I was pretty steamed when the folks who run the U.S. Cellular Center told me they wanted $13,000 to rent the building for our Metro Sports Report basketball event this year.

As it turned out, they did us a big favor.

Forced to look elsewhere, our friends at Kirkwood Community College came through like champs and let us stage the first Metro Sports Report.com Classic at Johnson Hall.

I hope we never leave.

More than 1,000 people filed through the doors Saturday to attend our Pride Challenge Scrimmages that featured all eight boys basketball teams from Cedar Rapids and Marion.

If you were there Saturday, you know what great fun we had. And if you were not there, you sure missed a good party.

The games were fun and gave everyone a sneak-peek for the regular season, but the MSR Classic also featured a world-class juggler, two fantastic dance teams, a spirited drum line, Santa Saxes, cheerleaders, talented singers, fan contests, T-shirt giveaways and hundreds of Toys For Tots for the holidays.

Kirkwood athletic director Doug Wagemester and his staff were terrific hosts and made us feel right at home. We're already talking about next year's event and the possibility of adding a comparable MSR Classic for girls teams.

Thanks very much to everyone who made our first basketball event such a big hit. We'll certainly do it again.

In the meantime, please keep reading the MetroSportsReport.com website to keep up with the latest news about the Metro high schools, Kirkwood, the RoughRiders and the Kernels.

We launched the website in January of 2011, and sometime this month we'll reach 3 million pageviews in a little less than three years.

We could not have done it without all of you.