It's beer and brackets for News' sports writer as NCAA Tournament kicks off

The New York Daily News gave staff writer Matt Gagne ’04 an assignment he’s been training for since his Bates days: Cover the NCAA men’s basketball tournament from a sports bar in Manhattan. With a couple of friends, including a chum from Bates, Gagne watched the first-round games from the ESPN Zone in Times Square. “Others came and went, but Mike and Dave were in it for most of the haul,” wrote Gagne in his story, peppered with Bates references. “They had dozens of bracket pages spread out all over the table, some neatly stored in a three-ring binder while others were crumpled like old ATM receipts. At times they looked like teachers correcting homework; other times it felt like our restaurant tab was riding on the last horse race at the Meadowlands.” [More…]