Goodness, it's been almost two months since our last meeting.
The Falcons lost to the Packers. The Packers beat the Steelers. Baseball practice - the most overcovered event of all-time, along with golf - has started.
Cam Newton went pro. Auburn still has possession of the national championship trophy. College football teams signed high school kids that nobody knows about, but losers throughout the land got excited about.
And now, with a contented sigh, we have the NCAA Tournament.
It's a glorious, glorious event, one that bonds Americans for three weeks, brings together gamblers and non-gamblers and is a drug for basketball fans.
Even some knuckle-draggers who can't muster up much smarts for anything but a college football teams pay some attention.
And we have something new to add to "One Shining Moment", courtesy of Utah State fans: I believe that we will win. And we're winning.
Oh my, it gets ya going. Gets me going. A better wakeup routine than coffee.
As for the tournament, is this the year for a 16-over-1 upset?
We can always hope so.
UNC Asheville is in the top 10 nationally in steals, top 35 in turnover margin and top 60 in assists. Hmmm.
Bucknell offers discipline and shooting and defense, but probably not enough to overcome depth and athleticism. Texas-San Antonio's gas tank will be low after playing on Tuesday.
Hampton plays pretty good defense and can block some shots. Granted, Duke ain't the MEAC, but if you can defend, you have a shot.
Thus, watch teams that play good defense, like Utah State, Texas, Syracuse and San Diego State. Georgia is 19th in field goal percentage defense, so that makes the Bulldogs tough.
Defense can balance the nerves that affect offense.
As does turnover margin, so that makes Ohio State tough, as well as St. John's, BYU and Louisville, among others. Take care of the ball. One needn't run and gun to score a lot if you value the ball.
And, of course, watch Belmont, our friends from Nashville. Just watch Belmont.
Who to like? You know, analyzing the tournament is can be fun despite how useless it can be before dinnertime of Day One. I have no gut feeling who will win, I'll just enjoy the surprises of the first few rounds.
It's on. God bless America.
LOUGHDMOUTHINGS
L.A. Clippers nazi Donald Sterling said he didn't know that Elgin Baylor was a Hall of Fame player when he hired to him to be general manager back in 1986.
We can add that to the list of things Sterling doesn't know.
What the rest of us don't know is why Sterling kept Baylor on until 2008 as one of the legendary sports management disasters of all time.
Baylor is claiming discrimination for age and race. Good Lord, E, you were horrible. To have lasted more than a decade with that record is a miracle.
To have lasted, oh, 20 years with the Clippers is even kind of surprising. ...
I usually defend the NCAA a little bit - to not have a tightass governing body leads to anarchy - but come on, guys, a little common sense?
Yeah, a little common sense is really a lot of common sense.
You put Clemson in a Tuesday game in Dayton, and then make them play the first game of the day on Tuesday in Florida?
That's downright idiotic. Manipulation makes the world go 'round, and the NCAA cerrrrrtainly could've massaged that first-day schedule.
I like WVU, but that's schedule screwing is enough to make me pull for Clemson. Conversely, you almost want to see a blowout so the NCAA can see how stupid the schedule was. ...
Not like it's dancing on a limb, but Bruce Pearl is done at Tennessee. ...
GQ has ranked the worst fans in America.
Not sure that's possible. Too much competition. ...
Dear NFL: Skip the 18 games. Put more money into health care and retirements and pensions. Show current players what can happen to them physically and if they don't pay attention to their finances (see Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel).
Dear Players: You already haaaave a piece of the league. Most of you make money. And will those of you who have businesses do the same with your employees that you want the NFL to do with you? You are well-compensated and free to seek other employment if you don't like being well-compensated.
Hell, other than a house and cars and alimony and child support and other assorted procedures, how much do athletes actually pay for?
As for opening the books, how about players open their books, too? Yeah, didn't think you'd go for that.
Admit both of you are wrong in a lot of this, remember the non-players you affect with a lockout, and remember the 60-80,000 who show up each week and the millions who watch every week WHO PROVIDE THE BILLIONS YOU IDIOTS ARE WHINING OVER.
And Adrian Peterson: be quiet. ...
OK, this is funny. GQ names Philly fans Nos. 1 and 2:
"Over the years, Philadelphia fans have booed Santa Claus, their own star players, and most absurdly, the recipient of America's very first hand transplant, whose crime was dribbling in a ceremonial first pitch—thrown with his freshly transplanted hand. Boooo!
"Admittedly, there are some things fans have cheered. Like Michael Irvin's career-ending neck injury and a fan being tased on the outfield grass.
"Things reached their nadir last season, when Citizens Bank Park played host to arguably the most heinous incident in the history of sports: A drunken fan intentionally vomited on an 11-year-old girl.
"The truth is this: All told, Philadelphia stadiums house the most monstrous collection of humanity outside of the federal penal system.
"Some of these people would boo the crack in the Liberty Bell," baseball legend Pete Rose once said. More likely, these savages would have thrown the battery that cracked it." ...
Go to a college baseball game. Mercer is nearing the top 30 in Division I and Georgia College is in the top 5 in Division II. ...
And this giggle, courtesy of Brad Dickson in the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald after 20-year-old Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500:
"You realized how young afterward when he thanked his driver's-ed instructor."
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