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Final Four Scene: Jay-Z And Everyone Else

NEW ORLEANS — My collection of images — still and moving — from in and around Superdome during Final Four weekend …

On Saturday night prior to the tipoff of Kentucky-Louisville, Jay-Z appeared in the tunnel near Kentucky’s locker room, to watch them make their grand entrance (and give a hug to Kenny Smith):

Jay-Z at the Final Four

Hova, who’s not allowed to go inside the Wildcats’ locker room or openly associate with them, since he’s a part-owner of the Nets — he was fined for taking photos with UK players in Newark last year — could only wear a blue-lettered “BALL SO HARD” shirt and sit in the UK section. We were all left to deduce which team he was rooting for.

I’m curious if he would have been allowed to wear a bootleg “Bow To Da Brow” shirt, like the the gentleman at right:

That was hardly the lone Kentucky tee in NOLA, where I spotted a “SWAT TEAM,” a “Calipari Gold Standard,” and a “Big Easy Ballers” shirt (in addition to a pro-Louisville “vacated” Final Four shirt) in one 20-minute walk:

For most Kentucky fans, this scene of Anthony Davis and Marquis Teague sitting in a golf cart, telling stories about their Final Four win over Louisville, will be more exciting than any B-Roll of Jay-Z:

The Golf Cart Scene

No one wears beads (or gets blinded by flashes) better than Jared Sullinger, and no one wore more jewelry to interviews than Tyshawn Taylor:

Is that Dusty Baker scalping tickets?

A street salesman who has perfected the art of balancing his goods and a cold beverage:

Despite this sign’s declaration, traffic passes underneath it:

And finally, the last #ceilingseries: