Madness Baby, Madness

That hallowed time of year is upon us: The NCAA tournament. So far, its been routine, with one exception.

DUKE.

First of all, Belmont should have won that game, they outplayed a sluggish Duke down the stretch. The entire nation held its collective breath while Duke avoided a stunning loss as Belmont's last minute half court shot just missed. Coach K's reaction: "We came prepared to play tonight."

Really?? You could already feel Las Vegas's elite starting to shake, because that kind or preparedness clearly would not be enough against West Virginia (their next opponent), let alone someone like UCLA, who also happened to be in their bracket. Way to give credit to Belmont for nearly knocking out a team that a lot of people have going to the Final Four: "We came prepared to play tonight." They didn't come to play against WVU, leaving Coach "K" to explain how his hair(piece) failed to move during all that walking up and down the sideline and yelling.

Of course, nothing could have prepared anyone for UCONN's performance. Make no mistake, I hail from CT, and support UCONN. Why not, they've won two championships this decade - only Florida can say that too. You would think UCONN would easily handle USD, and then the winner of Drake-Western Kentucky. You would think they could make it to the sweet 16. Make no mistake, UCONN has some of the best, Blue-Chip athletes around, thanks to Jim Calhoun's success. Yet, Calhoun is also a victim of his success. He can't put a team together, because players like Rudy Gay and Aaron Boone decide to leave after two years. Look at that rumors swirling around Thabeet. He's only a sophomore, and if he stayed, he would be the best player in the NCAA next year (Don't think so? Look at his stats, and how they increase EVERY game.) Yet, because his father died in Tanzania, and the agents whispering in his ear, he's all but assured to turn pro. The same can be said for Dyson, who despite missing 10 games this season, decided he's good enough to "test the waters." The reason he missed those games - he got caught drinking in a car in the student parking lot. At least he didn't pull a Stephan Marbury outsided of a Walmart in Queens.

UCONN lost because they were sluggish, lazy, and unfocused - thinking they had the game won, and it showed. Congratulations USD, and Western Kentucky.

Aside from that, Cornell was mauled by Stanford, and the Lopez brothers screaming after every basket. These 7 footers think they are the best in the conference, so I hope they run into Joey Dorsey and Memphis, or Texas, because I'm tired of Brook and Robin pounding their own chests and screaming after every basket. Lets not forget they lost to UCLA twice this year. That will be a good Sweet 16 game.

Georgetown blew it, because they couldn't remember that making foul shots is kind of important in the second half. Memphis is lucky the survived Mississippi State, because all three of their big men had four or more fouls. No way they advance beyond Texas.

Sadly, my bracket is finished, an entire winter of watching college basketball down the drains. Even more sadder: within two years Bracketology will be a major at the University of Miami (I can't take credit for that one).

Moving on...John Daly likes to get drunk. No, really??? Still, its amusing when he misses his Tee Time, and Arnold Palmler tried to stage a mock intervention, pleading with him to be a good person. Unlikely, given Daly claims to have gambeled $50 million the last decade.

Did anyone see the HBO Real Sports with Lenny Dykstra. Despite the fact that the man basically admits he's illiterate, he is candid about what kind of player he used to be. He also states that he sold three carwashes for $55 million. This from the guy who used to be the clubhouse alcoholic.

MARCH IS HERE!!!

What an opening to March this past weekend. Saturday and Sunday had incredible action going on. Unranked Texas Tech took out Texas, while Duke managed to beat NC State by just one point. BC led for 2/3rds of the game agains # 2 UNC. UCONN let WVU get within three points. Georgetown went to OT against Marquette, and won in a sloppy finish.

The above action only covers a fraction of the teams who will make it past Selection Sunday. So far, everyone I have talked to is predicting how wild this tournament will be, and we haven't even played the conference tournaments so far. Everyday at work I see people reading any article they can on these teams, forget the bubble teams. That's only the tip of the iceberg though. You have to pay attention to the odds Vegas puts down on the games, largely through websites like Covers.com and Scoresandodds.com.

Keep in mind the casinos make the odds to disperse the amount they have to pay out to both sides. For example, why was the spread so big between the Giants and Patriots (14)? If the patriots didn't win by more than 14, those bets on the Patriots didn't pay out. So while the Patriots were an overwhelming favorite, and while they certainly attracted more action, it was unlikely they would win by that much - given the last game of the regular season they played. With fewer people betting on the Giants, things were balanced. Vegas could care less which team wins, they have to prevent massive payouts, and create odds using everything from algorithms to scouting reports - and they usually get it right. Therefore, when building your bracket - pay attention to the odds, and realize why the line/spread and the over-under are the way they are. Now factor in team records, RPI strength of schedule, injury reports, bracket pairings, travel time, momentum, etc., and picking a bracket for real becomes an art form. The most important thing to do, though, is watch as much college basketball as possible, which I have been since December - thanks to my cable package.

Continuing on now...Did anyone see the Met's first preseason of the game, with Church and Delgado running into each other. Hopefully that's not a foreshadowing of things to come for the season.

Apparently Joba Chamberland has nipple rings? Como what? That's OK, and not Don Mattingly's sideburns?

Speaking of George, his son Hank decided to talk trash about Red Sox nation. I couldn't agree with him more - what a bunch of BS it is. It was created by ESPN, because they fell in love with the dirtbag-cowboy look players like Nixon and Millar and Varitek promoted. And the more ESPN covered it, the more Red Sox players bought into it. But the right way to handle it, is not paying any attention to "THEM." When the Yankees were winning in 1996 to 2000, the Red Sox never mattered, and were barely mentioned. The same happened the Season Aaron $(#*$@ Boone knocked them out of the ALCS, which, by the way, is my favorite sporting moment of all time. Don't give the entirely contrived notion of Red Sox Nation any credibility by responding to it.

The Jets decided to sign two of the best offensive linemen in the business - Jenkins and Faneca. Why couldn't they do this two seasons ago, when Pennigton was still a viable QB? And why did they let Kendall go for a difference of $1 million. Imagine what their line would be like now, if they had held on to him.

The Giants lost their star safety and two linebackers, and probably any hope of repeating. Maybe they are trying the same front-office genius strategy as the Jets.

Manchester United is now only 1 point back of Aresnal. Apparently their coach still believes everyone is out to "kick" them. Funny, since Ronoldo is the most fouled player in the league at the moment.