The Ultimate Road Trip: Day 7

Last year, SI On Campus went coast-to-coast during March Madness, covering 5,495 miles at a rate that would have sent Washington State's decidedly down tempo Dick Bennett into cardiac arrest ( Spokane to Reno to Phoenix to Las Vegas in four days!) The only difference this year: more road-trippers! Log onto SI.com every day until April 5 and check in with the SI On Campus team as it SUVs from New York to the play-in game in Dayton to the men's and women's championship games in St. Louis and Indianapolis

By Mac Caplan

Some bad news to report: With a draft of my senior essay due in approximately three weeks, my computer is now officially fried. More important, this means that my carefully composed blog for Saturday has been lost. So, readers, please forgive me if this seems a bit too much like stream of consciousness -- or stream of unconsciousness -- since the week has taken a toll on my sleep schedule, despite John' s claims about my narcolepsy.

Saturday began at the Smyrna Airport. An astute reader would now ask which Smyrna I am referring to, since we're fairly sure that every state we have passed through this week has a Smyrna. In case you' ve been counting, that's NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, WV, OH, IN, KY, and TN. Today was Tennessee's Smyrna, to the set of the movie Two Weeks. We went to visit John's buddy, actor Tom Cavanagh, formerly of NBC's hit show Ed.

Upon arrival at the set, we were immediately ushered into Tom's trailer. Inside, we were happy to see the movie edition of SIOC as well as the TV tuned to the tourney games. As we sat watching Texas Tech Gonzaga, John proceeded to break the trailer door and nearly fall out and down the stairs while talking on the phone.

After getting the go-ahead, we marched over to check out the set. Tom was actually in the process of filming a scene, so we stuck around for that. Tom warned us that movie sets could get boring on occasion, and after watching eight takes of one 20-second scene over the course of an hour, we understood for ourselves. Brent described this experience as "the greatest thing ever to happen to me" -- the same words he used after rooming with John the previous night.

You may be wondering why a visit with Tom Cavanagh on the set of a film is relevant on a college hoops road trip. Well, my friends, a little bit of trivia for you: Tom Cavanagh was a baller back in the day. He played guard for Queen's University in Canada (Yes, Canada counts), and he shoots baskets nearly everyday. Tom also met and wooed his wife, SI photo editor Maureen Cavanagh, on the basketball court at an NYC gym.

We hoped to get Tom's Final Four picks. Initially, he would only joke that he had picked Bucknell, Wisconsin-Milwakee, Vermont, and non-participant Butler for the Final Four. In the end, he would not tell us his picks lest he jinx himself. The man was serious about this one, too.

The one Final Four pick we know Tom did not make was Syracuse. Tom told us that he initially wanted to pick Vermont in the upset over the Orangemen. (Didn't we all?) I know I didn't have the balls to do it. Tom, however, feared that his wife, a 'Cuse alum, would not take kindly to such a prediction. And with good reason -- after the upset victory by the Catamounts, her somber tone on the phone prompted Tom to ask her, "Who died?"

The funniest (and for Maggie, most flattering) person on the set was Wes, a production assistant. An Auburn alum, he would not shut up about the Tigers' shafting at the hands of the BCS in December. He also could not stop talking with Maggie. "She's the perfect woman -- a chick who writes for Sports Illustrated