Where/how to watch games in London?

[dairedevil]

I'm leaving on Thursday for a 10 day trip to London and the Cotswolds. While I'm extremely excited about the trip - a gift from my son and his wife - I'm wondering if I'll be able to see any of the NCAA's while we're gone. with any luck, Duke will still be playing when we get back. Any ideas? I'm grateful for any suggestions!

[hurleyfor3]

You can always find an internet cafe (there are a couple cheap ones on Charing Cross Road open 24/7) and join the folks in chat. You won't be the only UK expat in there. :)

[Bob Green]

I have one suggestion but it requires that you know someone in the U.S. Military or State Department: Armed Forces TV. In London, if you know anyone or the people you are travelling with/visiting etc...have a contact in the armed forces or state department you can gain access to AFRTS and all the games.

I've spent my 30 year career in Asia/Pacific so I cannot give you any info on bases, clubs, hotels, etc...but most major cities overseas that host U.S. Military installations have armed forces run hotels that have access to armed forces TV. For example, in Tokyo, there is the New Sanno Hotel. If you do some research on the Internet, I imagine there is a hotel like that in London and you may be able to gain access to the TV lounge, ****tail bar or restaurant.

Good Luck!

Bob Green
Yokosuka, Japan

[hurleyfor3]

****tail bar... Duke fans are so ****y... remember when NBC, the pea**** network, carried college basketball... John Han**** signed the Declaration of Independence... did anyone here live in Ay**** dorm? Any other engineering majors take ME 115 with Prof. Hadley ****s?

Weird.

[Exiled_Devil]

I'm leaving on Thursday for a 10 day trip to London and the Cotswolds. While I'm extremely excited about the trip - a gift from my son and his wife - I'm wondering if I'll be able to see any of the NCAA's while we're gone. with any luck, Duke will still be playing when we get back. Any ideas? I'm grateful for any suggestions!

There is a sports pub outside of Piccadilly Circus. the Sports Cafe on Haymarket. They should carry most of the tourney, but you will be competing against the time difference and against Premiership (and every other nations top league) games.

It's a pretty good spot to check out - the times I was there were like Satisfactions on the night of a Carolina game, but with three different crowds cheering for three different events.

Besides Bob's suggestion, the other channel to look for is NASN - North America Sports Network. I have (almost) fond memories of watching Duhon and the '03 team on NASN in the final four in the middle of the night the evening before my wife and I returned from 6 months in London.

Exiled

[gus]

Does anyone know if the CBS feed will only be available to US IP addresses?

[Deslok]

In the past, the CBS feed was available outside the US. I received it for the 2004 and 2005 tourneys in London(though again note that the feed is only live for the first 3 rounds, beyond that you need to head to someplace like the Sports Cafe to catch the games on NASN). I don't see any reason the feed would suddenly be blacked out, and am expecting to get it again here in Korea(in addition to my slingbox which will give me a better picture of whatever game happens to be on in Washington).