Don't Fix What Isn't Broken (Say NO to NCAA Tournament Expansion)

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany told USA Today on Wednesday that the expansion of the NCAA Tournament from 64 to 96 teams is "probable".
No,no,no. Bad idea. Greed has never led to anything good, and that is all that expansion would be, a way for the NCAA to rake in more money from television rights while devaluing a product that everyone from fans to coaches to media members love the way it is.

Greg Shaheen, the NCAA’s senior vice president for basketball and business strategies, told the New York Times earlier this month that "it's easy to say you don't want change. But simply put, it's what's appropriate to operate in our best interest."
What Mr. Shaheen doesn't understand is that the interests of a few greedy old men that want to add a hot tub to their houses is that 10 years from now, when SportsCenter does a special feature on why college lacrosse has become more popular than college basketball, all fingers will point towards the day the tournament expanded to explan how it all began.

Ironically, I should be happy about the addition of 32 more teams to the field since that almost guarantees the University of South Florida a chance to go to the Big Dance for the first time in its history. However, I'm not, because I want USF to earn its way in like it almost did this year, not get lost in a sea of 32 extra teams that did little to nothing to justify their presence in the postseason.

If the NCAA Tournament is expanded, then it will go from being an exclusive party in South Beach that everyone wants to attend to a party in Brandon, Missouri attended by D-List celebrities. And there is no way in hell I'm filling out a 96-team bracket either.

Butler me up some more

(I'm the best...around! Nobody is ever gonna keep me down!)

How about that? The Butler Bulldogs are in the Final Four. If there is one word to describe how crazy this year's NCAA Tournament has been, then Butler is that word.
The Bulldogs had never made it past the Sweet 16 in their 110-year-old history and now they are just two games from getting the first national championship in Horizon League history.

Then you have West Virginia's Da'Sean Butler, who led the Mountaineers to a 73-66 win over mighty John Wall and Kentucky to make it to the Final Four. Meanwhile, Michigan State has fought through adversity to make it back to the Final Four looking for redemption, while Duke is as solid as ever.

Having said that, West Virginia was my original pick to win it all before the tournament started (scroll down if you don't believe me) and I am sticking by it. The Mountaineers play asphyxiating defense and can beat you in a variety of ways, just ask Kentucky about how West Virginia had a two-point halftime lead after draining nine three pointers and zero two-point shots.
I'm also waiting for the signature moment of Da'Sean Butler's tournament, a clutch shot to outdo them all. Just wait, it's coming.

Trying to do too much

Would you want to stare at this mug for three straight hours?

I was watching the Miami Heat- Chicago Bulls game on TNT last night when right at the opening of the broadcast Ernie Johnson said that besides watching the game on TV, you could also go on your computer and watch the game on "TNT Overtime".
TNT OT offered two camera angles that followed the star player from each team, an above the rim camera and, get this, a camera totally fixated on the announcers for the entire game.
All I could think at the time was that I just wanted to watch the game and that the only way I would watch the announcer cam was if Brooklyn Decker, Sofia Vergara and Rachel McAdams were the announcers.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for innovation and making the game more accessible to fans. I like what CBS does streaming the NCAA Tournament live over the internet, but I can't stand it when networks try to do too much and stray away from the essence of the game itself and look desperate trying to pull so many gimmicks.

My Sweet 16 predictions

I have three of my Final Four teams still alive, and considering how the tournament started for me that is nothing less than a minor miracle. The upsets killed me early on, leaving me in 22nd place out of the 25 people in my pool entering the Sweet 16, but I am counting on making a quality jump and getting into the Top 10 with the right results falling my way. Then again, has anything been predictable in this crazy NCAA Tournament? On to my predictions.

Kentucky 78-Cornell 68:
The Near Revenge of the Nerds. Cornell will keep the game close and give Ivy Leaguers everywhere hopes of pulling a proverbial wedgie over the heads of the Wildcats, their jocks and their basketball tradition. Then Kentucky will show their full potential and pull away in the final two minutes as they walk away with the girl and Cornell gets a pat in the back for trying.

Northern Iowa 75-Michigan State 72:
Ali Faroukmanesh! I just needed to get that out of the way. I love that guy and his balls of steel to shoot from anywhere, anytime for Northern Iowa. The combination of Northern Iowa riding their momentum after upsetting Kansas and Michigan State losing their point guard and best player will eventually do the Spartans in and let UNI dance into the Elite Eight.

West Virginia 62-Washington 55: West Virginia also lost its point guard to injury, but he is not their best player...Shooting Guard De'Sean Butler is. I picked West Virginia to win it all and damn it all I'm gonna stick with them through the end.

Ohio State 80-Tennessee 77:
Close game that will pit Ohio State's Evan Turner, arguably the best player in college basketball this year, against Tennessee's overall solid team effort. I think Turner will light up the scoreboard and will the Buckeyes to a tough win.

Syracuse 72-Butler 55:
This game won't be even close. Syracuse has dominated through the first two rounds and Butler hasn't proven to be a team that can get over the hump and become one of the true best teams in the nation.

Duke 68-Purdue 67: Most people think Duke will just roll over Purdue , but the Boilermakers are no pushovers and will make the Blue Devils sweat it out in a game that will come down to the final seconds.


Xavier 72-Kansas State 69: Upset brewing in Salt Lake City, as seventh seeded
Xavier takes down Kansas State and advances thanks to stout defense and hitting key three-pointers when they need breathing room the most.

Baylor 75-Saint Mary's 66: It's the Bears vs the Gaels. Baylor will have pseudo home-field advantage since the game will be played in Houston, Texas. Much closer to Baylor's campus in Waco, Texas than Saint Mary's in California.

Thoughts from the past week

-Once again, it has been proven that sportswriters are very scared of change in the status quo of sports. Despite the barrage of upsets that destroyed brackets across the country, talking heads at ESPN don't give either Northern Iowa, Washington or Saint Mary's any chance of making it to the Final Four. I believe that one of those teams will make the Final Four and then the "experts" will say that they don't have enough to win it all.

-It also seems to be the general consensus that Cornell will give Kentucky a run for its money but that Kentucky will inevitably win in the end. I don't agree with that, because Cornell is playing with house money and Kentucky is the team that has all the pressure and has struggled in the spotlight as recently as in the SEC Tournament championship game against Mississippi State. Kentucky should win, but it is far from a sure thing in this crazy NCAA Tournament.

-Messi is no Maradona...yet. He is scary good right now and scored eight goals in his last three games, including two hat-tricks. However, what set Maradona and Pele apart is that they took their countries to glory and championships, something that even Messi himself is aware of since he recently said that "You don't become a legend until you win the World Cup." It's good to see that he is staying humble, and I truly do hope that he cements his legacy as the greatest player ever in this year's World Cup, and if he doesn't...keep in mind that he is only 22 years old.

-It's time for the NBA to change its playoff format. Get rid of the Eastern and Western Conferences and let the 16 best teams in the postseason. As of Tuesday, March 22, the eighth seed in the East is one game over .500, while the ninth seed is four games under the break even mark. Meanwhile, in the West, the eighth seed is 13 games over .500 and the ninth seed will miss the playoffs despite being five games over. Does that sound fair to you?

UEFA Champions League Power Rankings

The most important soccer tournament in Europe at the club level has reached its quarterfinals stage after separating the men from the boys in the Round of 16. There are no pretenders anymore, just eight contenders.
Knowing that, let's see which teams have the best chance to become European champs in our Power Rankings. The system is simple, with each team being ranked from best to worst chances of advancing to the semifinals.


1)FC Barcelona(Spain):
They showed that they still are the defending champions and undisputed best team in the world after making a respectable German squad like Stuttgart look like a Division 2 team with a 4-0 victory at Camp Nou. If Messi keeps playing so well and scoring goals like the two he made against Stuttgart on Wednesday, there is no team that can stop them from repeating.

2Inter Milan(Italy):
It was tough picking them over Manchester United, but their decisive dismantling of Chelsea with wins both in Italy and in England (where Chelsea almost never loses, makes me think that that they are the second best team in Europe at the moment. Inter's duo of Milito and Eto'o as forwards is as lethal as any in the competition.

3)Manchester United(England):
Barcelona has Messi, Man U has Wayne Rooney. Rooney has scored 32 goals in 38 matches this season, including four in the two Round of 16 matches against AC Milan. Right now, Rooney is the second best player in the world, better than Cristiano Ronaldo and playing at the same level as Messi.
The Red Devils dominated an Italian powerhouse like AC Milan with a 7-2 aggregate score in the Round of 16, which included a 4-0 rout in the second leg of the series at Manchester's Old Trafford.

4)Arsenal(England) :
A perennial underachiever in the European stage, Arsenal made a statement in the second leg of its Round of 16 match-up with Portugal's FC Porto. After losing the first leg 2-1, the Gunners came out firing on all cylinders back in England with a 5-0 win that showed what they are capable of when they are playing at home.
However, all this will do is make their fans raise their expectations before getting their hearts broken yet again.
Keep in mind, Arsenal has never won the Champions League. Their best showing was as runners-up in 2006.

5)Bordeaux(France):
The dark horse of the competition that snuck up on everybody. Believe it or not, the French League champions have reached the quarterfinals of the competition for the first time since 1986 and haven't lost a single game in it yet. After tying in their first match, Bordeaux has won seven in a row.
They are not flashy and mostly fly under the radar, but they are effective and will be a major headache for anybody that plays them in the quarterfinals.

6)Lyon(France):
The other dark horse of the competition, Lyon eliminated the mighty Real Madrid in the Round of 16 by winning with authority in France and then hanging on in Madrid to advance. They base themselves on a stout defense and an effective offense commanded by SidneyGovou and Argentinean Lisandro Lopez that answers the call when needed the most.

7)Bayern Munich(Germany):
They really struggled to beat Italy's Fiorentina (a middle of the road team) in the Round of 16. The series was tied 4-4, but Bayern advanced because they scored more goals in Italy than Fiorentina did in Germany.
The lone German representative left in the competition looks fragile defensively,but you can never count them out when they have the likes of forwards Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben on offense.
Whether they advance or not will depend on who they draw in the quarterfinals. Barcelona? forget about it. Lyon? I like their chances.

8) CSKA Moscow(Russia) :
They are the question mark of the competition, because they haven't proven anything yet. They did have a very nice win in Spain against Sevilla to advance past the Round of 16, but Sevilla is no Barcelona or Real Madrid.
The Russians will have to be strong at home if they plan to shock the world and be one of the eight best teams in the world

West Virginia will win the NCAA Tournament

The NCAA Tournament bracket is all set, and every one of the 64 teams from the mighty (Kansas) to the paltry (UC Santa Barbara Gauchos) are daydreaming about cutting down the nets in Indianapolis as national champions.
As for you and me, all this means is that we are gonna fill out brackets and then promptly pretend we never cared about them once our upset picks go to hell and the one upset we didn't pick screws up our bracket beyond recognition.
With that said, let's see what each region looks like and which teams I think will make their way to the Final Four.

Midwest: The Region of Death.
Final Four pick: Georgetown
Dark Horse: Maryland
Cinderella: Houston
Kansas, Georgetown and Ohio State are three teams that could easily be in the Final Four, but instead they will slaughter each other in the same side of the bracket. Add the presence of Maryland and 2008 runner-up Michigan State to the mix, and getting out of the Midwest will truly be something else. Whoever represents the Midwest in the Final Four will either be too banged up to win or be completely unstoppable.

West: Watch out for the Mid-Majors.
Final Four pick: Syracuse
Dark Horses: Xavier, Butler, BYU.
Cinderella: Murray St.
Syracuse seems to stand out from the pack here, but the mid-majors in BYU, Xavier and Butler will make strong runs and scare more than one powerhouse team. Pittsburgh will be its usual underachiever and will be ousted by Xavier in the second round.
The state of Florida will be represented briefly by the Florida Gators and Florida State. I don't believe either of them will make it past the second round.

East: Mountaineers to Glory
Final Four pick: West Virgnia
Dark Horse: Temple
Cinderella: Cornell
I am sick and tired of the ESPN experts fawning over Kentucky and John Wall, making it seem like it is an inevitability that they will face Kansas in the National Championship. Wall is just a freshman and he is no Carmelo Anthony,because he commits too many turnovers. I see him costing the Wildcats the game in the Elite Eight against West Virginia.
As for Temple, the Owls are a very well coached team that have won their conference three years in a row and have an experienced team that has been to three NCAA Tournaments in a row.
However, they haven't gotten out of the first round since 1999, and that opens the door for Cornell. The Big Red are Ivy League champs and a very dangerous 12 seed. Keep in mind that they only lost by five points to Kansas on the road a couple of months ago.

South: Duke's resurgence
Final Four Pick: Duke
Dark Horse: Baylor
Cinderella: Siena
This is perhaps the weakest of the four regions, and as such it is the most prone to crazy upsets. The only team that is safe in this region seems to be Duke, with the rest being vulnerable to being eliminated early on. Yes, even second seeded Villanova is in that group.
The Baylor Bears are my dark horse based on their outstanding performance in the Big 12, while I believe 13-seed Siena will beat a banged-up Purdue team and make a run to the Sweet 16.

Final Four: West Virginia will rule them all
The Mountaineers will handily beat Duke in the semis and then defeat Georgetown in the National Championship in a rematch of the Big East Championship game.

Nomar Garciaparra deserved a World Series ring

Nomar Garciaparra, arguably the greatest shortstop the Boston Red Sox have ever had, retired yesterday as one at the age of 36 with a one-day contract with Boston. All I could think about when I first heard the news was how bad I felt for him that he never got the World Series title he deserved.

I wasn't living in the United States during the 1990's, when Garciaparra had his golden years with the Sox. However,I learned a couple of things about the game when I started following it in the Summer of 2003. First and foremost, the shortstop is the most important player on the team. Then, out of all the shortstops in the majors, there was a "Holy Trinity" of the very best of them. composed of New York Yankees' shortstop Derek Jeter, the Texas Rangers' Alex Rodriguez, and Garciaparra.

Then I learned about the Red Sox's "Curse of the Bambino" and how they hadn't won a World Series since 1918. I saw Garciaparra's team come apart in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series as they squandered a three-run lead late in the game and Aaron Boone hit that walk-off homer in extra innings to propel the Yankees to the World Series (which they would promptly lose to the Florida Marlins hehe).

Nomar embodied Boston's pain and desperation as that elusive championship kept slipping away. Then, in the Summer of 2004, Nomar's .321 batting average wasn't enough to keep him around as he was traded to the Chicago Cubs to give way to shortstop Orlando Cabrera.

We all know what happened after that...The Red Sox pulled off a miraculous comeback against the Yankees in the ALCS, "Big Papi" and Johnny Damon become heroes, and Boston finally gets the World Series title 86 years in the making. They would wiin yet again in 2007.

Garciaparra may not have gotten to celebrate those two titles, but make no mistake about it, he was as integral to that success as anybody on the field. He was a great shortstop that was never linked to PED's and played the game the right way, and he should have been able to lead a parade through Boston at least once in his career. It's a shame he didn't get to.

A Viewer's Guide to Worldwide Soccer

Three months from now, soccer will be the biggest deal in the world as the World Cup gets underway. In order for you to catch up and not have to talk out of your ass when you are watching the U.S play England on June 12, I composed a list of things you must know about the World Cup.

Host country: South Africa. First african nation to ever host the WC. Could become first host nation to be ousted in the first round in the history of the competition. They could lose all three matches in the group stage, they are that bad. Worst. Host. Team. Ever.

How it works: The World Cup is composed of 32 national teams separated into eight groups of four teams each. The four teams in each group play each other in a round-robin format, and the top two teams from each group advance to the Round of 16.

The favorites:
Spain: Has lost only one of their past 36 matches (to the United States) and is the reigning European champion. Opposing teams (ahem...France) are actually scared of their relentless style of play..but they have never been world champions.
Brazil-: They can always score at will, and now they have Julio Cesar, the best goalie in the world, to boot. The Brazilians have not been eliminated before the quarterfinals since 1990.
Netherlands: Another team that plays great soccer but has never won anything big. They can beat anybody, anywhere, but they have the tendency to choke in big moments. They look perfect at first sight, but look closer and you will see that their offensive mindset, which is their main strength, is also their worst flaw.
England: Another team with severe choking tendencies. They invented soccer, yet they have only won the World Cup once as hosts in 1966. They boast having the best midfield in the world and their striker Wayne Rooney is on fire with 28 goals in 35 matches this year.

The Dark Horses:
Chile: Marcelo Bielsa's squad is coming back to the World Cup after missing the dance in 2006. They finished in second place in South American qualifying and have a strong team identity that keeps them in every game.
Ivory Coast and Cameroon: One of these two teams will reach the semifinals of the tournament in African soil. Cameroon's star forward Samuel Eto'o and Ivory Coast's top striker Didier Drogba will make their mark and take their teams farther than most think.
United States : If they can manage to defeat England, the Americans will win Group C and would set itself up for a potential showdown with France, Mexico or Uruguay in the quarterfinals.

My predictions:
Champion: Netherlands
Runner-up: Spain
3rd place: Ivory Coast
Top scorer: Gonzalo Higuain (Argentina)

Pre-World Cup Grades. U.S, Argentina have work left to do.

The World Cup is right around the corner, only 98 days away. 74 national teams played intense friendly matches on Wednesday to get ready for it, with different objectives.
Some of them wanted to try out new players to see if they have what it takes to be n the 23-man World Cup roster, while others wanted to either validate or find their identity as a team.

Knowing all that, I decided to grade some of the teams that had something to prove in their last serious test before the biggest competition in sports, which starts on June 11.

United States (L 2-1 vs Netherlands): C. The Americans got slapped in the face with a harsh reality check as they were thoroughly dominated by a Dutch squad that is a firm candidate to win it all. Landon Donovan didn't gravitate like he had to, and forward Jozy Altidore was the only one who concerned the Netherlands defense. However, the late rally and almost tying the game after facing a 0-2 deficit raises their grade a bit.

Argentina (W 1-0 vs Germany): B. Finally, a sign of progress that seems to be finding an identity. Beating Germany in Germany is no joke, but it isn't a guarantee of better things to come, just a stepping stone. The defense looked solid, but it is important to find at least one left or right defender that is actually one and not a converted central defender. Messi once again didn't have a good showing, but he is trying.

Spain (W 2-0 vs France): A. This team scares me. They make things look so easy. They dispatched France in Paris with an easy 2-0 win during which it controlled the ball and made a powerful offense that includes Thierry Henry, Karim Benzema and Franck Ribery look like harmless little puppies.

Germany and France: F . Germany has no offensive punch and serious issues with their goalie, and France continues to look lost without being able to take advantage of all the talent it has on paper. If Wednesday was a guideline of things to come, Germany won't get past the Round of 16 and France could be in serious jeopardy of being eliminated in the first round by Mexico and Uruguay.

Falling from the top of the mountain

Going undefeated in the regular season is an awesome experience, but losing your first game of the year in the final stages of the playoffs is as gut-wrenching and helpless a feeling as you can get. It's like falling from the peak of a mountain all the way to the ground, as you see your season being defined by that one loss.

The New England Patriots experienced that when they were 18-0 but lost to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, and I got to experience it in a much smaller stage with the David Posnack girls soccer team on Wednesday, March 3.

The girls had gone 8-0 during the regular season, plowing through our district like nobody's business. We had scored 24 goals and received only three, making history and breaking school records in the process. We were convinced that we could cap off a perfect season with a championship ring.

Our oponnent in the semifinals was Donna Klein, who had finished second in the North Palm Beach district. They had won 8-0 in their last regular season game, but we could care less because we were undefeated.

They were a formidable opponent, playing at our same level or better than us throughout the match. They went ahead in the 12th minute, but we tied things quickly thanks to a beautiful 25-yard shot by forward Lisa Garatti.

During halftime, I urged the girls to play like they had during the regular season with crisp passing and speed, but Donna Klein did a great job of covering spaces with zone pressure and regained the lead early in the second half.

Down a goal, I shifted my 4-4-2 tactic to a 4-3-3 (three midfielders and three forwards), but still couldn't penetrate the stout Klein defense. Our best opportunity to tie came with 10 minutes left in the game, when a shot after a corner kick seemed to be on its way in before the defender deflected it at the goal line.

The final score was Donna Klein 2-David Posnack 1, and all of a sudden our season was over after just one loss. I'm convinced that if we had tied the game, we would have won it in the penalty shootout. We also would have been benefited from playing a team like that from a better district in the regular season.

After the game, I handed the girls their 3rd place trophy and got doused with really cold Gatorade. The two things I thought about as I was surprised from behind were 1) "Aaaah, I'm %^&*!cold" and 2) "I hope my cellphone is not ruined".

The coaching experience was priceless, because I got to build a soccer team of young,wonderful girls from scratch and raised it from mediocrity to championship contention. Losing hurts, but when it does it means that you have accomplished something to get to a stage that matters, and that is what counts in the end.

The Crosby Show

The Winter Olympics have come and gone, and for an event that I thought I could care less about two weeks ago, I ended up being one of the tens of millions glued to the TV during the U.S-Canada gold medal game.
Man, what a game, what an electric finish. I personally think that Canada won because of a combination of its own determination and the U.S lacking the instinct to go for the kill after tying the game with 24 seconds to go.
However, to see the U.S fight back and never give up was truly amazing. Not many teams would come back like the Americans did on Canadian soil against the best national team in the world.
Let's give credit where credit is due, Sidney Crosby was clutch scoring the game-winning goal in overtime, and he is the best player in the world right now with a Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal, whether Ovechkin likes it or not.
People wonder if the NHL will be more popular thanks to this game, and I think it will be for the most part, just not in places like Anaheim or Florida.
As far as the Winter Olympics as a whole go, I learned curling is the "sport" people love to watch but will never admit to watching, and that snowboarding and figure skating still don't appeal to me in any way whatsoever.
There are two things I would add to the Winter Olympics: 1) Snowboarding Basketball (Look it up on YouTube,it is awesome) and 2)Monkey Ice Skating. Because monkeys deserve some love from the judges too.