Weekend Observations

Hi There. Well 2 out 4 aren't bad. I predicted UCLA and Memphis, but my other two teams went down in flames in the Sweet Sixteen games. Bruce Pearl needs to recruit a point guard or someone who can handle the ball for the Vols and Wisconsin got buried under the Steam roller that was Davidson. I like UCLA to win it all, and I'm picking Kansas over UNC to make to the final game. Am I not the only one who isn't excited about today being Opening Day for the majority of MLB teams? I can accept the fact Shea Stadium is being replaced after this year, but what I can't accept is the exterior of the new ballpark looks like Ebbetts Field and is becoming a shrine to the Brooklyn Dodgers. I'm hoping Mets ownership will come to their senses and put statues of Gil Hodges or Tom Seaver around the place and not a sign that says, "Hit sign, win suit from Abe Stark" in right field. Driving this morning to the gym where I work out in mixed precipitation and seeing a foot of snow left on the ground, made me think spring is never coming and I won't be digging in the garden or swinging a golf club in the near future. Thanks to everyone who showed up in Chestertown for donkey BBall Saturday night. Had a great time as always. Pete was wishing he had the Advil concession. This Sunday Morning its Bowl for Kids Sake at SpareTime in South Glens Falls hope to see you there...Leccese out.

Midweek Musings

Hi There. Time for the Midweek Musings. We'll start with Brittany on "How I Met your Mother." I thought it was weak. However in the Tuesday round table with Dan and John; they loved it. We all thought Brittany would have had a bigger part in the storyline. Sarah Chaulk was great as the doctor and she stole the episode. She's come a long way since she was the fill in Becky on "Roseanne." We do love her as Elliot on "Scrubs." Now onto sports. What's in the water in the research triangle of NC? Are all the coaches crying primadonnas? I though Coach K was bad. North Carolina gets a top seed and gets to stay in state to play their tournament games and Roy Williams is whining about his players slipping on the NCAA logo they put on the court. Give me a break! I'm sticking with my Final Four picks. Tennessee, Wisconsin, UCLA, and Memphis. Adam "PacMan" Jones are you really that stupid? You go on a Dallas talk show to tell everybody how you belong back in the NFL and you are misunderstood. Not a chance. Jose Canseco has written another book. Innocent trees should not have had to die for that purpose. Finally, Donald Fehr doesn't get it. Barry Bonds hasn't gotten any interest from MLB teams and he's thinking there's collusion against him. Did it ever occur to you Mr Fehr that most teams aren't willing to take the risk on a 43 year old left fielder that is under investigation?...Leccese out.

Weekend Observations

Hi There. Hope you have more teams left in your Sweet 16 than the nine I have left in mine. However all my final four teams are still alive, so there's hope for me yet. This just in. The world did not come to an end because Tiger Woods didn't win the rain delayed CA Championship at Doral today. Now on to the NCAA's. If you had said to me that the 3 Big East teams in the Sweet 16 would be Louisville, West Virginia and Villanova; I would have had a straight jacket placed on you and had you committed. How about that mighty ACC? Duke was soooo overrated. I keep forgetting that there are other teams in the Pac 10 other than UCLA, USC, and Arizona that can play basketball. I guess you don't need much offense when you hold your opponents to 40 and 41 points like Washington State did, and maybe the Lopez twins don't need a quality backcourt after all to carry Stanford. How about Siena. I told you they take Vandy. I'm worried about Memphis as one of my final four picks. They must love the fact that there's the double bonus after 10 fouls the way they were shooting free throws. They need Rick Barry to tutor them on shooting Granny style. Hey, the guy averaged over 90 percent from the charity stripe. My favorite player in the tournament is quickly becoming Stephen Curry from Davidson. His dad Del could shoot the lights out with the best of them when he played in the Association and Stephen got the shooting gene from his old man. On to baseball. Why is everybody whining about the RedSox and Athletics playing in Japan? It's a good thing to promote MLB overseas, just like the it is for the NFL to play a regular season game in Europe. One more thing, and its non sports. Brittany Spears is appearing on "How I Met your Mother" tonight. Dan Miner, John Pratt and myself love the Monday night comedies on CBS and usually Tuesday we hang around the water cooler and compare notes. John thinks the blonde on "Big Bang Theory" is hot. I'll take Cobie Smulders over her any day. I prefer brunettes...Leccese out.

Bracketology Part 2

Hi There. Well today we continue a look at the brackets in the South and West regions. Starting with the South the top four seeds are Memphis, Texas, Stanford, and Pittsburgh. Memphis maybe the weakest of the four Number 1 seeds but with the region they're in they could go to the final four. Pittsburgh played over their head in the Big East tournament winning the whole thing, but they've been snake bit by injuries and it will catch up with them. Stanford needs better guard play to compliment the Lopez twins up front. There's not a whole lot of sleeper teams in the bracket, maybe Marquette. People are talking up Temple after they won the A-10, I think they are a year away.
Now for the West where its UCLA, Duke, Xavier and UConn. UCLA is scary good. Duke is overrated and they live by the 3 and die by the 3. As for Xavier remember they play in the A-10 where up until 2 weeks ago the so-called experts had only 1 team from the league making the field of 64. One thing about Xavier, they produce coaches. Pete Gilhen, Skip Prosser and now Sean Miller. Last but not least is UConn who has gotten better throughout the year. Two sleeper teams: Drake and Purdue. Drake surprised everybody as they were picked 9th in the Missouri Valley and Keno Davis should be a contender for national coach of the year. Player for the Bulldogs whose name you'll hear a lot: Adam Emmenecker. Purdue is well coached too and contended for the Big 10 title. However UCLA is cream of the crop with Darren Collison and Kevin Love leading the way. My final four choices: UCLA, Memphis, Tennessee and Wisconsin. That's two one seeds, a two and a three...Leccese out.

Bracketology Part 1

Hi There. As promised its time to look at the brackets and today its the East and Midwest regions.
In the East the top seeds are North Carolina, Tennessee and Louisville and Washington State. My only question is Washington State. They play solid defense but do they have enough offense to match up. I don't see them making the sweet 16. The middle seeds are very intriguing and one of them could go deep in the region. Notre Dame, Butler, Indiana, and St Joe's. I'm not sold on either Arkansas or Oklahoma, and my sleeper could be St Joe's. They lost in the A-10 finals to Temple but has knocked off Xavier twice in the last 2 weeks. Phil Martelli is one of those coaches you like.
In the Midwest the top seeds are Kansas, Georgetown, Wisconsin,and Vanderbilt. Hopefully the Leccese curse won't rear its ugly head, because I'm picking Siena to knock off the Commodores in the first round. Vandy is a tough home team. Away from Nashville, that's another story and I really like the Badgers. Gonzaga, Clemson and Kent State could win a couple of games. Sleeper might be Davidson. I'm not crazy about Villanova or UNLV. Remember USC vs Kansas State; great first round game. Tommorow a look at the South and West regions...Leccese out.

Weekend Observations

Hi There and Happy Saint Patty's Day. Now for some good old observations from the weekend. Lets start with Bristol Tech. 3 good things about them. 1. Eric Kuselias on Saturday mornings. 2. Sunday morning from 9:30 to 10:30 Outside the Lines followed by the Sports Reporters, and 3. The current documentary they're airing "Black Magic." Now for a Bristol I can't stand. Bristol Motor Speedway. The end of the race was a joke. 43 cars do not belong on an banked oval track that is .533 miles. If the France family had any sense they would blow the place up and use the dates for a second race at Las Vegas and a return to Rockingham NC. Also take away that second date from Pocono and add another road course race. Its too early in the season to starting looking ahead to the Chase. On to the Association. Has anybody noticed but the Houston Rockets have won 22 straight games? You would have if Kobe or LeBron played for them. There are very few things I like about the NBA, and I'm liking the Rockets. Also the Denver Nuggets put up 168 points last night. Nice defense Seattle. Kevin Durant must be thinking, "I should have stayed at Texas one more year." I'll start breaking down brackets tomorrow. So just to tease you, Siena got placed where I though they would as a 13 seed. First round match up must watch: USC versus Kansas State. OJ Mayo takes on Michael Beasley, but the best freshman this year has been UCLA's Kevin Love. One more hoop thing. Congrats to Chateguay for being the first Section 10 team to win a state title. I've finally given up and surrendered to the fact that there is Tiger Woods, and then there is everybody else on the PGA Tour. I watched the end of Bay Hill and you just knew he was going to make that putt on 18. 20 years ago I had one of those days I would put in my top 5 best of all time. I was a senior in college and got featured in an article in the Kansas City Evening Star newspaper. I was manager on the basketball team and I had to broadcast the teams games on the campus radio station. Lets just say it was the first game I'd ever done and it was also a first round NAIA national tournament game. I'm still waiting for that feature in the Post Star, so Dave Blow if you're reading this right now hint hint. Bracket breakdowns starting tomorrow...Leccese out.

Midweek Musings

Hi There. Time for another edition of the, "Midweek Musings." My Momma always told me never to discuss politics or religion in the workplace, so in light of what has come down in the last 48 hours at the Governors Mansion; I'm invoking the fifth and keeping my big mouth shut. Now for the real fun. Some of the funniest things I enjoy reading can be found on the subject lines on the ridiculous amount of junk e-mails I receive. I know there are many of you who get the same ones I seem to get. Canadian pharmacy, replica Rolex watches and number one on the list: Male enhancement products. Natural products to make men more well endowed and attractive to women. I hope to compile a list of the more humorous clean ones and post them on a future blog. Just once I would like to see a product that advertises "Bigger isn't always better." Siena did it, made the field of 65 and now the Uber Conferences will play in their tournaments to see who will join them. I don't want to put the Leccese curse on them, but I want Notre Dame to win the Big East tournament at MSG. Is it just me or are you also sick of the so called NFL draft "experts." The draft isn't for another 6 weeks. Enough already. Finally, I read where Brittany Spears will be appearing on, "How I met your Mother." Maybe she'll play someone stalking Ted or worse an ex of Barney who has a score to settle. This just in, Dan told me she is going to be stalking Ted...Leccese out