Possibly the cruelest cut of all was when "The Oracle," a coordinator of a San Diego State fan forum, published a list of cool things to do in Kansas City if you're coming to "Witchita" for the NCAA Tournament.
"If you are planning on landing in Kansas City (it is a much cheaper alternative than to fly to Witchita), here are a few things you must do while in KC," said the post on www.aztecmesa.com.
Among the recommendations were the College Basketball Hall of Fame, three barbecue restaurants and the World War I Museum.
Heavy sigh.
It appears NCAA basketball fans from both coasts are now learning something that has been known to Kansans since the days of the covered wagons.
It ain't easy gettin' here.
And fans from California and New Jersey are throwing some serious shade about where their team's been sent (some would say sentenced) to play basketball this week.
Witness this exchange on www.piratecrew.com, a Seton Hall board:
HallBall'n — Unfortunately, Wichita is a bear to get to. My group can’t travel there.
Section112 — Me too! Stinks!
TruBlue1989 — Fly to KC and drive.
Bobbie Solo — They might have to open the ticket sales up to non-Pirate Blue at some point. Feel like no one is gonna go to this. Terrible, terrible location.
Save Continental — Really the only thing to complain about with the draw/seed. I have tried every which way but it's next to impossible to get there within reason.
Kniespolice — Its minimum $750 for flights, then hotel, food, booze, tickets, car, minimum 1500 weekend.
wpc75 — We are out also. Had hotel reservations booked at other sites but this is impossible. Then what do you do there for 3-4 days anyway? What was the ncaa thinking when they booked this site?
HallBall'n— You are correct. Anywhere but here. And there is nothing to do there. We are all so disappointed.
Only one fan defended River City.
Newshu1 — "Wichita is going to be 70 degrees all week at least. Plan on playing some golf, watching the other games at bars, walking the city etc. There is plenty to do. I imagine maybe 100 fans make the trip from NJ/ NY area?"
Thank you, Newshu1.
As a city, we've put thousands of hours and millions of dollars into preparing for this tournament weekend — we even cleaned up the pigeon poop.
And we just spent $200 million on a new airport.
Still, it's not difficult to see the detractors' point of view.
According to Travelocity, the cheapest flight from San Diego to Wichita (arriving here Wednesday and leaving Sunday) was a whopping $1,064. That's with a 2 1/2-hour stopover in Dallas. The cheapest fare to Kansas City was $333 if you let Travelocity pick your flights.
Travel arrangements from New Jersey, home of Seton Hall, were even more costly and complicated.
The cheapest tickets from Newark were $950 with two stops, in Orlando and Chicago. The best deal from any New York City-area airport was $867 out of JFK. Meanwhile, a bargain flight to Kansas City was $384.
So far, it seems like it’s mostly San Diego State and Seton Hall fans seriously ripping on Wichita.
North Carolina State fans seemed disappointed not to be playing closer to home, but more or less willing to pay to get here if they can get tickets.
From Pack Pride, an NC State board:
Redterrorscom — I’m going as long as I make the cut with the Wolfpack Club (for tickets). Airfare is going to be pricey.
ILikeTacos9486 — I live in Lawrence, so Wichita is only a 3 hour drive. I would love to go but where can I find the cheapest ticket?
The remaining teams didn't seem to have too much of a problem with Wichita as a tournament destination.
For the University of Kansas, it's practically a home game.
Their fans are talking a lot more about having to play Penn, the Ivy League champ and perceived to be the toughest matchup for any No. 1 seed in the tournament.
Michigan fans seemed less irritated about traveling to Wichita than they were that cross-state rival Michigan State gets to play in Detroit.
A few Houston fans grumbled about the cost of a flight to Wichita, but it’s within a day’s drive and they're conference mates with Wichita State, so nobody seemed too upset.
Montana fans probably weren't coming anyway. Their air service is worse than ours, so it was pretty much Boise or bust for them.
There doesn't even seem to be an online forum for Penn fans. Their Twitter feeds were mostly celebrating beating Harvard to punch their ticket to the tournament.
This story was originally published March 12, 2018 5:01 PM.