Those other teams sure stink!

And, now, a number of weekend quickhits:

Seldom do I nail the final game of the Final 4 correctly before the tournament began, but this year, Illinois and North Carolina in the final game seemed too easy. And it was. There was no one close to them this season, and in the tournament, they were tested, but not beaten. So now, they square off in what is a most interesting match-up.

Neither was tested in their semi-finals, which made for a pretty boring Saturday night, really. I did take particular notice at Illinois and UNC’s rosters. Look at all of the seniors and juniors on each team. It sure looks like old-school college basketball. For that matter, with the exception of Syracuse’s champion with Carmelo from 2 years ago, aren’t the teams that win this time of year generally dominated by upperclassmen?

As for tonight, as readers of this blog know, I detest UNC, but also picked them to win the whole thing when the brackets came out. So, I will hope Illinois can shoot them down, but I doubt it. Give me Carolina tonight, 82-75.

But, if Roy Williams loses, he will likely cry, so let’s try to make that happen.

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I enjoyed watching the race at Bristol yesterday. As a quick aside, the recent expansion of NASCAR has been partially responsible for the increased ratings and popularity of the sport, but there is still something very special about the trips to Bristol (this week) and Martinsville (next week) and the short tracks of auto-racing’s past.

Anyway, amidst several incidents yesterday, Kevin Harvick emerges with the win , but the big story had to be the wrecks. Those short tracks always encourage tight racing, but the yellow flag was out the entire day…

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The Mavericks were obliterated on national television yesterday, and Lebron appears to be pretty good. But, after this past week, I am having trouble getting too annoyed. They didn’t show up, and we actually should expect that quite a bit the last few weeks because they really don’t have anything to play for anymore. But that was not very good yesterday. They were dominated, and let’s just leave it at that.

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From Newbergreport.com:

The Rangers have announced their Opening Day roster, and it doesn't include outfielder Laynce Nix, who has been optioned to Oklahoma.

The roster is as follows:

Pitchers (12): Carlos Almanzar, Doug Brocail, Ryan Bukvich, Francisco Cordero, Ryan Drese, R.A. Dickey, Ron Mahay, Chan Ho Park, Matt Riley, Kenny Rogers, Brian Shouse, Chris Young.

Catchers (2): Sandy Alomar, Jr., Rod Barajas.

Infielders (6): Hank Blalock, Mark DeRosa, Adrian Gonzalez, Alfonso Soriano, Mark Teixeira, Michael Young.

Outfielders (5): Chad Allen, David Dellucci, Richard Hidalgo, Gary Matthews, Jr., Kevin Mench.

To finalize the roster, Texas optioned Nix, catcher Gerald Laird, and righthander Nick Regilio to Oklahoma, and assigned infielders Ian Kinsler and Cody Ransom, outfielder Andres Torres, and righthanders Vlad Nunez and Keith Stamler to minor league camp.

Righthanders Pedro Astacio (groin strain), Joaquin Benoit (shoulder), and Frank Francisco (elbow) and lefthander Erasmo Ramirez (tendon strain in leftmiddle finger) were placed on the disabled list retroactive to March 25, and infielder Greg Colbrunn (right wrist) was placed on the DL retroactive to March 29.

Adrian Gonzalez gets his job …. Laynce Nix doesn’t …

Thanks to Rototimes.com, here is the Opening Day Depth Chart …

Links:

Alex Sanchez suspended for a substance (but no one will say steroids)…

A sweet Kip website …

Knowing Spanish helps your baseball career …

Murray Chass on Rusty Greer …

The baseball season opens tonight in New York, and by Tuesday night all 30 teams are scheduled to open. But for the third straight season Rusty Greer will not be opening it with them. This time, though, Greer isn't working to be able to start his season, rehabilitating yet another body part that has been surgically repaired.

A mainstay in the Texas Rangers' outfield for eight years, Greer was forced to retire, his body finally wrecked by the pounding he gave it. The injuries shortened his career, but while he was playing, Greer never cheated himself or the Rangers for even one pitch, whether at bat or in the outfield.

"Obviously, it's disappointing," Greer said of his forced retirement, "but I think the one thing I'm not disappointed in is how I got hurt. That's because not only myself, but guys on the teams in the late 90's I played with - Will Clark, Mickey Tettleton, Dean Palmer - I learned from them. We played the right way. We played right and we won during that period of time."

Lakers lose …as they drop 8.5 out with 9 to play. Amazing as it seems, the Lakers are out of the playoffs…Have a nice summer, Kobe…




Tom Hicks House tops the charts in Dallas …

Headblade.com …

Anakin Dynamite …



Irving, Texas goalie dominating college hockey …

Since coming to Cornell from Irving, Texas, two years ago, McKee has played every game in net for the Big Red. This season, he helped Cornell to a 27-5-3 mark, an ECAC Hockey League title and a trip to the NCAAs, where the Big Red was eliminated by Minnesota, 2-1, in overtime in the West Regional final last Sunday.

Bigger Nets? Dumbest idea EVER!



Newcastle players fight each other …Notice in the picture the confused opponent tries to pull the players apart…

West Brom 1, Everton 0 …7 games to go, Liverpool now trails Everton by 1 point after trailing by 12 not so long ago…