Men's Complete Life

Resources for the Complete Man- health, wellness, self-improvement

Menu
  • Mental Health
  • Physical Health
  • Reviews
  • About Me
  • Privacy Policy
Menu

Who Doesn’t Love March Madness?

Posted on March 16, 2018March 20, 2018 by Mat A.

Who Doesn’t Love March Madness?

Yes, it’s a bit dumb in a way because I know there are MANY people out there who don’t really love this time of year and in particular March Madness.  I just got done filling out a bracket with my 15 year old daughter and I loved it!  I love it that she is into it and wants to watch as much as possible.  Heck, I even just signed up for a week long free trial with HULU so we can watch as many games as possible over the coming 4 day opening bell of March Madness.  They just added a feature of “Live TV” that will allow viewers to watch the vast majority, if not all, of the March Madness games on the 5 networks broadcasting the games.  So we know how this game is going to go, I’ll have to wind up paying for the first month after the free trial but who cares, it’s worth it!!

A Fun Memory

So when I was in college I followed the basketball and football teams for the most part.  I want to University of Missouri-Columbia, otherwise known as MU.  We were always rivals with KU which was in Lawrence, Kansas not too far down the highway.  Typically MU had a better football team (not always but usually) and KU always has the better basketball team.  Most years they are a #1 seed.

When I lived in Springfield, MO with and managed a Kinko’s store one of my best friends managed the other Kinko’s stores in town.  Across the street from his Kinko’s store was a hotel with a pretty decent bar with a lot of TV’s.  For 2 straight years he would take vacation days on the first Thursday and Friday of March Madness.  You know the one two days that have 16 games per day?  He would set up shop about 11AM in the bar and alternate Bud Lights with Diet Cokes.  For 12 hours straight.  He would invite his fellow coworkers over to have lunch and watch games with him throughout the day.  When I got done working across town I’d typically come hang with him for a while after I got off at 6PM.  By the time I got there he was typically having a difficult time focusing his eyes in the same direction or speaking words very clearly.

In The Office

You know it and I know it.  The parking lot at my work will be 1/3 empty to start the day off.  There will be a higher percentage than usual of “sick” people out Thursday and even more on Friday.  I do get my own office and my computer screens face against a wall where the casual passerby can’t tell what I am watching.  This is a good thing.  When I walk around the cube farm that is the office I work out I guarantee 75% of the computer screens will have a game playing on them in at least a corner or one of the browsers.  Lunches will tend to last well past the 1 hour mark.  We have a pretty nice break/lunch room that has a big ass TV in it along with a keg.  Come mid-afternoon the crowd will begin to swell and someone will hook up the keg.  By 4:00PM there will be a good size crowd in there.  My guess is by noon on Friday the place will be pretty darn quiet.

It’s A Great Weekend

In my opinion the MOST fun is Thursday and Friday of the opening weekend of March Madness.  I love it because from noon until close to midnight there are almost always at least 2 games on.  There is non-stop action for almost 12 hours.  And then you bleed into the weekend days of Saturday and Sunday and each of those days there’s 8 games so it’s close to non-stop action.  Every bar in town with a television has a good size crowd starting at lunch time and it stays busy throughout the afternoon.  By the time the sun gets lower on the horizon it’s difficult to find a seat anywhere and the volume is on a permanent high level.  The feel good juice flows at a steady pace and eyes start to glaze over.  It’s the bonding over the love of sports.  And hopefully no tempers raise when someone’s alma mater goes down.

Added Bonus

As an added bonus this March Madness opening weekend it’s St. Patrick’s Day on Saturday.  As if folks didn’t have enough of a reason to hoist a glass or 7 you’ve got the green day ON TOP OF March Madness.  One has to wonder what the street will be like over the weekend.  To be honest it might be a good idea to not go in too deep to a place with a lot of bars around.  I had the “experience” of going to a place called Westport in Kansas City one St. Patrick’s Day.  This is one of those areas of town that is a little older and has lots of bars and restaurants and pubs and several of them have an “O” in front of them like O’Dowd’s.  To say the crowd was rocking is a gross understatement.  I vaguely remember getting down there around noon and the place was already wall to wall in the street.  Somehow we made it to later in the afternoon which was surprising considering the massive nature of the crowd.  It was like a single drunk organism, shifting and swaying and laughing and cursing and spilling and stumbling.  Probably better to stay away from those type situations on a weekend such as this.

Sunday

At the end of the long fun filled weekend there will be 16 teams left standing, your Sweet Sixteen.  The culmination of a wild raucous weekend with (hopefully) many a thrilling finish.  Then will begin the week with the talking heads over analyzing which of the 16 teams have the best chance of winning it all and which underdog would make the best Cinderella story.  From my neck of the woods something fun like what happened in 2013 when the #9 seed Wichita State Shockers made it all the way to the final four.  Along the way they beat #2 seed Ohio State and #1 seed Gonzaga.  What a fun ride.

Here’s to another awesome round of March Madness!!

 

Enjoy my friends – and yes, that’s my Mizzou shirt!

Mat A.

 

Mat A.

Please follow and like us:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon

4 thoughts on “Who Doesn’t Love March Madness?”

  1. Sergej says:
    March 20, 2018 at 3:52 pm

    Wow, very interesting the march madness. It sounds like you have a lot of fun on those days.

    In Germany, we have similar days like these. For example carnival (we celebrate it in February and November). Jesus, those days are just crazy. It seems like people transform into drunk animals dressed in the weirdest costumes. But I personally like it. You have a lot of fun and have finally a reason to drink during the week 😛

    I suppose the march madness is all about basketball. Do you also have a month for football? Like December Disaster 🙂

    A very fun article enjoyed reading it.

    All the Best,
    Sergej

    Reply
    1. Mat A. says:
      March 20, 2018 at 6:08 pm

      Hey Sergej,

      They are a lot of fun.  Even though I had a busy weekend I managed to catch a lot of the games.  There was a lot off upsets and a few buzzer beaters, quite exciting indeed!

      We do have a period at the end of one year and beginning of the next for college football, it’s a lot of fun.

      Carnival sounds like a fun time!

      Reply
  2. Matt's Mom says:
    March 26, 2018 at 12:15 am

    My dad always visits during this. I don’t normally watch basketball, I actually hate it. But he brings out the fun, and we enjoy sitting down watching the games. We don’t always want the same team to win, which makes it even more fun! So March Madness to me is a lot of great memories with my dad!

    Reply
    1. Mat A. says:
      March 26, 2018 at 1:04 am

      Wow that sounds like a win-win!  I don’t typically watch basketball either but the excitement of March Madness changes that for me.  I’m so glad it brings back great memories with you dad!  I actually just watched KU pull out a win over Duke to go to the Final 4 with my 15 year old daughter – she was cheering more than me!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

  • How To Speak Up At Work Without Being Offensive
  • 7 Ground Rules for Dealing with Interpersonal Conflict at Work
  • How Hard Is It To Change Your Attitude
  • How Does Volunteering Benefit You
  • What To Do On Father’s Day

Categories

  • Life Lessons (107)
  • Mental Health (112)
  • My Recommendations (75)
  • Physical Health (49)
  • Reviews (10)
  • Uncategorized (11)

Recent Comments

  • Mat A. on How To Practice Active Listening (A Step by Step Guide)
  • Mat A. on How To Practice Active Listening (A Step by Step Guide)
  • Benny on How To Practice Active Listening (A Step by Step Guide)
  • Mike Ramen on How To Practice Active Listening (A Step by Step Guide)
  • Mat A. on Why Are People So Flaky?

Archives

  • March 2021
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017




Follow & Like Us ;)

Get new posts by email

Please follow :)

RSS
Follow by Email
Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
Tweet
Instagram
© 2022 Men's Complete Life | Powered by Superbs Personal Blog theme
error

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)

  • RSS
  • Follow by Email
  • Facebook
    Facebook
    fb-share-icon
  • Twitter
    Visit Us
    Follow Me
    Tweet
  • Instagram