Travelling 400 Miles to Watch TV

I went out to Phoenix, where it hasn't rained in something like three thousand days, for a weekend of spring training baseball. So of course today, there's a freakin' downpour and all of the day's events were cancelled. Just perfect. On the bright side, it gave me a chance to go out to the Peoria Hooters (which in direct contrast to my nightmare experience at the "Bell" location, was stacked with an all-star roster) for some fried food, cold beer and college hoops. A few quick takes:

-UCLA won the Pac-10 tournament by a combined score of 221-158, which by my math is an average margin of victory of 21 points. I've been trying to restrain myself, but in the midst of today's game, I found myself chanting "The Final Four! (fuck 'SC). The Final Four!" (It's a documented fact that any sports cheer is enhanced by 300% by adding the phrase "fuck sc" into the mix). I'm already preparing to withdraw funds from the slush fund for tickets for the first weekend of hoops in San Diego and the regionals in Oakland. This of course is assuming that the selection committee doesn't do something stupid like give Gonzaga the #2 seed in Oakland and ship UCLA to the Minneapolis region. And yes, I know I'm putting all kinds of jinxes into motion just by mentioning this; but screw it, I'm excited about this team..especially if they can average 70+ points per game.

-Ok, so maybe this "overrated" talk about Gerry McNamara was misguided. He stepped up for his team when it counted and I'll give him props for that (tho' I'm not willing to get on my knees and feather his balls like every other announcer was compelled to do today.) My prediction for Syracuse is that McNamara will continue to stay hot, but the ride for the Orange will come to an end very soon because the team (and officials) can only bail out the bonehead plays from Eric Devendorf so many times before a collapse is imminent.

-On that note, kudos to Len Elmore for actually being willing to criticize the officials at the end of the game rather than just ignoring an obvious mistake like so many other announcers do.

-The San Diego State Aztecs won the Mountain West tournament despite shooting 28% from the field for the game. They kept trying to give their bid away to Wyoming (who would have been the only sub .500 team in the field), but the Cowboys refused to take it. The Aztecs played a very sloppy game in the finals, but some of the credit has to go to Wyoming forward/center Justin Williams who is an intimidator inside. By the end of the Mountain West tourney, he'd amassed 39 rebounds and 23 blocked shots. Unfortunately, he has no shooting touch, but he might just be one nappy fro away from being the next Ben Wallace.

-During the UNC/Boston College game, Dick Vitale announced that the Tar Heels would be his preseason #1 next year, which makes sense since JJ Redick and Williams are leaving Duke; and Vitale's only two choices for the #1 team are either Duke or UNC. As long as we're looking ahead, my preseason #1 for next season is Ohio State, with honorable mentions to Vitale's Heels and my Bruins (if Jordan Farmar stays in school).

-A few more not too bold predictions before the seedings come out: Gonzaga will be the first top 3 seed knocked out of the tourney. Duke will advance the furthest of any ACC team, but will be taken out of the tournament by a Big East team. Florida will not make the sweet 16. Michigan State will make the elite 8. Neither Arizona nor Cal will escape the first weekend. And lastly, I will put on 20 pounds, while spending over 200 bux on beer offerred to me by a waitress in a tanktop and a push-up bra.