Murray among the NCAA tourney crowds
ALBANY — Actor Bill Murray, known as one of the most devoted of celebrity sports fans, is among the tens of thousands visiting the city this weekend for the opening rounds of games in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at MVP Arena.
Murray, dining with an unnamed friend, was part of the dinner and bar crowd Thursday night at dp: An American Brasserie, located at the Hampton Inn & Suites, which is fully booked with fans and those affiliated with the tournament. Also having dinner at dp on Thursday were sportscasters P.J. Carlesimo, who will be a game analyst for Westwood One radio, and Ian Eagle, part of the announcing team for trutv and CBS.
Murray declined a formal interview but said he would be attending games Friday and Sunday and offered to bet the $61 cash in his pocket against Iona University, which went on to lose to University of Connecticut on Friday afternoon. Iona’s coach, Rick Pitino, was longtime head coach at the University of Louisville, where Murray’s son Luke previously was assistant coach before moving on to be assistant coach at Uconn.
Known for decades of movies from “Caddyshack” and “Ghostbusters” to an Oscar-nominated performance in “Lost in Translation,” Murray on Thursday lived up to his reputation as casual, genial and quirky in public. Though he didn’t sing karaoke, crash wedding photos or steal Mcdonald’s fries and say, “No one will ever believe you,” Murray chatted easily at dp with fellow patrons, shook rounds of hands as he departed and posed for a photo with dp/yono’s server Josh Banks.
In an account on Facebook, Banks described Murray as one of three entertainers most influential on his life, alongside David Letterman and Jerry Garcia.
Banks, who talked with Murray and Murray’s dining companion for several minutes at their table, wrote that he told Murray about seeing him perform an evening of song and spoken-word pieces with cellist Jan Vogler in 2018 at Proctors in Schenectady.
“I wanted to tell him how much I loved that show. He was very polite and friendly,” Banks said in an interview Friday morning. “If he’d been out in a park in New York City or something, it might have been wackier, but he didn’t seem to feel like he needed to perform, to put on a show. He was just having a good time over din
ner.”
Banks admitted to playing it cool during the conversation with one of his idols, saying, “I didn’t want to sound as totally obsessed as I am.”
Banks’ excitement comes out in his Facebook post, which concludes, “I’m not kidding when I say this was one of the biggest highlights of my entire life.”
Four games will be played today at MVP Arena, with tip-offs from 2 to 9:55 p.m. The start times for Sunday’s second round will be announced Saturday.
A block party is being held all weekend on a closed South Pearl Street in front of the arena, with food trucks, music and large screens showing the Saturday games being played elsewhere.
The opening weekend of the NCAA men’s tournament is being held in eight cities.
It is returning to Albany for the since time since 2003.