Ramblings

Lot’s of Final Fours coming up over the next week, here are somethings to watch 4   (pun intended…..): 

- Sunday in Woman’s College Basketball (yes it still exists), UCONN faces Stanford and Louisville takes on Oklahoma, with the winners moving on to the Championship game on Tuesday. The UCONN women will roll, that’s pretty much a given…. However something interesting to watch is Courtney Paris for Oklahoma. Before the tournament started she guaranteed Oklahoma would win the tournament or she’d refund the University her scholarship which is about $64,000. Needless to say, I’m not pulling for her! I hope she does well, but I’d love to see her put her money where her mouth is….. 

- In the men’s bracket, can Villanova do like they did in 85 and pull an upset? The ghosts of Rollie Massimino, “easy” Ed Pinkney, Harold Jensen, Dwayne McClain  and Gary McLain will be haunting Ford Field as the Wildcats take on the Tar Heels. In the other game, can underrated Michigan State take out the UCONN men’s team? With the apparent impending sanctions coming up next season, the Huskies seem to be on a mission. 

- In the Frozen Four (I’m sure everyone has been following that….), we have BU taking on Vermont and Miami of Ohio facing Bemidji State ( and no, I have no idea who the hell Bemidji State is. I suppose I could google it, but I'm too lazy....). BU is the prohibitive favorite as they’ve been on a tear since the new year started (see my post on the Frozen Four from March 23^rd), but with college hockey, anything can happen…………… I think. 

- In other news, we have MLB baseball starting up on Sunday with the Dodgers facing the Giants and the Braves traveling to Philadelphia to face the World Champion Phillies. Most other teams get started on Monday and Tuesday. On Saturday I’ll post my predictions for the year, so be sure to check in for that. 

- Broncos trade Cutler to Bears. I hope this falls on Chicago’s face…… I’m all for athlete’s getting the most money they can when their contracts are up, but I’m sick of the incessant whining they do when things don’t go as they like. So Cutlers feelings were hurt when they looked into dealing for Cassel. Grow a pair and get over it. He’s making enough money to drown his sorrows in the comfort of some blonde, big breasted girl, so he should have just dealt with it.  I’m pulling for Denver to have a great year and go deep in the playoffs, and see Chicago fade away in December. 

- I’m a big John Calipari fan and was a little sad to see him leave Memphis. I hope he can bring Kentucky’s program back to prominence but would have loved to have him stay in Memphis and build that into a traditional power. No matter what he does at Kentucky, it’ll always be Rupp Arena and unless he wins 5 NCAA Championships, he’ll always be behind Adolph Rupp, Joe B. Hall and Rick Pitino when people think of Kentucky coaches. He could have been a legend in Memphis…… 

- I am looking forward to seeing more of the new Yankee Stadium. I may have to take a trip back east to check it out. One interesting tidbit I heard, is that there are about 300 seats that have obstructed views. Not sure the cost of these seats, but nice design New York! The Yankees are saying they’ll install TV monitors there so no one will miss the action, but if that’s the case, why go to the game? Why not just sit home and watch on tv? 

- And finally, Michael Vick will be in court on Friday to discuss his bankruptcy plans. That should be interesting. Some early info is he plans to return to football this fall (assuming Roger Goodell lets him back in) and this summer he’ll be working 40 hours a week doing construction in Virginia.  Anyone have any ideas about which team he'll end up making his "comeback" with?

Bill