Last Shot

The Final Four takes place at the Superdome in New Orleans, and the setting enhances the spectacle of the event. New Orleans is an important port city and a popular tourist destination known for jazz music, architecture, nightlife, Mardi Gras celebrations, and outstanding restaurants—particularly those with expertise in Cajun and Creole cuisine. The city also has a reputation for gambling, both underground and through its casinos, which supports the book’s plot of trying to fix the championship game to win millions of dollars through betting. The NCAA is also presented as focused on making money; it presents itself as an upstanding organization through its myriad regulations and security guards, but its concerns aren’t so different from those of the gamblers in the story. The NCAA’s aim is to maximize the Final Four’s earning potential.

The Superdome symbolizes the excess and extravagance of the Final Four. The scale of the Superdome inspires awe in its visitors: Stevie “couldn’t get over how big the place was. The entire Palestra would fit into the curtained-off area that wasn’t being used” (41). Almost everything about the Final Four comes across as supersized. The facility has hosted multiple Super Bowls and Final Fours, and its capacity is approximately 75,000 people, depending on how it is configured for a particular event.