March is a month that armchair quarterbacks wait for. With the Big Game one month in the past, focus turns to pro baseball, the playoff drive in the NBA and NHL, watching the buildup to the Masters (if that’s your thing), watching the Brier (if you’re Canadian and a curling fan), seeing how the salary cap affects your fantasy football keeper leagues, and most importantly, the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament.
To be honest, the significance of the tournament doesn’t have much to do with television. Rather, it’s known as one of the bigger productivity killers in the workplace each year, as avid fans, duffers and gambling addicts all come together to compete in an office pool consisting of 62 (or 63) games set in a tournament bracket (for entertainment purposes, of course). Upsets happen frequently in the tournament and it helps to even out the advantage the savvy NCAA aficionado has over someone who doesn’t watch sports at all.
Mind you, with 63 games, you’re going to get some pretty entertaining matches to watch, and early on in the Tournament, it’s worth taking a “long lunch” from work on Thursday or Friday to watch some games at your local public house over some beverages and snacks. Not that I advocate that, but then again, I work at home.
People may notice their significant others speaking some strange jargon throughout the month, mentioning things like “the trey”, “posting up” and “over/under” – words that have never escaped their mouths before, but flow out like they’ve been saying them their entire lives. Don’t panic – this goes away in mid-April. Still, following the tournament is a lot of fun, even if you’re overwhelmed at first. So jump in, join the fun, and embrace the madness.
IP Linkage
– My Idol cohort Josh Clinton mistakes Latin for Spanish (easy enough to do). For the record, the line was paraphrased from the theme song to Mr. Bean, and said (more or less) “Behold the man who is a bean – animated”.
– Paul Sebert provides some questionably Crisis counseling.
– Matt Basilo talks Lost.
– Bill Simmons prints an email from Michelangelo (check out the “Lazy Sunday” question)?
What I Watched:
Thursday:
‘Survivor: Panama’ (CBS) – Poor Bobby. It was predictable, but it’s sad to see a guy go from hero in one challenge to booted off at Tribal Council.
Reward Challenge – Toss Relay – Once the teams got into a rhythm, it came down to chopping, and Bobby proved that he’s a mean man with a cleaver.
Immunity Challenge – Coffin Corner – For some reason, Casaya is at a disadvantage when it comes to diving. If it weren’t for having to travel all the way down to the bottom, they’d be gold. If only it were that easy…
‘American Idol’ (Fox) – Carrie Underwood showed tonight why she didn’t deserve to win last year. Was it as bad as Brenna? Well, it wasn’t THAT bad, but I’d have rated it about 3.5 based on my ratings so far this year.
Mind you, Bo is performing tonight, so let’s see if he does any better.
‘My Name is Earl’ (NBC) – Darnell’s Canadian?
‘The Office’ (NBC) – Is it wrong of me to absolutely detest Dwight?
Sunday:
‘Cold Case’ (CBS)
‘CSI’ (CBS)
Monday:
’24’ (Fox) – Call me a cynic, but shouldn’t Edgar have died sometime BEFORE he reached ops? Aside from that, it was a great two hours, as we see: Tony start the Superman comeback that will likely end in a to-the-death struggle with Henderson; The tables turned on CTU as someone infiltrates their headquarters; Curtis somehow eluding death once again; and continuing their OTHER method of writing characters out of the show, Chase’s disappearance is explained away in about two seconds. Good work.
As for next week, previews tell us that “someone must make the ultimate sacrifice”, and I’m guessing that it’ll be Lynn. But for nostalgic reasons, I hope its Barry as he runs around screaming “WOLVERINES! WOLVERINES!”
‘CSI: Miami’ (CTV, CBS) – After two hours of Jack Bauer, it’s nice to settle in with an hour of Horatio’s craggy face.
Tuesday:
‘American Idol’ (CTV, Fox) – Katherine and Mandisa should be Top 3
‘The Unit’ (CBS) – Good start to the show.
‘The Amazing Race’ (CTV, CBS) – Yeah, I know. I’m shocked that watched it as well…
Wednesday:
‘American Idol’ (Fox)
‘Lost’ (ABC)
‘CSI: New York’
Bits and Pieces
– Memo to Eric: As you’ve noticed, Bob Reiss is taking over duties for all things Galactica, since Closs and I are having trouble finding time to giving the show the recap it deserves. Oh, and you were right about Zarek.
– Rio mp3 shuffle of cheeseZen:
1) Angels – Robbie Williams
2) The Way You Move – OutKast
3) Middle of Nowhere – Hot Hot Heat
4) Man I Used To Be – K-Os
5) Don’t Look Back – Fine Young Cannibals
6) When You’re Gone – Bryan Adams and Melanie C.
7) This Charming Man – The Smiths
8) I Can Dream About You – Dan Hartman
9) Numb/Encore – Jay-Z and Linkin Park
10) It’s Gonna Be Me – ‘NSync
11) Let It Go – Melissa O’Neil
12) Let Me Entertain You – Robbie Williams
13) Fat Lip – Sum 41
14) Fix You – Coldplay
That’s it for this week.
