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Eat, Drink, Watch: A weekend of March Madness and more
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Eat, Drink, Watch: A weekend of March Madness and more

It's been a long week. You're tired. You're hungry. You're thirsty. You just want to find something to watch and unwind only to find not only do you have too many games to choose from on any given night to watch, there is an entire catalog of shows and movies you can barely keep up on. When did our weekends turn into so much work?

Let's make it simple. Here is what you want to eat, this is what you want to drink and this is what you want to watch over the next 48 hours or so of "freedom" you have in your life. Maybe. Time to start the taxes. And now the other car is in the shop just when you got the other one back. Why is there snow to shovel again? It's March. Forget it. We're going to escape all responsibilities this weekend and just watch what we want to watch, eat what we want to eat, and drink what we want to drink. Here is your guide for doing the same for the weekend of March 17, 2017.

Eat


Holiday or not, there is always time for corned beef.  LostInYonkers/Getty Images

Sure, it's St. Patrick's Day, and you can go ahead and make a full corned beef and colcannon potatoes, but that takes a load of time and commitment. Trust us. It's been a long week and if you just feel like making a corned beef sandwich and calling it a holiday, we wouldn't blame you.

But if you want to go all out, it's not too hard to make your own candied corned beef with the briskets in your grocer's case this weekend, and colcannon potatoes are basically mashed potatoes with more butter than should be allowed (but there's also cabbage involved so it's kind of healthy adjacent-ish).

Either way, you'll be full for whatever you decide to over-indulge in this weekend, doesn't matter it's basketball or dark beers. 

Drink

We've been highlighting beers lately so it's time to get back to our whiskey roots this holiday weekend with a one of the better single malt Irish whiskeys we've had for a good price. Irish whiskey tends not to be peated like a true scotch whisky, (for discussion over spelling of whiskey vs whisky, this piece spells it out nicely), so you have the smoothness and light you don't see as often in scotch. It's sweet, but not as sweet and heavy on the palate as an American bourbon. It's almost the Goldilocks of pours, not too anything, just right. This 12-year from Knappogue Castle hits all the middle notes of honey and flowers old Goldie herself have cozied up for after a long day of raiding unsuspecting bears' homes.

Watch

Goodness this is a busy weekend for our viewing pleasure, what with all the March Madness, the NHL and NBA coming down to the wire; and of course; all of our usual favorite entertainment that isn't sports. Thank goodness we bought extra snacks for the weekend.

Sports


Can Barret Benson and the rest of the Northwestern Wildcats keep the madness alive this weekend? Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

For the most up-to-date bracket of college basketball including tipoff times and channels, go here for the men's side and for the women's tourney go here for the entire weekend.

Friday

Baseball: The U.S. takes on Puerto Rico on St. Patrick’s Day for the World Baseball classic (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, MLBN).

NBA: There are lots of playoff implications, starting with the Bulls-Wizards (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, CSN-Chicago), followed by Raptors-Pistons (7:30 ET/ 4:30 PT, FS Detroit, SportsNet One). Nerlens Noel also makes his return to Philadelphia as the Mavs take on the Sixers (7 ET/4PT, CSN), and the Celtics can pull even closer to the Cavs for top seed in the East when they face off against the bottom-dwelling Nets (7:30 ET/4:30 PT, YES, CSNHD). James Harden and company take on the new-look Pelicans as well (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, FSSNOLA, ROOT).

NHL: The Panthers need two points vs. the Rangers, who want to move out of the wild card and up into a top three spot, so this clash is big (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, NHLN, TVAS, MSG, FS-F). The Penguins are one of the teams New York is chasing, and they take on the Devils (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, SN360, ROOT, MSG+), Dallas takes on Calgary (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, SNW, FS-SW+) and Buffalo is at Anaheim (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, PRIME, MSG-B).

Saturday

Baseball: In World Baseball Classic action, Puerto Rico takes on Venezuela (3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT, MLBN), followed by U.S. vs. the Dominican Republic (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, MLBN).

NBA: Another strong slate, highlighted by Cavs-Clippers (8:30 ET/5:30 PT, ABC), Spurs-Grizzlies (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, FOX Sports Southeast, FSSW, NBATV Canada), Rockets-Nuggets (9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT, Altitude, ROOT) and Bucks-Warriors (10:30 ET/7:30 PT, CSN Bay Area, FOX Sports Wisconsin).

NHL: It’s a packed Saturday in NHL action, with some particularly intriguing games. The Islanders look to hold on to the final Eastern wild card against a Columbus team looking remain in the top three in the Metropolitan (1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, NHLN, MSG+, FS-0), followed by Rangers-Wild (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, NHLN, FS-N, FS-WI, MSG), Chicago-Toronto (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, CBC, CITY, CSN-CH), Montreal-Ottawa (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, SN, TVAS), Washington-Tampa Bay (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, SUN, CSN-DC) and capped by the Sharks and Ducks tussling atop the Pacific (10:30 p.m./7:30 p.m., CSN-CA, PRIME).

Soccer: If it wasn't for the FA Cup, Arsenal would be looking at one of the worst losing streaks in ages after dropping a few games in Champions and Premier League play; hopefully they can right the streak against West Brom for our early morning breakfast (8:30 a.m. ET/5:30 a.m. PT, NBCN).

In the evening we have a battle of the MLS undefeateds as the Portland Timbers take on the Houston Dynamo (10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT, KUBE, RSNW).

Sunday

Baseball: Should the WBC call for it, a tiebreaker game is on the docket (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT, MLBN).

NBA: There are a lot of games on Sunday but not too many with playoff implications. However, Indiana-Toronto could be a first-round preview (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT, NBATV), while dual nine seeds Miami and Portland tangle in hopes of grabbing a playoff spot (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT, FS-SUN, CSNNWHD).

NHL: Four games in particular stand out as the season winds down: Florida-Pittsburgh (1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, SN, TVAS, ROOT, FS-F), Minnesota-Winnipeg (5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT, TSN3, FS-N, FS-WI), Ottawa-Montreal’s second of the weekend home and home series (7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT, SN, RDS) and the Kings trying to claw back into the playoff picture against a Flames team looking to maintain its spot in the top three of the Pacific (9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT, SN1, SNW, FS-W).

Soccer: Much better day for Premier League action as Tottenham hopes to break their points tie with Man City as they take on Southampton (10:15 a.m. ET/7:15 a.m. PT, NBCN) followed by a Man City and just-on-their-heels Liverpool battle to stay towards the top of the table (12:30 p.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT, NBC).

In MLS action, the 0-1-1 Seattle Sounders look to get back on track against the undefeated New York Red Bulls (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, FS1).

NASCAR: Hopefully cooler heads will prevail this weekend – or maybe it's good for the sport! - as the Camping World 500 gets under way in Phoenix (3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT, Fox).

Movies

The above is the Trainspotting 2 trailer that is safe for work, but for the full experience be sure to check out the riskier international trailer as we all get hooked back into the world of Scotland, parties and substances 20 years later. Also out this weekend is the live-action version of Beauty and the Beast which has been getting decent reviews and The Belko Experiment – the Battle Royale version of Office Space which we hear is movie we'd all be better off watching once it hits cable or streaming.

And if you happen to be in Canada, Goon 2: Last of the Enforcers comes out this weekend. We're huge fans of the first Goon, so we're pretty excited to rejoin the world of minor league hockey characters.

Streaming

The latest Marvel release (feels like there is one every weekend these days between TV and movies), Iron Fist is being torn apart by the fan community, so we're going to catch up on what we missed last weekend, the season season of Netflix's original series, Love.  It's funny and goofy, just the sort of light fare you need after yelling at basketball all weekend.

In opposite direction of light fare, Fargo: Season 2 is now available on Hulu, if you feel like being grim, and one the best sports movies ever, Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some!!shows up on both Hulu and Amazon Prime on Friday.

TV

We've been doing a terrible job of telling everyone to watch HBO's Crashing. Comedian Pete Holmes kills in this Judd Apatow produced series, but low-key we love seeing the return of our favorite broken comic (who isn't dead) Artie Lange as a he makes fun of his own life and hitting bottom. Aside of that, it's our usual Sunday lineup. We're such a mess over what's happening on Billions we can barely sleep. Really.

Be safe out there this weekend. Don't over do it on any of the above, and be sure to hydrate. Between the yelling at sports, corned beef and some whiskey, you're bound to get thirsty. 

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