I'm not a regular on this forum, so my apologies if I'm not posting in the correct category...

Does anyone know if bars/pubs will air March Madness on NASN? I can watch it at home, but sometimes I enjoy paying 8.00 CHF's for a beer.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

maybe you should explain for all the Brits and others on here what March Madness is - schoolboy basketball isn't big in UK

March Madness = U.S. College Basketball tourney. Sorry, I assumed if a reader didn't know what March Madness is, little help could be offered by them anyway. But I guess I shouldn't assume.

Sorry, I can't help on the original request, but thought that I'd pass along some info for other interested people that they can watch March Madness over the internet at the NCAA website. If you wanna use that method to watch games then try to connect to it as early as possible because otherwise you may have to wait in a queuing system (unless you signed up a few weeks ago, in which case you get VIP access). You can then choose which game to watch, and flip around whenever you want.

I used it a lot last year, it's pretty good, and apparently they've improved the video quality this year, but we'll find out this evening. Unfortunately, you can't watch any of the Final Four weekend on that, though.

I would recommend you try one of the English or Irish pubs in the center of town (Paddy Reilly's, The Lion Pub or Oliver Twist) and ask them to put NASN on one of the TVs. This would require them having either a satellite NASN subscription or a digital Cablecom subscription so I don't know how likely it is they would have it. Maybe you can call ahead?

March Madness is happening and for the first time in my life I have no one to insult, argue, or discuss my bracket with (being the only girl with three brothers I am quite good at all of the above). I am for the first time since arriving in Switzerland officially homesick.

This is surprising because I was never a fan of the states while I was living there, but have had a greater appreciation since moving here. Maybe it is because I get teased a lot??? I get teased about "my" politics even though I have voted democratic or third party since I turned 18, I get teased about America's sports-how we suck at all sports-which is bullshit, we just play different sports and our Ice Hockey kicks ass by the way. And about how Americans don't watch sports properly (sitting down).

But the teasing isn't just from Swiss people, actually most of it comes from the other anglophones I know the British and the Aussies. I get teased relentlessly about my accent, or my phrases. I hear "that's so American" or "you're so American" all the time. But get this (American phrase), the only reason they know american accents and phrases so well is because they hear it on American TV and in American movies. Which is watched all the time especially here in Switzerland where Swiss TV is crap. I get teased for wearing pajamas outside of the house. Which is no big deal in the states.

Sorry I feel better. I just wish I could meet some Americans to hang out with expecially to play basketball with or to go dancing with, because frankly the reserved head bob that the Europeans call dancing just doesn't cut it. I was hoping to find some Americans to hang with on here but there are only 24 Americans out of nearly three thousand people who use this site.

Go DUCKS-they are going to take it all!!!!! NCAA number one for 2007!!!

Hi Whitney and welcome to wonderful Switzerland.

I was sorry to hear about your homesickness. I hope it soon passes.

I was just wondering how you arrived at the figure of 24 Americans using this forum? I'm sure that the real figure is much higher.

As for the "head bobbing". I don't think I've ever seen that over here. Maybe it's just in the French part.

Take care and have a great stay.

Tom

Sorry, 121 Americans found using advanced search (under member list) and typing variations of USA, American and United States of America in nationality.

So, you're not worried about your home-state Cougars losing? Personally, I'm now gunning for the Salukis (Southern Illinois).

Have you been able to watch the games here? If you can't get it on TV, then try the link I posted in this other thread on March Madness. It worked great on Thurs, Fri, and Sat last weekend, but the feed sucked on Sunday - I could only get audio. Hopefully they will fix it before the Sweet Sixteen weekend.

BTW, I might not be American, but I know my college hoops.

No I'm a HUSKY fan and we never support the Cougars in anything. Illinois has a tendency to be pretty solid otherwise I'd tear you apart!! Whew, thanks Chris, your reply made my day!!

thanks ChrisW for the cleanup assistance

NCAA March Madness - I watched a load of it just the other week. Helped being in Manhattan mind you

My basketball claim-to-fame is that my father-in-law was once the NBA's oldest rookie. Yeee-haw

I don't know about bars to watch the tourney in but we use "Live Stream TV" for most sports events. It costs us around $10 a month and people post onto this website what they are watching which is mostly sports and NASN is almost always available. Sometimes the quality sucks but if you need a sports fix, it's worth it.

My hubby flew back from Switzerland to see his beloved Illini in the finals a couple years ago and is deeply depressed that they were booted after the 1st round. He's now supporting the best hope for the Big 10 -- Ohio State -- and I'm going for more of an underdog --SIU.

I always wanna root for the Big Ten teams because I'm most familiar with them (except never for the teams from Michigan), but I find the style of play of the Big Ten teams to be the least pleasing to watch - way too physical, especially the Illini. I think the Illini would have done a lot better in recent years if they hadn't always got into foul trouble towards the end of any big game in the NCAA tourney'. This isn't generally true of Wisconsin, so I was really sad to see them lose on Sunday.

Having said that, the Ohio State game on the weekend was certainly the game of the tournament so far, and I'd be happy to see them win it all, too.

Go BUCKS!!!

You didn't say where you were in Switzerland but Nelson's generally shows a lot of American sports. Go Ducks!!

Paddys certainly has an NASN subscription as I've been in there and they've had the NHL on.