Bracket Still Intact

- I'm happy to say my NCAA bracket is still intact as I still have 7 of my Elite Eight left and all my Final Four. The only team I missed was Wake Forest who did not see getting smoked by Cleveland St. in the opening round.

And for those keeping score at home Ms. Skeelo still has all 8 of her Elite Eight still in.

- While Wake had to be the biggest disappointment as a team the performance of Arizona St. star James Harden had to be the worst by an individual. He was absolutely disgraceful in his two games. The only reasonable and acceptable excuse for his shitty performance is an injury he has not told anyone about.

He is their best player and one of the top five players in the college game. For him to go pointless in the first half of each game, not take the ball to the basket, and then dish off as soon as anyone got near him was awful to watch. I was really high on this guy all year and now if the Raptors even considering drafting this guy I will go nuts on draft night. Simply awful.

- I'm not too sad to see Curt Schilling retire given that he has been hurt the better part of 4 years. And the fact that he is such an obnoxious and arrogant ass. But there is no denying he can pitch and was a clutch performer. While the bloody sock game in '04 with the Red Sox is his most talked about I think his performance in Game 7 of '01 for the D'Backs vs. the Yankees was more impressive. He only threw fastballs the whole game and even though the Yanks knew it they still couldn't hit him.

Is Schill a Hall of Famer? I say he's borderline. His stats really were not overwhelming and he never was a perennial All Star. He was a great post season performer (11-2 and the before mentioned great games) but so was John Smoltz and Smoltz has far more impressive regular season accomplishments. If I were a voter I may elect him in his fifth of sixth year of eligibility but not before and maybe not even then.

Let Basketball Euphoria Begin.

It is that time of year again for the best 4 days in sports - the first 2 rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament.

For those who actually care my Final Four are UConn, Pitt, Mich St. (who will be determined to make the Final Four in Detroit) and Oklahoma (who will ride the play of Blake Griffin) with Pitt over UConn in the final.

Shaq May Be Back. Let's Hope So.

- Watching Shaq the last couple games (45 points vs. Toronto, 33 vs. the Lakers) has been great to see. I hope it lasts and that this is the result of him finally being healthy again as he claims. I also hope it lasts because it seems the Suns have finally figured out how to play with him.

As I said when they traded for him they could still be a running team because running teams don't need their center to run. What the Suns are doing now is exactly what the Showtime Lakers used to do with Kareem in the 80's. If you don't have the chance to run you dump it inside. With the offence going through Shaq in the half court and running when it doesn't the Suns should make the playoffs. They will get destroyed in the first round by whoever they play because Steve Nash is even more horrible defensively this year than is years past, but at least they'll make it.

Shaq is also back off the court. His comment about Chris Bosh being "the RuPaul of NBA big men" was a pretty good one. And his dancing at the All-Star game was fantastic. You may not like Shaq but you have to admit the NBA is going to be left with a big gaping hole in the entertainment factor when he eventually retires.

- I would have love to have been at the Cavs win over the Heat in Miami last night. LeBron and DWade were at their best and it doesn't get much better than that. For all the talk of Kobe and LeBron, who are number 1a and 1b, in the discussion of the league's best players, let's not forget that a finally healthy Wade makes himself 1c in that talk. The thing with Wade is that I think he has a closer killer instinct to Kobe than LeBron does. LeBron has hit game winning shots before but I just see Kobe and Wade as more competitive in the last 2 minutes. Once LeBron gets that though there will be no discussion about him being the best.

- Don Cherry's comments about Alexander Ovechkin were way off. Ovechkin is the best player in the NHL and the best thing to happen to it in 20 years. As much as I like Sidney Crosby he is duller than day old dishwater. Ovechkin may over celebrate but he does it spontaneously after big goals, it is not manufactured Sean Avery type theatrics. The biggest problem the NHL has that it so lousy at marketing itself, mostly because there are very few personalities. Ovechkin's talent and energy bring people to the game. Why would anyone try to tone him down?

- I hope the Leafs trade Nick Antropov and a few others tomorrow. I like Antropov but it's not like you can't replace his production. If they can get a 2nd or 4rd rounder for him they have to trade him and anyone else for that matter.

- I'll bet anyone $500 that Manny Ramirez is in a Dodgers uniform opening day. There isn't anyone else bidding for him and both sides know it. Once Scott Boras realizes his ego will have to take a small hit Manny will sign for the next two years with deferred money.