A Final Four to Remember

Sunday morning, I awoke to find that many of ESPN's writers were upset. They were calling this year's Final Four the most boring in recent memory. First of all, when a team goes down 28 in the first half only to march all the way back to cut it to a four point lead, I don't know what else you're looking for in a game. Nevertheless, if you were bored to tears by the semifinal games, last night's championship had to have been the pick-me-up you so dearly needed. I'm not gonna go into great detail about the game, I'm sure you all watched it, but here are some of my thoughts during and immediately after the game.

Here's what Billy Packer said about 7 minutes into the game after a Joey Dorsey foul: "Here's the key to this game, Memphis is deep enough that they can afford to get into foul trouble, but Kansas cannot." Hold your horses, Billy. Isn't Kansas supposed to be the deepest team in the country? Don't they have four legitimate big men in Darrell Arthur, Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun (that name even sounds awesome when you're typing it), and even freshman Cole Aldrich? That statement left me relatively confused.

There is a 75% chance that Derrick Rose is the number 1 pick in the draft come June. We saw this two years ago with Ty Thomas. A guy has an incredible March, and his draft stock skyrockets. Granted, Rose was probably already the consensus #2 pick, but now I see no reason why he can't be the next Dwyane Wade, which means anybody but the Heat should take him #1.

Speaking of Rose, we really saw everything we needed to know about him last night. But before I get there, let me just talk about his "stomach virus" he encountered over the weekend. CDR said that Rose's stomach hurt because he eats "Gummy Bears and Starburst for breakfast, and Twizzlers and Honey Buns for dinner." If that's the case, this kid's got a weak stomach. I'll tell you this much, I wouldn't be the man I am today if I got a stomach ache every time I had Gummy Bears and Starburst for breakfast. Honestly, that's a disappointment.

It was clear by the end of the game that Memphis goes as Rose goes. He was cold in the first half, and the Tigers were down 5 at the break. Rose came out strong in the second half though, at one point scoring 13 consecutive Memphis points. Consequently, the Tigers held the lead for much of the second half. But what was the Achilles Heel for the Tigers all season finally caught up to them in the waning minutes, as CDR and Rose went 1-4 from the line with 30 seconds to go, opening the door for a Mario "Superintendent" Chalmers 3 to tie the game. The rest, as they say, is history.

Congrats to Dan Weiser, who takes home a well-earned 60 dollars for his victory in the bracket pool.

An Early Look Back
Week 1 of the baseball season has passed, so let's take a gander at how my preseason picks are looking 7 games in.

Red Sox(3-4)- Everyone is giving this team the benefit of the doubt because they've been on the road for three weeks. Well fair enough, but I can't complain with any aspect of this team except the bullpen. That's scary to me, because when I'm looking forward to the return of a 42 year old Mike Timlin to improve the relief, things could be better.

Tigers (0-6) Next question.

Angels(5-3)- John Lackey went down in Spring Training, and I'm a big fan of his because he once threw a perfect game against me in MVP Baseball 2005. And this was before he was even a household name. Now that he is, the sky is the limit for Lackey. Anyway, it's gonna take a big effort from the Angels young pitching to make up for Lackey's loss, but last night's walk-off grand slam from Torii Hunter helps, too.

Yankees (4-3)- We knew they were gonna score runs, and when Hideki Matsui is batting 8th in your lineup, it's pretty clear things will be ok in the Bronx offensively.

Braves (3-4)- Bullshit. That's all I have to say. I made this pick thinking I was so smart and then the next day Buster Olney takes the Braves to win the division, followed by Jayson Stark picking the Braves to win it all!!!! That was disappointing. I still like them to surprise some people, although I guess it's not much of a surprise anymore

Cubs (4-3)- Kosuke Fukodome has looked outstanding for the Cubs, and Kerry Wood has bounced back from a shaky first outing.

Dodgers (4-3)- The top four teams in the NL West are gonna just beat up on each other... and the Giants. It's anyone's guess who'll come out on top.

Mets (2-3) They've been troubled by rain outs, and the loss of Pedro. But they couldn't be expecting more than 20 starts from him anyway. No need to panic yet.

Ramblings
Things are starting to look dire in the meal plan situation, I'm down to 120 bucks left with still a month left to go in the year, I have no idea what I'm gonna do. Stay tuned, this could get ugly... I've officially made the decision to watch any and all Yankee games on mute, after color guy Kenny Singleton called a bases loaded, no out jam a "snakes on a plane situation"... Who's coming home for Passover? We can all go to Wendy's that Saturday and order, well, nothing... After Hank Blalock decided not to get a hit, my streak is back up to 3, with Manny as today's pick. He's a career .556 hitter against Kenny Rogers, so hopefully he can come through today... From now on, I'll have a new blog up on Tuesday and Friday mornings, cause I don't feel like inundating your Facebook inboxes with my notification.