College basketball fans celebrate first full day of March Madness at Pittsburgh bars
Busted brackets or not, it's the best day of the year for college basketball fans who are watching the games morning to night from their couch or favorite bar.
All the brackets are filled out and the first round of the NCAA tournament is underway.
We stopped at a popular spot on Pittsburgh's North Shore Thursday where the madness has begun.
"I got about 11 brackets, a ton of betting, and then maybe 4 or 5 other types of polls and things that I'm in," Joe Kene said.
"Oh, it's bigger than Christmas. Christmas is for the kids, all these holidays are for the kids, and this is for me. I tell my wife every year, you know I'm going out today, and I'm going out tomorrow too. This is for me!" said Kene.
"Just nonstop action," said John Cotton.
Basketball fans packed into Tom's Watch Bar on the North Shore to root for their favorite team or national champion pick.
"The championship I have Florida vs. Duke. I have Florida winning that," said Erik Gensler.
"Florida beating Houston in the championship," Kene said.
"Oh, Florida!" Cotton said.
Yearly traditions were alive and well for just about everyone inside
"I've been here all day, just watching games all day, so many TVs, beer, that's what it's all about," Cotton said.
"Me and my group of friends come out for the first day of March Madness every year. We've been doing it for over a decade," said Melissa Reese.
"I've been doing this for 15 years, it's just the love of the game, I love basketball whether you bet on it or not it doesn't matter to me," Gensler said.
"We got here at 11:30 a.m. today, me and my buddies we've been going out since 2009. We went to Robert Morris," said Kene.
There were a lot of RMU fans warming up for day two. Robert Morris is set to take on Alabama on Friday afternoon.
"I'm rooting for RMU no matter what I gotta root for them...I got them beating Alabama and then losing but that's for the heart. You gotta have them winning at least a game," Kene said.
"I went to RMU I'm old, so I graduated a long time so it's good to see them back in it. I honestly think they have a chance, Alabama is a tough team but I honestly think they have a chance to win the game," said Gensler.
Several people said they decided to skip work or leave early for the start of the big dance.
"That's tomorrow's problem, not today's problem," Kene said.
