SPORTS: Manhattan March Madness 2009 – Where to Watch the Sweet Sixteen in NYC

from glogster.com

Birmingham Arts Journal

March Madness - Southern Style, by Jeff and Ashley Fryer

Are you itching to watch your favorite Southern teams in the Sweet Sixteen this year with fellow ex-pats and Southern supporters? Here’s a list of official viewing parties, alumni club hangouts, and Southern college basketball enthusiast gatherings in Manhattan for the remaining Southern teams. Southern teams make up nearly a third of the teams left in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament this year, so there are plenty of opportunities to cheer for those South of the Mason-Dixon!For game times and opponent information, check .

Also below are some little tidbits about each school, to help stump that annoying know-it-all alumna/alumnus over a few beers, courtesy of U.S. News.

Duke Blue Devils (Durham, NC):

Confirmed viewing party for NYC alumni: Village Pourhouse (64 3^rd Ave. at E. 11^th St.).

The Duke University “Blue Devils” team nickname finds its origins in French soldiers in World War I.

Louisville Cardinals (Louisville, KY):

Their alumni club’s official NYC game watch site: The Hill (416 3^rd Ave. between E. 29^th and 30^th sts.)

19% of students at the Univ. of Louisville major in business, management, and marketing, making it the school’s most popular program.

Memphis Tigers (Memphis, TN):

Confirmed NYC alumni viewing party: Rogue Bar (757 6^th ave. between 25^th/26^th sts.).

The University of Memphis got a live tiger cub, dubbed TOM III, to take over its mascot crown in November 2008.

North Carolina Tar Heels (Raleigh, NC):

Confirmed viewing party for NYC alumni: Firefly (54 Spring St. near Mulberry St.)

The University of North Carolina was the country’s 1^st state university and the only public university to award degrees in the 18^th century.

Oklahoma Sooners (Norman, OK):

Their NYC viewing home is at The Pressbox (932 2^nd Ave. between E. 49^th & 50^th sts.)

So what exactly is a “sooner,” the team nickname of the University of Oklahoma? An “energetic individual who travels ahead of the human procession,” the school says.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To see an interactive Google map we did of where the 21 original (pre-elimination) Southern schools are located, goHERE . To see where all of these parties are at in NYC, go to another Google map HERE .

SCREEN/SOUNDS/SPORT: Southern-ish Events in NYC 11/14 – 11/18

Lots out southern-ish things to do, hear and see this weekend and spilling into next week:

NOVEMBER 14 – 20 @ Film Forum: My good friend Harrod has a dad who has been touted by the NY Times as “one of our most original filmmakers…A master of movies about the American idiom.” Many of his documentaries were shot in, around or about Southern stuff: the blues, a Texas sharecropper, Louisiana Cajuns, cultural roots, old time tales, an Appalachian fiddler, backwoods characters, good whisky, native folkways. Film Forum is running a retrospective of Les Blank films 11/14 – 20.

SATURDAY 11/15 @ 3:30PM: The South Carolina Alumni Club of NYC invites you to watch the Gamecocks peck the snout outta the Gators…or something like that. Anyway, they’ll all be watching the game at Cooper Door Tavern.

SATURDAY 11/15: Oxford, MS Americana band Blue Mountain has reunited and hits NYC for 2 shows today: 7PM @ Lakeside Lounge in the East Village and 11:45PM @ Hank’s Saloon in Bklyn.

SUNDAY 11/16 @ 12noon: Allen Toussaint: New Orleans Benefit Brunch @ Joe’s Pub. I don’t see this listed on the Joe’s Pub site but Time Out NY says it’s on & poppin’.

SUNDAY 11/16 @ 4:15PM: Join the Tennessee Titans Meetup group at Sidebar to watch the undefeated ballers try to hold onto the top spot. Rory & Dan say: “In case you forgot to check today's power ranking, Yes, We are still #1!”

MONDAY 11/17 @ 7:30PM: We don’t really count TX as part of the South but these bands are too cool to leave out. Centro-Matic + One Baptist General + South San Gabriel @ Mercury Lounge. Also, playing the following night (11/18) @ The Bell House in Bklyn.

MONDAY 11/17 @ 7:30PM: New Yorker Josh Joplin + Nashvillian Garrison Starr = Among The Oak & Ash. They play “Appalachian murder ballads” tonight @ Joe’s Pub.

TUESDAY 11/18: C-A-T-S!!!! CATS!!! CATS!!! CATS!!!
Darin Sergent, GM of Mercury Bar and UK Alum, is rallying the b-ball troops: “We have a HUGE basketball game against UNC (11/18) and a big season ahead of us Cat Fans so come on by Mercury Bar (493 3rd Ave, bet. 33rd & 34th St) for all the NCAA action going on with Billy ‘Clyde’ Gillespie and his team led by big man Patrick Patterson. We will be showing all games through the ESPN FullCourt Package throughout the season so you don’t have to miss a game here in the big city…being so far away from home!!!”