Buffet time

There are so many things that I want to write about right now. I'll try and hit them all real quick.

Women's NCAA Tournament
For the first time in my history, I am writing about women's college basketball. Hold the phones. But truthfully, I am interested in it and interested in the tournament. The foreshadowing was apparent when I called a close friend after seeing the UNC Lady Heels had been placed in the toughest bracket in tournament history. We proceeded to discuss this fact for at least two and a half minutes, which seemed like an eternity to us both.

But honestly? I kinda like it. Obviously it helps that North Carolina has a talented, exciting squad. However, I found myself fairly engrossed in other tournament games. The parody helps the women's game and the overall level of talent has increased significantly. I also think that as former great players have aged and gotten into coaching that the game has benefitted from a teaching and experience standpoint. Examples include Jenn Rizzoti (former UCONN Husky and Nat'l POY) who coaches at Hartford and Dawn Staley (former Virginia guard and WNBA great) who coaches at Temple. Both ladies built programs at schools that tasted little success prior to now.

All in all, go Lady Heels and go women's NCAA hoops. It is a different game, but still a game worth watching.

WWE
Warning: the following section is about wrestling. First off, Jay Marrioti of the Chicago sportswriting and ESPNs "Around the Horn" fame went off on the WWE and the pro wrestling Hall of Fame after winning on the show yesterday. Jay has no clue about wrestling and just took the opportunity to bash something he long ago deemed as low class, pointless, and apparently harmful to society. Dear Around the Horn guys: get off NASCAR and rasslin'. People still watch these events. Don't try to understand it and don't bash it either. Just accept it, realize that the people who follow them both are indeed still people, and get over it.

Now, Wrestlemania XXII is this weekend. Very exciting, although I still have to find somewhere to watch. Basically I just wrote this to spread the word that Wrestlemania is this weekend. So give it a shot.

MLB 2006
Predictions coming soon. FYI.

Barry Bonds
I could rant and rave, but I won't. I just think baseball is a joke with all this steroids mess. Barry is clearly an idiot, but baseball brought this upon itself. Enough for now.

Duke lacrosse
This is clearly a sad story. However, I think the general public is far too shocked to see something like this take place. Short of rape, I do not find it surprising that a collegiate team is guilty of anything else that took place. Obviously the rape allegations are very serious, but these allegations alone are what made this a national story. Otherwise, "lacrosse players throw wild party with strippers involved" is a semi-regular occurrance. I am not a lax player. I do not intend to single them out. But from what I have witnessed at various schools, not just mine, wild parties thrown by teams are the norm. Heck, regular students throw wild parties all the time. But the "manly" sports are known for the most alcohol, weed, hazing, and sex. Anyone who has attended a sizable college and was not aware of this prior to this story is either ignoring the facts or just really naive.

From personal experience, I have seen the effects of gatherings involving teams that involved lots of "hooking up" and in two cases, exotic dancers. Not having attended myself, I did not see what went on. However, hearing some of the stories straight from participants, these wild nights are regular occurrances.

All I am saying is no one should be so shocked and dismayed all of the sudden. It has been going on forever, as seen in the reaction of the coaches and players. They really see nothing wrong with what took place except for the alleged sexual assault because it is normal to them. This particular case was bound to happen at some point, as no one has done anything to prevent such circumstances.

NCAA Final Four
Florida vs America's Underdog: I'm not jumping on the bandwagon and picking Mason, nor am I cheering for them just because they are underdogs. I like Billy Donovan and would like to see him win a title. My prediction is a Gators win if they control the tempo. Easier said than done, as none of the victims Mason beat along the way have succeeded in forcing tempo. If it's close with five minutes left, all bets are off. Crazy things happen in the tourney at that point, so Florida must be leading solidly late in the game. I got UF by 14, 77-63.

UCLA vs LSU: First team to 60 wins? Probably so. I like the players on both squads. If UCLA plays a quality zone and forces LSU to shoot over it, the Bruins are a good bet. But, if LSU is hitting shots and crashing the boards, the Bayou Bengals are a better bet. LSU by 5, 66-61 in a "shootout."

If LSU and Florida play, I like...um...tough choice. We'll wait and see if I have to make it on Monday.

You make me wanna walk...like a camel. Peace hommies.