Midweek Musings

Hi There. Well, if you took my advice on the NCAA basketball championship games, you'd have grounds for a lawsuit. 0 for 2. I told you Memphis needed to improve shooting free throws. During the tournament the Tigers averaged 80 percent up until the title game, then the brick laying returned. Couldn't it wait until afterward. I would have looked good. As for Stanford, they made a nice run but the Lady Vols are the best women's program around. Sorry UConn fans. Pat Summit is easily the best women's' coach of all time and she ranks up there with John Wooden and some of the other great men's coaches. The Frozen Four takes place in Denver and no I'm not picking a team. I like watching college hockey. Before I had a satellite dish and my choice of endless sports and movie channels, I could get just two on air channels. Channel 13 in Albany and WCAX Channel 3 in Burlington VT. That station was the most boring on the planet. They would air UVM hockey on weekends during winter with Tony Adams or JJ Cioffi doing play by play. I kind of root for the Catamounts. Last night I wished I'd had picture in picture. Rangers/Devils, Mets/Phillies and the Yankees/Royals. Whatever morons decided to play that game in Kansas City during a monsoon last night should be fired. If players are whining about playing a doubleheader, why not adopt what the minors do and play two 7 inning games, instead of the day/night thing. Trust me nobody in baseball is crying poverty. The Masters is taking place and I'm surrendering to the fact that someone named Tiger and I'm not talking about Tiger Chung Lee will win. In my perfect world Mike Weir, Woody Austin or my man Freddie C recaptures the magic and is Boom Boom just one more time before joining the senior tour wins. Finally I have to get this off my chest. The articles about Donkey basketball in the Post Star really irritated me. I've been lucky to take part in 3 donkey basketball nights at North Warren Central School. I've gotten to know the handlers. They treat the animals like they were family members and wouldn't let anything bad happen to them. It's fun. The organization that is constantly protesting (I won't justify naming them) needs to really look in the mirror at themselves, lighten up and actually try to help animals instead of nitpicking every little thing. Pick your fights better. Your little group is doing more harm than good. Enjoy the weekend.

Weekend Observations

Hi There. If you had UCLA and North Carolina in the Mens Basketball Championship Game tonight. You lost. Now onto the weekend observations. I thought Kansas could beat UNC and they did. I can't believe Kansas fans felt betrayed when Roy Williams left. If it were any other job I could understand their disgust, but UNC is his Alma Mater. You should forgive him for that one. Get over it! Rock Talk Jayhawk is a stupid chant by the way. The Memphis Tigers are definitely playing with a chip on their shoulder. More basketball news. Hall of Fame inductees were announced. Sorry Dickie Vee, you don't belong with the likes of Pat Riley, Adrian Dantley, Patrick Ewing, and Hakeem Olajuwon. You're not a PTP 'er in this class. Two sure signs of spring. The Masters golf tournament in Augusta, GA and the Stanley Cup playoffs kick off this week. The first round match-ups in the Eastern Conference are making me very excited. Bruins vs Canadiens, Caps vs Flyers, Rangers vs Devils, and Pens vs Sens. It doesn't get any better than that. Watch out for the Caps. The guy who wears No. 8 for them is named Alex Ovechkin and he is the league MVP. Bruce Boudreau should get consideration for Coach of the Year. The West has some intriguing first rounders: Wings vs Predators, Sharks vs Flames, Wild vs Avs, and Ducks vs Stars. Remember the Ducks are the champs, so don't count them out. a big thank you to everyone who showed up for Bowl for Kids Sake, we raised some good money and had a lot of fun doing it. I actually tried bowling with the ramp for one shot like Pete did. It wasn't easy. The only thing I can compare it to is playing pool and having to use the bridge to make a shot. When I got home, there was a "No Reservations" Mini Marathon on the Travel Channel. Anthony Bourdain is so cool. The snow is finally melting, maybe golf season will come after all and take Memphis over Kansas in the men's final and Stanford over Tennessee in the women's final....Leccese out.

Midweek Musings

Hi There. I know you've been waiting for it, here comes the Midweek Musings. We start with Monday's "How I Met your Mother." Easily one of the five best episodes in the history of the show. Between stealing the blackboard, the brackets, Lilly making a scrapbook of the whole affair, the Ted Moseby is a jerk website and Barney apologizing to a girl he never slept with, it just all clicked. The best part was seeing Barney doing his blog like the end of "Doogie Howser" music and all. In fact when I do my entries for the Greenhouse Effect, the theme from "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" plays. You know; "People let me tell you 'bout my best friend." On to some other observations. We get a lot of community events here at the station and I have a question. What's the obsession with Coleslaw? It seems every church dinner or community supper has Coleslaw on the menu. Even the Spaghetti and Meatball ones have it. If you didn't know Cathy Lee Gifford is returning to daytime to co-host the fourth hour of the Today show. Originally I thought it was a good idea, because she wouldn't be talking about Cody and Cassidy now that they've grown up and she might have to actually say something meaningful and informed. Unfortunately, Cathy Lee will end up telling us how Cody's new girlfriend is not right for him and does not want her taking advantage of her little boy. I hope he brings home some girl who doesn't believe in god, has tattoos and a police record just to give her a heart attack or a stroke. Final four predictions: UCLA over Memphis and Kansas over North Carolina. UCLA wins the whole thing. One last thing. Thanks to everyone who has helped us with donations for "Bowl for Kids Sake." If you can make it, Team CKM will be bowling Sunday at 10:00am at Sparetime in South Glens Falls. Bowling is one of the few sports I can actually hold my own in...Leccese out.

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.