Day 1 in Lockup.

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Phil wins easily ….I know it is not his fault, but that was pretty boring the last hour or so…

"In '04 when I won, I felt this great feeling of relief," said Mickelson, 35, who ended the tournament at seven-under-par 281 and took home $1.26 million. "This time, it's a great feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment to come out on top."

With his P.G.A. Championship victory at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., last August, Mickelson became the first player other than Woods to win back-to-back major championships since Nick Price won the British Open and P.G.A. Championship in 1994.

Look who is now winning majors all the time …

Suddenly, Tiger Woods has a rival at the Masters, just as Arnold Palmer had Jack Nicklaus. And suddenly, Phil Mickelson is halfway to the Tiger Slam, Woods' incredible feat of holding all four major trophies simultaneously.

And with it, that 0-for-42 drought that the lefthander suffered through in majors has turned into a 3-for-9 hot streak.

Mavericks get familiar with the Clippers …

Five games remain in the regular season, and the Mavericks face the Clippers twice. If the standings remain the same once the regular season ends, Dallas will meet Los Angeles in the first round of the playoffs. Dallas would be the fourth seed and Los Angeles the fifth.

This could be a time the Mavericks send a message to the Clippers.

"You will get a lot of each other," Stackhouse said. "That will happen in the next three or four weeks. We want to put a little doubt in their minds."
Dallas leads the season series, 2-0.

Since everyone is focused on the race for the #1 seed, here is a look at that race for the 5th seed:

5 LA CLIPPERS (44-32)
Remaining: Dallas, Portland, @Seattle, Seattle, @Memphis,@Dallas

6 MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES (44-33)
Remaining: Minnesota,@Charlotte, @Houston, LA Clippers, @Minnesota

But remember, whether it is Pau Gasol, Sam Cassell, Kobe, or Ron Artest, be careful what you hope for…

Stars play like the game doesn’t mean anything…and it kinda doesn’t, but what a tough way to wrap up a season…



Wisconsin wins hockey title #6 …And there is much rejoicing in the Sturm house…

Wisconsin (30-10-3) completed a historic rise from the ashes to claim its sixth national title -- and first since 1990 -- after holding off Boston College 2-1 at the Bradley Center, in front of a sellout crowd of 17,814.

Only five players remain from that first Eaves-coached team, and each played an
integral part in the title run.

First and foremost was defenseman Tom Gilbert, who scored the title-winning goal on the power play at 9:32 in the third, when he was the final piece of a tic-tac-toe pass that started with senior captain Adam Burish at the left point. The Madison native found Joe Pavelski in the left circle, and he made a no-look pass to Gilbert in the slot.

The assistant captain wasted no time, firing a low wrister that beat BC goalie Cory Schneider to the stick side.

"I think I had two chances earlier [on the power play], and I was thinking to myself, I'm not going to strike out three times," Gilbert said. "Joe Pavelski made a great pass to me, and I just buried my head, and I knew the puck was going to go in."

From there, the Badgers hung on, limiting Boston College (26-13-3) to just four shots in the third period and shutting the Eagles down completely on the power play. BC had four chances with the man-advantage, but couldn't manage even one shot on net. Wisconsin went 1-for-8 on the power play.

The Badgers ended the season by killing off the last 36 power-play chances against them, including a perfect 16-for-16 in the NCAA Tournament.

"I think Wisconsin is the best team we have played this year," BC coach Jerry York said. "Cory Schneider kept us in the game and we had it where we wanted it with [about] 10 minutes left in the game, it was 1-1. They capitalized on their power play and we didn't. That was the difference.

Meanwhile, in Rhein, Drew Henson proves he can play well (at that level)…

For now, his N.F.L. dream is tied to the European league, which is defined by its hopefuls and reclamation projects. Several former N.F.L. Europe quarterbacks, including Jake Delhomme, Kurt Warner and Brad Johnson, have gone on to success in the N.F.L.

The Cowboys sent Henson to Europe to get something nobody could have imagined he would still need at this point in his career: experience.

Henson has led the Fire to a 4-0 start in the six-team league, completing 51 of 86 passes for 586 yards and 4 touchdowns. He has also thrown an interception.

Henson says he is certain he would make the same career choices again, including the failed quest for baseball greatness.

"I realize what could have happened if I'd chosen something else," Henson said in a telephone interview from Dusseldorf, Germany, where the Fire is based. "I believe things happen for a reason. When I was 20 years old, I knew I wanted to be a baseball player. When I was 24, I knew I wanted to be a quarterback. You'd be crazy not to say you wanted that.

ESPN suggests the top 10 free agents of this summer:

1. Ben Wallace, Pistons
The midseason trade of Darko Milicic and Carlos Arroyo to Orlando was made with the express intent of clearing money for Wallace. To make him the highest-paid Piston, Detroit would have to offer him a deal beginning at $12,000,001. If the Pistons come in south of that level, which they will almost certainly try to do, Wallace may regret his decision to proceed without a traditional agent.

2. Al Harrington, Hawks
What kind of starting salary will Atlanta bring to the table when negotiations begin? If Harrington believes the offer is too low, he'll look to leave through a sign-and-trade deal. But how many teams out there are willing to pay Harrington's price? And can they give Atlanta a good player(s) in return in a sign-and-trade? The presence of Marvin Williams and Josh Smith will make Harrington expendable if his price is more than the Hawks will pay, but as of now there are more questions than answers here.

3. Jason Terry, Mavericks
Stop us if you've heard this before: The Mavs have a point guard who might command more money on the open market than owner Mark Cuban is willing to pay, and that point guard could turn to his former team, which is desperate for a playmaker. But in this case, we're talking about Terry and the Hawks, not Steve Nash and the Suns.

4. Nazr Mohammed, Spurs
There were a few people wondering what Nazr was thinking when he turned down an extension worth more than $20 million prior to opening night, but this 7-footer has upped his value over the course of the season by reclaiming his starting spot from
Rasho Nesterovic.

5. Joel Przybilla, Trail Blazers
When a couple of his teammates angered him with their effort level, Portland coach Nate McMillan urged Przybilla to take his complaints public. He did, and he'll probably decide it's a wise move to bail out of this sinking ship while he can.

6. Nene, Nuggets (restricted)
The injured Brazilian forward fired agent Michael Coyne and switched to Dan Fegan, who has a reputation for getting his clients top dollar on the open market. The decision on whether Nene will go or stay will be influenced by whether general manager Kiki Vandeweghe survives in Denver.

7. Mike James, Raptors (opt out)
Newly installed GM Bryan Colangelo has reservations about whether it's worth the long-term risk to keep James, who will be 31 at the start of next season, for the amount of money James will command after what has been by far the best season of his career. Look for a sign-and-trade deal here.

8. Peja Stojakovic, Pacers (opt out)
It's tough to find anybody who believes Stojakovic will truly be on the market this summer, the thinking being that the Pacers were smart enough to get a wink-wink deal in place before they acquired Peja for Ron Artest. Such deals are in violation of NBA rules, but their existence is hard to prove.

9. Vladimir Radmanovic, Clippers
He surrendered his Larry Bird rights when he accepted the deal that sent him from Seattle to Los Angeles, so the most he can get is the midlevel exception (about $5 million). But there will be teams lining up to offer him that money.

10. Drew Gooden, Cavaliers (restricted)
We'll rank him as the third-best power forward on the market behind Harrington and Nene simply because more teams like Nene's upside, whereas there's a general feeling that the Gooden we're seeing now is as good as he'll ever be.

And now, as part of my personal protest that Rangers season may already be almost over, they are moved to the final story on the blog:

Rangers salvage 1 game from the mighty Tigers …

When Laird and Kinsler opened the sixth with singles, Brad Wilkerson came to the plate. In his previous seven at-bats, the leadoff hitter had struck out six times, including all three on Sunday.

But with the score 3-3, he came through with a double to right-center field to score both runners and provide the margin of victory.

"That was huge," Young said.

"That was huge," Phil Nevin said.

"It was a big hit for us," said Wilkerson, who has 14 strikeouts in 32 at-bats this season. "I was fortunate to be in a situation where I could come up big for this team. I'm going to take the positive from it."

That wasn't the case with Rogers, who got the loss, then told the Texas media to get lost after the game.

On this day for the Rangers, however, Rogers' most significant role was to send them on a road trip feeling good about themselves. And he played that part very effectively.