As you may know, March Madness is upon us. The first round, which is March 16th to March 17th, will include a whopping 64 teams from across the country.
This year’s National Championship and Final Four games will be held in Arizona at the University of Phoenix Stadium – the first time the games have been held in the west since 1995. If you are not one of the lucky fans living near Phoenix, or if you did not want to spend the money (the average Final Four ticket this year was $477) you should still follow the games. Even if you are not into basketball, March Madness is always exciting and is a good way to spice up date night this month!
Fill Out a Bracket
You do not have to be a college basketball expert in order to fill out a bracket. The tournament is known for its shocking upsets, and many diehard fans even have a hard time predicting the winner. Last year, the tournament had a number of upset wins, such as 15th seeded Middle Tennessee State defeating Michigan State in the first round.
Print off a bracket, fill it out, and head to a bar. Make it a competition between you and your partner over who gets the most predictions correct. This tournament is always filled with breathtaking finishes and Cinderella stories, so even if you know nothing about basketball and you date someone who’s an expert, there is a chance you may have a better bracket (which would deserve bragging rights for a long time).
Sports Bar SpecialsThis is the time to take advantage of all the specials offered at sports bars on food and drinks. You will find that many bars have reduced prices on pints and pitchers of beer for March Madness.
Village Pourhouse in NYC does a special with a cooler stocked with domestic beer for $120. Some restaurants and bars are even doing chicken wings for 50 cents! Chickie’s and Pete’s in Philadelphia has an all-you-can-eat menu during the games that includes items like nachos and mussels.
If you want to go to a bar where you can cheer on your alma mater and be surrounded by fello
w fans, you can research where to go to watch the game. This list, by the Chicago Tribune, tells fans which bars in Chicago have owners that support the same team as they do, because it is always more fun to cheer your favorite team while among like-minded fans.
Make it a Home Game
March Madness could be a good excuse to have date night at home if you are sick of going out, or if you are on a budget.
There are more ways than ever to watch the game this year. CBS just announced it will live stream the games over a record-setting 15 platforms, like Roku and Xbox. If you like to host, you could even use this opportunity to have a March Madness-themed party and send out brackets as party invitations to other couples. There are endless basketball-themed recipes and drinking game ideas online as well.
March Madness may not be an official holiday, but it is always a time of year filled with celebration and rivalry. Good luck filling out your brackets!
Featured Image by Steven Buyansky on Flickr
Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
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Mary St.Thomas
March 15, 2017 at 3:57 pm
Another great article…Love March Madness just a little sad my teams not in it!