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Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Anybody read a good book lately?

Lee Ann's article, "Between the Lines: Does Anyone Read Anymore?", in this week's edition of NinetyAndNine made me think about my reading habits. I used to take in a novel every couple of months, at least, but like Lee Ann, now I spend more time reading articles, blogs, etc. on the internet.

Anyway, I've resolved to get back to reading books before I break the habit altogether, so I'm looking for a good sports book. Any recommendations? Sport's Illustrated lists their Top 100 Sports Books of All Time on this web page, and there are very few I have read. 'Tis sad...

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

David Schoenfield, of ESPN's Page 2 (one of my favorite sites, if you haven't noticed), takes a light-hearted look at what the NCAA tourney might've been like if some of the players who jumped to the NBA had stayed in, or started, college.

In an alternate universe, Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon returned to Connecticut for their senior years.

In an alternate universe, Carmelo Anthony is a junior All-American at Syracuse.

In an alternate universe, Amare Stoudemire and Dajuan Wagner are a lethal one-two scoring punch for Memphis.

In an alternate universe, Luol Deng is still at Duke and he's been joined by freshmen Dwight Howard and Shaun Livingston.

In an alternate universe, the NBA has an age restriction and all high school phenoms go to college – and stay for four years.

In an alternate universe, this is what happens ...

He goes on to break down the actual matchups in the games. It's amazing to see how many names there are to pull from.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

The Lady Tigers from LSU earned their second straight trip to the Final Four last night by beating Duke 59-49. They will meet up against Baylor this weekend for a chance to play for the title.

Cold-shooting had the Tigers down 12 points early, but then the shots started falling and the defensive intensity was turned up.

The Lady Tigers are a fun team to watch, led by senior point guard Temeka Johnson. Of course it doesn't hurt to have All-American Seimone Augustus around, too. But the offense rolls with Johnson on the court. LSU never seems to settle for a three-pointer and are actually ranked close to last in the country in that category. But it's because they don't have to shoot three-pointers with Johnson getting everyone good shots. A few weeks ago, she racked up 17 assists in a conference tournament game.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

I keep thinking about how every game this weekend was played exceptionally well. Except for a few lapses (Arizona choking at the end of their game), these games were played about as good as you can expect college games to be played. Pat Forde sums it up:

Yo, Bucknell was swell. Vermont added verve. Wisconsin-Milwaukee was Wisconsin-Magnificent.

But part of the beauty of the NCAA Tournament is how the cute early stories are gradually replaced by something of grander scope: the great teams, the great games and the great drama. We got that this weekend. We got as much as our hearts could handle.

Now it's time to play for keeps. So pass the glycerin pills, keep the shock paddles handy and get ready for more – even if it can't live up to what we just saw ...

... Can it?

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

With all of the unbelievable games this past weekend, it's hard to see how the Final Four can match the drama. But these four teams are evenly matched, so I'm holding out hope for more excitement. Here's a breakdown of the four teams and how they got here:

Michigan State Spartans
We'll start with the team that's not supposed to be here. The Spartans have been in Illinois' Big Ten shadow all year and even though they only had six losses on the year, they received a 5 seed. The Spartans are in no one's shadow anymore after beating Duke and Kentucky (only two of basketball's most storied programs ever) in back-to-back games to make the Final Four.

They beat Duke by going inside to their big man, 6-11 Paul Davis. They beat Kentucky by sheer determination. After a three pointer from Kentucky's Patrick Sparks rolled around the rim and finally fell in to tie the game in regulation, it looked like the Spartans' luck may have run out. But two overtimes later, the Spartans shed the "underachiever" label that had been given to their group of seniors and crashed the Final Four party that no one thought they had a chance of attending.

North Carolina Tar Heels
It was fairly unanimous pick to have the Tar Heels in the Final Four, but they didn't have an easy road. And if it wouldn't have been for a questionable traveling call against Villanova, they may not have made it. I, for one, thought the call was awfully wrong (and still think that Bill Raftery cannot count).

But UNC won that game by a point and went on to defeat Wisconsin to make it to the Final Four. This game was the only non-overtime game of the Elite Eight, but it was still a battle and the Badgers actually led by 6 in the second half. UNC pulled it out, though, by riding the shoulders of Sean May, who scored 28 points.

Louisville Cardinals
The Cardinals, who seem to be playing with a chip on their shoulder by being given only a 4 seed, ran into West Virginia and one of the most unbelievable shooting performances I've ever seen. I don't think I've ever bellowed the word "wow!" so many times for one game.

The Mountaineers rattled off 18 three-pointers and only missed 9! With that hot shooting, they had Louisville down by 20 points in the second half until the Cardinals mounted a fierce comeback. The amazing thing is that West Virginia never went cold until Louisville finally forced overtime. It still didn't look bright for Louisville in overtime because star player Francisco Garcia fouled out. But it was Louisville's other guards who took over and kept the Cardinals from being "Pitsnogled".

Illinois Fighting Illini
It looked like Illinois' dream season was going to end at the hands of Arizona. The Wildcats played a near perfect game and were up by 15 points with 4 minutes to go in the game. Then something clicked with Illinois. If Louisville's comeback was fierce, then the comeback by the Fighting Illini was flat out ferocious. I've never seen so much hustle and determination from players as I did from Illinois, who just refused to lose. Illinois sent it in to overtime, courtesy of a three pointer by Deron Williams with 38 seconds to play, and squeaked out a 1-point win.

Arizona deserves some kind of an award for an awesome game, even with star Salim Stoudamire struggling.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend. It was an awesome weekend of basketball, to say the least. Three out of four Elite Eight games went into overtime and two teams overcame a 15+ point deficit to win (Louisville and Illinois). I will post more about my thoughts on the games later today.

For now, you only need to know that I'm still behind two adversaries in our bracket pool, my mom and girlfriend. It looks ShirleyMc will finish one point ahead of me no matter what happens and the only chance I have of beating jgraham is if UNC wins it all.

Humility, thy crown is mine. :)

At least I will beat my sister, KimDud, who has powered her way to last place.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

I was happy to see in our pool that I jumped to 9th and ShirleyMc dropped to 16th (at least until they find another "mathematical error"). I only have one team left that can score points for me, though (UNC). That does not bode well for my final standing.

Elim_Pianist and stewart are battling it out for the top spot. Currently, stewart holds a one point lead.

Mark Galli, over at Christianity Today, reveals why a pool is so much fun.

If February, with Valentine's Day, celebrates romantic relationships, March has become a celebration of old-fashioned friendship. Once you enter one of these office pools, relationships take on a new dimension. It isn't that we all bond or become intimate in some startling way—nothing so ominous and frightening as that. We're talking about easing into friendships. We're talking bluster and light-hearted trash talk as we each announce our picks. We're talking playful argument and laughter. We're talking about bolting into each other's offices with "Did you see that game last night?" and "Could you believe that call?" and "I can't believe XX has gotten this far." We're talking about, well, talking to each other more than ever.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Last night Louisville proved that they deserved more than a No. 4 seed by knocking off No. 1 Washington with ease, 93-79.

And Arizona proved I don't know what I'm talking about by beating Oklahoma State. It was an awesome game, though, and it took a jumper by Salim Stoudamire with 2 seconds left for Arizona to squeeze out a one-point win. This game had everything a basektball fan could want. Two great coaches firing away at each other with different in-game strategies, brilliant players stepping up (Joey Graham - 26 points), and, of course, drama.

Illinois ended the Cinderella journey of UW-Milwaukee and West Virginia sent Bobby Knight's Texas Tech team packing to round out the other teams in the Elite Eight so far.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

I'm ready for some more basketball! The frantic first four days of games spoiled me and now I'm having withdrawals with just 3 days without a tourney game.

I work for a regional telecom company and we just started offering TV service to compete with the cable companies. Last Thursday around 11 AM, I decided I needed to go evaluate our High-Definition channels, particularly CBS, to make sure we're on par with the competition. Of course, it was PURELY a coincidence that the games started at 11 on CBS. :)

Two games to watch tomorrow night:

Louisville and Washington
This is the game that the Huskies need to win to prove to everyone that they deserved a No. 1 seed. The winner of this game will be a Final Four team with Wake Forest out of this bracket. With the way Louisville has been playing and with Rick Pitino on the sidelines, I look for the Cardinals to win this game. I actually had Louisville in the Final Four until Thursday morning when I decided Wake Forest was too tough. Brilliant move.

Arizona and Oklahoma State
This should be another good game. Both teams have the talent to win it all but I'm going to stick with Oklahoma State because of their defense and experience. The winner of this game should give Illinois a tough game in the next round. I've been looking forward to an Illinois/Ok. State match up since I saw they were in the same bracket.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

For those of you who like your basketball flavored with drama, here's a storyline for you. Bruce Pearl, whose Cinderella Panthers from Wisconsin-Milwaukee play No. 1 seed Illinois this week, was an assistant coach at Iowa and in '89 reported Illinois to the NCAA for recruiting violations after taping conversations with a future Illini player. I don't think the reception from Illini fans in Chicago will be too warm for Pearl. He may want to hide in the mascot uniform he once donned.

Oh, and basketball will also be played. I'll get into some of the more exciting matchups later.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

My sweet mother left me a voice mail (and an email) tonight letting me know happily that she is in third place in our bracket pool. I thought she was mistaken, having checked the standings last night to see myself in 11th and she only .5 points ahead of me. Then I read an email from USA Today that stated:

Due to a mathematical error, second-round scores in "Upset Special" pools were originally calculated incorrectly. The problem was corrected Monday afternoon. We apologize for the mistake and thank you for playing March Mania.

No, no, thank you, USA Today. Thank you for allowing me to have a shred of hope for a few hours and for letting me think I have a chance of beating someone who based their picks based on what state she liked best!

I want the incompetent creature that made this "mathematical error" to be flogged and flogged heavily!

I kid, of course. It's all in good fun. {sigh} Who's ready for baseball? :)

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Defending champ UConn messed up some more brackets today by losing to NC State, 65-62. UConn became the second No. 2 seed to fall and NC State became one of only two double digit seeds to make it to the Sweet Sixteen (UW-Milwaukee is the other).

I would like to congratulate my friend David Bunch for being dead last in our NinetyAndNine pool thus far. With 27 contestants, last is quite a feat and I thought it right to acknowledge the achievement publicly. :)

I gained a little ground today and jumped into a tie for 11th. I am still behind my girlfriend and my mom, but fortunately for me, there is still a long way to go.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Wisconsin-Milwaukee continued it's amazing run by stunning No. 4 seeded Boston College 83-75 and becoming only the fifth No. 12 seed to advance to the final 16 since 1989.

Here's a humorous sidenote to that game: Bruce Pearl, UW-Milwaukee's coach, was formerly a graduate assistant at Boston College and once pulled on the BC eagle mascot uniform for a game because the original eagle was sick.

Wake Forest, a No. 2 seed and a big favorite to make the Final Four (in my bracket, also) fell to the 7th seed West Virginia in 2 overtimes.

Consider Saturday the Day of the Upset as two number 3 seeds also fell (Gonzaga to Texas Tech and Oklahoma to Utah).

Madness, I tell you, madness...

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Given the current mediocre ranking of my bracket in our NCAA tournament pool, I have decided to readjust my expectations.

My new goal is to beat at least two of the following people: jgraham (my girlfriend), ShirleyMc (my mom), and KimDud (my sister). I figured I could handle the scorn and derision that I will face losing to one of them, but if they're able to gang up on me, then I'm in trouble.

They may know a little more than Wendy (who claims she doesn't even know what NCAA stands for or what a bracket pool is), but probably not much more.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Welcome to the new and improved Bench Warmer! I decided to go with a new look because, well, I'm fickle like that.

I also opened up comments. If you want to post your thoughts for all the world to see, click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of the post. If you do post comments, keep it clean and Christian-like or it will be deleted and you will be flogged!

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

That flushing sound you hear is my bracket going down the toilet. I would like to publicly thank Syracuse, one of my final four teams, for destroying any hope I had of winning the pool. The 4th seeded Orange lost to 13th seeded Vermont in overtime.

And that wasn't even the biggest upset of the day. Bucknell, a No. 14 seed, squeezed by the Kansas Jayhawks 64-63 with a shot that went down with only 10 seconds left.

This is what the NCAA tournament is all about! Even though my bracket is shot to pieces, I love watching upsets. How can you not pull for the Bucknell Bisons, who have never won a tournament game even though they've had a team for 110 years?

We actually had a couple of people in our pool call this upset. Elim_Pianist, who is now in the lead, and stewart, our leader after Day One, correctly picked Kansas to lose. They must've paid the Jayhawks to throw this game. :)

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

After day one, we have a tie atop the standings in our pool. Our own Cara Davis is tied with Nathan Stewart with 17 points. But the tourney is still a puppy! Plenty of points left to mount a comeback.

LSU looked like a high school team in losing to UAB. That definitely wasn't the same team that made a run at the end of the season.

UW-Milwaukee pulled off the biggest upset in the dreaded 5-12 matchup. I had Alabama winning two games, but it's always fun to see an upset. Congrats to UW-Milwaukee and to Tim Vik (an alumni), also known asImviktim in our pool.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

When Eastern Kentucky tips off against powerhouse Kentucky today, they probably have no chance two win the game, but here's a story from ESPN.com that'll make you want to cheer a little harder for EK. The story goes beyond basketball and talks about hard times and a miracle off the court for one of their players.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

With just a few minutes to go before the opening tip off of the tournament, we have a total of 27 contestants in our pool, so the competition will be fierce. Below are the user names of the entries from our staff/columnists here at NinetyAndNine:

Riddle456	Sarah Holland
bmcdo90	Bradley McDonald
alamaui	Cara Davis
ShirleyMc	Shirley McDonald
lalexander	Lee Ann Alexander
poetus	Dave Bunch
ibjdl	Josh Lewis
phampton	Phillip Hampton
Kentinator	Kent Curry
Nita Curry	Nita Curry

Good luck to everyone!

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

We've got a nice turnout in our NinetyAndNine NCAA bracket pool so far. There's still time to sign up, if you haven't already done so. Surprisingly, there are quite a few female entrants, which does not bode well for us guys. My money is on one of them to win. :)

I can't seem to decide on my Final Four teams. Every time I think I've settled in on four teams, an hour later I change it. I may just flip a coin in the morning to decide. That method will probably work just as well as any other method for determining the winners.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

The authorities at 90&9 have given me the approval to present a prize to the lucky (er...knowledgeable) individual who manages to conquer all comers and win our bracket pool. The winner will get to choose from an assortment of items that are simply astounding!

OK - you really only have two choices and they're not that astounding, but it may make it more fun nonetheless.

For the winner's hard work and diligence, he/she will receive:

• the chance to gloat for a week on The Bench Warmer! That's right - I shall relinquish my blogging duties for a week and allow someone to talk about sports, life, or just insult the other losers from our pool (as long as it's rated G - we're a family oriented site here.)
• or, if you choose to relish your victory in silence, you will receive two CDs, courtesy of 90&9! (Sorry, you can't choose the CDs. We have little control over that.)
  

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

From Borowitzreport.com:

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) stunned the sports world today by announcing that its annual college basketball tournament, known to its fans as March Madness, will henceforth be known as March Bipolar Disorder.

The name-change, which both surprised and outraged devotees of the annual ritual, came after the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) demanded that the NCAA drop the "Madness" tag.

While fans across the country argued that "March Bipolar Disorder" did not have the same ring to it, a spokesperson for the NIMH said today that the new name was "more clinically accurate."

...

Among bipolar college basketball fans like Devon Trailor of Chapel Hill, NC, reaction to the controversial name-change was mixed: "I was very excited about the new name yesterday, but today I'm not."

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Here's a breakdown of how the scoring works in our pool:

For a win in:
round 1, you get 1 point.
round 2, 2 points
round 3, 4 points
round 4, 8 points
round 5, 12 points
round 6, 16 points

Also, if you pick an upset in the first four rounds, you get bonus points (one-half times the value of the difference in seeds).

For example, correctly choosing an 11 seed to beat a 2 seed in the third round is worth:
4 points (for a third-round correct pick)
+ .5 X 9 (one-half the difference of 11 and 2).
8.5 points

If you sign up, please send me your name along with your user name on the site, so I can let everyone know who's who. I promise no one will laugh at your picks (heh heh).

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Want to compete against some of the staff of NinetyAndNine and other apostolics in the first ever NinetyAndNine Bracket Pool Invitational? Then go to this site on USA Today's website and login (create an account if you don't have one). Once logged in, choose to join an existing private pool. The name of the pool is 'NinetyAndNine' and the password is '99'.

You need incentive? We're working on a small prize to be awarded to the winner. (Don't get your hopes up, though. It could just be a year's paid subscription to 90&9.) :)

You have to sign up by 12 ET on Thursday, so get after it!

More details to come...

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

The brackets are set so let the games begin! Pat Forde says it best here:

Welcome to the launching pad, kids. Tonight we hit the ignition switch on the greatest three weeks in sports. Even with the TV timeouts.

From now through an April Monday in St. Louis, normal American life is subverted by armchair hoops analysis and office-pool handicapping. Normal television programming is pre-empted by tattooed boys balling from Boise to Worcester. Normal discourse is hijacked by NCAA Tournament nomenclature: brackets, seedings, Cinderellas and whatever might come out of Bill Raftery's mouth.

The big surprise in the bracket was Washington getting a number one seed after being ranked 14th in the last poll. Other teams that were potentially a number one seed all lost in the conference tournaments, though, so it's hard to argue against Washington.

It's tough to make an argument for any of the bubble teams who were "snubbed", too. DePaul (19-10), Maryland (16-12), Saint Joseph's (19-11) and Notre Dame (17-11) were all left out of the tournament. Personally, I think Notre Dame is best team out of this bunch. Eleven losses isn't bad considering the Irish play in the amazingly tough Big East. If Notre Dame would play Northern Illinois or UCLA (the last teams that made it in the bracket), I think the Irish win easily.

My Tigers ended up with seeded 6th against a scrappy UAB team. This is about where I thought they would go; however, they probably would've been higher if they could've pulled off the upset against No. 4 Kentucky in the SEC tournament, which they came oh-so-close to doing. I don't think my heart can take any more games like that, so I hope they either win or lose big in the NCAA tourney.

Well, those are my initial thoughts. Check back tomorrow for more non-expert analysis!

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

If your team is on the proverbial and distressing "bubble", Sports Illustrated has a "Bubble Watch" on their website that is updated continuously until Sunday (when the selection committee makes it official). It's interesting to see the widespread affect of a "bubble team" losing.

Luckily for me, LSU won it's last six games to jump fully into the field of 65, so I don't have to sweat out Selection Sunday. It'd be nice to see them win a couple of games in the SEC tournament and get a higher seed, though.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Back to basketball...

Watching some games in the conference tournaments over the last couple of days, I've noticed one main difference between good teams and poor teams. On teams that win consistently, each player knows their role. You won't see a guy sent in to rebound and set screens shoot a wild three-pointer. Likewise, you won't see a set shooter try to drive to the goal. This is usually a sign of a good coach and hence, a good team.

I've watched games over the last couple of days that got out of control and players were just jacking up three pointers, even guys who had career 12% averages from the three point line.

If you want to pick a winner in the NCAA bracket, look for teams that have excellent role players that stick to their roles.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

It seems like the steroid mess in baseball will be in the headlines for a while longer. After a few congressional hearings on steroids, Congress has decided to subpoena current and former baseball stars including Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa (but not Barry Bonds) to, you know, protect the youth and yada, yada, yada.

I don't get this. What do these politicians think they can solve by asking questions to a few millionaires who may have cheated on their jobs? Last year, another hearing coerced Bud Sellig and the leaders of baseball to enforce tougher testing standards and that may have accomplished something. But don't these congressman have more important things to do? I tend to agree with Mike Celizic:

It’s not to correct any wrong or to force cheaters onto the straight and narrow. That was last year. This year, it’s just about getting face time and generating headlines and making the country forget how many issues you ignoring that are going to affect us and our children and our children’s children.

And unfortunately, this hearing only adds to the pot that stirs the steroid drama. The black eye on baseball will be here for a while. As Tim Dahlberg states:

You wish the whole thing would go away because this is a time, after all, when the grass turns green and hope is supposed to spring eternal for all baseball fans.

…

You’ll hear about it from now through opening day as politicians, ballplayers, owners and union figures engage in a snake dance that couldn’t be any sleazier if it was conducted in a strip club rather than the halls of Congress."

…

Meanwhile, the politicians are still opportunists, baseball’s management remains incredibly pigheaded and the players care only about covering their own backs. As much as you want to find them, there are no good guys here.

As I've said before, the blame principally falls on the leaders of baseball. If they cared more about integrity than prosperity, I would be talking about who is going to play center field for the Astros right now instead of congressional hearings.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Purple Eagles. Blue Jays. Monarchs. Golden Knights. Quakers . Mocs. Colonels. Zags.

Sounds more like Alice in Wonderland characters than teams in the NCAA tournament, but that's what they are. Nine teams have received automatic bids already by winning their conference tournaments.

Michael Bradley argues that the conference tournaments aren't fair:

The NCAA hoops' championship method may appear unassailable, but the roundball world isn't without its own sham of a system: the conference tournaments.

....

They're a joke. That's right, a laugh-out-loud, wet-your-pants, do-a-spit-take joke. Instead of choosing champions the way most sports do, by allowing their members to play a round-robin (or a facsimile in bloated confederations) and crowning the team with the best record, conferences stage three and four-day tournaments that are equal parts game show and made-for-TV carnival. You might get the real champion, provided the top seed survives three days of assaults from zealous underdogs intoxicated by the idea of "getting hot at the right time" and earning a precious NCAA invitation. But if the star guard's girlfriend breaks up with him on the eve of the semifinals, or if a bad clam turns the starting power forward's intestinal track to jelly, two months of hard work go into the hopper.

...

Football Tech may have finished 16-11 overall and 7-9 in conference play, but it can still get into the round of 65 with a couple of tourney wins, usually over equally marginal teams. Yippee! Now the Big East has seven schools in. Meanwhile, in the Mid-American Conference, a 24-4 club gets ready to host an NIT contest because it didn't win the conference tournament.

...

Suddenly, the BCS doesn't look so bad. OK, it still does, but at least it has some company.

It's true that the conference tournaments may be "made-for-TV" and some teams that may deserve to get in the NCAA Tournament are held out because of a non-deserving conference tournament champion, but to compare it to the BCS is absurd. The BCS denies teams that have a legitimate shot at winning the National Championship that chance. In basketball, no team outside of the field of 65 has even a remote possibility of making it through the bracket to a National Championship game. That's a huge difference.

I'll take the exhilaration and competition of the conference tournaments, even if the result is somewhat unfair to a few teams.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

The madness has ensued.

To follow my "March is here! Woohoo!" post, college basketball initiated the month with a string of upsets (and almost upsets) this weekend.

• Previously undefeated and No. 1 ranked Illinois was stunned by Ohio State. Every year some team makes it this far into the season without a loss, but no team has gone the whole season undefeated since Indiana in '76.
• No. 2 North Carolina squeaked by their arch rival and 6th ranked Duke, winning by 2 points to capture their first ACC regular season championship since 1993. This was another game to remember in this storied rivalry.
• Florida decided to end their 8-game losing streak to Kentucky by beating the No. 3 team by 2 points, also.
• No. 4 Wake Forest needed a last second shot to claim a victory over North Carolina State.
• No. 7 Kansas got thumped by Missouri.

Whew. Did I miss anyone?

Oh, yeah. And on the women's side, my Lady Tigers of LSU, who only had one loss and were ranked No. 1, were knocked off by perennial powerhouse Tennessee in the conference championship game.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

It's time to forget about steroids and lockouts and spoiled NBA prima-donnas and focus on the best three weeks of the year for sport fans. The only downside of the NCAA tournament is having to hear from Dick Vitale more often. The way he finishes every sentence with an enthusiastic "baby!" was cool when I was in high school, but now it's thoroughly aggravating. It's a close race between he and Bill Walton for the most annoying basketball commentator. But I digress...

There are a few conference tournaments going on this weekend that start off the frenzy of March Madness. Some schools that have no chance of getting an at-large bid into the Big Dance will win their conference tournament and get in. That's what makes college basketball exciting. There's always hope until your last loss.

If you want to win your office bracket pool or just want to beat your significant other (my girlfriend's goal - which she accomplished last year), here's a good place to start. You can do all the research you want and still look foolish once the games start, though. There's a reason it's called madness.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

If you haven't already done so, say hello to 90&9's A Month In My Life blogger for March. Someone brought it to my attention that she had beaten me to a bizarre sport, cowboy mounted shooting. I better get to work or she might have my job. :)

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Here's an article by Mark Galli on Christianity Today's website titled Salt and Light in the Arena. He talks about the state of sports today and what it will take to clean it up. Here's his conclusion:

...I suggest that righteous individuals, no matter how committed, are no match for the principalities and powers of American sports. Are sports corrupt through and through? Of course not. But where they are corrupt, they'll need more than a few heroic religious individuals to make a difference. Probably something on the order of a company of people, a people called out, set apart--a fellowship grounded in such a way that not even the gates of Hades will overcome it.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

ESPN's Page 2 offers a sarcastic look in response to the following quote from Barry Bonds:

"... you cannot rehash the past. If that's the case, we're going to go way back into 19th, 18th centuries in rehashing the past and we'll crush a lot of things in a lot of sports ... if you just want a lot of things out of the sports world, then we can go back into the 1800s and basically asterisk a lot of sports if that's what you choose ..."
-- Barry Bonds, speaking to his good friends in the press.

Good idea. But why stop with sports?

Here are some of my favorites:

Columbus Reaches the New World

The deed: In 1492, Italian explorer sails the ocean blue, yadda yadda yadda. He ends up in the Americas ...

The asterisk: ... along with smallpox.

The Battle of Gettysburg

The deed: Federal army beats back 1863 Confederate invasion, turning the tide of the Civil War.

The asterisk: Subsequent chess set grossly overpriced.

The Telephone

The deed: Alexander Graham Bell patents his telephone in 1876; the first call is to his assistant, Thomas A. Watson.

The asterisk: Telephone actually invented by Italy's Antonio Meucci in 1849 (really -- look it up); second call was from a telemarketer, offering Bell a low-rate mortgage.

The Wright Brothers' First Flight

The deed: In 1903, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright fly the first powered airplane over Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

The asterisk: Flight delayed on runway for 25 minutes; Wilbur's luggage misplaced in Charlotte; first in-flight bag of peanuts is 75 percent vacuum-packed air.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

You've all probably seen a sport called curling at one time or another. It's the game where one guy slides across ice with a big round object and when he lets it go, a couple of other people sweep ferociously in front of the object. Yeah, that one. It became an official Olympic event in 1998, so apparently it's pretty popular. Check out this money list. One guy made over $100k curling!

To be honest, I didn't know anything about the sport until doing research recently. But I always enjoyed watching (err...laughing) at the little sweeper guys. (If only I could get one of them to clean the floor in my house. It would be spotless in 23 seconds.)

Well, it turns out the guys are sweeping to smooth out the ice and speed up the released object, officially called a "stone." The purpose is to get the stone as close as possible to a bulls-eye type target painted on the ice. There are two teams of four and the stones can be knocked off of the target by the opposing team. There's a lot of strategy involved, like when to "guard" the target or when to "takeout" your opponent's stone.

Who neds hockey when we've got curling?! Maybe some of the locked-out NHL players can practice up and become professional curlers. (Just a thought.)