Easy #TournamentDecisions: Watching the NCAA Tournament with City Dads Group

NYC Dads Group / March Madness Viewing Party at Public House (photo by Garrett Ewald)

March Madness is one of our favorite times of year. So many fantastic NCAA Tournament games packed into two short weeks – nail biting finishes, major upsets, Cinderella stories, college pride. and an awesome excuse to have some friendly competition in a bracket pool.

College coaches and their players continue to be faced with tough #TournamentDecisions as they prepare for each single-elimination game and play their hearts out in front of a national audience. Consider the insurmountable pressure that these teams face when they’re in a close game – pass or shoot, go in for the lay-up or take the three point shot, when to or not to foul, burn a time-out or save it for the final seconds of the game.

It’s on a different level, but average guys like me that participate in bracket pools face challenging #TournamentDecisions as well. Each year, I go head-to-head with my wife so bragging rights are an important factor in our family. Since becoming an at-home dad, I missed the experience of the March Madness hoopla at the office, so it’s engaging to battle against other dads in the friendly group competition as well. After poring through the data, news stories, and my favorite sports websites, there’s lots of Bracketology fodder that I had to consider: How far do I have (my favorite team) Duke advancing? Is Cincinnati going to tank early this year? Most analysts are saying that Michigan State is healthy and peeking at just the right time – do I select a 4 seed to win it all? Which 12 seed vs 5 seed upset is likely to occur? Do I roll with “Wofford” just because I like the sound of their name? All difficult decisions.

Last month, hundreds of dad bloggers that attended the Dad 2.0 Summit in New Orleans felt the power of community – we recognized how cool and necessary it was to move away from our computers and get together in-person with other dads.

LA Dads Group / March Madness Viewing Party at Rocco’s Tavern

Fast forward to last Friday night – March 21st – something epic happened! City Dads Group hosted it’s first ever, multi-city, dads night out. Over 125 active dads and dad bloggers made an easy decision during the NCAA Tournament, and made plans to meet-up with other fathers at cool sports bars in cities across the nation. All happening on the same night, March Madness viewing parties sponsored by Dove Men+Care took place in Boston, Philly, Chicago, LA, Columbus, NYC, and Denver. All of the fathers had a blast enjoying food, drink, camaraderie, and friendly banter as they cheered on their favorite teams and NCAA brackets.

We’ll continue the trash talk and NCAA hoops conversation over on twitter at #TournamentDecisions throughout the remainder of the tourney. Hope you’ll join us…

** Disclosure note: Our sponsor, Dove Men+Care has paid for the March Madness viewing parties in each City Dads Group location. We only work with brands and sponsors that make products and services we believe in and use ourselves.