I had a dilemma. Where should I watch the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament (otherwise know as March Madness, but there is some stipulation about using that term…kind of like not saying Super Bowl…opps, I just used both)…I digress, let me start again.

Where should you watch March Madness and still get some ‘work’ done?

Veracity office watching

2014 World Cup Viewing at Veracity

The following is what I discovered on my quest early on the morning of the first weekend. Here are six places to watch basketball in March:

1. At your desk

Yep, all of the games are streamed, so why not just use that second screen (whether it is a second monitor, your smartphone, tablet or phablet) and watch from your desk. You could even stream four games at once.

2. At the office

Many offices will just embrace that productivity may slow down at the end of March and put the games on in the conference room or on monitors throughout the office. We all need breaks in our day and this will keep the bandwidth reserved for real work (maybe).

Tourney watching at Logical Position

Watch at work like they do at Logical Position

Tourney from Rose Garden

Live and in person from the Moda Center works.

3. At home

Flex work day. We are all mobile and can get our jobs done from anywhere now, right? Plus you bought the 4D 75″ television for a reason.

4. The Rose Garden Moda Center

If you live in or near one of the host cities (like Portland this year), you may have to do a little business development or team building and check out the action in person.

5. The gym

We all need to work out right? Gyms have TV’s…many gyms have lots of TV’s so you can watch more than one game at a time. My gym also happens to have a sports pub in it, so you can watch while you work out, then refuel and keep up to date. (I also got the inside scoop on why Eastern Washington will upset Georgetown as the team was practicing there, Go Eagles?)

Tourney from MAC

Does that post look familiar? Inspiration can come from anywhere.

6. A sports bar

Just bite the bullet, admit to yourself and your boss that you are not going to get any actual work done and go watch the games. Your best bet is to pick a place with lots of screens so you can see all the games at once. A quick Yelp search for Portland is a good place to start. Here are my personal suggestions (in a somewhat random order):

∗ Fire on the Mountain – hot wings, good salads, burgers and beers.
∗ Spirit of ’77 – the Blazers bar with good food, drinks and ambiance.
∗ Peter’s Bar and Grill – I watched Blazers vs. Rockets Game 6 (you know Lillard’s shot) from Peter’s. I could not hear or speak after, it was awesome. Love this place!

∗ Migration Brewing – McKean, Eric and the crew will take care of you. Great beer too!
∗ Roma Coliseum – lots of TV’s, a good beer selection and close to home (at least for me)
∗ George’s Corner Tavern – want chicken and jojos while you watch the madness, try George’s in NoPo
∗ Claudia’s – lots of TV’s, a classic Portland sports pub
∗ Of course there are the Buffalo Wild WingsCheerful sports bars, On Deck and Blitz‘s of the world too (however, they are all likely to be really crowded, so plan ahead)

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Mike Rosenberg
CEO at Veracity
Mike Rosenberg is CEO at Veracity. He brings experience and passion from two distinct, yet similar, career paths in sports business marketing and online marketing. Mike shares his marketing expertise as an Advisory Board Member and Past President of SEMpdx, a professional business organization for the digital marketing industry.