St. Louis ? Former Lawrence residents Kathryn O’Keefe and Thomas McCaughan washed down corned beef sandwiches with an Irish coffee  heavy on the Jameson’s  in Dogtown’s legendary pub, Seamus McDaniel’s.

“We toast the Jayhawks,” said O’Keefe, feeling giddy Friday about the good fortune of simultaneous celebrations in St. Louis of Kansas University’s appearance in the NCAA Tournament and pre-St. Patrick’s Day parties.

Folks sitting nearby at the neighborhood bar, with apparently no connection to KU, honored the toast by inhaling blasts from 17-ounce drafts of thick-as-motor-oil Guinness and its lighter brethren, Harp.

“Yes,” McCaughan added, “And we hope they play with the luck of the Irish.”

Tonight, on the heels of St. Louis’ Downtown Parade of marching bands, enormous helium-filled balloons, Irish dancers and elaborate floats  witnessed by as many as 350,000 people lining Broadway and Market Street  the Jayhawks will take on Stanford at the Edward Jones Dome for a berth in the Sweet 16.

Off-day activities

On Friday, thousands of Kansas fans in St. Louis did what they could to shake off the Jayhawks’ tottery first-round victory by spending the day sightseeing, shopping and, like folks elsewhere, sitting in front of a television watching tournament games.

They explored the Anheuser-Busch Brewery complex, checked out Science Center artifacts from the ill-fated Titanic, scanned the world’s largest collection of mosaic art at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis and took an injection of soulful blues along cobblestone streets of Laclede’s Landing.

Under the shadow of the Gateway Arch, Nathan Schmidt of Topeka and Dustin Meza of Lawrence walked to the western bank of the Mississippi River and ceremoniously spit into the broad, barge-filled waterway.

“We needed to do it, and KU needs us to do it,” said Schmidt, a Washburn University student and part-time computer programmer for the Kansas Department of Revenue.

KU Coach Roy Williams started the spittle craze in 1993, when he had the Jayhawks players drop one each into the Mississippi for luck prior to winning two NCAA regional games and earning a spot in the Final Four in New Orleans.

Up in the Arch

More than 630 feet above the river, the Bukaty family of Overland Park swayed from side to side in the nation’s tallest manmade monument.

“It was as good as a roller coaster ride,” said Preston Bukaty, 11.

“Everything was really small from up there,” in the Arch, said his brother, 9-year-old Harrison Bukaty.

But the part that amazed Bob Maguire and Jay Hurley, father of Holy Cross freshman basketball player John Hurley, was the courage required of craftsmen to build the gleaming steel arch portal to the West.

Maguire and Hurley, both from Boston, are union ironworkers who were in town to appreciate Arch Madness. They’ve worked over the past quarter century on Bean Town landmarks stretching 40, 50 and 60 stories into the sky.

“I always wanted to come to St. Louis,” said Hurley, who was among about 6,000 people Friday who rode elevators to the Arch’s peak. “I wasn’t disappointed.”

Rain showers  light in the morning, heavy in the evening  spoiled opportunities to do much outdoors.

Looking for diversion

Ken Howard of Mission and Darren Newkirk of Overland Park had to scrap a golf outing to the Cherry Hills course on the Illinois side of the metropolitan area.

“Plan B is to go to the Jayhawks’ practice,” Howard said.

Sorry, closed practice.

“Well,” said Newkirk, “I guess we’ll go to the boats.”

That’s not a yachting excursion  it’s a trip to the riverboat casinos docked on the river near the Arch. They were willing to drop $50 to $100 if it got their mind off the possibility of a KU loss today.

Rain had the opposite effect on Rod Gurski, a drummer in the Stanford Pep Band. The group was the only participant in a Battle of the College Bands that was to involve all four winning schools from the first day of the tournament in St. Louis.

The KU and Tulsa bands were no-shows at the Market Street plaza, and the Kentucky musicians stayed only long enough to eat a pile of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

“Doesn’t matter. This is awesome,” Gurski said.

The real diversion

Newton teen-ager Dylan Schoonover and his mother, Ruthann, were content to stay warm and dry in the Union Station mall. Both scored autographs of some of their favorite KU players, including Drew Gooden, Wayne Simien and Jeff Boschee.

Ruthann Schoonover had Simien sign a Journal-World sports page.

“I’m a memorabilia freak,” said Dylan, a junior at Washburn Rural High School.

His mom had another reason to wait anxiously near the exit of the mall’s hotel, which is playing host to the KU basketball team. She wanted to give Coach Roy Williams an 1896 silver dollar that belonged to her mother, Marian Komarek, who died of cancer 13 years ago.

“She loved basketball,” Ruthann said. “I know Coach Williams does a lot for cancer charities. The coin meant a lot to mom. I want Roy to have it for good luck.”

When Williams walked by, she placed the dollar in his hand and quickly whispered the reason.

“Thank you,” he said before hugging her shoulders.

“Good luck from me and Mom,” she replied.