|
Browse by Sport |
|
|
Find us on |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION MEDIA CONFERENCE
March 11, 2007
DAVE WORLOCK: Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight and welcome to the Selection Sunday conference call with Mr. Gary Walters, director of athletics at Princeton University and chairman of the Division I Men's Basketball Committee.
There are a number of people listening to tonight's call as well as some people here in attendance in Indianapolis. We'll get as many questions in as possible and also take this opportunity to remind you that we'll have another call at 3 p.m. EST tomorrow afternoon.
We'll get started right away.
Gary, the selection, seeding and bracketing process is now behind us and the tournament field is set. To the extent possible, reflect on what it has been like for the committee the last several days and please open tonight's teleconference with your thoughts on how difficult the process was and your feeling about the national bracket the committee came up with.
GARY WALTERS: Thank you, David. Welcome, everybody. This, as you know, is my fifth year on the committee. I was fortunate enough to be elected chair. I consider it a wonderful honor, especially given the quality of people that work with me in this room and throughout the year, including the wonderful staff that supports all of this effort.
This is, without question, the most difficult year of my five - not because I was chair, for the most part I stand on the shoulders of the other members of the committee, but really because of the point that I made earlier, and that was that as a result of the exempt games at the end of the year and also the increase by one of the number of games that are played, we ended up with 104 teams that won over 20 games this year versus a previous high of 78. That just put more teams in play, added more complexity to the whole process, in some ways maybe even created more disappointment.
But we tried to telegraph that at least a month ago when we talked about the fact that we really thought that given the compression, given the parity, given the congestion in the leagues, that we were really going to have our work cut out.
My feeling was that in particular selecting the last few teams to go into the tournament was going to be the toughest part, although I must confess that about two or three weeks ago I also felt selecting those teams on the top line, I thought that was going to be equally difficult. I think on that, fortunately for us, the teams that do have 1 seeds we think are very worthy of those seeds and it's quite clear.
I will also say that when I started this process, I was 6'4" and blonde, and now I'm 5'11" with brown hair.
DAVE WORLOCK: We'll open it up for questions.
Q. In regard to the south regional, a third seed, Texas A&M, potentially playing fairly close to home in San Antonio against a higher-seeded opponent, how much do you look at something like that when you're finishing the bracketing?
GARY WALTERS: As you know, what we try to do is protect people from a home court disadvantage only for the first game. I mean, after that our bracketing procedures are such that that isn't taken into consideration.
I mean, if you look throughout the tournament, teams will get sent to different venues. Once you get beyond the first game, we can only do so much to protect teams.
I would also like to say for the edification of those that are out there, we began the bracketing process today at 4:20. That whole procedure took us about an hour. I think we got done in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. One of the things that we all deal with at this point in time is a certain amount of information overload because we were operating in such a compressed time period. Of course, I have to make the transition and go on national television. That becomes an issue as well.
Q. The thought process, Memphis being a 2 need, Texas A&M being a 3 seed, how much did that affect where they were assigned?
GARY WALTERS: We're trying to place teams as close to their natural home as possible. But if you saw how complicated and you experienced how complicated the bracketing and procedures process is, you would know that what we're trying to do and our primary aim is to create four equal national tournaments. That's what our primary drive is. We don't really get hung up too much on something like that.
We think that Memphis had a wonderful year this year. They played very, very well. We think they were worthy of a 2 seed. We think that they were placed on the right line.
Q. How much, if at all, did your committee use the LRNC rankings provided to you this year for the first time?
GARY WALTERS: We had access to all of the quantitative data that is out there, and it's certainly one tool that people could look at. But, you know, the main quantitative model that we use is obviously the RPI. We have enormous respect for what Jeff Sagarin has done over the years, as well. We can also reference that. But our primary quantitative tool is the RPI. That provides the basic framework from which we operate.
Q. Did you look at this at all?
GARY WALTERS: Yeah, I had a chance to look at it. I mean, anybody who's a basketball aficionado would look at it. But I don't know what the thrust of that question is. Is this an advertisement?
Q. I'm just asking about it because it's new.
GARY WALTERS: No, I mean, we looked at it. Again, I think I answered the question.
Q. How did the committee arrive at making Florida the overall number one seed?
GARY WALTERS: First of all, Florida is a team that is a veteran team, has played well all year. Obviously they stubbed their toe a couple weeks ago. I think there were probably some concerns.
Given the overall quality of that team, the fact that they won their regular-season conference, the fact that they then ran through the SEC -- the other teams in the SEC through the tournament, we felt warranted being the No. 1 seed.
Clearly they beat Ohio State. That was a decisive victory. But also one has to acknowledge the fact that Ohio State at that time was just getting Oden into the mix, had a number of young players. I think Billy Donovan would be the first to concede that Ohio State at this point in time is a very, very worthy first-line team.
Q. Why were the Gators sent to that region?
GARY WALTERS: I think the question is, why was Florida placed in St. Louis. We looked at basically the mileage. It was a little bit of a push. The feeling was that that would be a more natural area for Florida to go to.
Q. Could you speak about Syracuse's resumé, why they were left out?
GARY WALTERS: Well, obviously Syracuse -- let me start that Jim Boeheim is a good friend of mine. I hope he still is a good friend of mine. This was a very, very difficult call. It was a difficult call among five or six other teams. We were comparing and contrasting Syracuse against a number of other teams across a number of different categories.
I think the issues that we were dealing with again and what complicates everything - this is not just Syracuse but a number of the other teams - was the unbalanced scheduling that we have in the league. Actually, the unbalanced scheduling that we have outside the league. I think some people were also scrutinizing non-conference scheduling in a very intense way.
I can't say that there was any one factor that came into play with Syracuse not being in, understanding that we're looking at a number of terrific teams, and Syracuse was one of those. But every year this process becomes a two-edged sword where, you know, one team -- we have a number of teams that end up being very happy and a number of those teams that are close being unhappy. That's just the reality of our job.
Q. Regarding Ohio State, were they eligible to stay in Columbus or they played too many games in that arena? If they were eligible, why didn't they stay there?
GARY WALTERS: Ohio State is hosting in Columbus, so that precludes them from being able to play in that arena. That is also true, Washington State is hosting Spokane, as I remember, and we may have one or two other situations like that. Kentucky in Lexington, also.
Q. Can you explain the selection of Niagara, whether you took into account they were 1-6 at the start of the year with six players on suspension, including their best player having an eight-game suspension?
GARY WALTERS: We took into account all the information that was at our fingertips. Again, we spend as much time scrutinizing the last quadrant as we do the first quadrant. In fact, we even have a subcommittee assigned to make sure we're scrutinizing that in the very, very best possible way.
One of the things that we try to do is to be sensitive obviously to any number of issues. But the way it played out this year, Niagara was a team that was selected to go into that.
I can only tell you Monmouth had a chance to play in the play-in game and won. I happened to be the host administrator in Philadelphia, which is the site that that fed into. They said they had a great experience at Dayton, and coming to Philly they really were looking forward to playing in the first round, which they did against Villanova and gave Villanova one heck of a game.
Q. To be specific, were the suspensions taken into account? Can they be considered the same as injuries? I would like a direct answer to that.
GARY WALTERS: Yes, the suspensions were taken into account, but it didn't alter our decision to have them play the play-in game.
Q. Can you speak to the impact of the conference tournaments on the top line?
GARY WALTERS: I absolutely can. What we felt happened there was the fact that Florida, UNC, Ohio State and Kansas, again, winners. Regular conference, what they did was they burnished their resumés. Three of them won the tournament and one of them got to the final. So for us that was a very differentiating factor that led to us seeding those teams on the 1 line.
Q. UCLA hurt itself by losing in the quarterfinals?
GARY WALTERS: Yes, by comparison.
Q. When you added it all up and found six mid-majors in there, were you and the other committee members surprised?
GARY WALTERS: You know what's really funny is the impression that people have. Last year, if you'll recall, we had eight mid majors in the tournament, and the general impression -- eight at-large mid-majors in the tournament, 'so-called mid-majors,' with quotes. The impression out there was that the tournament committee had gone overboard by selecting mid-majors. We were criticized to no end by any number of media with regard to that selection, when in fact there has been a range historically of mid-major at large teams from basically five to 12. That's something that I didn't realize until I basically asked our own people to look that up.
When we start our process, we throw conference affiliation out the door. I know we repeat that, we say that. I think the writers that went through the mock selection a couple weeks ago had very, very similar experiences. I refer to it as tabula rasa, clean slate. That's the way we look at this. Then we start to compare and contrast.
It just shakes out where it shakes out. This year it happened to shake out with six at-large teams from the so-called mid-majors.
One of the really neat things, however, about this tournament is the fact, and I think what makes it especially a quintessential Americana, is this balance, if you will, between the AQs, which I like to refer to has its roots in Jeffersonian democracy or Jacksonian democracy versus the at-large teams which has its roots in Jeffersonian democracy.
One of the great things about this tournament is we have the balance between the two. I think that's what makes March Madness special.
Q. I'm curious about why the decision was made to differentiate between Texas Tech and Kansas State in the Big 12.
GARY WALTERS: I don't know that anybody necessarily differentiated. We are, again, looking at all these teams as a composite. I think what the committee was convinced by was, as I said, the performance of Texas Tech in the southern division of the Big 12, which is viewed by the committee as the stronger division. Texas Tech's wins over Texas A&M, their victory over Kansas we thought was really significant.
They also went out and played some teams non-conference. They had a very good road win against Arkansas and played a very, very representative schedule. When the committee weighed that against a number of the other teams, at-large teams with similar resumés, that resonated, that performance against the top resonated with the committee.
Q. How much effect did the late finish of the Kansas/Texas game have in your overall seeding? Was there going to be any kind of change depending how that game worked out?
GARY WALTERS: Good question. The reality is, it was not going to affect our decision to keep Kansas on the first line because they had gotten to the conference final and UCLA had lost in the first round.
The only issue may have been there had Texas won was what we would have done with the seeding. It was conceivable we may have moved Texas a line had they won.
Q. My question regards the challenges to the committee for at-large candidates whose seasons end a week to 10 days before today. Does that make it a little more difficult for to compare those teams to those at-large candidates who get more opportunities to play in the season?
GARY WALTERS: Well, I don't quite understand that question because I think basically everybody has the same number of opportunities to play. The only league that doesn't is my league, which is the Ivy League.
Q. The fact that a conference like the Missouri Valley wraps up their tournament a week before everybody else's, so their resumé is closed while Big 12, SEC, PAC-10... Does a later impression make a difference?
GARY WALTERS: I don't think so. One of the things that we're very, very careful about and warn ourselves about is the concept of impulse buying, not being focused on the moment. We neither want to be unnecessarily adverse in our impression if a team loses, nor do we want to overreact if a team wins. We're looking at the full body of work.
One of the comments that you've heard me make time and time again is that the conference tournament enables a team to either burnish or bruise their resumé.
Q. Specifically about Missouri State, can I ask you?
GARY WALTERS: And what would you like to ask?
Q. Why Missouri State is not in today.
GARY WALTERS: I think, once again, when comparing Missouri State, it was obviously one of those teams that received enormous consideration, there was just a feeling that when you looked across the board at all the teams nationally, we just felt they didn't merit inclusion. Was it an easy call? No, it wasn't an easy call. None of these calls are easy.
I might add with regard to Missouri State, they went 0-5 against the two top teams from their league and lost three of their last six. There were certainly some impressions that were left as a result of that. But it would be unfair to say that that alone was a singular factor.
There's a tendency I think by the press or by people who are affected by our decisions to think that we are categorical in our decisions. Consequently, even when I talk I have to be somewhat careful because I don't want to leave the impression that there's just one issue or there's one other issue.
We're looking at the performance against the top 50, performance against the top hundred, how did you do on the road, did you play on the road, all those things you hear over and over and over again. So I want to be -- I myself have to be careful about just mentioning one or two things because it's more than that.
The entire process, the tediousness with which we look at this stuff over and over again, as we say, actually as Greg Shaheen says, we're constantly taking many bites of the apple. At the end, every one of these teams is getting a pretty strong MRI.
Q. I would imagine Stanford was particularly difficult because of the conflicting data they presented to you?
GARY WALTERS: Yeah, Stanford was clearly one of those teams that we were comparing and contrasting against any number of the other teams, many of which have already been mentioned.
The one thing about the PAC-10 is you had Stanford playing a round-robin schedule against some very, very good teams, and they were 10-8 in the league, plus they defeated Texas Tech and Virginia outside the league with conference wins over Washington State, UCLA, USC and Oregon.
There was also the time where one of their guards was hurt for a week or two at the end. They had injuries at the beginning of the year with regard to one of the López brothers. It was not an easy call.
But given what we looked at - again, the cliché, and can somebody come up with another cliché on the "total body of work" - but given the total body of work, we just felt they merited conclusion.
Q. I would imagine their RPI gave you some pause?
GARY WALTERS: You know, the RPI may give other people pause. We certainly quantitatively are looking at it, and we decided we were putting them in. Somebody said, Gee, do you know what their RPI is? No, tell me. Every year we're going to have one or two teams that have RPIs that get in the tournament. Again, all that does is underscore the fact that the RPI is a guideline; it's not an absolute predictor of what we do.
Q. Did an injury that kept a player out for some time prevent a team from making this tournament??
GARY WALTERS: I mean, I think, again, as it relates to Florida State, you know, it's a good team. We just felt that they came up short, notwithstanding any one injury. It didn't come down to somebody having one injury. It really came down to what we felt was the full body of work in their conference. As a result, we just felt that they fell just short of meriting inclusion.
Q. What was it about Xavier that got them in as an at-large team?
GARY WALTERS: Xavier had a pretty darn good year. I don't have their team sheet before me, but the reality is they went out and they played on the road. They had some really impressive wins on the road. As I remember, they beat Villanova. I'm just getting it up here right now. They beat Illinois. They beat VCU, in the top 50. That was pretty darn impressive. They beat George Washington by 30 at George Washington.
We really viewed Xavier as being a very, very worthy at-large team. That's your answer.
Q. You mentioned that Kansas was a No. 1 obviously before they played. Where was Arkansas in the bracket before they played their SEC title game today?
GARY WALTERS: Well, you know, Arkansas was clearly a bubble team. It's one of those difficult calls. But given the way they concluded their season by getting to the finals of the SEC, that ended up being a significant factor in our thinking.
Q. Bottom line is they were in the bracket before they played the game today?
GARY WALTERS: No. I actually don't remember where they were at that time. As a matter of fact, I think they--I'm trying to remember.
GREG SHAHEEN: They benefited from the outcomes of other games today.
Q. You mean with NC State? What specifically do you mean?
GREG SHAHEEN: That would be an accurate guess.
Q. Could you talk again about Florida's resumé and were they a No. 1 before they began? Secondly, can you compare their resumé this year versus their record last year? I think they were a No. 3 seed last year.
GARY WALTERS: Well, I don't know that I can compare it against last year since past performance, as you know, is no guarantee of future results. Notwithstanding how trite that is, we know they're an outstanding team. In the eyes of the committee, they deserved to be on the 1 line. I don't know what more I can say.
I concede the fact they're the defending national champ. They're a senior team. They did stub their toe a little bit, but they came on strong in the tournament. By virtue of also having beaten Ohio State the way they did, you know, we just felt they deserved to be where they are.
Q. And they were a No. 1 at the start of the day?
GARY WALTERS: You know, at the start of the day, I mean -- let me put it this way: We start to seed the tournament tentatively. Again, Greg Shaheen used the words "wet cement." Our seeding process is we put people in on the basis of wet cement. I won't get into where these teams were as it relates to where they were yesterday. But the bottom line is we start to actually form the bracket in the beginning of the day.
Q. Looking back, how did Friday night's activities in the Atlantic 10 and WAC impact you guys?
GARY WALTERS: How did Friday night's activity in the WAC? You're referring to the upsets?
Q. Yes. How did that impact the whole process?
GARY WALTERS: It clearly gives us less flexibility at that point. It obviously is going to affect the AQ line. It has an impact.
Q. How close did Air Force come?
GARY WALTERS: Air Force had an outstanding season. We recognized that. But in comparing and contrasting teams, you know, when you looked at their full body of work, the difficulty they had coming down, you know, to the final segment of their schedule, then losing the opening-round game, obviously all of that was taken into account.
Q. Could things have been different had they won a tournament game?
GARY WALTERS: I think it's fair to say that had they won the opening-round game, they would have certainly been in the at-large picture longer. Whether or not they would have been selected, I don't know, but certainly would have been in the at-large picture.
Q. UNLV seems to have, with their RPI, the resume of a team with a higher seed than a 7. Why were they seeded that low?
GARY WALTERS: When you compare UNLV against any of other teams, we feel their seeding is where it should be. Again, I think one has to be careful about the RPI. I think some people want to overemphasize the value of the RPI as it relates to what we do. We feel comfortable with where UNLV is seeded, and we hope they'll take advantage of being in the tournament, and wish them well.
I mean, once you get past the first four lines, I think it's fair to say, and even more so this year, Bob Bowlsby, one of my predecessors used to use the term "It's tough to slip a piece of paper between teams." I mean, a lot of these teams look like clones of each other. Our job is to try to probe down with a microscope if need be in order to differentiate the significance of those small differences. That's the process by which we try to go through this.
We were very rigorous, I feel, as it relates to the seeding process. I don't know that we could have worked any harder at it. I actually feel very, very good about how the field is seeded.
Q. I was curious if you could talk about why Drexel is out.
GARY WALTERS: You know, it's a tough call. I think one of the issues when we were looking and comparing and contrasting Drexel against any number of other teams, and it's always difficult, but one of the I think concerns for the committee was Drexel's performance in its own conference, being 1-5 against the top teams in the conference. That's just one factor.
I mean, again, I also -- we also recognize the fact, and certainly as someone who lives in Princeton, which is a stone's throw from Philly, we on the committee were very aware of the impressive road record that Drexel was able to achieve in the pre-season and then their victory against Creighton.
As it related to their own neighborhood, which is in the conference, the feeling was that Old Dominion was more worthy by virtue of what they were able to achieve within their own neighborhood.
Q. Was it clearly between Drexel and Old Dominion? Was that the deciding factor?
GARY WALTERS: What we tried to do was look at all these teams, comparing and contrasting all these teams across the board, no.
Q. How do you determine which number one seed plays the winner of the opening round game?
GARY WALTERS: That's really determined by simply understanding that wherever we place the regions, the playing game happens on Friday. We're going to place that game against one of these two regions where they start on Friday.
Q. From the Arizona perspective down here, they played among the best schedules in the nation. They end up an eighth seed. Is there a lesson to be learned about scheduling and who you play?
GARY WALTERS: No, I don't think so. We looked at Arizona very, very carefully. I think one of the significant things is they are in the tournament. They did play a very rigorous schedule. They had their ups and downs against a rigorous schedule. We have enormous respect for the University of Arizona, but we think they're seeded in the appropriate area.
DAVE WORLOCK: We'll now take questions from those in attendance here.
Q. Each year parity seems to put a little more stress on you guys. Each year Sunday seems to get busier and more important. Is there a danger that you will get to the point where all these forces, you still have a 6:00 deadline, sheer time pressures will force you into a mistake? Are you worrying that the curtain is getting too small to do this?
GARY WALTERS: I don't necessarily think that it will force us into a mistake, but I'm reminded during the Vietnam war, Bob Goheen, the president of Princeton, the country was -- it was an either/or situation. What happened was there were those that believed we should be in the war and there were those that didn't believe we should be in the war, and they were true believers. He said, Beware of the true believers. The president of Princeton, even on my best day, I'm right maybe 60 or 70% of the time.
The point is that we're all fallible. Anybody here at the table takes this responsibility very, very seriously. I'm loath to say that I hope -- I hope it goes without saying that there's integrity and people accept that, all right?
But there is always the possibility of smart people making a bad decision when you're confronted with time pressures, especially when you're trying to seek consensus. That's just a reality of psychology, the psychology of decision making.
I think the one issue, though, that I would say and amplification to what I think is really a terrific question, that if we changed the composition of the people that are in the room, it wouldn't surprise me if those teams in particular that are on the bubble, one group of people will look at those teams slightly differently from us. It would be the height of arrogance for me to believe that we are a hundred percent right as it relates to our selections.
I don't presume that we are necessarily a hundred percent right. Who knows? All we're doing is taking the best information we can get. We have more information than ever. I think we have more information at our hands in order to make more informed and better decisions. So I think the process itself is better than it's ever been. I think the quality of the people is as good as it's ever been.
But just as in the past, you know, it comes down to where you stand on the issues depends on where you sit. You just heard the questions that were asked me from media across the country, all right? The perceptions of the decisions that we make are based on the perspective of that person where they sit. That's where they stand on the issues. That's what's so difficult.
But at the end of the day, I don't think any of us lose sight of the fact, and I had the good fortune of playing in two NCAA basketball championships, so I'm very, very sensitive about the fact if you don't get in, the tremendous experience that's being denied those student-athletes.
It's painful for us to have to choose, really painful for us to have to choose between teams that are so close, and that some people with different sets of eyes could possibly make a different set of decisions. I think all of us around the table would say that reasonable people could differ, all right?
But ultimately it is a consensus of our committee. It is the product of our committee. I am proud of the product that this committee produced.
Q. You mentioned the balanced schedule, the unbalanced schedule. Can you talk about how that complicates matters? Also is there a message to be sent to conferences that don't have a balanced schedule?
GARY WALTERS: Well, I'm not here to send any messages. Again, I'm not smart enough to tell commissioners about their conferences. I have a tough enough job just doing my job at Princeton University.
I mean, it goes without saying, and somebody once said something to the effect: If it goes without saying, why are we harping on this? But, you know, it does go without saying that unbalanced schedules make our jobs more difficult. As we said, the road for some teams might be steeper than the road for other teams. That opens up greater subjectivity into the process.
Number one, we have to hone down and figure out what the strength of those respective schedules are, so it's an additional consideration. Number two, we then have to understand how you performed against that particular strength of schedule.
I'll just give you one example. I think there was a certain amount of empathy in the committee for the tremendous strength of schedule that Michigan State played this year. By the way, also for Arizona candidly, and also for Gonzaga. I'm really glad Gonzaga ended up winning with their league, because we would have had a difficult time had they not won their league trying to decide what to do with them, given the fact that they went out, not only did they play on the road, but made three or four trips to the east. That's tough.
When you're playing a tough schedule, it's like being in a championship fight. Every round you've got to go out and it's Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier. Every round, that takes a psychological toll on teams. At the end of the day, having coached, I'm sensitive to that. I'm aware of that.
I don't know whether I'm answering your question. I'm rambling quite a bit. But, yeah, it makes our job tougher (laughter).
Q. Kansas State, you mentioned the southern division was considered tougher. Was that a major factor with Kansas State?
GARY WALTERS: No. Again, the use of the word "major factor," it wasn't a major factor. Do we have to consider the differences in the strength of those divisions and who are two plays and who is a one play? The answer to that is, yes, we do. To that extent, Texas Tech, having beaten Texas A&M twice, having beaten Kansas in their one play, you know, having beaten Kansas State in their one play, although it was at home, for us, I mean, I don't want to compare Kansas State and Texas Tech because that's not fair to all the other teams in the tournament, nor is it fair to Kansas State, because Kansas State is up against a number of other teams that we're also comparing and contrasting them against. But there's this sort of natural inclination to want to do that.
All I can tell you is we chose Texas Tech on the basis of what we thought their total resumé was against a number of variables that we consider. Again, not an easy decision. As you can hear, I got a call from Florida vis-a-vis Florida State, there's a call from Drexel, there's a call from Kansas. I mean, every year we have three or four teams where a strong argument can be made for their inclusion.
The reality is that I'm very respectful of the fact that it makes sense when those questions would be asked. It further makes sense that, as I've said before again, it would be the height of arrogance on our part to feel that some of those questions shouldn't be asked. I understand the disappointment. I mean, it disappoints the heck out of us. But we have a 65-team field.
Q. As far as Texas, you said if they won the Big 12, they might have moved up to a three.
GARY WALTERS: They may have moved up a line. I mean, I think there's a possibility that that may have happened.
Q. Would that have affected where they wound up playing as far as their site?
GARY WALTERS: That's too much to speculate. That I wouldn't know.
Q. Daylight savings time going into effect, how much did that affect the committee? I know you had a committee member in absentia? Did that complicate things?
GARY WALTERS: Actually, boy, the staff has to be commended. Dan has to be commended. He's dealing with the death of his father. Just had a chance to read his obituary. What a phenomenal person. Dan was very close to his father. For him to make the commitment that he has, considering the conditions, we owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude. He was just a great teammate. We had him hooked up here. He had all the same computers that we have right here. He did a marvelous job.
In the end, it was only disappointing that we couldn't share his friendship and his fraternity. Obviously we feel real sympathy for his family at this time.
Q. Daylight savings time?
GARY WALTERS: Daylight savings time, when I saw that, when we got the message, I don't know who sent it, Greg, whatever, about a month ago, oh, my goodness, that was -- it just makes our job tougher because we're already sleep-deprived this week. To be candid, I don't know whether it was night or day most times. Anyhow, yeah, losing an hour didn't help matters.
DAVE WORLOCK: We'd like to thank everyone for participating this evening. Once again, the call tomorrow afternoon will begin at 3 p.m. Eastern. The call-in number is 913-981-5507, same number you dialed today. Thank you very much.
End of FastScripts
|
|