I'm already looking forward to 2016.

After slurping down a hot plate of post-run spaghetti, I'm posting this blog from my couch waiting for the NCAA basketball men's final to start on TV. No matter who cuts down the nets at the end of the night, I think Houston claimed its fair share of winning as a host city this past weekend. None of the Final Four teams were from the region, but the organizers gave us locals a great draw with Bracket Town and the Big Dance concerts.

I like to think that the planners that transformed the lifeless old George R. Brown parking lot into the downtown oasis that is Discovery Green had big events like this in mind. Frankly, I didn't have high familiarity with any of the scheduled acts, so having them all at a free-admission festival presented a low-risk proposition for me. As it turned out, Panic At The Disco, Kings of Leon, Pat Green, and Kenny Chesney were all crowd-pleasers.

My Lenten commitment to abstain from Coke Zero was severely tested. Saturday's stage on a warm and humid afternoon was just one ginormous Coke Zero advertisement. And then during Sunday night's concert, perky Coke Zero reps were plying the crowd handing out as many free cans as they could.

While wandering the grounds, I couldn't help but notice that this was a big social media happening, especially among the college-age out-of-towners. I was even amused to see that the NCAA retweeted one of my comments from Saturday. And in a moment straight out of DamnYouAutocorrect, a group of Butler students standing next to us Sunday night gave us a good laugh when they realized their iPhones helpfully changed their status updates to say they were getting ready to see "Kenny Chesty" -- which sounds like a totally different kind of performer altogether.

Back to tonight, Kimba Walker of UConn just took the opening tip, so I'll wrap this by saying that I'm looking forward to seeing the Final Four return to town in five years. We've had such a good time that I wouldn't mind if this became a regular fixture on our spring festival calendar.