05:49 PM - March 17, 2005 by Splinters From The Pine
It's great to be back!
Instead of trying to assemble everything in the sports and sports gaming world that rattles in and out of my brain in a weekly column, a blog seemed like a natural fit - and so here we are today.
***
Today, it's St. Patrick's Day and the first day of the NCAA "March Madness" Tournament.
In other words, stay in front of your television - and off of the roads. Yikes.
We've already seen Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a twelfth seed, dump fifth-seeded Alabama in an upset that doesn't surprise many in the know - and there will certainly be more to come in what should be an interesting tournament.
There isn't a single mortal lock in this tournament. Every team - even Illinois - has at least one weakness that can be exploited, and the potential for Cinderellas to show up their stepsisters is greater now than is has been for years. UTEP came thisclose to knocking off Utah this afternoon, and there are even more intriguing matchups on tap (pun intended today) tonight.
There's no question that this tournament - and not NCAA football's wholly dated bowl system - is atop the college sports foodchain.
What does that mean to the athletes, though? With a recent report that men's college basketball players are graduating at a worse rate than ever, Jason Whitlock of ESPN has a novel suggestion that just might work. Of course, since we're talking about the NCAA here - that's exactly why it won't ever happen...
MLB's steroids hearings before Congress are happening today, as well.
Though I don't expect anything useful to come from it anytime soon, it's always nice to see baseball's dirty secrets exposed.
Why the Congress simply doesn't threaten the MLB to clean up it's act (for real this time) or risk losing their antitrust exemption is beyond me.
Of course, we're talking about the Congress here - and they usually manage to make the NCAA look like it's run by geniuses...{br}{br}View the Entire Article{br}
Instead of trying to assemble everything in the sports and sports gaming world that rattles in and out of my brain in a weekly column, a blog seemed like a natural fit - and so here we are today.
***
Today, it's St. Patrick's Day and the first day of the NCAA "March Madness" Tournament.
In other words, stay in front of your television - and off of the roads. Yikes.
We've already seen Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a twelfth seed, dump fifth-seeded Alabama in an upset that doesn't surprise many in the know - and there will certainly be more to come in what should be an interesting tournament.
There isn't a single mortal lock in this tournament. Every team - even Illinois - has at least one weakness that can be exploited, and the potential for Cinderellas to show up their stepsisters is greater now than is has been for years. UTEP came thisclose to knocking off Utah this afternoon, and there are even more intriguing matchups on tap (pun intended today) tonight.
There's no question that this tournament - and not NCAA football's wholly dated bowl system - is atop the college sports foodchain.
What does that mean to the athletes, though? With a recent report that men's college basketball players are graduating at a worse rate than ever, Jason Whitlock of ESPN has a novel suggestion that just might work. Of course, since we're talking about the NCAA here - that's exactly why it won't ever happen...
MLB's steroids hearings before Congress are happening today, as well.
Though I don't expect anything useful to come from it anytime soon, it's always nice to see baseball's dirty secrets exposed.
Why the Congress simply doesn't threaten the MLB to clean up it's act (for real this time) or risk losing their antitrust exemption is beyond me.
Of course, we're talking about the Congress here - and they usually manage to make the NCAA look like it's run by geniuses...{br}{br}View the Entire Article{br}
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