March Madness: It's not just business as usual

  By Jennifer Little, Senior Vice President, Consumer

As an avid college sports fan, the excitement and anticipation of March Madness is already being felt these last few days of February. I’m ready to find out who is “on the bubble”, see who is crowned this year’s “Cinderella team” and try to predict the “upsets”. With the Final Four (men’s) in Houston, it will be great to have basketball fans descend to Texas again weeks after North Texas hosted the Super Bowl (anyone know the odds of a weather disaster in Houston in April?).

Over the years, I’ve worked conference basketball tournaments as well as NCAA regional events. The atmosphere behind the scenes in the media room is just as thrilling and disappointing as seen on television. The players want to win and are crushed after a tournament loss. The coaches are skilled at encouraging the competition yet take the blame for not performing. From a media relations standpoint, there are many opportunities to observe different spokespersons and interview styles among these coaches and players.

In the world outside of hoops, March is also an exciting month, but everything in my opinion revolves around basketball. Daylight Savings Time starts on March 13, which is also Selection Show Sunday so it stays lighter longer for game watching and patio socializing. The weather also begins to get nicer even in some of the coldest spots in the country which doesn’t affect the conditions on the court, but helps travel weather. St. Patrick’s Day is March 17, adding extra celebration to Second Round games and providing ultimate craziness for the teams with green school colors. Many students across the country enjoy Spring Break in March adding to the travel fun of the tournament among college students in particular. Companies operating on a calendar year may be paying out bonuses to employees in March so fanatical basketball fans can blow their bank on Final Four tickets.

Regardless of your interests, March Madness will probably be felt until the Championship game on April 4. I’ll admit that at times it will be business as usual. Many organizations send emails to employees “banning” them from streaming games on their computers as not to crash the system. With afternoon games on work days, it’s the ideal time to venture out of the office for lunch to the restaurant with the best flatscreen TVs. For some, it might be time to take a sick day. I’m just thankful that the portable television (that we helped introduce for a client) in my office gets the network broadcasting all the tournament games. If I decide to get a little crazy, I might even take it off mute!