Men's NCAA Basketball is in San Jose today and Saturday as the four remaining teams in the West compete in the regional semifinals and finals. The city is expecting some 17,000 people to invade downtown and the HP Pavilion later today. Commute hour will be a memorably unpleasant experience for workers (a.k.a. office drones) unaware of the basketball tournament.

I took a late lunch and as I passed Gordon Biersch, I spotted cheerleaders and fans of No. 2 UCLA inside the brewery. The Bruins are playing No. 3 Pittsburgh later this evening (6:40 p.m. PDT).

Although I wanted garlic fries, I didn't want to deal with the crowd, so I wandered over a block to the Circle of Palms (between the Fairmont Hotel and the San Jose Museum of Art). As I purchased a chicken caesar salad from a nearby cafe, I noted that the Circle was unusually crowded by people wearing royal blue attire. I decided to enjoy some people watching while I grazed on my salad, so I took a seat on the museum steps and watched as fans of No. 1 Kansas boarded their tour buses to head over to the venue. The Jayhawks are playing No. 4 Southern Illinois in another hour or so (4:10 p.m. PDT).

I haven't been paying much attention to March Madness, but since the tournament is in town, I'll check out the Pavilion before boarding the train to see if anything special is set up. And I guess I'm rooting for "local" UCLA to make it to the Final Four.