Baseball Preview, #5

The American League West division has been owned by the California Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim of America. The Angels have won 5 of the last 6 division titles and are the only team from the AL West to play in (and win) the World Series in the last twenty years. The Rangers and Mariners are two of the only three teams that have never even been to a World Series. Mariners have made some noise in the offseason, is it enough to make them the favorite? This will be a very competitive division top to bottom.


AL WEST
Angels
Despite suffering with all kinds of injuries including the death of a pitcher on the first day of the season, the Angels still managed the second-best record in the American League and a seat in the ALCS. The Angels have lost some key pieces recently: ace John Lackey, cleanup hitter Vlad the Impaler, and leadoff man Chone Figgins. And worse, all three went to AL rivals (Red Sox, Rangers, Mariners). I think the loss of Figgins is big: he was in the AL top 3 in walks, stolen bases, and runs, and his replacement Brandon Wood has an average under .200 for his brief career. But they have added some pieces of their own: Kazmir from the Rays, Matsui and Abreu from the Yankees, and the Angels appear to still have a capable lineup (Kendry Morales is a masher), and their rotation can be strong with Jered Weaver, Scott Kazmir, Ervin Santana, Joel Piniero and Joe Saunders. But the most important piece of the Angels, and the reason that they will likely win the division once again, is because of their manager, Mike Scioscia, baseball's best.

Mariners
Mariners made their fans happy by finally showing them that they want to improve by making some good moves. The addition of Cliff Lee gives the M's the best 1-2 punch in the American League (teamed with Felix Hernandez). Speaking of King Felix, it seemed that he finally showed his great potential last year, winning 19 games with an ERA under 2.50. No reason he should digress. Chone Figgins can be a strong addition at the hot corner (see above), and match him with Ichiro and you have a couple guys with high on base percentage who love to run. The M's also brought back fan favorite Ken Griffey, Jr., and have the (new) best center fielder in baseball in Franklin Gutierrez. Unfortunately, this lineup has no power. With their great defense and pitching, if Gutierrez and Bradley can knock in those guys at the top of the lineup then it might be enough, but the middle of the lineup isn't as reliable as you want. And while nobody seemed to notice, Kenji Johjima went back to Japan, leaving a hole at catcher. Cliff Lee getting hurt in Spring Training is a concern; for the sake of baseball fans everywhere I hope it doesn't linger. By the way, Ichiro is still the coolest man in the world.

Rangers
A lot to look forward to. The Rangers, as they always do, have a nice balance of young power in the lineup, mid-career sluggers, and great veteran leaders. Flamethrower Neftali Feliz was unhittable out of the bullpen and is the most exciting young pitcher in the AL. They picked up Rich Harden who has shown glimpses of dominance throughout his career, and Scott Feldman came out of nowhere to win 17. Can the pitching hold together and keep pace with the hitting in the hot Texas nights? That has been the problem for the last twenty years. The Rangers could jump out and make the playoffs, they were contenders last year, but there are lots of injury concerns. Harden has started 23 games in only one of the last 6 seasons, Vlad Guerrero and Michael Young are old, and Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler are always injury risks. If they manage to stay out there, look out for the Rangers.

Athletics
The A's made three big moves for their lineup last year adding Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi, and Orlando Cabrera. None of them remain after a disappointing season. The top of the Athletics rotation has two players who didn't throw a pitch all of last year. That should ring some alert bells. Ben Sheets and Justin Duchscherer do have some good potential, and with Brett Anderson Oakland could have a nice pitching staff. They better be really good because the A's won't score any runs this year.

Season Forecast
Angels 92-70
Rangers 90-72
Mariners 87-75
Athletics 75-87

MVP: Kendry Morales
Best Pitcher: Felix Hernandez
Breakout Player: Julio Borbon

Baseball Preview, #4

The largest division in baseball is one of the biggest snoozers. The Pirates, Reds, Brewers, and Astros have done nothing in the last twenty years, and while the Cubs are competitive, they are the cursed Cubs. The Cardinals, meanwhile, have the best player in baseball, are a major contender in the National League, and benefit from beating up the bottom feeders all season long.


NL CENTRAL
Cardinals
Not only does St Louis have Albert Pujols, they also have All Star slugger Matt Holliday batting behind him AND Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter solidifying the pitching rotation. But despite the best 1-2 pitching in the National League and the best 3-4 hitting duo, the Cards had the lowest record of the four NL playoff teams and got swept in the first round. So what was the problem? It seems like the rest of the team just isn't that good. Ryan Ludwick followed up his 37 HR/113 RBI/.299 All Star season with a real stinker. And while I hope the fellow can bounce back, it is more likely that the almost-32 year old simply had a flukey monster season in the middle of a ho-hum career. Nobody else on the team has breakout potential. Pujols should win another MVP, the Cards should win the division, and Wainwright and Carpenter should win a 5-game divisional series. But that will be the best-case-scenerio in St. Louis.

Cubs
Just a couple years ago the Cubs were the most-wins NL team. This year, there isn't much to be excited about, other than the departure of disgruntled Milton Bradley. Soriano can't hit or run anymore, Derek Lee is old and getting hurt sitting in chairs, Carlos Zambrano is turning out to be an underachieving ace. It will be nice to have a healthy Aramis Ramirez for a full season (hopefully), and Geovanny Soto may bounce back. This is an average team without a lot of upside.

Brewers
CC Sabathia was here for just half a season but oh, what a half season that was! Too bad it was two years ago. Brewers made good by stealing lefty Randy Wolf from the Dodgers to strengthen their rotation, and like the Cardinals, the Brewers boast an intimidating 1B/OF combo with Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, both who could be strong MVP candidates. The rest of the lineup is stronger than the rest of the Cardinals. Brewers underachieved last year but they should be better this season.

Reds
Oh, what's there to say about the Reds? Every year they add a player that might get them over the hump and people pick them to be the surprise team, and every year they flounder in mediocrity. This year's teaser is Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, who has a killer fastball and "light's out" stuff. He's someone that can potentially make some excitement. Other than that, Votto is a good player, Brandon Phillips is a decent player, Aaron Harang has been good a few years ago, and that's about it. Here comes Season #10 in a row under .500.

Astros
Surprisingly, the Astros have some potential for this season. They have some good pieces in their lineup with speedster Michael Bourn at leadoff, sluggers Berkman and Carlos Lee in the middle, followed by energy guy Hunter Pence, and a rotation filled with little warrior Roy Oswalt, dandy Wandy Rodriguez, and newcomer Brett Myers. Berkman had a down year, and while he's capable of rebounding back to All Star calibur, he's starting the season with injury problems already. The Astros will likely hang around the .500 mark all year, and if they put their annual string of wins together towards the end of the season they should have a shot at postseason contention. But Berkman and Oswalt need to be productive.

Pirates
Welcome to the worst franchise in sports. The Raiders have more potential than this sad excuse of a team. It's not that the players are bad, it's that the ownership and management are interested in something other than winning baseball games. Seriously, they will extend the longest streak of consecutive losing seasons in the history of North American professional team sports to 18 seasons this year. They've traded away every decent player to put on a Pirates uniform in the last 2 seasons and they are left with a motley crew of cast-offs and minor leaguers. They have only one player that recorded more than 440 at-bats last season. Okay, I'm being a bit harsh; they have some interesting players. I really like outfielder Andrew McCutchen. Garrett Jones displayed some power potential in the second half of last season. But the Pirates entire payroll will be less than a couple of individual players from around the league, and after being last in runs scored and near the bottom in team ERA, there is no indication that they are improving.

Season Forecast
Cardinals 89-72
Astros 84-78
Brewers 83-79
Reds 79-83
Cubs 78-84
Pirates 59-103

MVP: Albert Pujols
Best Pitcher: Adam Wainwright
Breakout Player: Aroldis Chapman

Baseball Preview, #3

The American League Central division is filled with mediocre teams with significant weaknesses. Still, there should be three pretty competitive teams and two cellar-dwellers.


AL CENTRAL
Twins
The worst news of the offseason in all of baseball was that Joe Nathan has a bad elbow that needed surgery and he will miss the entire season. Over the last four seasons Joe Nathan leads the American League in most closer statistics. An interesting replacement could be Francisco Liriano, who took the league by storm a few years ago, but due to injuries hasn't been effective since. There is also Jon Rauch and Matt Guerrier, or they could make a trade for an outside guy. I think it's a big deal; they stormed into the playoffs after losing Mauer for the first month and Justin Morneau for the final month, I'm not sure they can do that without Nathan.
But anyway, Mauer was the MVP and 3rd time batting champ, Morneau is an RBI machine when he's healthy, and Ron Gardenhire is the best coach in the division. They are also moving into a new ballpark that is supposed to be a hitter's paradise. Their rotation will not scare anybody. Baker, Slowey, and Blackburn don't remind me of Lester, Beckett, and Lackey. Carl Pavano and Blackburn were in the top 3 in hits allowed last season. Their lineup is average. Eh, they snuck into the playoffs last year, they might be able to do it again. Who knows.

Tigers
Detroit had a Met-like collapse last season, losing something like a four-game lead in the last five games followed by a 1-game playoff loss to the Twins. They have talent, led by great pitcher Justin Verlander and slugger Miguel Cabrera, and they picked up a new closer in Jose Valverde. Rick Porcello was good as a rookie last year; you never know what he could do this year. They added Johnny Damon, who would have been a great addition five or ten years ago. Their rotation could be the division's best, but it could also be a clunker. I don't know.

White Sox
White Sox are depending on a lot of bounce-back players, a LOT: Andruw Jones, Alex Rios, Carlos Quentin, Juan Pierre, Mark Teahen, Jake Peavy, Bobby Jenks, and JJ Putz. That's an interesting approach. That can be great, but it could be disastrous. Oh well, there's not much investment but it can be rewarding. Buehrle, Peavy and Floyd are a great 1-2-3. If Jones and Quentin can regain their power and Rios plays up to his contract expectation the White Sox could be in good shape.

Royals
Zach Greinke is Kansas City's hokey-pokey: that's what it's all about. Steinke Greinke has absolutely nasty stuff. And yet despite winning the Cy Young award with a 2.16 ERA, the Royals were 17-16 in his games. That tells you how bad the Royals were last year. And they won't be much better this year, either.

Indians
Cleveland was in the ALCS just three years ago. Since then they've lost CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, and Victor Martinez and don't have anything to show for it. I'm sorry, I just can't think of anything to get excited about for the Indians. Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo?

Season Forecast
Tigers should have won last year, they will win this year in a tight race.
Tigers 87-75
White Sox 85-77
Twins 85-77
Royals 68-94
Indians 64-98

MVP: Joe Mauer
Best Pitcher: Zach Greinke
Breakout Player: Austin Jackson

Baseball Preview, #2

There are some compelling teams that will be competitive, but the National League East division will be a one dog race.

NL EAST
Phillies
Know what happens when the repeat National League Champions add one of the best pitchers in baseball to their rotation? They become back-to-back-to-back champs. The core of the lineup (Howard, Utley, Rollins, Werth, Victorino) are all 30 years old, plus or minus one, which means they are seasoned vets still in the productive part of their careers so their output is predictable (no living on potential or flukes). And that is pretty nice. Polanco is an improvement at third base that was their weakest offensive position a season ago. Cole Hamels and Rollins should play better than a year ago, and Brad Lidge won't be allowed to blow 11 saves again. But the best news is that Roy Halladay is out of the AL East where he can feast on National League lineups without ever facing the best one (his own).

Braves
I feel kind of bad for Jayson Heyward, who's already expected to put up Ryan Braun-type numbers and win the MVP next year. He's got a little bit of pressure. But he's got a monsterous amount of talent and potential and is the #1 most exciting story to keep an eye on this year. As to the rest of the team, Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens add a nice contrast to Tim Hudson and Derek Lowe. The lineup could be good but will likely be very average. What do YOU expect from Chipper Jones, Martin Prado, Melky Cabrera, Troy Glaus, and Yunel Escobar?

Marlins
Hanley Ramirez had a sick stat line last year (.342, 24 HR, 27 SB, 101 R, 106 RBI) and now full-time in the middle of the lineup that RBI total should rise. Chris Coghlan hit .321 in the leadoff spot as a rookie last year. Marlins should be able to score a lot of runs this year and their pitching, led by stud Josh Johnson, should be decent enough. Marlins won an impressive 87 games last year and that is a good ballpark figure for this season, too.

Mets
The Mets think they could be good, but for that to happen an awful lot of small miracles need to occur. This team has more question marks and preseason concerns than any other team. Last year they led the league in missed games due to injury for the second straight season and they are not off to a good start in 2010. The rotation is doomed to fail. And they moved into spacious Citi Field a year ago, and Daniel Murphy led the team in home runs with 12. Led with 12. Good luck Jason Bay.

Nationals
There are some things to look forward to. Stephen Strasburg is the real deal, whenever he finally gets the call. They signed Chien-Ming Wang, one of my favorite players, who will be healthy eventually. They signed Jason Marquis, an All Star pitcher a year ago. They patched up their bullpen. They still have monster Ryan Zimmerman and slugger Adam Dunn in the middle of the order. As long as they don't pull the plug eary like last year's Pirates, they should be a good second half team. They won't lose 103 again, in fact, they could make the season's biggest jump in win total.

Season Forecast
Phillies 96-66
Marlins 88-74
Braves 86-76
Nationals 72-90
Mets 69-93

MVP: Hanley Ramirez
Best Pitcher: Roy Halladay
Breakout Player: Jayson Heyward

Baseball Preview, #1

Major League Baseball officials are considering a realignment plan where many teams could rotate divisions each year. Nobody would benefit more than the American League East teams, where everyone except the Blue Jays could compete for a division title somewhere else.

AL EAST
Yankees
While the losses of clutch players Damon, Matsui and Melky are huge, The additions of Curtis Granderson, Nick Johnson and Javier Vazquez are bigger. The Vazquez signing is interesting, since they tried him here a few years ago and he was terrible, and pitchers moving to the AL from the NL are historically not as effective. But this situation is different, since he's not here expected to be the ace or even #2, just eat up quality innings to ease the burden on everybody else. The Yankees are the deepest they have been in ten years with a strong bench, a great bullpen, and a bunch of pitchers capable of filling a rotation spot (Joba, Aceves, Gaudin, Mitre) should problems arise. Teixeira and Burnett should be a little more comfortable and therefore perform even better. And with ARod healthy to start the season the Yankees should be able to win even more games than they did last year. Simply, there are no question marks on this team.

Red Sox
It all begins with Lester, Beckett and Lackey, three aces who all give glimpses of dominance at some point during the season. Matsuzaka isn't ready but the ageless Tim Wakefield should do what he has always done in the meantime. David Big Papi Ortiz doesn't seem to be the focal point of the offense anymore (I'm not really sure what is), but if he begins the season with the same power he ended it with last year the Red Sox offense will be in good shape. Boston has a nice balance of "little ball" and power in their lineup, but there is no one or two sluggers that will scare any opposing pitchers. Instead, the management has focused on starting pitching and defense and a balanced offense. If the Red Sox don't lead the AL in ERA then they won't make the playoffs (but they probably will).

Rays
Tampa's biggest weakness last year was their bullpen, and they improved that by signing Rafael Soriano so that Howell, Wheeler and Balfour can solidy the setup positions. The starting rotation has a lot of "potential", but hasn't proven anything that can sustain a whole season. I am interested to see how David Price and Wade Davis perform. The lineup should score a ton of runs. Evan Longoria has MVP potential, Zobrist and Bartlett were productive pleasant surprises in the middle infield, Kelly Shoppach is a nice addition for backup catcher, and BJ Upton and Pat Burrell have plenty of opportunity for improvement this season. However, if the Rays fall back early in the AL East there's a good chance that Carl Crawford, one of their franchise's most productive players, could be traded away. Hopefully that doesn't happen.

Orioles
The O's improved rotation and found a closer with additions of veteran Kevin Millwood and Mike Gonzalez, but the excitement for Baltmore is found in their young hitters (Weiters, Markakis, Jones and Reinhold). Their infielders are all potential disappointments: Roberts is already hurt, new addition Atkins was awful last year, and Tejada returns on his last legs. Millwood should relieve some pressure on the other starters. They won't lose 98 games again, but in the AL East they will fail to reach 81 wins for the 13th straight season.

Blue Jays
Toronto was one of the worst teams in the second half and the biggest moves they made were trading away their best player (Halladay) and losing their leadoff hitter (Scutaro). The Blue Jays don't have an ace or anybody else that would make #2 pitcher for most teams. The Blue Jays are depending a lot on Shawn Marcum and Dustin McGowan (neither threw a pitch last year) and four other young pitchers without much experience who's names you probably won't recognize. Adam Lind and Aaron Hill had big breakout seasons and I look forward to seeing Lind make the All Star game this year. This is what you call a rebuilding year and it will show in the standings.

Season Forecast
Yankees 104-58
Red Sox 94-68
Rays 91-71
Orioles 76-86
Blue Jays 68-94

MVP: Mark Teixeira
Best Pitcher: CC Sabathia
Breakout Player: Matt Weiters

Oh how Sweet it is

The most memorable moment of the first couple rounds is Ali Farokhmanesh taking the most nuts shot ever and the fact that it went in, followed by the Kansas player (was it Collins?) crying on the court for 10 minutes later. What was he doing the last 40 minutes? Another great mement was the thrilling end of the Maryland/Michigan State game. Other highlights include Georgetown, Villanova, Pitt, Marquette, Louisville, and Notre Dame, all from the Big Bad East, not showing up for their games. All four of the MWC representatives are now at home.

1. Michigan State vs. Northern Iowa. Northern Iowa shows us one example of the Selection Committee doing a terrible job with seeding. The Panthers were a nationally top team all year, winning 30 games including their conference tourney. They dominated Kansas, now I'm a believer. I don't think Michigan State will be able to recover from losing their most important player. Northern Iowa

2. Kentucky vs. Cornell. This is the most compelling cultural matchup in the tournament: a powerhouse team from an athletics-focused school led by by 4 freshman versus an Ivy-League team with no athletic scholarships led by a bunch of seniors. Cornell can shoot, we know that, but after Kansas got embarrassed by UNI, there is no way Kentucky loses this game. And Kentucky will go on to win it all. Kentucky

3. Ohio State vs. Tennessee. I think this will be the best game of the third round. Buckeyes in the Final Four. Ohio State

4. Kansas State vs. Xavier. Xavier makes their third straight Sweet 16, but I really like K-State to make the Final Four, but this is a good matchup. Kansas State

5. West Virginia vs. Washington. Everybody loved the Mountaineers after they won the Big East tourney, but now we can see how overrated that actually was. I also think they are in trouble after losing their starting point guard. Washington

6. Baylor vs. St Marys. Baylor has played Sam Houston State and Old Dominion. St Marys isn't your household name either, but they are an outstanding team that thrives on fundamentals, good shooting, strong post-up play, and great guard play. St Marys will make the Final Four. St Marys

7. Syracuse vs. Butler. Syracuse has received a lot of attention with their 2-3 zone defense and being without their star center. Butler has a good shot to figure them out and beat them and I picked them last round. I think they will play the part of Northern Iowa. Butler, but not a lot of confidence

8. Duke vs. Purdue. The Boilermakers seem to have surprised everybody by making it this far. They aren't getting by Duke. Duke

let the Madness begin

Okay, last week I said how much I don't like college basketball. It was a bit of an exaggeration. The NCAA Tournament, I do like. Now that Conference Tournaments are over, this is the time to get excited about college basketball.

There are only two teams that I care about in college basketball (UVM and BYU) and both are in the West region so we'll start there.

WEST
I would like to point out that I think it's strange that Syracuse is the #1 seed in the West and they have a first round matchup with Vermont.

That being said, how cool is that Vermont plays Syracuse again! I still remember where I was in 2005 when Vermont defeated Syracuse in one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history. And I picked that game, too. This year Syracuse is a little better, but I like the team Catamounts. A #1 seed has never lost a first round game, don't wet your pants if it happens this year. Unfortunately for the Catamounts, they are playing in Buffalo so it's a home game for the Orange.

BYU got a pretty good draw, matching up with the last at large team to make the field, Florida. Jimmer Fredette is one of the most exciting players in the country. BYU has lost 8 straight tournament games, but this is their best shot. They are the best shooting team in the country (leading everyone in FT%, something that has killed them in the past). And even more exciting, if they make the Sweet 16 they'll have a game at Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City. I see a miracle one win.

Two weeks ago Kansas State was #5 in the country. Almost half of their 7 losses were to their homestate rival Jayhawks and lucky for KSU they won't play them for a while. Pittsburgh has beaten Syracuse, West Virginia, and Villanova (all 1-2 seeds) and I think they have the best shot to reach the Final Four from this bracket.

Upsets to watch out for:
Syracuse will lose to either Gonzaga or Pitt. Murray State will beat Vanderbilt.

EAST

So I just used ESPN AccuScore and it says #11 Washington will win this region. Don't count on it.

Kentucky is one of the most talented teams in the country. They have the nation's top point guard, one of the top big men, and a great coach with tourney experience. Their two superstars are freshman, which means mistakes can happen, but Kentucky is with Kansas in the unquestioned top 2 teams in the country.

West Virginia won the Big East Tourney, and while that is one of the best accomplishments of the season, that won't necessarily help you from here on out. Only two Big East Tourney champs have reached the Final Four in the last 11 years, and I don't like West Virginia's chances.
Being an alumni from the MWC, I really like New Mexico, 5-0 against Top 25 teams.
Texas won their first 17 games and got to #1 in the land showing that they can be scary, but the Longhorns are the worst free throw shooting team in the bracket, and in a tournament full of close games this will lead to an early exit.

Upsets to watch out for:
Washington will beat Marquette. Temple will beat Wisconsin. New Mexico will beat West Virginia.

MIDWEST

Kansas is the best team in the country and has been all year. Earning the top overall position is supposed to give you a little break. I can't believe that they got put in this region, the toughest region by far with the best #2, #4, Final Four Michigan State at #5, best #6 and #9. So while I think they are best team and would be the no-question favorite to win it all, there's so much opportunity to slip up or tire out.

Ohio State has the best player in the tournament, Evan Turner. Sometimes ('Cuse with Carmelo) that leads to a championship, but other times (Texas with Durant) it just led to an early exit due to a lack of other support. Georgetown went far in the Big East tourney, but they have been too inconsistent to win very many games here. Tennessee has beaten Kansas and Kentucky already this season, which shows that they can fight with anybody. UNLV is usually ready for some wins, taking advantage of a hometown MWC tourney once again to get in, but they had a "down" year, and they have a rough matchup against a strong Northern Iowa team. I think the most interesting team in this region is Michigan State, who aren't the best team around but have the best coach in the tournament, Tom Izzo.

Upsets to watch out for:
Tennessee will beat Georgetown. Northern Iowa will beat UNLV.

SOUTH

Duke is the weakest of the top seeds but they still were placed in the weakest bracket. I hate Duke and want to pick them to lose, but it just won't happen. Villanova is the weakest #2 and has played poorly recently, Purdue is expected to get bounced early, Notre Dame barely made it in and they are still a 6 seed. I think this will be the most headline-grabbing region with a lot of upsets possible because of the weak high seeds. Utah State or St Mary's will be the lowest seed to reach the Sweet 16.

Upsets to watch for:
Utah State over Texas A&M. Sienna over Purdue. St Mary's over Richmond. Baylor into the Elite 8.

FINAL FOUR PICKS
Kansas (champ)
Kentucky (runner-up)
Duke
Kansas State

the nonsense side of March Madness

Want to know why I don't like college basketball? I'll tell you why! It has the most meaningless regular season of any league and sport.

The problem is Conference Tournaments. Conference Tournaments are the stupidest and most redundant creations in sports.

What is the purpose? #1: To crown the conference champion? Hello, we already have a conference champion, that's what we've been doing the last four months. #2 Find out who's the best teams? Dude, the NCAA tournament comes right after! That is the real tournament. #3: To get the country's best teams into the NCAA Tournament? Actually, the Conference Tourneys do nothing more than water down the Big Dance. #4 Make the NCAA Tournament more exciting? Fail, it only precedes bigger blowouts.

Here are a few examples:

-Coastal Carolina is champion of the Big South, as they went 15-3 in the conference and 28-6 overall. However, Winthrop, 3rd in the Big South with 12 wins (16-13 overall in the regular season) got hot and won 3 games in a row to win the Conference Tournament and replace Coastal Carolina for the NCAA Tourney, despite being the lesser team. Up next: 16 seed, blowout loss to someone like Kansas.

-Weber State went 13-3 to win the Big Sky Conference. Montana was 10-6 but will represent the Big Sky in the NCAA Tournament.

-East Tennesee was 5th in the Atlantic Sun Conference this season. But that doesn't matter, they stole a ticket to March Madness.

-UConn has lost 6 straight conference tournament games, but has still made the Elite Eight twice in the last four years.

-Stony Brook is conference champion, but either Vermont or Boston University will also be champions of the same conference. Kind of an odd predicament.

-The March Madness Tournament has 65 teams, but either Washington or Arizona State, ranked 50 and 56 respectively, won't be in. Memphis is #46 and will also likely get left out, replaced by East Tennessee State and Winthrop, schools somewhere ranked around #150.

So March Madness is probably the most followed sporting event in America. Everybody fills out a bracket: secretaries, 5th graders, librarians, politicians, etc. And yet the 65 spots are not filled by the 65 best teams. And this is why a 16 seed has never beaten a 1 seed, and only one 2 seed has ever fallen to a 15 seed. The regular season doesn't matter. And why there is a need for back-to-back tournaments? And with the possibility and likelihood of two conference champions, both outshadow the other. (I won the regular season crown but the conference tourney, I won the conference tourney crown but finished 4th in the regular season.) Neither one matters anymore.

Each Conference Tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tourney. Nevermind those schools that slugged it out for five months to win their conference outright, their spot can be taken by a team that has one good week. And because of that, another even better school, who would be more competitive against the good teams, will get left out.

I guess it's just an excuse to give everybody a ribbon, just like 5th grade. There are no losers, everybody is successful.

So forget the four months of games you've played, the only ones that matter are in that one week in the middle of March.

this week's ranting in sports

Disrespect all around this week.

1. Jets. Let's compare two New York sport teams, the Jets and Yankees. Everybody knows that the Yankees pay players a lot of money. Often they offer "honorary contracts," way overpriced contracts to older players that have been good for them in previous years. Seems to be a kind way to say 'thanks for helping us.' And you know, people like playing for the Yankees and they want to play for the Yankees. That's why players wait until the last moment to call the Yankees before signing with someone else (i.e. Mark Teixeira, C.C. Sabathia). And guess what, in the last 40 years the Yankees have 7 championships, more than anybody else in baseball.

Now to the Jets. Earlier this week the New York Jets cut Thomas Jones. Jones was due a $3.3M roster bonus a few days later that the team happened to avoid paying.

Thomas Jones was the leading rusher for the top rushing team in the NFL. He led the team with 14 touchdowns, was third in the NFL with over 1400 yards and helped his team make the playoffs. It was the best season of his career. His base salary for the upcoming season was a modest $2.8M. He's turning 32 but he's had five straight years of over 1100 yards and the last two were among his best! They say the still want to sign him again, they just didn't want to give him a bonus he earned. And in this uncapped year the Jets decide that saving a little roster bonus money is more important than honoring an agreement with the most productive member of their team. The administration shows no loyalty or appreciation. And now a bunch of Jets players are unhappy with it, too. The correlation: the Jets have zero championships in the last 40 years.

2. Panthers. Want to know why some sports teams are losing money? It has nothing to do with the recession. It's called being stupid. Really stupid. In the NFL playoffs a year ago, the Carolina Panthers lost a home game to the Arizona Cardinals where Jake Delhomme produced 6 turnovers. What did the team do? They awarded the 34 year old QB a huge 5 year contract extension worth over $40M. I don't think I even need to keep writing for you to guess what happened next.

But I will anyway. Last season Delhomme threw 8 touchdowns with 18 interceptions (also lost 3 fumbles) in only 11 games as the Panthers went 4-7. Only after he broke his pinkie and couldn't play did they realize that they have a very quality quarterback that can effectively run the team that led the league in rushing the previous season, and Matt Moore led the Panthers 4-1 the rest of the way.

So now the Panthers realized they had a turnover machine in his mid-30s with a monster contract behind a quarterback 10 years younger who showed to be a winner when given a chance. You can't say that this was a surprise, last season ended like this one began! (and continued!) So in an effort to "save" money in the long run, the Panthers cut Delhomme yesterday and ate $12.5M they owed still him. That's right, even though he sucked and they just want to get rid of him, it takes $12.5 million to show him the door.

So along with a recession, you can thank teams like the Carolina Panthers for finding other ways to lose eight figures.

3. Baseball. An interesting thing happened Thursday in a spring training game that got a lot of attention. In a game last season, Prince Fielder and the Brewers had a choreographed celebration at home plate after a home run. Zito retaliated 6 months later by plunking Fielder in spring training on the first pitch.

Normally, I would frown at this and wave my finger at how this is a major problem in baseball, this unwritten rule that if you disrespect our team you'll get a fastball right at you. But check out the video replay. Barry Zito hit Prince with a 76 mph fastball in the butt (a butt difficult to miss) in an exhibition game. Not a Roger Clemens fastball at Mike Piazza's head in July. This would send a message to the team that "we don't like what you did," sting Prince a little bit, but it's not gonna hurt him and won't cause disruption in the regular season. Tempers were controlled, nobody was hurt, nobody will be suspended. This was the right way to go about it and I've got no beef with Zito.

4. NBA. What's up with all these whining professional basketball players? Michael Beasley of the Heat was still complaining last week that he felt disrespected by Charles Barkley calling the Miami Heat "Michael Jackson and a bunch of Tito Jacksons" last December (referring to Dewayne Wade and everybody else). Poor guy. "Disrespected and underrated." How did he and the Heat respond to that disrespect without Wade in the lineup? They lost at home to the Timberwolves (worst team in the West). With Wade a week later? They beat the Lakers.

And speaking of those Minnesota Timberwolves, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle decided to give star Jason Kidd a night off a few days ago against the T-Wolves, who were playing without Al Jefferson. Before the game Carlisle commented about the decision: "We aren't playing the Lakers." This hurt the feelings of Wolves' center Ryan Hollins who felt, "definitely, that's a disrespectful thing." What did they do about it? They lost.

Put your money where your mouth is. Or in other words, shut up and show it on the court.

5. Mavericks. Speaking of the Mavericks, since making the big trade with the Wizards they have won 10 games in a row. And you know what I find amazing about this? In these ten games they've been without Jason Kidd, Caron Butler, Jason Terry, and Erick Dampier each at least one game.

6. Nets. So how can an NBA team sit at 6-55? Are the Nets really that bad? Here's the latest evidence: video look at their defense at :25 where Rashard Lewis gets his own rebound. Enough said.