonight. \n8:06 p.m. -- Stop at Bigfoot. Two employees are standing behind counter with nothing to do because they aren't allowed to listen to the radio. It doesn't bother them too much, though, because employee Dan Yokley found a way to get around it. \n"I got, like, three people calling me every couple minutes, telling me what's up," Yokley said. \n8:10 p.m. -- Officer Kay Minger parks horizontally across entrance to Indiana Avenue at Third street to block off traffic. She updates inquiring pedestrians on the score. \n"We're just happy they're winning, even though that means we will be out again Monday. I'm especially happy for Mike Davis," Minger said.\n8:12 p.m.-- Discover group of police, dressed in riot gear and face shields, congregated outside of IU Outfitters on corner of Kirkwood and Indiana. They're busy peering up at something through the glass walls. One of the officers had turned game on television inside. None of the officers appear terribly worried about stampede that's about to happen, regardless of a win or loss. They said they just wanted IU to win.\n8:14 p.m. -- Round corner just in time to see people pouring out into the streets from Kirkwood bars. For the next two hours, fans would be rushing in from all directions. \nThe first man out cartwheels into middle of Kirkwood and Dunn. \nHelicopters thrummed overhead as people spilled out into intersection, screaming, crying, hugging, kissing, spraying beer, shooting silly string, setting off fireworks, hollering from rooftops, carrying people on their shoulders and back, banging on pots and pans, flashing their breasts and the "number 1" sign, calling people on cell phones, taking pictures, videotaping and chanting "IU." \nEveryone flocked to news cameras like the salmon of Capestrano (joking). One person uprooted a stop sign and paraded it through crowd. \nOthers decided it would be a good idea to scale the light posts and dangle like monkeys from the electrical wire, while attempting to cross to the other side. Several people fell in their pointless quest and the crowd had to break their fall. I'm sure they'll be feeling that tomorrow.\nOne man who did it was wearing only his boxers and completely unaware that his anatomy was dangling on full display when he straddled the light post above thousands of people. \nFreshman Roosevelt Kelly was one of the few calm observers of the evening. He and his friends had watched game at Briscoe and had come here to check out the scene. \n"It's pretty wild -- I haven't seen anything like this before. This is new," Roosevelt said.\n9:30 p.m. -- Right now it doesn't matter where one is on campus, people are celebrating and making noise everywhere. Students, Bloomington residents, children, families, alumni, high schoolers -- doesn't matter. \nPeople who aren't on Kirkwood are overflowing from cars, clinging to the top, hanging out the windows or riding in trunks. Traffic is almost standstill. Everyone's honking, screaming, waving flags banners, blaring "We Are the Champions," and pedestrians and drivers are giving each other high fives. \n9:40 p.m. -- Encounter Officer Kay Minger again, who is smiling at all the stopped traffic.\n"I've never been hugged so much in my life," she laughed. \n9:45 p.m. -- Check out Showalter Fountain, which is blocked off by flares. Officer said fans bypassed the fountain in favor of Kirkwood this evening. Some fans are climbing into the fountain to get picture taken with the mermaid statue dressed in an IU shirt. Officers make no attempt to stop them.\nThroughout the whole evening, police turn out to be more of a photo opportunity than a threat for fans. Groups of them beam and smile at the happy crowd and students are hopping over to get pictures taken with them. \nOne officer is on top of Greetings, videotaping the whole melee. He even videotapes his partner when he was running around the rooftop, trying to chase down a student who had somehow climbed up there. \n10:15 p.m. -- Fans are packing themselves into the square. Thousands of people are around the courthouse, exercising their right to celebrate, drink, make noise, jaywalk and be collectively insane.\nEven at two in the morning, people could still be heard honking and screaming as if the game had just gotten over. As one fan pointed out, people weren't cheering for this evening's victory, anymore -- they were already cheering for the next one.\nWhen asked what he thought of the game he had said: "The game? What game? The game is this Monday!" and rushed off into the crowd of roaring fans.