Madness in the Month of March

Texas lives to fight another day …actually, Saturday…

"I'm just glad the shot went in," said Paulino, who was two-of-eight from the field before his game-winning shot. "I haven't thought about the importance. I'm just living the moment."

The immediate significance for the Longhorns: Texas is one victory away from its second trip to the Final Four in four years. The Longhorns (30-6) will play No. 4 seed LSU (26-8) at 3:40 p.m. Saturday at the Georgia Dome for the right to advance to the Final Four in Indianapolis. LSU knocked off top-seeded Duke 62-54 in the other semifinal.

West Virginia had tied the game at 71 on a 3-pointer by Kevin Pittsnogle — one of 15 in the game for the Mountaineers — with five seconds remaining. The Longhorns immediately got the ball inbounds, and A.J. Abrams fed Paulino waiting on the left wing.

"The whole play was just to get down the court and get a shot up and see what happens," Paulino said. "Luckily it went in."

West Virginia (22-11) rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to briefly take the lead in the second half. The Mountaineers wiped out most of the halftime lead with a frantic 54 seconds to begin the second half, which included a pair of 3-pointers.

By the way, the conversation has come up, “has a team ever won the NCAA Football and Basketball titles in the same year?”. Also, Texas is presently the Baseball title holder, too, but it was the previous school year. If any of you have the answer, send it in. Otherwise, I will research that later today.

In fact, here is an email:

Ah-ite Sports Sturm,

I got a sports question for you. If Texas now goes on to win the NCAA tourney (now that Duke and Gonzaga are out of the way, it is definitely possible), has any school ever won a baseball, football, and basketball championship in a calendar year? And if we do, can you just throw Texas bone and admit: We’re Texas… the best that ever was? Never listen…

- P1 Miles, Fort Worth

Mavericks blow a big one at home …Jason Richardson = one of the more underrated players in the NBA?

The Mavericks overcame a seven-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter and had a six-point lead with 35 seconds left. But after making 30 consecutive free throws to start the game, the Mavericks missed three of their final eight when Golden State was forced to foul.

That set up a prayer from Richardson that was answered at the buzzer and ruined a sensational 51-point night by Dirk Nowitzki, who was serenaded to Most Valuable Player chants but would have traded everything for a free throw in the final 30 seconds.

Keyshawn gets 4 years in Carolina …

Complete financial details were not immediately available, and the two sides were still fine-tuning some elements of the deal late into the night, one team source acknowledged. But sources said the contract is worth approximately $3.5 million per year and that Johnson will receive a $5 million signing bonus on a contract that could be officially signed as early as Friday.

Meanwhile, Larry Allen signs with the 49ers …Not long ago, Owens for Allen would have been the biggest blockbuster in football…

Vanderjagt in the fold ….

Under Jerry Jones' stewardship the Cowboys had success finding unknown kickers from Chris Boniol to Richie Cunningham to Billy Cundiff.

Last year, that luck ran out, so Thursday the Cowboys jumped into the expensive end of the free-agent kicker pool by signing Mike Vanderjagt to a three-year deal worth $5.5 million, including a $2.5 million signing bonus.

In eight years in Indianapolis, Vanderjagt became the NFL's most accurate kicker in history, making 87.5 percent of his tries (217-of-248). The Cowboys have not had a kicker make 80 percent for a season since 1998.

If this is really true, I am amazed: Nascar Rain coverage beats NBA and Golf? ....

NASCAR on FOX's rain-out coverage Sunday from Atlanta Motor Speedway posted higher ratings than the NBA and PGA, according to BenMaller.com TV moles.

The Hollywood Hotel's extended rain broadcast with Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond proved to be more popular than an NBA matchup between Kobe Bryant and LeBron James and the final round of a PGA event.

Sunday’s rain coverage generated a 3.3/7 overnight rating according to Nielsen Media Research, enough to beat head-to-head competition from a Lakers vs. Cavs NBA game on ABC by +39% (3.3/7 vs. 2.0/4) and the final round of the PGA’s Bay Hill Invitational on NBC by +18% (3.3/7 vs. 2.7/6).

Richie Whitt continues to monitor the Ticket since the Cowboys marriage …

Mike Rhyner is still calling Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells “The New Jersey Con Man.” Rhyner’s on-air partner, Greg Williams, is bashing Parcells for missing last weekend’s earth-shattering press conference to instead attend baseball spring training. And there are at least enough dissenting Terrell Owens opinions to form a small dog pile.

On its first major Cowboys story as the team’s flagship station, KTCK-AM (1310, The Ticket) stayed true to its tone. Host Bob Sturm gave Owens a decent grilling in his first one-on-one interview as a Cowboy, and pre- and post-press conference roundtables mixed in everything from George Dunham’s unyielding support of the team to Williams’ assertion that Owens is an “a-hole.” So far, concerns about the station cowering to its new master seem to have been exaggerated.

It’s early, but not too premature to appreciate the Cowboys’ shift to The Ticket. Former flagship station KLUV-FM (98.7) probably wouldn’t have carried the press conference live, much less held a forum or taken calls from listeners afterward. So, how much will we not miss KLUV? As one industry insider told me recently, “They made no effort to be informative on the Cowboys. They were an oldies station that just happened have the Cowboys on weekends.” Yikes. –Richie Whitt

Spike ties its future to the UFC …good decision…

Having seen ratings success of late with reality show Pros Vs. Joes, the network’s total audience was still down 16 percent from last year in February, averaging 1.28 million total viewers in prime.

Going forward programming-wise, the network has renewed its contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship to allow for four new seasons of the reality series The Ultimate Fighter, 10 live fight cards and 26 hour-long episodes of UFC Unleashed, which features old fights.

Oprah from Space …wow. People are sick…

Old Friends meet in the FA Cup Semifinals ….

Chelsea and Liverpool have been pitted together for the fifth time this season, in the FA Cup semi-finals.

The sides have already met twice in the Barclays Premiership and twice more in the Champions League, with Chelsea winning the league encounters and the European meetings both draws.

In the other semi-final Middlesbrough or Charlton will face West Ham. The ties will be played on April 22 and 23.

Chelsea and Liverpool also came face to face five times last season, meeting twice in the league, in a two-legged Champions League semi-final and the Carling Cup final.

Wild prediction is hit in England ….

And now, some more great email:

Here are his indoor / outdoor stats vs Vinatieri's, including stats for what Yahoo considers kicks when the game is "close" and "close/late"...

Vanderjagt
Indoors 87.6 (127/145)
Outdoors 87.4 (90/103)

Vinatieri
Indoors 94.4 (34/36)
Outdoors 80.4 (229/285)

Vanderjagt
Close 89.1 (90/101)
Close/Late 89.5 (34/38)

Vinatieri
Close 80.0 (136/170)
Close/Late 78.4 (29/37)

I think most people just have his Charlie Brown kick from last season on their mind...

P1 Hank

Wow, those are shocking numbers! And don’t forget tonight’s television news!

Boys,

As we all mourn the passing of Lem, and contemplate the bastard-ness of Shane and rath of Vic, I can understand Bob's grief and inability to find out the exact air times for the syndication of the show on Spike TV.

I fought through it all and checked on SpikeTV.com, and according to the schedule on that site, syndication of The Shield will be Fridays at 9pm and 10:00 (they say 10 and 11, but I assme those are EST times b/c Dish Network says they air here at 9 and 10), with a re-broadcast of what appears to be the same shows on Sunday night at 11:00 pm and midnight (that's local time again).

This Friday at 9:00 is "Pilot" and at 10:00 is "our Gang (Episode #2). Those shows are again scheduled for Sunday at 11:00 and midnight. So two chances to watch.

Next Friday (31st) will be "The Spread" (Ep #3) and "Dawg Days" (Ep #4) (and those two will be re-broadcast Sunday at 11:00 and midnight).

Just wanted everyone to know!

Keep up the good work, and get Lem back on the air ASAP so we can find out what he really thinks about having a grenade in his pants and I assume being out of the show. But as South Park proved last night, he could come back as Darth Lem... And if you don't know what I am talking about with that reference, check out CNN.com's video clips. Those guys hate Tom Cruise more than y'all do.

Sign me a P-1, but keep my name out out of things,
please, as I am supposed to be working!