MacGyvering March Madness

The Gators play for the National Championship Title tonight in men’s basketball, and no matter the outcome, it may never be my most exciting March Madness Gator watching experience. Allow me to explain…

During the Elite Eight Game versus Texas Tech, I was traveling back to Florida from speaking at a conference in Indianapolis. I very unexpectedly and last-minute got to attend some March Madness games in Indy as they were held just down the road from my conference so all in all, this has been the most exciting March Madness year for me! And it was just getting started.

I knew my flight would coincide with tip off, but it’s okay. We live in modern times. We have TVs and Wi-Fi so I could watch the game! On the first leg of my flight, there were no televisions, so I watched the first half logged into Delta Wi-Fi on my phone with headphones donned, doing my very best not to yell when we made a good play or huff when the refs made a controversial foul call.

So far so good.

Then I got on the second plane. There were TVs on the back of every seat on this plane! Huzzah! I found live TV and started watching the second half of the game as everyone else filtered onto the plane. I happily unplugged my headphones to allow others into the row, but I was locked in to the screen. This was going to work! If you watched this game, you’ll remember that UF trailed much of the game and was down 9 points near the end of the second half with just about 3 minutes to go. 

It was at this crucial point in the game that Delta turned on the safety video and commandeered all headsets. Oh no. I took a deep breath. It would be okay; the game was on a commercial, I told myself. The safety video was important and not that long. I tried to quiet my racing thoughts, adrenaline, and investment in the outcome and thought I wouldn’t miss anything crucial. Then a kid got up with his dad to use the bathroom half way through the safety video just as they were telling us about the unlikely event of a water exit. So, the flight attendant got on the PA system and said, “Unfortunately, it is federal law that no one can be out of their seats at this time, so we’re going to have to restart the safety video.”

Nope.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

I’m sorry kid, you gotta hold it for three more minutes. The game coverage has to be back from commercial now. As they paused the safety video, it flashed for just a half second back to live TV — just long enough for me to see the score. We’re tied!! How? When? Ahhhh! I’m missing it!

I fly into action, rummaging through my carry on (obviously safely stowed beneath the seat in front of me) to get my phone, turn on Wi-Fi, and get the headphone adapter so that my plug-in headphones could be used with my cell phone. Well, it was then that I learned that Delta Wi-Fi is only turned on above 10,000 feet. Okay, turn off Wi-Fi, turn on cell service. We’re still parked, so it should be okay. I finally get the connection on my phone for streaming the game and then my phone blinks “low battery” which shouldn’t have been a surprise to me, I’d watched half a game on it! But now is not the time! I reach back for my bag again and grab my external battery pack which necessitates unplugging my headphones, as they go in the same jack. I plug my wired headphones back into the TV in front of me and find my Bluetooth headphones and fumble to connect those to my phone. So, now I have two sets of headphones, one type in each ear. The TV on the seat back in front of me on, my phone streaming, a giant battery pack providing life to my 4% phone battery, and all the spare parts which have exited my Mary Poppins purse strewn about the fabric in the lap of my dress which keeps sinking lower and lower as more items are needed to make viewing this last 60 seconds of game play work.

I must look insane.

I wish someone had taken a photo of me somehow showing both how resourceful and how manic I was – trying desperately to follow the rules and also not miss this incredible game. It was truly a MacGyver March Madness moment of making it work with what I had. It wasn’t perfect. I missed some crucial buckets and had to watch them on YouTube later to fill in the 12-point gap that I missed in the mad technological shuffle.

After the comeback was complete and the final buzzer sounded, we pushed back from the gate. I reassembled all my paraphernalia and charged my phone. I saw a couple other passengers celebrating the Gator victory and experiencing similar feelings to me when we were interrupted. The UF fans on the flight finally exhaled. There were cross-aisle high-fives and applause. After necessitating a full Radio Shack of items, I can honestly say that the rest of the flight was one of the most relaxing flights I’d ever experienced.

With this memory fresh in my mind, I will watch the National Championship game tonight. I’m sure there will be many emotions, lots of tough calls, dazzling dunks, and heartbreaking misses. But I plan on watching one screen, without any headphones or external battery packs, at sea level instead of at 30,000 feet, surrounded by other cheering Gator fans, so I think, even if we win (which I hope we do!), it may never be as exciting as the Elite Eight game. And I’m okay with that!