Now before we savage Mr. Angelo for that deal, let’s look at who the draft picks became:

The Bears traded the pick from the Jets to San Diego picking up their 2nd rounder (62nd overall) and 3rd rounder (93rd overall).  The picks became:

37th pick (Chargers): Eric Weddle, Safety

62nd pick (Bears): Dan Bazuin, Defensive End

63rd pick (Packers from Jets): Brandon Jackson, Running Back

93rd pick (Bears): Garrett Wolfe, Running Back

Certainly none of those are great players, but you turned a pro bowl running back in his prime in to Dan Bazuin – who as near as I can tell never actually played a minute for the Bears, and Garrett Wolfe – who was a special teams guy before being released before this season.

Good haul there.  Why I think that’s arguably his biggest bust is because of how Angelo took away a darn good player/locker room guy to hand a job to a guy that wasn’t good and wasn’t liked by his teammates, and then blew the draft picks he got back for him.

However his other Benson related move might be his worst.  Jerry Angelo never should have drafted him in the first place.  Entering the 2005 draft the Bears, as they did for my entire life until they traded for Cutler, needed a quarterback.  They had the 4th pick in the draft and had a pretty good running back in Thomas Jones.  They had limped to a 5-11 record literally after injuries to Brian Urlacher and starting quarterback Rex Grossman.  Look, to this point Grossman had been injured so much we didn’t know what we had in him, but when your guy is an injury risk like that, maybe you need to start looking for someone else.

Alex Smith went to the 49ers first overall, so you probably think the 2005 draft was QB weak, and for the most part it was.  Look it up on Wikipedia though and scroll to number 20.  Yes, that would be Aaron Rodgers going to Green Bay.  The same Aaron Rodgers who is (arguably) the best QB in the league right now.  The Bears could have had him.  I love Jay Cutler, but I mean c’mon.

Bottom line is that Jerry Angelo demonstrated a spectacular inability to evaluate talent in the draft.  You simply can’t miss in the first two rounds as often as he did and that’s why he had to go.

Seriously.  Cedric Benson sucked.

So the NFL regular season is in the books and I’d love to give you a complete and detailed break down of each team that’s in the playoffs, but I really can’t.  Truthfully it was a busy, busy last few months so I haven’t seen nearly as much football as I normally would have.  What I do know is this:

1. The Packers are still the favorite.  They can’t really stop anyone defensively, but they couldn’t last year either and it didn’t matter.  That offense is just flat out scary.  They’ll force you to go point for point with them and you can’t.  I’m hoping for the Green Bay – New Orleans NFC title game because they could put 120 combined points on the board in the first half.

2. The playoff seeding is ridiculous.  Denver went 8-8 and is HOSTING Pittsburgh who went 12-4.  That’s right, Denver is the higher seed because they fell ass backwards in to winning their division.  Ridiculous.  Related Denver note: I might do my “Why Tim Tebow is a bad quarterback post” at some point, but I’m not going to tell you anything you haven’t already heard.

So that’s about all I got for the overall playoffs.  Looking forward to next season, here is what I’m intrigued by:

1.  The Rams.  Seriously.  They just fired their GM and head coach – and someone please hire Steve Spagnolo.  I think he’s got a chance to be a really great coach, but he didn’t have the same advantages in personnel that Jim Schwartz in Detroit had.  The Rams have me intrigued because they’ll have the #2 pick in the draft.  Who do they take?  Are they still sold on Sam Bradford or do they take Heisman winner RG3 and try to trade Sam?  Interesting stuff there I think.

2. Peyton Manning.  I contend there is absolutely NO reason for him to come back.  He’s got a ring, he’s a guaranteed first ballot hall of famer, he’s got his money.  Why come back?  Remember he had THREE surgeries on his neck in roughly 16 months.  We’re talking about your future here Peyton.  If he comes back, he’s literally risking paralysis.  I don’t think it’s worth it.

3. The Jets.  They’ve already promised big changes offensively and Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer is almost definitely going to be fired.  I think it’s justified, but I have to wonder when they’re going to realize that Mark Sanchez is part of the problem.  He’s just not a great quarterback and certainly wasn’t worth the 5th pick in the draft in my opinion.  Remember, prior to the draft Sanchez went from being projected as second round pick to suddenly being a guy that could challenge Mathew Stafford for the #1 pick.  Um…what?  I saw him play in college and thought “decent but not great.”  He’s Kyle Orton in my mind.  Solid player, but not a great arm.  What changed?  I guess he blew people away in draft combine interviews – and that’s great – but to be the 5th overall pick I think you have to blow people away with your skill.  Call me crazy.

Finally what will my Bears do?  I have thoughts.

First and foremost Jerry Angelo has to go.  He’s needed to go for a while, but I’m serious now.  Get rid of him.  He continues to miss on scouting and draft picks, he continues to sell us the bill of goods that the Bears are right there when frankly, they aren’t.  Yes, they hosted the NFC title game last year and won 5 straight this year, but look what happened when Jay Cutler went down?  The Bears totally collapsed because it turns out that Cutler is so good he can cover up a lot of the weaknesses on offense.

Side note: everyone that argued with me that Cutler is not a good quarterback, an argument based almost entirely on him “not smiling” I say suck it.  7-3 with him, 1-5 without him.   So to Mr. Angelo – since he almost definitely won’t get fired – here’s how you fix this team.

1.  Safeties.  You play Green Bay and Detroit twice per year.  Four games against the best offense in the league and the best wide receiver in the game.  You better be able to stop them.  The safety play was okay, it wasn’t great.  Chris Conte looked better than Major Wright in my opinion, but I’m not sure either is the long term answer.  You need a corner too.  Tim Jennings was solid, but I don’t like a guy who stands 5’8″ matching up on receivers that go over 6’0″ every Sunday.

2. O-line.  Project Cutler’s numbers out for 16 games and he ends up getting sacked about 37 times.  A marked improvement over previous years no doubt, but since that would mean that since joining the Bears in 2009 he would have been sacked 124 times.  That’s too many times for your quarterback to be on the ground.  In that same time frame Drew Brees was sacked 69 times.  Seriously, protect your quarterback.

3. Wide Receiver.  The top receiver for the Bears was Johnny Knox with 37 catches for 727 yards and 2 TD’s.  Two.  Touchdowns.  Also his season ended on 12/18 and still no other receiver was close to his numbers.  Roy Williams, whom we all agree was a waste of money, finished second with 37 catches for 502 and another whopping two whole touchdowns.  You just paid Earl Bennett a bunch of money and I’m not sure he’s better than a number 2 wide receiver, but Jay likes him and they have good chemistry, so fine, but get a legit number one receiver.  Go look what Cutler was able to do when he had Brandon Marshall in Denver.  Marshall’s a free agent by the way.

4. Pay Matt Forte.  There’s no reason not to.  Look, I get it.  Running backs take a pounding and wear down quick, but what more did he have to do this year to warrant getting paid?  Extend him.  Get it done.

5.  Tight End.  Look around and see how many big tight ends made a difference this year.  There’s one in your own division in Green Bay.  Remember when you had a big, athletic tight end and then traded him?  Yeah that was an oops.  Fix it.

6. Depth at linebacker.  Urlacher and Briggs are still great, but they won’t play forever.  Get their heir apparents in now.

Ironically all those issues were the same issues that needed to be addressed last year too.  And the year before that.

Yep, Jerry Angelo definitely should still be employed.

Important note: I have not seen ‘Thor’ (really wanted to but just couldn’t get to the theater before it left), ‘X-Men First Class’ (same reasoning as ‘Thor’), nor ‘Green Lantern’ (I fear it’s terrible and the reviews didn’t ease my fears).  So understanding that the list could change again after I see those movies, here’s the updated version:

1. The Dark Knight — Here’s what I wrote in the original post:

Extremely good, especially the way they handled the Joker. Brilliant cast, great writing, but like I said, there’s just something about it that holds me back from naming it better than it’s predecessor. I might change my tune after a few months go by and the DVD comes out. We’ll see.

Change my tune indeed.  I honestly don’t know what I thought was wrong with the movie the first time.  I love this movie.  The more I watch it, the more I’m blown away by Heath Ledger.  He was just so good in it.  Yes, I hate the Rachel Dawes character, and am thrilled *SPOILER ALERT* that they killed her in the movie, but was that character which got a huge upgrade in acting from Maggie Gyllenhaal enough to hold the movie back?  Absolutely not.  Great movie and I can’t wait for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ which I think will be every bit as good if for no other reason than Anne Hathaway in tight leather.

2. Batman Begins — I can’t really drop more than spots than this because if you go back and read what I wrote, it still holds true.  Great movie that nails the characters.

3. Iron Man — I can’t downgrade this one either.  I think the more I watch it the more I enjoy it.  Robert Downey, Jr. was born to play Tony Stark.

4. Here is where I started to debate things.  I really went back and forth on this spot, but I decided to go with:

Captain America: The First Avenger

Putting aside the fact they had to work “Avenger” in to the title because there might be someone somehow not aware they’re making an Avengers movie, I really, really liked this movie.  Maybe it rates this high because it’s the most fresh in my mind, but it was really good.  I was very concerned going in about Chris Evans, but he knocked it out of the park.  The CG looks good, the story is great, Tommy Lee Jones brought his A+++ game, and if Hayley Atwell doesn’t end up a break out star after this, then I hate Hollywood.  Hugo Weaving could not have been more perfect as the Red Skull.  There are some awesome little winks to fans (which I’m a sucker for), and they do a nice job of working Thor and Iron Man references in.  Not an easy task when the movie is set in the 1940′s.  Stanley Tucci: awesome.  The guy that played Bucky: awesome.  I could keep going, but you get it.  Speaking of Buckey and the Skull, yes they made some changes, but I didn’t mind them.  I thought they made sense within the structure of the movie and they weren’t so big that I was outraged.  And I would’ve been if the changes were huge.  I get mad over the Superman costume if I decide it doesn’t look right.  I’m that much of a nerd.

5. Superman The Movie — We’re talking the original here.  Christopher Reeve, to me, is Superman.  I thought Brandon Routh got an unfair shake with a really bad script in Superman Returns, but I don’t think he would’ve passed Mr. Reeve up as the best Superman on film.  Yes it’s old, and some of the fashion is funny to see now, and Lois smokes which would never happen these days, but you know what?  Go back and watch it again.  You get some really solid, fun moments of him just being super.  Still mad they didn’t write Luthor correctly though and wasted what could have been an awesome Gene Hackman performance.  Oh well.

6. X-Men 1 &2 — In my original post I said I couldn’t decide between the 3 so I put them in order of 1, 2, 3 for numbers 6, 7, and 8 on the list.  At the time I had no problem doing that but really, that was a cop out.  I’ll combine 1 & 2 on the list because to me, they really are the same in terms of enjoyment/entertainment.  1 sets up the characters and 2 follows on some story lines, primarily Wolverine which I’m fine with.  Excellent casting, good writing, special effects look good, so no complaints here.

7. Iron Man 2 —  Here’s why it shows up this low: it’s fun, no doubt, but I could’ve used more Mickey Rourke as Whiplash.  Because there isn’t a ton of him, I feel there isn’t a ton of drama.  They played up the “Tony is dying from poisoning due to the arc reactor in his chest” angle too much.  At this point, we knew there would be an Iron Man 3 and The Avengers so we knew Tony wasn’t going to die.  No drama there.  I loved Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, Gary Shandling, and Don Cheadle, but aside from Sam Rockwell, there wasn’t enough of them.  I get Shandling’s character was a cameo for the most part, but Cheadle felt like he was barely in the movie.  I take points off for that.

8. Batman — from 1989 and it feels like it’s from 1989.  I saw it again on TV the other day and it didn’t hold up as well as I thought.  I love Jack as The Joker, and Keaton was a solid Batman, but he didn’t quite get the voice down, so it becomes pretty hard to believe that Vicki Vale couldn’t figure out that was Bruce Wayne talking.  Also, what’s with Alfred letting her in to the Bat Cave???  The gadgets were a lot of fun though, and I never get tired of Jack saying Batman’s at home washing his tights.

9. The Incredible Hulk — when I wrote the original list I pointed out I hadn’t seen this because the first Hulk movie was pretty bad in my opinion.  This one surprised me.  I think the casting is great, the inclusion of the Abomination and the set up of the Leader were fun, and working in Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno as well as the piano music from the TV show was great.  By the way, did you catch that the serum they give Tim Roth to make him a super soldier is the same stuff they gave Steve Rogers to make him Captain America?  True story.

10.  X-Men The Last Stand — I know a lot of people would complain about that, but I enjoyed the movie.  I was stunned at some of the deaths, and while I feel they under used Colossus (one of my favorite X-Men), Kelsey Grammer as Beast helps make up for it.  Yes, they botched Juggernaut a bit, but the “I’m the Juggernaut Bitch!” line still cracks me up.

I’m positive that had I seen X-Men First Class, or Thor this list would look different, but this is the world in which I live.  I’m guessing those two knock X3 and Hulk or Batman off the list.  If you read the original post, you saw I listed Watchmen as a potential list changer.  At the time it certainly had that potential, but after seeing it, it doesn’t make my top 10.  I liked it fine, and actually like their ending more than the comic book ending, but I wasn’t sucked in to it.  The Incredible Hulk for example sucked me in enough to get me to watch it on TV complete with commercial breaks.  I’m not sure Watchmen does that for me.

Potential list changers this time around: Dark Knight Rises (I can all but guarantee it makes the list), Avengers, Thor, X-Men First Class, The Amazing Spider-Man.  I’m way excited for the Spidey reboot, so if you were placing bets…actually I would bet on all of those making the list by the end of 2012.

What a wonderful time to be a nerd.

Okay, so if you missed it (and you may have as this didn’t become a huge story), Dr. Laura (host of a nationally syndicated radio show) announced she will retire from her show later this year when her contract expires.  This came closely on the heels of her getting in a bit of trouble for dropping the N-bomb (or N-word if you prefer) repeatedly on her show.

Quick set up if you don’t know the whole story: a caller asked a question having to do with the word, Dr. Laura said it, caller said she probably shouldn’t have, Dr. Laura said to the caller “don’t NAACP me” and then dropped the N-bomb several more times.

Stupid.

So Dr. Laura then issues a pretty weak apology and tells Larry King she’s retiring because she wants her first amendment rights back.  If Dr. Laura wants to retire, far be it from me to tell her not to.  But that’s complete bull.  I’ve been in radio for over ten years and never once in that time has anyone ever come anywhere close to violating my first amendment rights.  There are only seven words you can’t say (find them here but note, they’re dirty…I’m told anyways).  Except now, maybe we can say those because the Supreme Court told the FCC that not allowing us to say those words violates our freedom of speech.  So maybe I have had my rights violated.  But that’s not the point.

If Dr. Laura’s rights were being threatened or trampled, she would have been fired or at the very least suspended.  Neither happened.  In fact, neither was even suggested by her employer.  Pundits suggested it, but never was Dr. Laura’s job in any real danger.  She didn’t even lose an affiliate!  What this really boils down to is that she stirred up a storm and decided to use it as an excuse to walk.  Maybe she has other plans (I’m calling it now, she pops up on FOX News), or maybe she’s just tired of doing the show and doesn’t need the money anymore.  Either way though, her rights are not being violated.  By telling the rest of us that we’re oppressing her, she is actually trying to take away our rights.  See, just like she is allowed to speak her mind freely, although hate speech is not protected by the first amendment and that very much is hate speech, I have the right to speak my mind as well.  So Dr. Laura, you are f-ing stupid.  You never should have thought you could say that word on a nationally syndicated show and expect nothing to happen.  You offended people and you don’t get to say you have a right to speak and they don’t because they’re mad at you.  If you believe any of that then seriously, you’re dumb.  I’m sure you did it on purpose, after all I guarantee you have a dump button that would have allowed you to make sure that didn’t make the air, but you didn’t use it.  I don’t  know what your end game is, and I don’t care.  You lost your relevancy over a decade ago, as evidenced by the lack of real attention.  I mean Don Imus got WAY more coverage than you did.  So good riddance, but please, do us one last favor.  Don’t “crusade to protect our rights” or any of that crap, just enjoy the obscurity you’ve already been living in.

Oh you want to know what I decided?  No, of course you don’t.  Too bad, I’m telling you anyways.  I decided that I’m going to really work at writing regularly.  We’ll see how long it lasts.  Over/under is currently 2 weeks.  I’d take the under if I were you.

So let’s get to it.  Biggest story of the summer: The LeBacle (hands down my favorite name for the insanity that surrounded LeBron this summer).  Quick story: I used to LOVE basketball.  I’m a Bulls fan and I grew up in the 90′s otherwise known as the Jordan/Pippen Era.  It was a magical time.  I watched two hall of famers get coached by one of the best coaches ever in Phil Jackson (some would argue THE best).  Then, they left the Bulls and the league seemed to fall apart.  I’m not totally sure why.  I guess these things are just cyclical.  Anyways I gravitated to college ball as it was just a better product.  Maybe because the top high schoolers jumped straight to the pros and that forced the colleges to build stronger teams instead of just relying on a stud or two.  Then LeBron happened.  Suddenly this likable kid who just might be the real deal was on his way to the league.  He would save it.  Being one of the most ardent defenders of Jordan’s legacy, I refused to allow anyone to be mentioned in the same breath as him…until LeBron.  I believed.

Flash forward to 2010.  LeBron’s antics were starting to wear thin on me (the pregame stuff, acting like a general fool on the bench), but I let it go because hey, he’s 25.  He’s a kid.  He doesn’t really have any structure around him because Mike Brown isn’t about to stand up to his only star.  I could justify it.  When LeBron’s impending free agency was upon us, I thought he would either stay in Cleveland or go to Chicago.  That’s it.  Those were the only options.  The case for each was pretty simple:

Cleveland: stay at home with the franchise that you saved and finish what you started.  LeBron had all the leverage.  He could get whatever coach he wanted, whatever GM he wanted, and if he agreed to take less money they probably could’ve landed some crop along the lines of David Lee/Ray Allen/Kyle Korver/Ronnie Brewer/J.J. Redick and maybe Carlos Boozer.  Probably not Bosh because he made it pretty clear he was going to be Dwayne Wade’s lapdog.  Now, I admit that Lee/Allen/Korver/Brewer/Redick doesn’t make a championship automatic, but combine them with some of the pieces they already have (Hickson, Mo Williams, Varejao) and you’ve got something.  Especially with Boston making their way over the hill and Orlando lacking the ability to take that next step to elite status.

Chicago:  Easy choice if you want to win immediately.  Add LeBron to a team with Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, and Luol Deng?  Yeah, game over.  I mean, what else do you want me to say here?

Now, I don’t think anyone would have blamed LeBron for leaving Cleveland.  He killed himself the year they went to the Finals and promptly got handled by San Antonio because a good team will beat one great player every time.  Ask Michael Jordan about the Pistons before Scottie got there.  But the way LeBron left?  Pathetic.

You get ESPN to give you an uninterrupted hour of prime time and you use it to rip the heart out of your home?  Shame on you LeBron.  And shame on ESPN for facilitating it.  I was disappointed in his immaturity.  I was disappointed that he took the easy way out by going to Miami with Wade and Bosh.  I was really disappointed that he didn’t seem to care at all about what he just did.  He talked in the third person and he never really showed regret.

The backlash began.  Sport Illustrated ran a great piece that I thought accurately and fairly destroyed LeBron, Bosh, and Wade.  If I could find it, I would link to it.  Talk radio, blogs, even ESPN made fun of the “I’m taking my talents to South Beach” line.  One show I heard very astutely pointed out that the first photo would be telling.  Photo positioning is a big deal.  Your eyes will naturally go to the center and work out, so photographers will put the most important part of the picture in the center (hence: center of attention).  They thought that there would be three versions with each player in the middle, and maybe those other versions exist, but this is what SI ran…

Interesting...(Photographed by: Gregory Heisler / SI)

Quick side note: if you can find it online, read that piece by Ian Thomsen.  It is excellent.

Like I said, the middle is what matters and it’s Wade.  But note how small LeBron looks.  Where is his trademark ear-to-ear grin?  I think this picture is the beginning of LeBron realizes he may have messed up.  No matter what Wade will have one more ring than LeBron.  No matter what, LeBron ran to Wade’s team because he couldn’t handle being the man.  That will forever be his legacy.  Win a title in Cleveland, you enter the air with Michael, Magic, Bird, and Kobe.  But I guess that doesn’t matter to him.  And Lebron?  We don’t care how many tweets you send out telling us you’re taking mental notes about every single person who takes a shot at you.  An adult lives with the consequences of their decisions.  You want to be the man?  Act like one first.

So sad.

I’m clueless.

Now don’t get me wrong, I watch a lot of college basketball.  Probably more this year than usual since I usually watch whatever game is on ESPN while I’m on the treadmill at the gym.  All that viewing leads me to believe that there are at least 8 teams who could legitimately win the title.  Truthfully there’s probably more.  I would consider Georgetown or Villanova winning it all to be only a mild surprise.  Same for Pitt, Baylor, and Kansas St.  Ohio St., Kansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Syracuse, and Duke are the really serious contenders for the title.  So, since everyone else is doing it, here’s my advice for your picks:

There’s ALWAYS a 5/12 upset in the first round.  I think there’s two this year.  UTEP over Butler and Cornell over Temple.  Butler historically doesn’t perform well as a 5 seed.  I think that’s an unfortunate side effect from being far and away the best team in their league.  They can coast through conference play every year and I think it leaves them a bit unprepared for the challenge you get in the tournament.  Not really their fault, it just is what it is.  Plus, I think UTEP’s a solid team that can win some games in the tourney.  Same for Cornell.  Solid, solid team.

NEVER trust the Big 10 unless the team is hands down the best team (see: Michigan State, 2000 and Illinois 2005).  My advice as a guy who watches a lot of Big 10 basketball is don’t take anyone other than OSU past the 2nd round.  I’m serious.  I think the Big 10 was the 2nd best league behind the Big East this year, but Ohio State was the ONLY team I saw that didn’t lay a complete stinker all year.  You catch Wisconsin, MSU, and Purdue on the right (or wrong depending on your rooting interests) and it’s over.  I like Siena over Purdue by the way.  I didn’t think losing Robbie Hummel would hurt them THAT much until Minnesota schlacked them.

Don’t put all four #1′s in the Final Four.  I think it’s only happened once.  Find a 2 and a 3 you like a lot and ride them.

Trust your gut.  Every year I over think and that’s where things fall apart on me.  This year, I’m just trusting my gut.  And my gut tells me this:

FINAL FOUR: Kansas, Syracuse, West Virginia, Baylor

TITLE GAME: Kansas/West Virginia

CHAMPION: Kansas

As I tried to figure out who I like, I just kept coming back to Kansas.  You can make excellent arguments for any of the teams I listed above, as well as a few others.  I get that.  But like I said, trust your gut and mine said go with the team that was never ranked lower than 3, that won’t be affected by the pressure of being the #1 overall seed and favorite to win it all, and a coach who has been there before.  I like Kentucky, but I think their youth will trip them up.  I like Syracuse, but if Onuaku isn’t healthy, they’re in trouble.  I like Duke, but I don’t think they have the talent to win it all.  I like West Virginia, but I think they’re a little nuts and that’s not good.  I like OSU, but they only play 6 or 7 guys so if they’re in foul trouble, they’re in flat out trouble.

Kansas just makes sense to me, so there you go.

As always, I will hope for the impossible of dream of going 32/32 in the opening rounds.  If the trend from the last few years holds, I’ll get 30 or 31, then lose it all in the second round.  In other words, sorry Kansas fans, I just ruined your season.

West Virginia should’ve been a #1.

The Gouchos might be my new favorite team.  Great name.

The 3 seed seems high for Georgetown.  They were incredibly inconsistent so a 4 feels better to me.

Already some excellent first round match ups with UNLV, Maryland, and basically all the 8/9 games.  First round will be fun.

Why do the smaller teams like Ohio and Murray St. freak out when their name is revealed when they already had the auto-bid locked up?  This never makes sense to me.

A 10 seed is way too high Florida when they were supposed to be on the bubble.  Not sure they should be in, but whatever.

With both Florida and Minnesota in, I have to believe my Illini are out.  Crap.  Stupid UTEP losing to Houston.

Quick thought during the break: The #1 I’m almost positive won’t reach the Final Four: Syracuse.

How is Texas an 8?  Didn’t the committee watch them collapse like the rest of us did?

If I don’t see Ed Helms in character as the Nard Dog at the Cornell-Temple game, my world will be shattered.

A 4 seems a bit high for Wisconsin.  Good team, but I had them no higher than a 5.  Then again, I hate them so, you know, I downgraded.

I agree with Greg Anthony.  Morgan St.: you are toast.  Sorry.

I’m a bit stunned that the ACC has 5 teams in.

After seeing Steve Alford and New Mexico get the 3 seed, the entire state of Iowa stabbed themselves with pitchforks.

After seeing the bracket, I would now say that the second #1 who won’t make the Final Four: Kentucky.  Brutal road to get there.

That’s how you want your team to react on national TV.  You stay classy Washington.  (Note: sarcasm)

I’ve never understood why the #1 overall doesn’t automatically get the winner of the play-in game.

Wow, 6 teams out of the Big East already.  Sorry Notre Dame, I don’t think they’ll take 7.

Ouch for Purdue.  That match up with Siena will be tough.

What’s a Gael?  Can someone from St. Mary’s answer that for me?

Whoa, Baylor is a 3???  They’re good, but I’m not sure they’re that good.

Ok, guess they will take 7 from the Big East.  Notre Dame goes from on the bubble to a 6 seed.  Yeah, that makes sense.  I guess the NCAA selection committee decided to make up for the Charlie Weiss years.

I rarely agree with Seth Davis, but he’s right about the surprising love for the Pac-10.

Again, how does this make sense?  The last 6 teams in are no lower than 12 seeds.  If you’re one of the last teams in you have to be in the teens I think.  What does it hurt to put a smaller school that clinched an auto-bid as a higher seed for doing the work they needed to do?

Thanks Greg Anthony for putting the “s” on the end of Illinois.

Overall, no complaints about who got in and who didn’t.  I agree with the studio guys that Illinois and Virginia Tech both probably deserve it, but you can’t make a lot of noise about a screw job with both teams because ultimately they didn’t do what they needed to.  I think VT got hurt a bit by a bad year for the ACC, but that’s just me.  Then again, I think the ACC got like 4 or 5 in, so it wasn’t that down.

I don’t get the seeding personally.  I think that prior to the conference tourneys they had already decided the #1′s which is dumb.

Ok, hold on, the guy that’s the head of the selection committee while explaining the process for picking the #1′s just said “we put West Virginia in the discussion…but we looked at the entire body of work and Duke finished really strong.”  Um…ok.

I love when Greg Anthony gets a hold of the head of the selection committee because he doesn’t pull punches and he just went right after him on the #1′s.  Get him Greg.

Apparently if you’re within 5 feet of Clark Kelogg you are required to say “indicated” and “peel back the onion” at least as many times as he does.

Once again, after Seth asks about VT, Illinois, and Mississippi St. the guy says that it’s the whole body of work, but the sites the end of the season and conference tournaments.  This guy has got be getting ready to run for Congress.

Don’t like Seth Davis, but glad he called out the committee chairman for double talking about whole body of work and then putting emphasis on the end of the year.

I hate “One Shining Moment”.  Seriously.  Hate it.  Pick a new song.  It’s awful.

I’ll do picks later after I get a hard copy of the bracket, but this should be fun.  I don’t agree with Seth and Greg of taking the 1′s and 2′s to the Elite 8.  Someone will get knocked off.  Consider that a tease I guess.

1. Every winter games it never ceases to amaze me: the Curling Phenomenon. We become flippin’ obsessed with this thing. It’s all people talk about. We make fun of it, but be honest, you were like me and couldn’t stop watching it. I think I know why. First, it’s weird. Curling is some weird, on ice version of shuffleboard (which is another game I don’t understand). Because we don’t fully understand it, but it’s new and different, we watch. I have no clue how Curling works, but you better believe I watch that shit! I’m stunned Versus hasn’t picked up the World Curling Championships yet (you KNOW that exists). Second, I think we watch it because of this reason:
At one point during the USA vs. China match (in which we apparently got slaughtered but I don’t know how or why) the woman doing color commentary said that the U.S. needs to develop more elite curlers. I immediately said: “I bet I could be an elite curler…like tomorrow.” I think that’s why we watch. We feel like we’d be really good at it…unlike every other sport where, if you’re like me, you tried and failed (not bitter at all by the way).

2. That was some of the best hockey I have ever watched in my life. Holy hell. I’m not just talking the super awesome USA vs. Canada games, but the tournament as a whole was great. Hope you enjoyed it though as the NHL will most likely not allow their players to play in the 2014 games in Russia (some cold war blow back perhaps?). Seriously though, those two games the US and Canada played were absolutely amazing. Canada was a real life fantasy team…I know this because several of them are indeed on my fantasy team (yeah I have a fantasy hockey team…don’t judge me). Then you had a US team that most experts were calling a dark horse team, but weren’t really getting a lot of serious consideration to medal. The US had the “nobody believe in us!” card, Canada was insanely talented, that makes some fine hockey! Hope they can do it again in 2014, but I doubt it. Also, I hope you enjoyed seeing Alex Ovechkin while you could because everyone thought it would be Russia vs. Canada for the gold and Russia didn’t even medal, so Ovie, bad news bud, the KGB will by soon to take you to the Kremlin.

Russia still does that right? Let’s pretend they do, it’s more fun that way.

Luckily based on the record shattering ratings, most of you saw the hockey game and that’s good. As the great Eddie O. said (I think it was Eddie anyways): “hopefully we got some new hockey fans.”

Other than the Curling and super awesome hockey, I didn’t watch poop from the Olympics. I don’t care about skating, skiing (except Lindsey Vonn…so hot), and that other junk. Maybe it’s just me but I have a hard time getting up for the Olympics in general, but especially the winter games. I think it’s because the summer games are much more accessible for most people. We’ve all played basketball, or at least seen a game, most of us have been in a pool, we’ve all run, etc. How many people do you know that have ski jumped? You see my point I think.

So there you go. That’s all I got on the Olympics, we now return you to the regularly scheduled nonsense about stuff.

Oh Tiger.  Tiger, Tiger, Tiger.  Full disclosure time, I did NOT watch the “press conference” today.  I didn’t see any reason to.  I knew what he would say, and he said exactly that.  Which is to say, he said nothing.  He apologized.  Shocking.  Here’s my problem with it, he controlled the environment.  That just won’t do it.  The way he’ll beat all this is to show that he is actually human.  Cry.  Show fear over the thought of losing your family.  Show remorse.  But DO NOT stand in a room in the PGA headquarters surrounded by hand-picked friends and family members with no reporters and read a prepared statement.  The guys on PTI (whom I love by the way) drank the Kool-Aid.  Wilbon said he was moved and Kornheiser made the claim that we wouldn’t hear any more questions about this ever again.  C’mon guys.

Let’s start with Wilbon.  You’re better than that Mike.  You know as well as I do that this was written by a team of P.R. guys.  You need look no further than the fact that Tiger apologized to his business partners before his own wife and children.  There was nothing moving in the statement.  There was no genuine emotion.  Do I think he’s sorry?  Hell yes.  Do I believe him when he says that he believed he could live by a different set of rules?  Absolutely.  But I still don’t believe he’s human.  He’s the first wave of Terminators.

Oh and Tony?  You KNOW damn good and well he’ll get asked about this again.  You’re smarter than that.

So the obvious question that one would ask is “well smart guy what would you have had him do differently?”  Glad you asked.

1.  Have a REAL press conference.  Face the firing squad.  Answer the tough questions from reporters because you’ll have to eventually.  They wrote their questions down and they’ll ask them at the first tournament you play in because all golfers are required to talk to the media then.  Oh they’ll ask, and Tiger if you do your best Mark McGwire impression and tell them you don’t want to talk about the past, they’ll eat you alive.  Get in front of it now.  Own up to your mistakes like a man and show us that you’re really trying to be better.  Think of what Kobe did.  He sat there with his head down and answered every question.  It paid off in the long run for him.  There’s nothing wrong with sitting there and saying “I’m an idiot.  I deserve every joke, every insult.  I’ll do whatever it takes to make this better, but yes, I’m human and I’m a dumbass.”

2.  Admit your faults.  Don’t simply say you were wrong, explain why you did what you did.  This is where I always thought Kobe messed up.  Remember that Kobe Bryant took Brandy (who at the time was still REALLY famous) to his prom because he had just been drafted.  From that moment on, the world belong to Kobe.  Same for Tiger.  He began getting ESPN attention in college.  You think co-ed’s didn’t immediately line up for the attractive phenom?  Of course they did.  After he won his first tournament, he could have any woman he wanted, never had to wait in line, etc.  Keep in mind, this all happened before he was 25 (I think).  Wouldn’t that go to your head?  I know it would’ve gone to mine.  We always see it.  Dozens of athletes who are living paycheck to paycheck because they can’t handle having money.  Celebrities with major drug problems.  Jay Leno’s car collection.  For Tiger it was women.  Probably would’ve been the same for me.  I’m not saying playing the “too much, too soon” card fixes everything, but it does actually explain a lot.

3.  Change the format of the speech.  Now I realize he didn’t write it, but that’s kind of my whole point.  Whoever set all this up, whoever his team is, are morons.  The speech should have had apologies to his wife, children, and fans – in that order – first thing and last thing.  They’re the most important, not your sponsors, not your business partners.  After his family and fans, he should’ve (and he did do this, but it got buried) apologized for the harm he caused his charity.  He needed to apologize to his deceased father, the man who made sure we knew who Tiger was before he won his first tournament.  The man who Tiger had such a special relationship with.  He needed to do that.  He needed to show how hurt he was by Earl’s death.  It’s totally plausible, and frankly I think this is part of it, that he lost his way when Earl died.

So, ok, he botched the first step, but it’s not completely out of reach yet.  Admitting he’s going to continue therapy and find his center again with Buddhism were excellent admissions, and he absolutely should do that.  His next step needs to be working on his family.  I don’t know if Elin will stay, in fact I doubt she will, but Tiger has to let her make that decision on her own.  Don’t try to pressure her, just let her think her way through it on her own.  If he tries to pressure, as there have been reports he is, it makes him look like a control freak.  And coming off that joke of a press conference, he can’t afford that right now.  But do your work Tiger.  Saying you’ll play golf again, but you don’t know when, was excellent.  Stick to that.  Give it time, let the healing process work, and when you’re ready in 3 months or so, go on Oprah.  If (and that’s a HUGE if) she asks you the tough questions, answer as best you can.  Don’t give cliche answers, don’t give rehearsed statements.  Answer honestly even if the answer is “I don’t know.”  After that, play.  Actually, don’t just play.  Win.  Dominate.  Be Tiger again.  The best thing that happened to Kobe was him not getting traded after he publicly demanded one.  Remember, at that time, he was almost the lost superstar.  Brilliant on the court, but a total ass off of it.  He was despised outside of L.A.  But then the Lakers got smart and built a team around him, got the great Phil Jackson back, and won another title.  Suddenly Kobe was the great teammate because winning fixes everything.  He knew that by being back on the big stage, if he said and did the right things he would win the public back.  Even if it was all an act, which I think it is, it didn’t matter.  He did it right and Nike came back.  His jersey went back to the top of the best sellers list.  You see my point.  But Tiger, learn from that.  You’re all alone on a golf course so you can’t blame anyone if you don’t win.  You can’t really embrace the bad guy image.  Instead, put your head down and be brilliant again.

Oh, and fire your current P.R. team and hire me.  I’ll take 15%.