Saturday Roundtable - March Madness!

If it’s Saturday, even a packed one like today, it must be the roundtable where I ask the staff some questions and we discuss.

Selection Sunday is tomorrow. I know we are all excited about where Purdue is going and who Purdue is playing but since we don’t know any of that I wanted to ask about March Madness is general. What’s your process/setup for watching those first glorious days where it’s games all day? Multiple TVs? One and flipping? With friends/family? Stuck at work? How will you handle the madness?

Jumbo Heroes:

For me it all depends on the year. When I was young and had my first real job I saved up time off to use for these two days specifically. I would generally order some pizza and sit around and watch all the games. That would generally entail a TV, a laptop, and two ipads so that I could watch as many games as possible. Now, as an adult with responsibilities I know that the best bet is to just take half a day off each day so that you can save that PTO. Plus, now the March Madness app is going to be a huge help. Most of my watching will be on my 70 inch TV, much bigger than any TV I’ve ever had, but I’ll still have an ipad and a laptop handy. Two of the best days of the year. I can’t wait.

Jed:

Unfortunately, as a teacher I am stuck at work during one of the most glorious times of the year. That being said, I am a social studies teacher and although we have a penchant for plugging movies in when we ‘want to get work done,’ I try to stay away from that stigma as much as possible. That being said, I throw the games up on the front screen with no sound and work with students on worksheets and reading guides knowing students today typically have some sort of small distraction around them while they work at home. I hope Purdue plays after the school day is over so I can devote my full attention to the game but I know that may not happen and I’ll probably suffer a bit not being able to do so.

Ryan:

I swear, this answer has changed every year since I started watching the tournament religiously in high school. Back then, streaming had just become a thing and data was not unlimited. I blew through 90 percent of my family’s data plan in just the first round. Needless to say, we switched to unlimited data the following year. I stuck to that strategy of streaming and switching during school until I went to Purdue. Then I became a multi-device streamer, so I set up the laptop, tv, phone, and usually someone else’s laptop for the mega screen setup. The key is to run HDMI cables from the laptops so you have full TVs to view. I usually did that or went out with friends to a sports bar to watch. Having the first day of games on St. Patrick’s Day last year was awesome, as the group of friends and I went to the parade, drank green beer, and celebrated the upsets (including St. Peters over UK...). This year, I will be in the office on Thursday for the first time, so I will have to adapt. Luckily, I work from home Friday so I can do my mega-screen set up in the background. Viva La March!

Gabi:

Let the madness begin!!! I’ll be home and since I don’t have multiple TVs set up in one room I usually will be flipping between games. Of course I will be scrolling Twitter to see which big buzzer beat shot I inevitably will miss. I tune into all Big Ten teams and root for them unless Purdue loses; then it‘s the hell with you all. And I don’t do game days without a glorious spread; good appetizers, cold beer and fireball will be on the menu.