Another Failed Bracket

I thought I had it this year. I really did feel like my curse of forsaken brackets for the NCAA tournament had come to an end going into the second weekend of the tournament. With 16 teams left, I had 14 of them still alive and felt pretty confident about my picks. Then something happened. The sports gods decided that no matter what, it was not going to be my year. By the next round I was down to 3 of the 8 teams. Coming into Final Four weekend I had no surviving teams. NONE. And it wasn't like I was picking upsets, but apparently I am not cut out for being a bracket filler. Luckily for me though, the lack of competence when it comes to filling out brackets made watching this last weekend's games way more fun. I could cheer for teams simply because I wanted to see them win and it had nothing to do with my money I had on the line any longer. I sat back and enjoyed two games that comprised of high emotions and great basketball. Personally I thought it was the best weekend of the tournament even if the games weren't that close. That was another disappointment of the tourney. The games just were not that great this year. I think we were all spoiled with the 2006 and 2007 tournaments where everything unexpected happened in drammatic fashion. Then suddenly the teams that are supposed to win do, and by a lot, and it's just not that exciting. I still love the tournament, but when you can't even get announcer Gus Johnson overly excited there is something wrong with the games.

It's opening day in baseball. People across the nation are more excited about that than anything else that happens in the great month of April. (April is hands down the best month out of the year for sports; the Final Four, Opening Day, the Masters, the NFL Draft, and the NBA and NHL seasons concluding) For me, the return of baseball isn't as cool as it used to be. I have stopped following the sport as closely as I once did. During Griffey's run in 1997 and 1998 when he hit 56 homers both years (without the help of PEDs) I watched ESPN's Baseball Tonight religiously. Now I check ESPN.com to see if Griffey even played during the day and I don't know anything about the game anymore. I'm no longer interested. That is sad I think. I have replaced baseball with NCAA football and the NBA as my favorite sports to follow now. But I am so so SO excited to see Griffey have a great year back in Seattle.

Speaking of the NBA, the Cavs are worrying me a little bit. After going on a 13 game winning streak, they lost two straight ugly UGLY games. Not only did they lose to Washington, but they got outplayed by the Wizards. Granted the Wizards, or actually the Zephyrs as they were on Thursday, had all of their former all-stars back in the lineup for the first time all season. Gilbert Arenas was back and although his shot hasn't been anywhere to be found, but he dished out ten assists which was probably more than he has had for a long time. Antawn Jamison was looking good again too. Don't get me wrong, the Cavs shouldn't have lost that game, but the Wizards are going to be good next year if they bring everyone back. The next night the Cavs played the Magic. Actually that's not true, they certainly didn't show up to play. At one point they were down 41 points in the third quarter. Maybe they needed a wake up call and this will be the point in the season when they bounce back and continue to pave their road to the championship. But maybe this is what is to come from the Cavs. I sure hope not, but I'm not as sure about them as I was this time last week. Luckily, Sunday LeBron came back and scored 38 points and the Cavs beat the pudding out of the Spurs and that made my weekend.

The weather is turning into spring finally and this time I feel like it's here for real. That is a good deal because I needed to start wearing shorts very quickly. Everyone is in a better mood when the weather is nice, and that can't hurt either. The week in school is going to be crazy, but spring break was awesome and being home for a week (despite the snow) was amazing. I am always shocked at how humbling going home for some time can be. Being on the farm and being around my family always helps ground me a little bit; and it was well over due this time.

SHOUT OUT FOR THE DAY: Tiger Woods. Coming off of knee surgery, Tiger had played in two tournaments where he was pretty much a non-factor Thursday through Sunday. (Actually he didn't even make Sunday in his first tournament back) Immediately people began to question whether or not he was going to be the same player he was before the surgery. Rick Reilly for ESPN.com didn't even waste anytime writing a column about how he has doubts that Tiger will end up as the greatest golfer ever. I think Tiger must have read about all of these doubts because he promptly came back from 5 strokes down on Sunday and won his first tournament since the U.S. Open. It was an amazing comeback that only Tiger could have done. Don't debate about when Tiger will become the greatest of all time because he already is. He is a special athlete that we should enjoy the opportunity to watch. I am not betting against him in The Masters coming up in a few weeks, because amazing people pull off amazing things that no one else can do. And Tiger is one of those people, so watch and enjoy The Masters. Then sit back and smile when he is putting on another green jacket and realize you are enjoying history.