Ready for more Madness?

The man in the Washington Huskies hat on the No.77 bus was a tourism director’s dream.

“I’ve sure enjoyed my stay out here,” Tim Carey, a doctor from Seattle, told his friends as they rode the packed bus to the Rose Garden. “I’ll definitely come back.”

Carey and thousands of fans like him spent last weekend in Portland watching the first and second rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Judging by the reactions of visitors, sellouts for all six games and smiles of giddy organizers, the tournament’s return to Oregon for the first time since 1983 was a smash.

The event’s future in Portland looks bright, and organizers said they will bid to host early-round games again — or even a regional — in 2011, 2012 or 2013.

– Excerpt from The Oregonian, March 23, 2009