That's what it might have appeared former Demon football player John Dippel was doing Friday night at the AllTel Arena in North Little Rock during the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Dippel was seated on the scoretable, in the first seat next to the visiting team's bench, watching the Southland Conference Tournament champion UTA Mavericks take on top-seeded Memphis.
Actually, Dippel works in the management staff for the AllTel Arena, and his seat was surely a function of his job. But he had the best view in the house of how UTA remained competitive with Memphis, despite the final 87-63 margin. It was a 10-15 point game until about the final 10 minutes of play and never faded into a typical 1-16 first-round hammering.
Dippel also had insider access, although not nearly as precious, last February when his former coach at NSU, Sam Goodwin, was one of the 12 inductees in the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame ceremonies held on the arena floor.
"Dip" was a two-time Academic All-America selection in 1994-95, winning first-team honors in 1995.
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