Women's basketball reporter Ethan Conley offers his ramblings from Chicago, where the Spartans played the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

• Apparently every restaurant in the Chicago area serves "The best (fill in the blank) you've ever had." Sit down for a burger at Harry Caray's Restaurant, and they'll tell you it's the best burger of your life.

Look down the bar, and you'll see the server recommending the cheese bread to a hungry patron because "it's the best cheese bread in the world." Each place you go to follows the same pattern. Ed Debevic's would be the obvious exception — they couldn't care less if your burger was the worst you've ever had.

• Allstate Arena looks nothing like a sports complex. It looks more like a giant IHOP. Unfortunately there were no pancakes served at the pregame media buffet, just stale garlic bread and wheat noodles.

• Kentucky had a mascot who never flexed or clapped to pump everyone up. Instead the Wildcat did a striptease. Kentucky women's basketball: It's fun for the whole family!

Ethan Conley can be reached at conleyet@msu.edu.