2010 -- Ten Losers --- Ring 'em out with the old or ring their necks -- the less seen of them in 2011 would be a blessing!!!!

2010 Losers, Liars, Loafers, Loud-mouths…


2010 was a bumper crop year for idiots, lowlifes, liar, loud-mouths, losers, and generally maladjusted individuals to make their mark. While surely Barack Obama could top the list just has he has since his emergence in the public eye – what can we say about O-blunder that we haven’t said already. Whether it was publicly dressing down John McCain during a White House meeting on the economy, the countless sorties around the globe he and his Mrs. embarked upon, his failure to take seriously the day-to-day administrative roll of government demonstrating the incompetence borne of inexperience, his constant whining and finger pointing and lightly veiled efforts to push the republic ever closer to European style socialism, ol’ O-blunder deserves some kind of lifetime achievement award in the sphere of hateful politics.

Nancy Pelosi
Close behind Obama’s performance and surely one of the most despicable figures in recent American history would be Queen Nancy. Good old Nancy Pelosi, we needn’t list her many crimes here. We do allow ourselves a little schadenfreude that she will now be flying commercial stripped of the elegant military transport she demanded upon ascent to her Queen Bitch position. She best summed up the kind of arrogant idiot she is when addressing a supportive audience of special interest lackeys concerning Obama-care when she stated: “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy….”

Sarah Palin
As if the previous two years weren’t long enough for Sarah Palin to wear out her welcome, her self-serving publicity gag about Momma Grizzlies is enough to elicit vomiting. Attempting to seize the Tea Party movement as the “Elect Palin in 2012” mob, her involvement in the mid-term elections turned something very good into great possibilities squandered. Her personal vendetta against the Murkowski family in Alaska saw Joe Miller defeat Murkowski in the primaries then to lose to her in the general election through write-in ballots. Nevada was well on its way to ridding itself of Harry the horrible with a strong field of challengers. Palin supported Sharon Angle, a nice lady but someone so hopelessly confused, she just wasn’t cut out to be a senator, thus, Harry Reid remains. The Republicans even had a rare chance to gain a Senate seat in Delaware filling what had been Joe Biden’s seat. Their incumbent congressman was poised to slaughter the democratic opposition. Enter Christine O’Donnell, a world class dip shit who many would see as Sarah Palin’s version of mini-me. Another Senate seat remained with the Democrats. Palin has unprecedented media access with Fox News who finds a spot or more for her just about every evening. How nauseating it is to hear a grown-up crying about the naughty boy sitting next to her trying to poke her eye out Her name calling, blame-storming and whining far exceed anything she has going for her. She dare not articulate policies as what little she says about US History or the Constitution wouldn’t reach a middle school level of achievement.


Brett Favre
Brett Favre should have known the party was over when the Vikings lost to the Saints in the NFC championship. That he was staying at his Deep South digs while the rest of the NFL players reported to camp and had to be coaxed into joining the Vikings when a cadre of team mates flew to Mississippi to bring him up north clearly indicated it was time to hang it up. From the very beginning his performance on the field was a disaster then came the charges of hanky-panks with a female member of the New York Jets from two seasons earlier. Finally, his Iron Man streak was over. He was no longer the Huck Finn lovable eternal boy wonder. He was a tired old fart over the hill.

Glenn Beck
Outside a handful of HNN viewers and hardcore devotees to right wing radio, Glenn Beck was a mere nobody two years ago. Like a sickly pestilence, his presence has oozed its way into the conservative voice and if rational folk with traditional values don’t start ostracizing this charlatan the credibility of American conservatism could take a severe hit. The man is a fraud, a fear monger, and a raving demagogue. Beneath the showmanship and wild raves, there is little credible substance but plenty which we find distorted, overstated and misrepresented.

Nothing could demonstrate how dangerous Glenn Beck is than the huge rally he hosted in Washington DC on August 28, 2010 at the Lincoln Memorial, the anniversary of the Martin Luther King “I Have a Dream” speech held on that spot 47 years earlier. To stage a rally dedicated to the whitest of white people couldn’t be a symbolic slap in the face to all who were engaged, liberated, or supportive of the civil rights struggle of that time.

While Beck speaks of the value of learning history and the Constitution, he is a master of neither showing an uncanny ability to selectively take things out of context weaving a quasi-religion that is fundamentalist Christianity at heart but where the disciples and lesser deities are the American founding fathers whose lives were so pure, their wisdom so brilliant, today’s society should stand in awe-struck unquestioning reverence of their contributions. Those who align themselves with those values, “traditional American” values are the good guys. Beck attempts to demonstrate how the world and the United States in particular are speeding like an out of control train toward inevitable destruction lead by a monolithic progressive movement which has been in the driver’s seat in America since Teddy Roosevelt paved the way and Woodrow Wilson got it moving full speed ahead. There are the outwardly obvious “progressives” who are not so thinly veiled communists and socialists such as Barrack Obama and major media and government sources, but there are creepy people he believes the public doesn’t know about such as billionaire financier George Soros who he describes as the puppet master.

Beck screams, cries, and pleads that his followers make a decision – there are but two choices, the traditionalists versus the progressives. History is rapidly moving to an apocalyptic showdown where one side or another will reign supreme after our culture is ravaged by economic collapse, moral decay, and other bad things promoted by progressives.

In preparing for the judgment day, Beck even goes as far as suggesting that his followers horde food and invest every spare dime they have in gold (gold sellers sponsor his show) so they will emerge secure when the rest of the world collapses.

Beck’s gift for extreme overstatement, misrepresentation, and all out pure emotionalism make him a most dangerous fellow attracting the fearful and anti-intellectuals who feel at odds with today’s political picture.

Alan Grayson
Thankfully, Alan Grayson will have a hard time making the list for 2011 since the Florida voters in the Orlando area had enough of his foolishness and voted him out.

Grayson shocked the country with the extreme anger and malicious mischaracterizations of his opponents. First, he did a poster board talk on the floor of the house where successive posters accompanying his narration indicated the Republican health plan were as follows: Don’t get sick. If you get sick, the Republicans want you to die.

In his campaign against Republican Daniel Webster, he ran a campaign ad taking clippings from a completely unrelated Webster speech attempting to establish Webster’s devote Christian faith to being akin to the Taliban that created a message that was in complete opposition to what Webster’s original speech had been about using the phrase, “submit to me” to characterize Webster’s attitude toward women. If there were ever a more mean spirited political ad, it would be hard to imagine what that ad would look like.

Julian Assange
The principle of WikeLeaks appointed himself as a one man arbiter of world order seeking to attempt to undermine American influence by releasing a series of classified government and military documents with threats to do the same for major US corporations including the banking industry. Charged with raping two women in Sweden, this loathsome scumbag has used the Internet as a tool of espionage consistent with the sense of anarchism which infects the radical left and which surfaces in every locale where world leaders gather for G-8 conferences. Interestingly enough, there are at least some connections between Assange and George Soros.

Meanwhile, Assange has become a celebrity of the highest order to some figures in the radical left including Michael Moore. Likewise some extreme right wingers who represent a warped sense of distorted libertarianism embrace his revelations as well.

Hopefully the world justice system will lead him to the United States where he’ll spend the rest of his days in a high security federal prison though Gitmo might be a better setting that Obama would never consider.

PFC Bradley Manning
We’ll soon discover how strict the code of military justice is in the new millennium. Army PFC Bradley Manning assigned to a support battalion with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division then based in Iraq gained access to the government’s Secret Internet Protocol Router Network. He copied the data onto CD or DVD media which he had labeled as a Lady Gaga recording. Working through middlemen, the material was transferred to Assange resulting in massive disclosure.

Perhaps the military should have engaged in more due diligence before assigning Manning to any operation involving intelligence. His biographical details indicate a young man who was defiant, rebellious, confrontational, and willing to defy authority.

Like Assange, Manning is being elevated to celebrity and hero status by the radical left who are attempting to create a furor claiming Manning is being mistreated in custody even imploring the United Nations to investigate. Michael Moore and others are raising money for his defense. Manning is also openly homosexual and has participated in “Gay Pride” events in defiance of the military’s archaic “don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy. For some he is being cast as a victim of an anti-gay military which is of course nonsense given the nature of his crime and that he can hardly be cited as the victim of being framed given the extent to which he has acknowledged his misdoings.

Ultimately, his crimes as a United States soldier constitute treason of the highest order for which he could be executed. Regardless, anything short of full acquittal which is highly unlikely, for the radical left, he will be made into some kind of martyr while rational society will seem him for what he is a treacherous criminal hell bent on damaging national security.

Christine O’Donnell
Just when she was starting to become a fading bad memory, Christine O’Donnell was thrown back in the media spotlight amidst allegations she misused campaign funds in her run for Senator of Delaware.

We can say one thing of Christine O’Donnell. She was not the most unqualified and stupid person to run for Senate in 2010. That award goes to Alvin Greene who ran for the Democrats in South Carolina with zero chance of defeating incumbent, Jim DeMint.

The Republicans had a rare opportunity in Delaware generally a very predictable liberal state. Joe Biden’s long held seat was open. Congressman Michael Castle, well-known state wide having also served as governor, looked like a shoe-in to be Delaware’s next senator, a most important net gain for the Republicans marching toward majority status. Far-left Democrat, Chris Coons, with a reputation for lavish spending and raising taxes, would offer but token opposition. Enter Sarah Palin and her ability to arouse the Tea Party sympathies while perhaps many voters would have seen it plausible Castle could be defeated, and suddenly a person with no meaningful experience and a closet full of personal, financial, and legal issues ripe for revelation, Christine O’Donnell won the state’s Republican Party. Almost immediately, now Coons looked like the shoe-in and O’Donnell the long shot. Perhaps her greatest accomplishment was organizing a political group SALT, “The Savior’s Alliance for Lifting the Truth.” Among topics O’Donnell would select for public speeches were naïve and highly doctrinaire views on human sexuality including sex out of wedlock and masturbation. All the while, her ability to manage her personal responsibilities proved elusive even having been sued for foreclosure and other debts. The IRS initiated a lien on her fiancés to recover $11,000 in unpaid taxes. On top of all that, her stated college credentials were not accurate.

One biographical detail showed where she apparently engaged in some kind of witchcraft ceremony as she revealed on an appearance on Bill Maher’s television show. This provided the ultimate source for all kinds of fun at the hands of political comedians. This led to the ultimate concise statement why Christine O’Donnell simply lacked any kind of political credibility when she appeared in a black dress against a black background for a campaign ad where she stated, “I am not a witch. I’m you.” That line would become the butt of many jokes through the campaign. At her best, she seemed like a shoddy Sarah Palin recreation, little wonder then, that Palin would find her attractive.

That she was defeated having received 40% of the vote that one would have to wonder how many of those votes were for her or were protest votes against the Democratic agenda, it appeared she would disappear from the headlines. Lo and behold, it would only stand to reason someone as inept as she would be likely to screw up using her campaign finances properly and in the closing days of 2010, headlines surfaced she was facing Federal grand jury investigation. Naturally, she claimed she was being setup and that Joe Biden was the instigator. What she fails to realize is she is most likely far too small a flea to be worthy of such.

The one transcendent good O’Donnell offers is that every bit of attention she draws helps demonstrate how unsuited for any roll in national politics Sarah Palin is worthy of. She and her Alaskan mentor are two of a kind to be sure – loud mouthed, naïve, and intellectually vapid.


LeBron James
LeBron James had it all, as one of the NBA’s top talents, he reached supreme stardom for his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, more recently, James indicated Akron was his hometown, and folks from Akron aren’t big fans of the larger Cleveland thinking that Clevelanders look down their nose at the lowly folks from Akron.

After a standout showing as one of the nation’s top high school players, James signed directly into the pros with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003. It took little time for James to rise up as one of the league’s top stars possibly rivaling players like Kobe Bryant as the game’s top talent. Just as quickly as his star rose in the media so did his ability to attract controversy. While worthy of praise for his giving to charity, his lack of cooperation with teammates and others plus blatant self promotion quickly cast him as the poster child of the excessively indulgent overpaid star athlete completely devoid of any humility whatsoever right down to having a huge tattoo reading “Chosen 1.”

At the end of the 2010 season, LeBron James became a free agent and quickly sought to burn all bridges with the Cavaliers string them out while evaluating his options. As the ultimate expression of blind hubris, James announced that ESPN would provide him his own announcement program where he would announce the team for which he would play. To add insult to injury, he did not inform Cleveland of his decision to play for the Miami Heat until just moments before the broadcast.

Working in tandem with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, the threesome negotiated contracts with the Miami Heat to form the power nucleus that was supposed to ensure championships heading to the land of South Beach for years to come. To further the made publicity campaign, James, Wade, and Bosh arranged a huge coming out celebration where they would introduce themselves in a highly choreographed to hip-hop tastelessness show with multiple theatric gimmicks before an adoring crowd of screaming Miami fans.

The reaction in Cleveland, not the most mature sports fans in the nation, was swift and vicious supported by a wrathful open letter from the team’s owner bashing James for his decision. In some media circles the Cleveland fans were portrayed as something more than shunned lovers but as racist bigots infuriated by a young black man setting himself free from the plantation even getting Jesse Jackson involved.

Snooki and the Jersey Shore Gang
If anyone needs evidence that MTV is a sickly cancer eroding the moral fabric of America, we provide Snooki (Nicole Polizzi) and the rest of the ensemble of misfits, social dropouts, and dysfunctional youth elevated to cult hero status by this MTV “reality” program. The program follows these eight cretins horrible misrepresentations in many cases of Americans with Italian pedigree as they engage in their hedonistic, decadent lifestyles including Snooki’s addiction to exposure to ultraviolet rays as if there were some secret agenda to discover just how fast one can develop skin cancer in pursuit of a nauseating overdone tan. While perhaps too young to have a resume of failure akin to Christine O’Donnell this Chilean born, Italian raised train wreck aspires to be a veterinary technician but her greatest accomplishment would appear to be her July 30 arrest for public intoxication.

If pornography is material with absolutely no social redeeming value, “Jersey Shore,” is smut of the highest order. Like so many other MTV phenomenon of the past, we can only hope the ratings plummet only to see what the purveyors of puke will come of with next.

These ten figures by no means represent the complete list of scoundrels. Several others are worthy of attention including Nevada Senator Harry Reid, Washington Redskins coaching father and son combo, Mike and Kyle Shanahan, the ever present dufus face of the Obama administration, Robert Gibbs. Surely, Maryland Governor, Martin O’Malley, with his crass and dishonest reelection campaign for reelection loaded with boldfaced lies about Robert Ehrlich deserves notice. We’d also include wussy deluxe disposed coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Wade Wilson, but his situation involves greater villains than his meager ineptness. We fear that if such a list is composed for 2011, we might have to report on some Republican members of the 111th Congress who might squander the rewards granted by the voters. We went light on the media because while folks like Joy Behar deserve inclusion, where would we stop chronicling a parade of losers?

BETTER LUCK IN 2011 and may our top 10 find the obscurity and ridicule they deserve.





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2010 March Madness: Hoop-de-Doo and Keep an Eye on Miss Betty

March Madness has arrived! The NCAA College Basketball Championship series is one of the most unique and enjoyable events on the sports calendars for it truly is an all-American event from the Pacific Northwest to Florida to New England to Southern California and all the heartland in between, the great colleges and universities and some no one’s ever heard of are playing for the national championship. Three weeks sixty five teams will be reduced to one, the national championship.

Management at work looks the other way and who cares if gambling is a no-no, but everyone from the suits in the corner office to the kid in the mailroom have their brackets filled out, and isn’t it funny how the office sports prognosticators seldom win? Last year it was Betty with the big thick glasses in accounting. The year before that, it was that cute little honey who works for the head of payroll. The year before that, it was that kid from Korea working in I.T. This year, everyone started today dreaming of winning the big price, but the upsets are already underway.

Your humble writer here plays three sheets each year – the well researched, the “play the hunch,” and the wishful thinking. As such, we have Kansas, Duke, and Maryland atop of three separate brackets. How strange it feels not to have picked the North Carolina Tar Heels on any sheet. Last year’s champs are this year’s chumps playing for honor in the lowly NIT tournament. Talk about turnarounds, their participation in the NIT doesn’t even rate the Dean Dome. It’s closed for renovations so the old Carmichael Auditorium once again hosts the men’s team.

Aside from the University of Maryland’s #4 bid, the region is represented by Morgan State representing the MEAC conference. The Georgetown Hoyas look strong as a #3 seed for the Big East. Richmond represents the Atlantic 10 as a #7. Not to far from Crab Town, two Big East teams, West Virginia and Villanova enjoy #2 seeds. Yet, the biggest story of the tournament so far comes from down at the other end of the Chesapeake Bay. Old Dominion, a #11 slot, representing the Colonial Conference the same conference as Towson University, upset Notre Dame. It took overtime for Villanova to claim its victory over the lowly Robert Morris.

True to form, within the first four games, great stories have emerged and the once mighty Florida Gators are already finished. Thirty two games in two days and even Betty in accounting and the Korean Kid are keeping track.

Congratulations UNC Tar Heels

What happened to the Big East? Wasn't this supposed to be their conference? The ACC, Big Ten, and Big East all had seven teams in the Big Show, but only the Big East had three number one seeds. Didn't the ACC fall flat on its face with four of its seven teams failing to get past the first round. Maryland would get dumped in the secound round leaving the mighty North Carolina and Duke alive, but Duke made it to the Sweet 16 but was promptly sent home. The Big Ten lost three teams in the first round and two more in the second round. While Purdue fell in the Sweet 16, only Michigan State surived.

The Big East looked mighty mighty. Only West Virginia fell in the first round and Marquette dropped out in the second round. How mighty could a conference be with five teams going to the Sweet Sixteen, with only Syracuse dying at slot 16. Four teams were in the round of eight, but Louisville and Pittsburgh would go home. Regardless, the Big East had half the final four with Connecticut and Villanova. Wouldn't a Big East shootout for the championship be in order?

North Carolina and Michigan State had something to say about that with the Tar Heels convincingly beating Villanova while Michigan State made a mess of Connecticut. And then only left standing was an ACC team and a Big Ten team. (By the way Terps fans will tell you Maryland beat them both.)

What an emotional triumph for the state of Michigan. The final four played in Ford's Field in Detroit, the city most victimized by the economic crisis and high unemployment. How sweet it was for the automotive state to have a team from Lansing, the city once known for Oldsmobile, 94 miles up I-96 north west of the Motor City. Wouldn't a Spartan victory help bring joy to the state with not only an economic crisis but the Detroit Lions too?

Roy Williams and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels had a different idea. Having been predicted by most to win it all last year only to bow out against Kansas one year ago, the Heels were not to be denied in 2009. Led by senior center, Tyler Hansbrough and junior guard, Ty Lawson with Danny Green and Wayne Ellington in tow, nothing short of a convincing win for the championship would do for North Carolina. Taking the lead immediately and leading by as many as 24 points, Roy Williams' fighting men secured one of the most dominant victories in tournament history outscoring the Spartans 89-72.

The 2009 championship was a hard fought and well deserved victory for the hoopsters of Chapel Hill. They'll be a very different team next year. The question for Roy Williams is will the 2009-2010 Tar Heels be reloading or rebuilding? The rest of the ACC field will be waiting.

NCAA Hoops 2009: And Then There Were Four....The Road to Detroit

Okay, so who still has a chance to win their NCAA Tournament brackets pool?

Chances are good that somebody picked Connecticut against North Carolina, and surely some Midwesterners and Big East fans might have Michigan State against North Carolina, but how many folks saw the Villanova freight train coming?

If one team has been the surprise dominant team it’s those boys from the great cheese steak capital of the world, Philadelphia, as the Villanova Wildcats have made chopped onions of their opponents and sprayed them with Cheese Whiz for good measure.

Connecticut has pretty much played up to their best expectations. Sure lots of folks picked Memphis, a very strong #2 in this bracket for all the glory, but Memphis looked pretty dull fighting #3 Missouri who had little fight left in them facing Connecticut.

Michigan State gives folks around the Motor City some much needed cheer. In the sports world, the misery of how god-awful their NFL Lions performed suffering a miserable winless series makes the Detroit Tigers incredible playoff run in 2006 but then total collapse against the St. Louis Cardinals seem like ancient history while the region suffers with the plight of the auto industry fearing what will become of General Motors and Chrysler. The Midwest regional was supposed to be Rick Pitino’s big party. While much talk focused on lower seeds, Wake Forest and last year’s champ, Kansas, but the Demon Deacons lost in one of the tournament’s most stunning upsets in recent history falling to lowly Cleveland State while Michigan State clearly outpaced Kansas. The Spartans might be the first team from the Wolverine State to celebrate in Ford’s Field whose grand spectacle was the 2005 Super Bowl featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers and Rolling Stones as the big shots of the day.

Speaking of Pittsburgh, weren’t they, not Villanova supposed to be heading for the Final Four?

That leaves us with the North Carolina Tar Heels who are exactly where they’re supposed to be as the team most would have predicted to win it all when the 2008-2009 season began, and while proving to be a little less than invincible, the Tar Heels have played a magnificent season with only their failure to win the ACC tournament in the quarterfinal to Florida State largely due to star guard, Ty Lawson sitting out with a sore toe. Once Lawson returned in the second round of the big show, Carolina has looked dominant laying to waist LSU, Gonzaga, and Oklahoma en route to the Motor City madness.

While we mourn the ruin of our three bracket sheets, two of them picking Carolina to win it all but up against two vanquished potential foes, Memphis and Louisville, it would be hard to call any of the four teams still standing winning the tournament an upset. We’ll stick with Carolina realizing Villanova has pushed all the right buttons with such precision that will be a very tough fight. On the other side of the bracket, we’ll go with Michigan State knowing Connecticut is probably the better team. We just can’t stand cheering for a New England or Big Apple area team and we feel compassion for the folks in Michigan who haven’t had much to celebrate recently, but our mid-Atlantic sensibility makes the Tar Heels our pick to hoist the banner when the tournament champ is crowned Monday night.

March Madness: It's on to the Regionals

March Hare contemplates his bracket picks.


What a start the 2009 NCAA Basketball Championship Tournament is off on!!! For those looking for a real Cinderella story, this is definitely not the year. The only team that could qualify is Arizona, a #12 seed, who will face top seed, Louisville in the Midwest regional in Indianapolis. Arizona beat #5 Utah to face Cleveland State, perhaps the ultimate bracket buster, who defeated #4 seed, Wake Forest, a team many of the expert chatter brigade saw as a team that could upset Louisville and steal the bracket.

This has been a miserable tournament for the ACC. Not only was #4 Wake Forest eliminated from the Midwest bracket, so was #7 Boston College. In the East, #10 Maryland advanced one round to be slaughtered by #2 Memphis, the team many felt were slighted out of a #1 seed. Out west, ACC tournament finalist, #5 Florida State fell to #12 Wisconsin. While in the South, though playing in territory much closer to their rival's home Michigan in Dayton, Ohio, Clemson was no match for the Michigan Wolverines. That leaves Duke alive as a #2 to face the #3 Big East rival, Villanova while North Carolina looked energized with Ty Lawson return dominating play in the 2nd half of their win over LSU will face #Gonzaga in the South.

Looking at the field of sixteen, it will be up to the remaining competitors to prove this is not the Big East's year. Never before has one conference had five teams make it to the regional rounds of competion. Louisville is ready to move on to the round of eight playing the lowest seed still alive, Arizona in the Midwest. Out west, Connecticut soldiers on against #5 Perdue. Pittsburgh faces #4 Xavier while Villanova challenges Duke. Down south, the Big East sends #3, one of this year's most pesky teams against #2 Oklahoma. it would be hard not to pick the Big East choices to advance to the field of eight with Villanova's fight against Duke being the most formidable challenge. #2 Memphis faces #3 Missouri (cut the Mizzou crap) completing the picture in the West. Memphis would appear to be the stronger team in this showdown. The final match puts last year's champ, #3 Kansas with few remaining soldiers faces #2 Michigan State in a contest we'd pick Michigan State but honestly have to call a toss up.

In what must be driving bracketology students crazy, those who made their picks going with the favorites based on seedings right now are only down two with Arizona advancing and Perdue, a #5 considered by many an easy pick to beat the #4 Washington, holding on to make the field.

In a year with so few conspicuous upsets so far outside of that sinking feeling for ACC fans not wedded to arch rivals North Carolina and Duke, the real story is the quality of play, how many games played down to the final seconds with lead changes swapping back and forth through out the action. For all the upheavel in the final games of the regular season and the conference championships, the tournament has settled down to just good, highly competitive play.

Much could change in the next series of action at the four regional outposts, but for number fours to beat number ones is not that unusual a feat and surely no one would ever be shocked to see a two lose to a three. only two games don't feature such matchups as play begins Thursday afternoon.

March Madness: Day One

How are your brackets doing? So far, I’m running at 14, 12, and 9, but my one with just nine wins pits North Carolina to beat Louisville in the final. My 14 is a whacko ACC dream bracket in which Duke beats Wake Forest! I was delighted to see Maryland and Michigan win, but surely thought Tubby Smith would have coached Minnesota to a first round win. Western Kentucky defeating Illinois with a fellow named Jordan playing for Illinois had to be the upset of the day. Maybe “Blago” sold them out. The most outrageous TV moment had to be in the Oklahoma/Morgan State game. 6’4” Ameer Ali was not pleased with how Oklahoma Sooner, Blake Griffin, a nationally known superstar standing at 6’10’ was showing his game. During a moment of intimate contact on the hardwood, Ali locked his arm over Griffin’s and tossed him over top of his body to land squarely on the floor. While that move might have won an award in professional wrestling, Ameere Ali was promptly dispatched to the locker room to contemplate what could have been.

Something tells me that by the time we get around to “One Shining Moment” which I would be just as happy to hear replaced with “Louie Louie”, college hoop fans worldwide will be very sick of Clark Kellogg. This dude is not first team material. Jim Nantz, as always, is the cool professional. Any regional analyst on Raycom, the network that provides ACC coverage is much more articulate and enthusiastic than the excessively humorless style of Mr. Corn Flakes. Though Billy Packer was much like that old uncle you’d wish would pipe down a little when the family’s together watching the big game on television, he sure kept things lively even when he’d let loose one of his brilliant observations that turned out to be a classic moaner to all the guys watching the game. For the role of color analyst, he was colorful where Kellogg is – well, a corn flake.

March Madness on Selection Sunday: Can You Say "Mass Insanity?!?!"

Promise: There will be Motor City Madmen when this thing ends in Detroit and they won't be doing the "Wango Tango."

The Ides of March are upon us, so is “Selection Sunday.” The field will be chosen much to the delight of 65 teams while some teams will be left pondering what could have been. The 2008-2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball season has been one of the most unpredictable, hardly fought tournaments ever. Few spectacles in sports provides the drama and excitement of the tournament where office pools run wild bringing co-workers together who might never know who each other are aside from names on a bracket standings list. How hilarious it is when somebody who just wants to be a good team player wins the kitty while the hardcore sports fans with intricate bracket strategies stand empty handed. The fun begins tomorrow night when the field is announced.

For starters, seven of the top ten teams in the AP poll have lost their final games. Only Louisville and Memphis are winners. Duke has one game left against Florida State for the ACC championship. For good measure, Kansas, last year’s champ in #11, lost their final game in their conference tournament too.

How crazy has this year’s March Madness been so far. Nothing could tell the story more clearly than what happened in Madison Square Garden with #3 Connecticut facing #18 Syracuse in the quarter final. In a marathon fought over six overtime periods, Syracuse pulled out the victory to advance to the Big East final where they’d fall to #5 Louisville. What happens to the Big East candidates given Pittsburgh was #2, Connecticut #3, and #5 Louisville. Only Louisville stands triumphant after their conference brawl was finished in New York. Meanwhile, top 25 ACC teams, #8 Wake Forest and #17 Clemson barely put up a fight in their conflicts. Things were also topsy-turvy in the Big Ten as well where #7 Michigan State fought for the top bracket they failed to advance into the power rounds falling to #24 Purdue who faces Ohio State, not ranked, in the Big Ten final. Penn State, Michigan, and Illinois all fell in earlier rounds. Tournament fans might ask what happened to the once mighty Hoosiers from Indiana, they finished the year in dead last, a program in deep trouble.

How’s life down yonder in Dixie? The SEC tournament would also prove madness prevails. Mississippi State defeated Western Division leader LSU to advance to the final round against Tennessee. Should Mississippi State make the Tournament some better known big shot will go home in tears. Go a little further west, #6 Oklahoma lost to in state rival, Oklahoma State while last year’s NCAA champ Kansas is also gone, while Missouri wins the title. Go all the way out west to the PAC-10, Washington at 14-4, UCLA at 13-5, as well as California and Arizona State at 11-7 couldn’t nail down the title, that honor goes to USC who at 9-9 go home with the west coast banner.

The less prestigious divisions are full of surprises too, some of the highlights include: Binghamton only recently a member of the American East conference won their tournament against UMBC, but the Baltimore region does get to smile for Morgan State winners of the MEAC. Other surprises include: Robert Morris, NEC; Portland State, Big Sky; American, Patriot; Radford, Big South; and last year’s Cinderella, Davidson will be nowhere to be found as Chattanooga wins the Southern even though Davidson went 18-2 during the regular season (26-7, overall including nearby North Carolina rivals), three games better than Charleston who took them out of competition while Chattanooga stood at only 11-9, 18-16 overall.

Nobody said fate was kind.

Where this year’s tournament will stand over all remains to be seen. Memories of Magic Johnson for Michigan State facing Larry Byrd for Indiana in 1979, Michael Jordan shooting a buzzer beater to win 1982’s championship for North Carolina’s victory over Georgetown, or Jimmy Valvano’s underdogs prevailing to win the championship for NC State the following year in 1983 are legendary accomplishments for the ages. There might never be super teams like those of the late 70’s and early 80’s when the tournament had just become a national spectacle with players leaving early in their college career or opting out all together like Koby Bryant or Lebrun James. Super teams like the 1982 Tarheels with Matt Daugherty, Sam Perkins, James Worthy, and Michael Jordan might never be seen again, but with the lack of superstars playing together until their senior year creates a closer field where parity becomes the norm.

They don’t call it March Madness for nothing. Let the games begin.