March Madness On Demand offers free live feeds
This year's NCAA app streams all the games and lets you manage your bracket. The only price of admission? A valid e-mail address.
Today's the day, sports fans. The NCAA men's basketball tournament slams into high gear, with 16 second-round games kicking off at noon ET--and 16 more lined up for tomorrow. Our nation's productivity is about to take a two-week nosedive.
This probably won't help, but I don't care: NCAA March Madness On Demand for iOS streams every single game, live, free of charge. That's a pretty nice change over last year, when you had to pay 10 bucks for it.
The app works on iPhones, iPods, and iPads (sorry, Android users), and can stream over Wi-Fi and 3G. Last night I watched the second half of Alabama State vs. University of Texas San Antonio on my iPad, and was dazzled by the quality of the video--even when zoomed to full-screen size.
You get more than just live feeds, of course. The app includes an interactive bracket and a bracket-game manager that's linked to your NCAA.com version (if you set one up, that is). You also get news, highlights (when available), game alerts, and Facebook/Twitter integration so you can update your feeds while you watch.
And if you want to know where to watch the games on the big screen, just plug in your ZIP code and service provider to get local listings for the four networks carrying the tournament.
I could go on, but what's the point? If you like college basketball, you need this app, plain and simple. It's free, and it's fantastic.
One final note: My beloved Michigan State Spartans had a rocky season, but they're going to shock and awe the tourney by blowing past the first few rounds and landing in the Sweet Sixteen. Go Green!