Ready for some B-Ball, Baby!

Ever since I moved south, I’ve grown to love March. Seriously – I don’t have to worry about snow, the temperature rarely dips below 50 and on some days (like last Saturday) you can sit outside in shorts and flip-flops, enjoying an 80-degree day...IN MARCH! Yeah sure, there is that whole pesky pollen and severe allergy issue. But I’ll take a yellow car and itchy eyes over frigid temperatures and snow any day. So what else is making me happy this week? The flowers in Atlanta are starting to blossom and did I mention I love me some college basketball?
I’m currently tied for first in my NCAA basketball bracket. Of course, a lot can happen in the next couple weeks - the Big Dance is crazy that way. But I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed that I win the pool AND that my beloved Badgers go all the way this year. So you'll probably find me hunkered down with a plate of chicken wings and a light beer tonight, watching the games and rooting on my boys in red.
For any other Coke Zero (and basketball) fans, the company has teamed up with Turner Sports and CBS Sports to create the Coke Zero NCAA March Madness Social Arena, an online social media experience meant to serve as a one-stop shop for updates and information about March Madness. This includes live streaming of the games on March Madness on Demand (MMOD) and features a real-time Social Ticker displaying fan chatter and trending social topics around the tournament, as well as a first-of-its-kind Social Bracket that ranks teams based on the sum of online conversation about each team.
When visiting the Coke Zero Social Arena online or via the new iPad app, fans can monitor and contribute to the social chatter around each match up from their own Facebook posts and Twitter feeds. Fan comments and social media posts related to March Madness will appear in "Tourney Buzz" on the site. Joining in on the conversation will be CBS Sports and Turner Sports online and on-air basketball analysts who will be regularly commenting on live game action, sharing tournament observations and connecting with fans.
Pretty wild, huh? According to a recent USA Today article, Coke reserved 20 percent of its tournament spending for social media – a massive increase on the two percent that it gave social media marketing in 2010.
And now I'm thirsty and in need of a Coke Zero. Off to the vending machine!