This is my favorite time of the sports year. I invest weeks in advance of the Big Dance "getting in shape" by watching as much basketball as I can squeeze in between work, kids' sports and other activities. When these few days come around, I'm ready. It is particularly excellent now that my boys join me in this annual ritual. We keep brackets, high five over great plays, give each other a hard time as our brackets disintegrate, and text scores and commentary back and forth when not together.
For those who know me, they understand I am a serious University of Kentucky basketball fan. I grew up in the long shadows of Memorial Colosseum (now the Lady Cats' home court) and later Rupp Arena. My earliest basketball memories are of being with my dad a few rows behind the Cats' bench with Rupp coaching in Memorial Colosseum (yeah, I'm ancient!) and later watching Hall, Sutton, Pitino, Smith, Gillispie and now Calipari lead my Cats. I pick Kentucky to be in the Final Four ever year - in September before the season starts.
It used to be that March Madness was a season of joyous anticipation punctuated by network-induced anguish as my Wildcats' games were inevitably preempted by lessor teams while the Cat's built a lead or by regional coverage polices ignorant of the Big Blue Nation's omnipresence. A few years ago, CBS Sports began to stream game coverage of multiple games - a monumental breakthrough. This was tempered by antiquated blackout policies that meant Kentucky games were frequently not available.
Here we are in 2011 and technology has come to my rescue. All games are now available live on four broadcast/cable channels: CBS, TBS, TNT and Tru. This development is so significant, I would have been happy throughout this year's tournament, especially in the first and second rounds when games overlap. But wait, there's more: enter the NCAA March Madness on Demand iPad app. I am in heaven. EVERY game is available in real time. In addition, I can keep brackets updated, watch in-game highlights, view live box scores, receive pregame and in-game alerts for my Cats & other teams, and keep up with just about every facet of the Tournament. I can even watch 1st and 2nd round afternoon games. UK barely beat Princeton late Thursday afternoon while I was on a conference call simultaneously working on my laptop (I hope you can keep a secret!).
The app's full screen video is excellent. Switching between games and accessing other features is intuitively effortless. I have noticed that a good signal is needed, or the video gets sluggish and fuzzy. Sound quality is excellent. If the signal gets too weak for video, the audio continues to stream so you don't miss the flow of the game. Video does lag the CBS, TBS, TNT and Tru signals by about a minute. Did I mention EVERY game is available? Did I mention FREE? Thanks go to AT&T, Coke Zero and Capital One for their sponsorship.
If you love March Madness and have an iPad, the NCAA March Madness on Demand iPad app is a must. If you don't have an iPad, this app is all the reason you need to buy one. Splurge and get the iPad 2 while you're at it.
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