Just A Few Thoughts

Couldn't stay awake for the end of the Syracuse/Connecticut game last night......sorry I missed it. It won't matter, West Virginia will beat the Orange tonight in a game that tips in a couple of hours......

.

Seems as though March Madness is off to an early start this year......Can't wait for the brackets to come out, I'll anxiously await them to come out, feel great about my picks on Monday, and feel like a tool come Saturday morning when the first round is over.

.

Early thoughts on the tourney
.
Underrated: Watch out for Siena in the first two rounds. The Saints have been there and beat Vanderbilt last year. All five starters from last year's team are back.

Overrated : Duke........They suck and will be out by the second round.
.

Welcome to Buffalo, Mr. Owens
.

How happy am I that T.O. has landed in Buffalo? Glad you ask.......I'm thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis happy (picture Elastic Man's arms at full length). To be fair, the Bills were smart to give this idiot a one-year deal with hopes that he won't rip apart the locker room.....On second thought, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, guess what ? He'll do more harm than good out in Western NY.

Jay Cutler is pissed that the Broncos got a trade offer for him. Grow up........My Bruins are slumping, need the boys in the Hub to get things rolling in the next few weeks. If not for themselves, then for me.

.

Marty Brodeur is set to pass Patrick Roy as the game's winningest goalie.......good for him. He's been a class act his whole career. So classy, I can't think of a bad thing to say about him and I can usually find a bad thing to say about anybody.

.

Two weeks until my fantasy baseball draft, this has to be the year for Team Pugsley.......Hope Chase Utley's hip is okay........Prince Fielder is a key to my team. It doesn't help me sleep at night knowing my fortunes might rest on a guy who weighs more than I do....I've been sandbagging on my keepers the entire offseason. I can post that here 'cuz I'm not sure how many of my foes in this 20-year league read this blog.....The ones who do take a peek can't read anyway, they click the link for the pictures.......

Still stinging from that shocker on the Bachelor.......oooooops, wrong blog....

The too-soon-to-make-them-but-I'm-bored-predictions

The Oakland A's will win the AL West. Anaheim is overrated and the A's have improved themselves. While I'm at it, the Red Sox will take the AL East (that pains me), Detroit will take the Central. The wildcard will be the Chisox.

.

In the NL, Arizona will hit enough to win the West, the Mets won't gag until the playoffs but will make it and the Cubbies will claim the Central. I like LA to win the wild card.

.

It's early, but we'll take the Cubs over Boston in the World Series although I reserve the right to change that before opening day. It has to happen sometime, doesn't it?

. .

Bracket projections next week. Have to get the pen and paper ready.

My Christmas Wish List

Dear Santa,

I've been reasonably good, as far as you know, this year.

I have so few needs and wants in life, this list should be pretty easy to accomodate so let's focus on me for a bit.

What I want for Christmas:

- Some pride in Oakland Raider football. Being the first team in history to lose 11 games (or more) in six straight seasons hurts more than the time I got kicked in the cookies during a pickup basketball game in my late-teens and had to go to the doctor with a bruised left testicle.

.Sadly, that is a true story.

.- A Stanley Cup championship for the Boston Bruins. We can put this one on lay-a-way until June, 2009, I'm good with that. This hasn't happened since before I knew about hockey so in my view, it hasn't happened. Cheering home Raymond Bourque in the 2001 final with the Avs was okay, but not quite the real thing.

- A national championship for Tyler Hansbrough. The dude deserves it.

.

-A 7-0 mark for the Big 12 in the college bowl season, it'll validate my talk thru the year that the Big 12 was far and away the best conference in college football this season.

.

- More radio guys like ESPN's Colin Cowherd. The best on the radio, this guy has game. Mixing brutal honesty with great humor, his show is a can't-miss to the point where it makes you want to sit in your car on your lunch hour and listen in, which I do.

.

- Spoiled athletes to respect their jobs and the opportunity afforded to them.

.

- Someone to explain to me how the Yankees could sign CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett and still have the intestinal fortitude to ask for increased public funds to build their version of the Taj Mahal.

.

- A Brett Favre Super Bowl berth - Hey Packer brass...........I told you so!

Besides, and it pains me to say this, the long-suffering J-E-T-S, Jets! Jets! Jets! fans deserve it. When a 9-7 season gives you joy, even the Jets fans should enjoy the spotlight not seen since Joe Willie White Shoes guaranteed Super Bowl III.

.

-The Dallas Cowboys to miss the playoffs.

..
- Terrell Owens to keep talking. It'll help with the above point and continue to make Jerry Jones look like a tool for enabling self-egrandising stars who put themselves over their teams.

- A BCS Playoff. It help rid the world of whiners like Texas coach Mack Brown, who seems to think he can still politic his way into the BCS title game.
.

Dude.....stop pointing to the head-to-head issue with Oklahoma. Texas Tech has the same record, in the same division, as you and the Sooners. That is what is called a 3-way tie and the Red Raiders beat you. 'Nuff said. Now, get ready for Ohio State as I'm taking the Longhorns high on my list in my college footbal bowl pool.

.
-Finally.......the obligatory peace on earth and goodwill to most of mankind and all that stuff.

There you go Santa......not toooooo unreasonable, don't ya think? Let's see if we can get to work and make these things happen.

After all, I deserve it.