Saturday, March 17, 2007

THE NCAA TOURNEY: You've Got to WANT to Watch

During college, it was easy. Be sick, skip class, whatever I had to do. My brother and I were going to watch the NCAA tourney. However, since starting my “career” in the real world, the Thursday and Friday of the first weekend of March Madness has been a huge challenge. Since everyone I work with knows I’m into sports, and especially college bball, calling in sick those days doesn’t really work for me. So, I’m learning how to get myself in front of a TV during work hours on those days. It’s not been easy.

My first year out of school, working in a new town, I didn’t really have a good idea of where to go. So, I headed over to a department store, figured out how to change the channel on one of the TVs, and stood there for over an hour watching the tournament. The employees’ eyeballs can only sear your flesh for so long before you become immune to it. On days like this, it didn’t matter. After being asked if I needed any help for the third time, they determined I was probably not there to purchase a 42”, or a SD Video cable, or even a Spaceballs DVD.

Another year, my sister and I headed to a mom-and-pop cafeteria where we knew there would be a TV. Usually, no one is paying attention to it, and we figured it would be no problem to have it tuned to CBS. Well, with a little coercion, we were nodding our heads to the March Madness theme music. Just as Clark Kellogg was serenading us, the owner’s granddaughter decides it’s her time to watch cartoons, which I suppose are much more important to her. As panic set in, I tried convincing myself that the guys from Wiggles are actually semi-talented. Maybe they are, but I wasn’t going to find out. Not this day.

I dragged some of my work buddies to a well-known sandwich shop one year, knowing that the TVs were there and reachable. Well, that turned out to be a bad thing, as all my 6’4” reach was able to do is shut down the cable box. This resulted in me being asked not to “mess with the television.” What is the deal? Does no one in this town watch the best tournament known to man? Again, the familiar panic and frustration set in.

This year, I am once again trying to enjoy the NCAA’s March Madness On Demand, which is a spectacular idea from the NCAA heads. So, I’ve scouted out locations where I can get Wi-Fi access to watch the games, and I can only come up with one place. Krystal. The southern version of Harold and Kumar would be proud. So, I’m sitting here now, surprised at another year of how the tournament viewing has gone for me. I have to do it though, because the alternative is to not watch, and that’s not an alternative.

3 comments:

J. Jay said...

Thanks for the comment on my blog. How dd U find it?

JJ

http://jaysjabberwocky.blogspot.com

Picasso said...

Great question. It's pretty much impossible to find other good blogs on Blogspot as far as I've been able to tell. I started selecting "Next Blog", and yours came up. Good stuff.

PV

ptv15@blogspot.com

amitytv said...

I agree. It's so hyped these days, with all the focus on the commercialization of the tournament. Only the true fans are those who schedule their yearly vacations around March every year. Everybody else is just posing.