The Madness has Begun

In two days, we will officially be entering into my favorite time of year…March Madness. What’s not to love for a self-proclaimed basketball freak like me? Basically, there is 12 hours of televised basketball every single day for at least three weekends, followed by two more weekends of buzzer beaters and make-or-break-your-season type games.
What’s almost as awesome as Memphis losing last weekend, is that CBS has done some really cool things to promote the tournament. A couple of years ago, CBS introduced their “Free VIP Pass“, which allows users to watch streaming video from each game. This comes in super-handy when don’t have access to a TV or WLKY is showing Fordham University vs. USC instead of Indiana vs. Cincinnati.
New to the 2008 tournament is a Facebook application from CBS Sports. Greg Gumble and Seth Davis have been endlessly promoting this new application for the past two weeks. The application, which can be saved to your own Facebook page, allows users to watch every tournament game, vote for your favorite and most despised teams, check scores, view and add to team pages, post messages on the “Trash Talk Wall”, join fan groups, along with lots of other stuff. This is the best example of a Facebook page, from an advertising viewpoint, that I have come across.
Just for fun…
Top Favorite NCAAB Team Pages
1. Tar Heels (12,188 Fans)
2. Blue Devils (10,313 Fans)
3. Jayhawks (7,271 Fans)
4. Hoosiers (4,323 Fans)
5. Wildcats (4,091 Fans)
Top Despised NCAAB Team Pages
1. Blue Devils (26,739 Haters)
2. Tar Heels (12,386 Haters)
3. Gators (4,390 Haters)
4. Buckeyes (3,397 Haters)
5. Hoosiers (3,041 Haters)