This weekend in the NBA

What happened this weekend in the NBA you ask? Well I'll tell you what I saw.

How dare the fans in Utah boo Derek Fisher. Nearly a year to the day that he flew across the country after being by his daughter's hospital bedside to play for the Jazz and hit some clutch shots in a win, he's being booed during the introductions of Game 3 of the Lakers-Jazz series. Utah let Fisher leave the team to play for L.A. so his daughter could get better treatment over the offseason. There shouldn't have been any ill intentions, so why the boos? This should have been a amicable split but Utah booing Fisher is in poor taste. Why not just boo Kobe? It would make a lot more sense.

It's a good thing that the Celtics have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs because they absolutely cannot win on the road. Its getting a bit ridiculous. Has a team ever won the championship without a single road win? It seems that all it may take to bounce Boston from the playoffs is one win at the Garden. Taking that advantage from the C's may be the equivalent to taking their playoff lives.

And speaking of home court woes, how are the Pistons the only team to win on the road so far in round 2? Not to knock Detroit or anything, but it's pretty sad that contenders like Boston, New Orleans, San Antonio and the Lakers can't win on the road. Of those four, Los Angeles has it the toughest. Utah has been one of the best home court teams in the league all season long and are playing them tough. With the Hornets and Spurs, both of them are playing amazingly and are playing the best seven-game series of this year's playoffs. The fact that San An can't shut down the Bugs offence is a true testament to Chris Paul's play and the fact that they can ratchet up their game is a testament to their entire squad.

And the Celtics, well read one graf up.

So the Phoenix Suns have let coach Mike D'Antoni walk out of the desert to New York for a large amount of money. This move really shows that the Suns aren't going to continue their break-neck-paced offensive style and perhaps move to a game plan based on saving Steve Nash's career. If they can find a way to keep those Nash-Amare pick-and-rolls going while not having Nash take the punishment and wear from the speed game, the Suns could get better. They do have the pieces to do well in the West and really need a find a coach who can change their culture and institute some tougher defensive standards. As D'Antoni's new team, the Knicks may have paid a lot for his services but he'll be worth it. That hiring is such an upgrade over Isiah Thomas that the Knicks could actually contend for the playoffs next season.

A bad day for Clevelanders

Cleveland sports fans and residents haven't had very many super days in their history and yesterday wasn't great either.

First, on what should have been a joyous day for every hungry person or glutton in Cleveland's city limits, Papa John's was giving away large, one-topping pizzas for 23-cents. "What a deal!" you might say. In a move that perhaps every one was too dumb to see happen, there were hour-long waits for said pizzas. Of course, just as predictably, people got mad and police had to guard some shops.

Look, when you have fast food ultra cheap, there will be a whole bunch of people wanting it and it may not be pretty. Prepare for the worst.

Then there was the monstrousity that was called "Game 2" taking place in Boston. TD BankNorth Garden, or whatever they're calling the Garden now, is not a very happy setting for LeBron. In the Cavs two losses to open the second round series, King James shot an outstandingly awful 8-for-42. Yes, he missed 36 shots in two games. I think that every one in the world was expecting more from LeBron, regardless of how touted Boston's defence is. If he can't do better than that in the playoffs, can we really compare him to MJ — regardless of the lack of talent on the Cavs' roster?

Ouch!

A bad thing happened yesterday to the city of Detroit as well as fans of their basketball team. Chauncey Billups went down with a hamstring injury in the first quarter of their game Orlando. This could be the opening the Magic need to dig themselves out of the 2-0 hole the were put in to begin their second round series.

Point guard, as I'm sure you may know, is a very pivotal position in basketball and it is very hard to continually advance if you don't have a decent floor general leading the charge.

If Billups can't get back into the lineup and play at — the very least — 80%, Jameer Nelson might actually be the better point guard in this series. Of course, we've all heard stories of playoff heroics and guys playing through injuries. This whole situation may turn out to just be a single-game storyline.

The final four and more ramblings

Since I was lazy yesterday and not much has changed today, how about some ramblings about some recent going-ons? I thought you'd say that.

There are only four teams left playing for the Stanley Cup. While I'm sure that the NHL isn't too happy the West Coast and Canada not being represented in the final four, having Sid the Kid and the Pens in is great. Matching up Pittsburgh with their natural rival. the cross-state Flyers is going to be a great series. In the West, having Dallas still playing could draw the southern markets; Detroit has always been a hockey hotbed and an original six draw. It'll be interesting to say the least.

A-Rod apparently passed out in the hospital while his wife was giving birth to their first daughter. Am I supposed to care? If an average player — say Morgan Ensberg, who's filling in while A-Rod is injured — had passed out during child birth, would anybody care. Also, this incident happened in 2004. Get over it.

Kobe Bryant deserved the NBA MVP more than Chris Paul did. Whoever is calling this a "lifetime achievement MVP" is an idiot. Bryant was by far the best player on the best team in the best conference and was playing without another all-star — unlike Paul. Don't get me wrong CP3 had an amazing season and was a very worthy candidate, but was not more valuable than the Black Mamba.

Roger Clemens. I don't even know what to think any more about the Rocket.

So Ronaldo allegedly beat up some cross-dressing prostitutes after finding out they were, in fact, men. I've seen the pictures of the prostitutes. Either Ronaldo has severely awful taste in women or he's blind. They were obviously dudes. And it's nice to see he's finding time to get in the news while rehabbing his torn ACL.

Suns coach Mike D'Antoni won't be with Phoenix for long after getting team approval to shop his services around. The best possible fit would be Toronto where his former boss Bryan Colangelo is running the show. D'Antoni could turn Jose Calderon into a surefire all-star.

Nice game, Gavin Floyd! The previously written off starter pitched 8 1/3 innings of no-hit ball before one of the best batters in the game (Joe Mauer) managed to beat him. Floyd is showing more and more this season that the Phillies were wrong to send him packing and that the White Sox were smart to take him on. And just how do you allow a run on three walks and an error in a game? I don't think the were in a row either.

A big congratulations to Big Brown for winning the Kentucky Derby. But with the second-place finisher running on broken ankles, how weak was the rest of the pack? Also, for the record, I did pick Big Brown to win, even if I am just saying it days after the fact.

And, finally, how did LeBron miss that last layup? That seemed a bit ridiculous to me and if you didn't find Game 1 boring, you must have a far better tolerance for defensive tilts than me. Spur-Celtics could be even worse than Spurs-Pistons if San Antonio makes it.

Rooting against, not for

After watching Boston throttle the Hawks yesterday I was very disappointed. Not because Atlanta lost, I'm not a fan. It was because Boston won and advanced. It wasn't so much that I was rooting for the Hawks to win, I found myself cheering for the Celtics — and, to an extent, the entire city of Boston — to lose. It was why I was even watching.

Sure, it's kind of non-sensical cheering on a team with no real shot of winning it all, but seeing the scrappy Hawks tumble the goliath C's with their Big Three would have been a great story even if they would be swept next round by King James.

A Celtics-less playoffs would draw less ratings and I'm sure that everyone wants to see an instant-classic finals like Lakers-Celtics, so maybe it was a bit obvious that Boston would take game 7 at home in a league where referees are — fairly — criticized for questionable, league-friendly calls.

Also, Kevin Garnett's dirty play these playoffs has to stop. I have no clue why he hasn't been suspended. David Stern needs to pull his head out of his ass and actually watch what is happening. For the second time in series, KG throw an elbow at Zaza Pachulia. It is downright filthy and dispicable that an elite player would stoop so low. I honestly would've expected a bit from a guy who was an alleged MVP candidate. I'm glad he didn't win because MVPs are better than that.

Coach of the year eh?

Let me just say this before I start complaining: Congratulations Byron Scott, you did a great job coaching the Hornets this season and are quite deserving of the Coach Of The Year award.

Now, does he honestly deserve it? There were a ton of great coaches this season. Greg Popovich did a great job while missing at least one of his big three for parts of the season and dealing with his roster aging. As much as I dislike Mike D’Antoni, having to change his team’s style of play while still maintaining position in the West gets him some kudos. Nate McMillan did an amazing job with a team that had been written off before the season started – even if the Blazers petered out. And let’s not forget that Phil Jackson won the West with Kobe, almost a half season with Gasol, and a roster full of “not that good”
players.

That’s right, absolutely no love for Doc Rivers. We know that it’s KG coaching that team.

The COTY award too often goes to coaches who are simply at the helm of teams that had a tremendous turnaround from the previous season. Look at last year’s winner, Sam Mitchell of the Raptors. The only reason he kept his job because the media looked past the roster overhaul and saw a big win-total jump. Now, I’d hardly be surprised if Sam was fired after another first round exit.

How would my ballot have looked you ask? D’Antoni would be third, Scott would be second and Phil Jackson would be first. Did you know that would be the Zen Masters second COTY award? How does a guy with nine – NINE – NBA championships win the coach of the year award only once? A tad ridiculous, don’t you think?

Isiah Thomas gets the comedic vote and a landslide victory.

Two awards in one day?

Sure it may not have been completely official, but the NBA pretty much announced two of its regular season awards in one day. After announcing the Magic's Hedo Turkoglu had won the Most Improved Player award, word started spreading that the Hornet's Byron Scott would be the coach of the year winner.

Turkoglu played amazing this season and was a huge reason why Orlando won their division. He may not be the best player on his team but still was an integral part of the Magic's lineup. He also had big shoes to fill after Grant Hill's departure. Nobody took as big of a leap talent-wise as Turk did.

As for coach of the year — to be formally announced today — Scott is a good choice. He helped turn around the Hornets and coached them to second place in the hardcore West. He may have had Chris Paul running the floor but he didn't have as much depth up front as I thought they did going into the season.

I would really like to know who does the voting for some of the NBA awards as well. It is apparently by a panel of sports writers across North America but some votes are just too dumb to have been cast by people who follow the sport for a living.

Honestly, who could possibly think that Shaquille O'Neal was the second most improved player this year? What an idiot. Oh, there were other questionable votes too: LeBron James, while steadily improving on his greatness, should not be getting a first place vote. Al Jefferson falls somewhat into the same category. Giving Monta Ellis some votes is kind of questionable considering he won the award last year. Come on, most improved in the entire league twice in a row? Andrew Bynum greatly improved but was injured for half the season.

Personally, I think that Hedo deserved it and I would have given the second place vote to Jose Calderon while David West would get my third place vote.

Some quick April ramblings

Jake Long's going to be the first-overall pick on Saturday in the NFL draft. Moves like these (signing no. 1 picks before the draft) takes all the suspension and anticipation out seeing the commissioner walk to the podium. The least the could do is negotiate a deal and keep it quiet.

The Seahawks did the right thing by cutting Shaun Alexander. If you watched him at all last season, you could tell he wasn't the same back that ran all the way to a touchdown record and a Madden cover shot. So is this the worst case of the Madden jinx yet?

The Sharks are lucky Jeremy Roenick didn't retire last summer. His performance in game 7 last night was off the hook and a huge reason why San Jose won.

The NHL lost out on a ton of ratings by seeing Alex Ovechkin and his Capitals lose. Had Washington beaten the Flyers, Alex the Great would have been facing off of with Sid the Kid in round two. Hockey could have gained a lot more fans watching those two go at it.

Looks like C.C. Sabathia reads this blog. He finally stepped up his game and got back to his winning ways last night. Now, I'm just going to have to wait to see if he can keep up this form against non-Royals.

The Raptors are outmatched by the Magic. They can win one game but I'd doubt if they can take two. That might have been the worst play I've ever seen drawn up to end a game last night.

The Suns had better start turning up the Heat on the Spurs if they don't want to make an early exit. They have to play as hard as they did in game one opposed to how the started to fade down the stretch in game two if this series is going to live up to its billing.

And congratulations to Jay-Z and Beyonce for finally getting married. Those two have been together for what? like ten years?

A quick look at the NBA's game 1s

There’s a few things you should be surprised by after this weekend’s NBA playoff opening games. The top seeds (Lakers and Celtics) rolled through their opponents. Orlando didn’t have too tough of a time with the Raptors while Dwight Howard put up a 25-22 game. And San Antonio and Phoenix played a great game that went into double OT before the Spurs made the Suns set.

Then there were some surprises. Philadelphia, who has looked frisky throughout the season, went into Detroit and beat a talented, deep team in a very close game. I don’t think there’s been this much happiness or optimism for Sixer fans since their finals appearance when Iverson was still carrying them. It surprised me that a team that people had started to write off - even if they were only a game out of first place – the Hornets, took it to the Mavs like they did. Maybe playoff experience and coaching matchups don’t matter that much.

One quick case of surprising some: LeBron and the Cavs beat the Wizards. A lot of people took the Wizards to win this series despite Cleveland having the best player (and not much else). We’ll have to see if King James can keep up the winning ways against a deep opponent.

And in case you’re one of the few people who care about who the Lakers play next round, the Jazz beat the Rockets in game 1.

Now we’ll see how every adapts to their opponents.

The playoffs are here!

Now that the whole mess of teams near 50 wins has been sorted out in the West, we finally know what the match-ups are for the only conference that really matters in the NBA. You could argue that the Celtics and the Pistons have a chance to come out of the East and bring some noise, but who are we kidding here? The only chance they really have is the eventual Western champion getting banged up on the way to the finals.

First, let's just bang out some unimportant East predictions so they're out of the way.

Celtics vs. Hawks: Boston sweeps Atlanta with little resistance.
Pistons vs. 76ers: Philly is better than you think but won't hold up Detroit's march onwards. Detroit in 5.
Magic vs. Raptors: Matchup-wise, Toronto may have an advantage, but I really can't see them winning this series. Orlando in 7.
Cavaliers vs. Wizards: Is actually the Wizards vs. LeBron and i'd still take that one man over the whole Washington team (Do you think the league would let King James get bounced early?). LeBron in 6.

Heading out West, where some of the best basketball in many years will be played:

Lakers vs. Nuggets
The Nuggets look so good on paper because of their big names but facing the Lakers in the playoffs when Kobe Bryant is around is a tough task. The Nuggets are not nearly mentally focused enough to take down the West's top dog. And seriously, do you really expect an 8-over-1 upset two years in a row? Lakers in 4 although Denver could steal a game.

Hornets vs. Mavericks
The upset that everyone is going to pick. Does that really make it that much of an upset any more? Dirk and the Mavs have looked great recently and are rolling heading into the post-season. I see a lack of playoff experience ultimately killing the Hornets. Dallas in 7.

Spurs vs. Suns
Any NBA fan's dream. The Suns traded for Shaq simply so they could beat the Spurs playoff time. Now they have to prove that move paid off. The Spurs also are out to prove they still have since doubters have been riding them all season. Amare Stoudemire has been an absolute force since the Shaq trade and will cause problems. But you also have to count in that the Suns have no one capable of guarding Manu Ginobili. In the end, whichever team can turn the "it" more will take the series. I think it's the Spurs in 7.

Jazz vs. Rockets
The least appealing matchup in the first round and whoever takes this series is going to just be fodder for the Lakers — who may have Andrew Bynum back at that time. Utah is a great team at home and will ride the Rockets there while taking at least one on the road. Jazz in 5.

I'll call the second round matchups when I see them, simply because the Spurs-Suns series will impact the entire playoffs. But if I was calling it now, I would have the Lakers beating the Pistons in 5 games.

Sports debate: TV vs. Live

Having recently attended a major league baseball game, a thought came to mind: Is baseball the only sport where it might be beneficial to stay at home rather than go out to the ballpark? Out of the big North American leagues , it probably i,s which is a sad statement for a great sport.

Let's break down the sports that make up the front pages of your daily sports section — with one omission: Golf. But I'll get to that later. Also, I'm judging by my own experience having watched games from reasonable, affordable seats, not the MSG Spike Lee court-side special.

Football: There is nothing better than seeing a game of NFL football live. The experience of watching the game unfold combined with the elements of being outdoors and the "socially lubricated" fans that surround you make football the best sport there to get out to. This is probably the reason why nearly every game sells out, regardless of where you are. How do you know it's sold out? Because if it isn't, you can't even watch it on television because it will be blacked out in the area.

A game at the stadium even has most of the benefits that television would provide (replays, out-of-town updates) as well as eliminating potentially annoying commentary. And if you want commentary, bring along a radio.

Basketball: A great arena sport to watch live. Especially when the stars come out to shine. Watching Kobe Bryant play anywhere is a treat and worth more than the price of admission. Again, you lose out on annoying commentators and still have updates on televisions around the arena. But the big gain is that instead of commercials during TV timeouts, you get cheerleaders or a chance to grab another beer.

Hockey: Pretty much the same benefits as basketball, but colder. While rinks are kept at a reasonable temperature, it can get chilly for those not used to it. The NHL is fast-paced enough to be more entertaining live but is also viable to watch on TV (especially in hi-definition if you have it). The biggest benefit of watching hockey live is the lack of commentators. The NHL somehow managed to employ the worst commentators out of all sports. Watching a hockey game while listening to the commentators will, most of the time, amount to being bashed with over-the-top homerism, severely slanted points of view, people yelling points for no good reason and former players or coaches talking who are about as smart as the pucks they had played with.

Baseball: I'm a huge fan of baseball and avid supporter of the game, but even I got bored when at the game last week. This wasn't a snoozer either with a 9-7 score and several dingers. But sometimes a guy has to change the channel and sometimes a guy has to drink past the 7th inning (cut off time at most stadiums). On television, you get a better view of the field and a superior view of pitches. There is no way you can get a better angle at a pitcher’s delivery or the ball coming in than on TV. That is, unless you’re one of those goofs who bring binoculars and a glove to the game when you’re 45-years-old.

As for the fringe sports:

Autos: If you're a fan of racing — I'm not — you're going to enjoy cars going around in a circle (NASCAR) and also get to see the wrecks first-hand. But all that noise and a good view of only a portion of the track does not sound appealing to this sports fan. When I do watch races, I like to know the information I gain from TV.

Lacrosse: Nearly a combination of UFC and Hockey. Watching guys pummel each other is a great way to spend a night if you're in a city with a NLL franchise.

Golf: Has to be the worst spectator I can think of. Watching guys either tee off or putt will not draw a casual fan. That casual fan would more than likely rather be playing 18 holes than watching an event on his day off.

The Wild West

After the Nuggets victory over the Warriors on Thursday night, 2008's playoff teams are pretty much set in the NBA. Golden State is now one game out of eighth place but since Denver holds the tie-breaker, Golden State would have to finish a win up on them. Each team has three games remaining each but the odds of the Warriors winning all three while Denver only takes one seems a bit out of reach. The Nuggets do have a tougher schedule with Utah, Houston and Memphis remaining while the Warriors have the Clips, Suns and Seattle.

Now, the seeding is a huge jumble in the West. While New Orleans is looking like the King of the Mountain, four teams in the one and a half to two and a half games out. The last three games on the schedule are going to be very interesting seeing how a team like the Lakers could potentially drop from second in the conference to sixth. Utah seems to be the luckiest team in all of this, firmly locked into the fourth spot.

In the East, where nobody really cares, the Hawks have a two game lead on Indiana, seemingly clinching the right to be swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round.

Memphis blows it

I don't know how you a) win 38 games in a season and b) get to the national championship game and c) have a two point lead with 10-point-something seconds left while shooting free throws and lose a game. Memphis deserved to lose the game. Any team that cannot hit game-clinching free throws should not be a national champion. Even worse, after bricking two free throws, they were able to get the offensive rebound and draw another foul! And the consensus number 2 pick in the coming NBA draft could only hit one of his two tries. I would be remembering that sequence if I drafted Derrick Rose.

Then the Jayhawks Most Outstanding Player, Mario Chalmers, nailed a death-defying three to tie the game and send it to overtime — where Memphis never had a chance. Chalmers' shot, with two Tigers in his face, was about as clutch as you can get. Nearly Kobe- or LeBron-esque.

Now, in retrospect, despite the absence of a cinderella story or even a 2- or 3-seed making it into the championship game or even the Final Four, the fact that two number one seeds duked it out in the final makes both the tournament and especially pools, somewhat more interesting. I had figured it was going to boring for poolies, seeing that many experienced entrants would not go against history and taking four number 1s. But the most exciting part about your pool is now "who took the right 1s?" Anybody who wanted to go against the masses and picked against UCLA and UNC is obviously raking in the dividends now.

More Hot-Lanta controversy

We may be headed for a second replay of the season if the NBA sees what everyone else who caught the end of the Raptors-Hawks tilt last night saw. Because of some wackiness perpetrated by the Atlanta timekeeper, the Raptors' final attempt to win the game was waved off because time had apparently expired and the game was to head to overtime — where the Hawks eventually won. But not so fast.

Upon further review, which the refs didn't look into, the timekeeper had started the clock before T.J. Ford had touched the ball to lay it in. It was almost .2 whole seconds fast, which doesn't sound like a long time, but would have been enough time to give the Raptors the win.

This could be the second time this season that the Hawks may be forced to play a replay. The only difference between the Hawks-Heat replay and a potential Raptors-Hawks replay (which should happen, this was an ugly error) is that there is playoff ramifications now. Had the Raptors won the game, they would have clinched a playoff spot in the weak East. Since the Hawks are also in the playoff running – and not that far behind Toronto – seeding is front and centre here. If (more like when) the Raptors file a complaint and are awarded a replay of those final .5 or more seconds, a lot will be at stake.

Oh, and apparently the timekeeper also kept the clock running a few fractions too long after Atlanta had scored the game-tying bucket, leaving just .5 seconds on the clock. And aside, Ford's defence on Bibby's tying shot was horrendous.

The Final Four

This will be, with all certainty the year your NCAA pool was won by the person who knew the least about college basketball going in. North Carolina, UCLA, Memphis and Kansas – all four regional number one seeds – made the Final Four this year. How boring is that? Sure you have great teams but how much of a copout would it have been to take the best teams to make it this far? It’s the first time ever this has happened; and I’m not very pleased with it.

I used to enjoy fleecing people in pools who had all top seeds winning through, now, I’m the one with the busted bracket. Even worse, I have absolutely no shot at winning because of the four possible champions there are now, most people took UCLA like I did. It was fun while it lasted but it looks like I’ll have to wait until next year when hopefully some people will believe that the selection committee will get it right again with the top seeds.

As for the Final, my revised prediction is: UCLA 72, UNC 66.

By the way, the most noteworthy tidbit of this tournament is not the all-top-seeds-final-four, or USC bombing out or Stephen Curry leading Davidson with his amazing scoring ability. It is the fact that Robin Lopez – the one with the hair – is dating Michelle Wie. Both go to Stanford and both are highly touted athletes, seems like a match to me, except for the huge height difference.

For every Cinderella...

For every feel-good, cinderella story that the NCAA tournament can give you, there's always the heartache that this princess just destroyed your bracket most likely. Sure it's really nice that Davidson bounced Georgetown and San Diego faced off against Siena in a battle between a 12- and 13-seed, but who had those two teams in their bracket? One upset maybe, surely not two.

Davidson especially hurt my pool chances, causing me to put several crosses through Georgetown's all the way to the Final Four. Losing the first of your four is always the hardest and it's exponentially tougher the earlier that it happens. I'm not sure if I've ever lost one of my regional champs in the first weekend of play.

Let's hope, for the sake of my bracket, that UCLA, Tennessee and Texas can withstand the pressure and earn me some cashola.

How's your bracket doing?

With the first two exciting days of the NCAA tournament over and done with, are you happy with how your bracket is doing? My answer is somewhere in between "It could be better," and "I'm semi-worried."

While doing alright on Thursday, Friday's upsets didn't really work out for my bracket.

Having lost only three sweet sixteen teams (USC, Drake and Vandy) and none from my elite eight, my prospects don't look so bad. Except for one thing that is. I have the kiss of death working against me. Bill Simmons of ESPN.com fame picked my exact championship outcome: UCLA over Tennessee. I seriously should have changed that at the same time I took USC out of my final four. I really dodged a bullet with that one.

As for the round of 32, I'm feeling confident in Duke going down and some glass (Cinderella) slippers breaking. Siena's looking like the team that's going to go the furtherest out of the possible Cinderella teams. It was good while it lasted San Diego and West Kentucky, who actually play each other next.

Finally, I'm sick of all the "Maybe this year's George Mason will be George Mason!" speak. I'll try to remember not to take them next season.

And in case you wanted to know, I'm currently beating the Intern by 2 points and he's lost 4 Sweet Sixteen teams (Gonzaga, Vandy, Arizona and UConn).

Pryor makes his choice

The number one high school quarterback in the states has finally chosen where he'll go to college. After weeks of deep thought — and much speculation — Terrelle Pryor has picked Ohio State.

Ever since learning Pryor is athletic enough to not only be a top recruited quarterback, but also is talented enough to recruited as a top-end basketball prospect. How could someone that immensely talented not be on of my boys?

Who knows, maybe next year we'll be seeing Pryor lace up his sneakers for Ohio State for the beginning of the NCAA tournament. Maybe he could be coming off leading OSU to Bowl win in January. Now that would be an accomplishment.

A break from your bracket

I have, like many of you out there, have already been slaving over my bracket, analyzing — over-analyzing maybe — the upsets, the favourites and the locations of games. How about a quick break?

So, where will the Rockets incredible winning streak end? Hell, I thought they'd be through playing the Lakers on the weekend, but with Gasol hobbled, they weren't facing that team at their peak.

Their next test comes tonight, at home to the mightiest team in the East, the Boston Celtics. Can they win and keep their roll going? I think so for one reason. Tonight is Boston's second night in a row facing one of the top teams in the league. Last night they had to take on the defending champion Spurs which is never an easy game. They did win but it took some late heroics; how will that translate into tonight's game?

Next up is the Hornets tomorrow night. If the Celtics don't end the streak tonight, Chris Paul will end it in New Orleans tomorrow. Playing their second game in two nights and being on the road is not going to help Houston. The pressure of the streak will only be magnified by those two factors.

If the Rockets can slip by those two tough games intact, Friday night isn't going to be any easier. Playing against the Warriors in Oakland is always tough and with the season winding down, their fans will be even more ravenous.

After that are the Suns on Saturday before finally getting a break by playing the Kings back in Houston next Monday.

It's going to be really tough for T-Mac, Rafer and company to last until that easy Kings game.

The Madness begins

Selection Sunday: the day that kicks off March Madness. Where the brackets are drawn for all to see and for everyone in a pool to start plotting a route to the championship for their team of choice.

I'd be lying to you if I claimed to know anything in depth about all 65 of the teams that qualified for the "Big Dance" so let me tell you what I do know.

— I'm not surprised by any of the number ones. It seemed pretty clear cut this year. North Carolina, Memphis, UCLA and Kansas were the best in the U.S. this season. Anybody dumb enough to take a 16 seed over a one doesn't even deserve to fill out a bracket.

— There might be something wrong with the system if a team that's one game above .500 (Georgia at 17-16) can get into the tourney. I don't care if you fluked your way into winning your conference, well, actually, it'll be easy to pick their demise in the first round. Thanks for giving me an easy one Georgia.

— Did Duke really deserve to be a number 2 this year? I haven't heard a thing about the Blue Devils and they're usually pretty well covered by the media.

— USC vs. Kansas State should be a great game to watch. Michael Beasley, the potential first overall pick this coming NBA draft, vs. O.J. Mayo, a highly touted scorer. Both are freshmen and both can make or break their teams chances in the first round.

— I'm taking George Mason as my 12-over-5 upset. It's a bonus because that 5 happens to be Notre Dame and I have an irrational hate for the Irish.

— Do not discount the fact that North Carolina is basically playing home games in the first four rounds. You would have to be very bold to go against them before the final four.

— Finally, I'm taking UCLA to win it all. It's not because I love Kevin Love or Darren Collison. Not because they won the tough Pac-10 conference championship. No, it's because I've taken them for the past three years, done fairly well and why change something that's working fine? It's not nearly as fun to cheer on a number 1 seed, but hey, they're my team.

I'll no doubt have more on the tournament as Thursday draws near and I actually inform myself about the teams I've already written off and as i begin to doubt the picks I've already made.