March Madness

I love the NCAA tournament. I fill out my bracket and turn in my 5 dollar bet just like everyone else. The only difference is that I truly don't care how I do, in fact, I can never remember who I picked by the time the first game starts! I took off Thursday and Friday to watch the games and by the end of the second round I have an idea of who's who but I still can't reconcile that to my picks.

Thursday we went to Champp's to watch the games. With all the tv's, it was a great place to hang out. We spent the entire afternoon there and left after the second round. We figured it would be better to be home for the night games so we don't have to worry about designated drivers and we can watch the games in PJ's - nice and comfy.

Friday it was snowing so hard when we got up that we didn't even think about spending the day in a bar. We did go out to get some groceries early in the day since it was supposed to keep snowing even harder by the afternoon. The thought did cross our minds to stop as we got closer to Champps, but we decided that since the storm was going to keep getting worse (and it did) it was best to pack it in at home.

The games were great, always exciting and there's something special about college basketball more so than many other sports. And NCAA time is so much fun. It's become a big part of the coming of spring for us.

The second Friday, we went to a Third Ward Bar called Fanatics. The place was pretty unobtrusive from the outside, but inside was pretty cool. They have a 9-panel television with 6 smaller tv's, 3 on each side of the large one. There are leather reclining chairs surrounding the televisions with curved booths behind them so there's a great view everywhere. Behind the booths are bleacher seats to watch the games. The waitstaff was really nice and the food was decent. The menu was very limited, but that was OK. And the best part was the prices were reasonable, unlike most Third Ward establishments.

Wherever we went the talk is all about the games. It doesn't matter whether chatting with friends or total stranger, everyone is into March madness.