March Madness Survival Kit

The field has been set and the brackets filled out, now the only thing left to do is prepare for the marathon of basketball that you are about to consume over the next few weeks. This next weekend, well Thursday through Sunday, is easily the most exciting weekend of sports at any point in the year but in order to get through it, you may need a March Madness Survival Kit.


Items needed:

 - A great acting job to pretend that you are sick and need to leave the office at about 11:20 on Thursday. This needs to be done very well in order to play it off the next day as still being sick.

- On the way home, swing by the store and pick up your choice of beverage and some chips while ordering a pizza over the phone at the same time

- Collect every laptop computer available in your home, move the coffee table so it sits roughly 3 feet from you and log on to cbssportsline.com, so you can stream every game available

- Go grab a cooler that is big enough to fit all of your beverages but not so big that it becomes a hurdle while sprinting to the restroom during the under four minute timeout. Place it at the end of the couch so you can simply reach down and have a cool refreshment at arms reach. Also, this is a great place to store items such as pickles, lunch meat, and conditments.

- Now that your watching space is complete with 4 monitors and an assortment of beverage and food options you need to collect your brackets, (the copies you made of your own so you can score along while watching the games) a highlighter, a pen and a blank bracket for which you will fill in the correct winners. Use your highlighter to mark to any wins and  your pen to cross out any misses.

- This should have went without saying, but if you have not already done so, put on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt for maximum comfort.

- Put your feet up, relax and be ready to enter into the greatest 96 hours of sports on TV

For Your Viewing Pleasure:

We know that it can be tricky to determine which game you want to watch on the main television when there are three or four options out there so here are some rules to live by and to be followed in this order:

1. Always choose the game that has the two closest seeds playing eachother.

2. Flip to any game that is within 6 points with less than two minutes to play

3. Regardless of score spread, always be sure to watch the final, at a minimum, minute of a huge upset simply to watch the on court celebration afterwards

4. Find the game with the most exciting individual player

Tiebreaker: If Clark Kellogg is announcing one of the tied games, you always choose his

Suggested Viewing Schedule (2 Monitor System):

Thursday

12:15 Michigan St. vs Valpo (Main Screen)

12:40 Butler vs Bucknell (Main Screen) / Michigan St. vs Valpo (Monitor # 2)

1:40 Pittsburgh vs Wichita St (Main Screen)  / Butler vs Bucknell (Monitor #2)

2:10 Pittsburgh vs Wichita St (Main Screen) / St. Louis vs New Mexico St (Monitor #2)

4:00-4:40 Whatever game is the most exciting

4:40: Oklahoma St. vs Oregon (Main Screen) / Gonzaga vs Southern (Monitor #2)

7:15 Michigan vs South Dakota St. (Main Screen) / Arizona vs Belmont (Monitor # 2)

7:27 UNLV vs Cal (Main Screen)/ Michigan vs South Dakota St. (Monitor #2)

9:20 Colorado St. vs Mizzou (Main Screen)

9:45 VCU vs Akron (Main Screen) / Colorado St. vs Mizzou (Monitor # 2)

Friday

12:40 Wisconsin vs Ole Miss (Main Screen)

1:40 NC State vs Temple (Main Screen) / Wisconsin vs Ole Miss (Monitor # 2)

2:45 Creighton vs Cincy (Main Screen) / NC State vs Temple (Monitor # 2)

3:10 Creighton vs Cincy (Main Screen) / Kansas St. vs Boise St or La Salle (Monitor # 2)

4:40 Illinois vs Colorado (Main Screen) / Creighton vs Cincy (Monitor # 2)

7:20 UNC vs Villanova (Main Screen) / Georgetown vs Florida Golf Coast (Monitor # 2)

9:20 San Diego St vs Oklahoma (Main Screen)

9:45 San Diego St. vs Oklahoma (Main Screen) / Notre Dame vs Iowa St (Monitor # 2)

9:57 UCLA vs Minnesota (Main Screen) / San Diego St. vs Oklahoma (Monitor # 2)