Pre-partying: March Madness Style

Or maybe I just won something for writing the longest sentence (454 characters) … you’ll never know, but yousee what I mean.

The sights and sounds of Opening Day in baseball is a beautiful thing to witness in person. There’s no greater sports spectacle than the two weeks of pageantry and hype surrounding the Super Bowl. The World Cup and Olympics darken the doorway every four years with individuals who become household names for a few weeks and ultimately remind us that no matter what path we’re walking, we’re all the same ground trying to get to the same place. The colors and sounds of the Daytona 500 awaken winter, while the most exciting two minutes in sports get your heart racing as 80 hooves thunder atop the dirt for a quarter mile to crown a king. However, for my money, the best of all sporting events among them all is March Madness.

The NCAA Basketball tournament is like 64 little Super Bowls mixed with the optimism of opening day baseball that your 12^th-seeded team can be Cinderella that makes them the nation’s darlings for three weeks. Even when the clock strikes midnight, there’s still likely to be a compelling Olympic-esque story or two which will engulf you back into the fold with numerous racing-like photo finish endings.

Overlooked in the greatness of the middle of March is a week that I find nearly as exciting as The Madness: Conference Tournament Week. It’s like going to a great restaurant and before you dig into that amazing main course you’ve had time-and-again, you’re presented with a nearly equally fantastic appetizer for starters. While the stakes may not be as high, it’s the same premise as the tournament itself … put together a little win streak and your playing in the spotlight where schools like Drexel and Hampton get mentioned on ESPN in the same breath as Kansas and Kentucky for a couple days.

Seven of the last 10 years I’ve found myself in Las Vegas, not only to support my alma mater in person at their conference tournament, but to be in the middle of all the other conference action across the nation. Sure, going a week later has exponentially more drama and excitement, but also patrons and lines as well. Plus, in the “real” tournament, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are off days. What other time of the year can you and your buddies be perched in a leather chair at Caesars with a tall glass of some liquid libation, a breakfast burrito and a pocketful of tickets at 10:00am Monday morning with the likes of Rutgers +6 and Old Dominion -4 setting the tone for the remainder of the day … or week?

So, whether you’re rooting for your team to get included in The Dance, or using the week as research for the following week, I find it difficult to not give this week its rightful dues. While you’re busy filling out your bracket on March 15^th (for entertainment purposes only, of course) make sure you’ve also got some time penciled in to watch some of the games at your local barto play along in Buzztime’s new interactive sports game, The Pulse. I’ll be out there on a leader board near you and I betcha the next plate of wings that my name’s ahead of yours thanks to the “research” I did in Vegas the week before. Cheers to us and cheers to March Madness!

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