I guess I should be ashamed of myself...

... but can anyone tell me what is going on with this Anoop guy? I know he's from Chapel Hill. I know he's rockin' American Idol. But the only reason I know either of these truths is because the kid seems to be a Facebook icon. I mean, ain't nobody texting in votes for me to graduate. And let's be honest, I've been working on that a hell of a lot longer than this guy has been on the show. Didn't he already get kicked off? And now he's back? How does that work? I haven't watched AI more than a couple of times since William Hung signed a million-dollar record deal. That, and the fact that I cannot sing, pissed me off enough to decide, once and for all, that I was done with such nonsense. Now, it seems, I'm missing the boat on something pretty cool. I know that several of my friends are (or claim to be) friends with him, maybe even a few of you readers. But it would serve me, and my blog, well if you would post comments that might direct me toward a clue.

Thank you.

I TOLD YOU!!!

Three weeks ago, I posted that LeBron was better than Michael. And behold, ESPN.com thinks so too! (They must be reading my blog). Just wanted all of you to know that I wasn't completely full of crap.

And by the way, why is everyone voting for UConn. as the first No. 1 seed out of the tournament? Have you been watching? Is it because you think Purdue is going to beat them? If that's the case, then God, I hope you're not betting on these games...

Earth to Brandon Costner...

The NBA Draft? Are you serious? Kevin Costner has a better chance of getting drafted this year. Not to be deterred however, N.C. State's Brandon Costner announced yesterday that he will forgo his senior season. He's fresh off a season in which he averaged 13.6 points per game. That's not enough to even crack the top 20 in the ACC. He was 17th in the conference in rebounding, with six per. Both of those numbers are about even with his career averages. Considering his freshman season, maybe I'm being a little harsh, but not very. Someone might draft this guy - under the condition that he gets "D-League" tattooed on his forehead. The mock drafts that I've seen have North Carolina's Danny Green as a late second round pick. To me, that would put Costner somewhere in the fifth round ... which, of course, does not exist. That presents a problem. If Costner were smart, which he is (he'll earn his degree in Communications in May), he would test the waters overseas. In what seemed to be a popular trend last season, Costner could head to Europe for awhile to work on his consistency, and actually get paid for it. If he decides to go the NBA route, there is just no way, based on what he's showed so far, that he is going to magically become a consistent presence over the course of an 82-game season. I'm not hating on the guy ... really. I like Costner's game, or his potential game anyway. But for right now, this jump doesn't seem to make much sense.

So Far, Toe Good

My bracket is hanging in there, and so are the Tar Heels. Honestly, I didn't get to see much of either game North Carolina played this weekend. Ordinarily, I would seriously consider taking a temporary leave of absence in order to assure myself the opportunity to plant myself on the couch and yell at the television each weekend of March, but given the state of the economy, I guess I better do my best to keep my job. That said, I think, going into the LSU game, that it didn't make a whole lot of sense to play Lawson. I guess that's why they pay Roy and not me. A loss to the Tigers looked likely in hindsight had he not played. Lawson's 21 in the second half bailed out UNC and moved the team to Memphis for the Sweet 16. Back in Chapel Hill after the game, Lawson was back in the boot, but walking around without a noticeable limp. He appeared to be OK, though I'm sure he was given some medicine to ease any swelling or pain following his courageous showing in Greensboro.

The way things almost turned out, though, Lawson's play wouldn't have been the only break the Tar Heels got. The Zags looked iffy against Western Kentucky. Likely that will not be the case next Friday when they square off with North Carolina. In fact, it won't be easy at all for UNC should they get past Gonzaga, as they'll continue to run into teams with good guard play the rest of the way, making Lawson more important to the team than he has ever been in his entire career - and he's been awfully important. It is imperative that UNC has Lawson to counter other guards that are likely to expose the Tar Heels defensively. And the suspense is sure to only highten as long as this injury lingers. Guess we'll just have to stay on our toes ...

(Sorry, I had to.)

Mike Gminski is a bitch

Heard about this on the radio today and had to share it. For those of you who don't know who Mike Gminski in, don't worry. You're not missing anything. He is a terrible broadcaster, on a terrible station (Raycom), who played for a terrible team (Duke) and has maintained a terrible haircut for a terribly long period of time. With all this in mind, I can't say that I was surprised when I heard one of the guys from 99.9 FM The Fan (ESPN Radio here in the RTP area) recount a scene from the ACC tournament in Atlanta which completely solidfied my stance that Mike Gminski is a douchebag. I think it was Mike Maniscalco from the The Sports Lunch with Mike Maniscalco who broke this one, but I cannot confirm that, although I sent an e-mail to try and find out. According to whomever it was, following the ACC tournament championship on Sunday, the media gathered onto a shuttle at the Georgia Dome that would head back to the media hotel. Now, I have experience with this sort of shuttle and it is not much different, I would assume, from any other shuttle. Aisle, two seats on each side, not particularly comfortable, but a hell of a lot better than walking 10 miles in the cold and rain with a laptop strapped to your shoulder to get back to the hotel.

Well, as the media shuttle filled, an unnamed reporter filed on to find that the only seat left was next to Gminski and contained Gminski's bag, which he refused to move - making his fellow media minion return to the unforgiving weather outside and wait for the next shuttle to arrive. I hope to God that, no matter what I become in life, I never have to resort to being that big of an asshole. I mean, it would be one thing if this guy had ever done anything worthy of being a prick. But his success in the ACC weighed against his pro career can be equated to that high school stud we're all familiar with that wound up with more DUIs than made field goals at some Division III school.

So I'm going to take this opportunity to put Mike Gminski in his place, by comparing Gminski's rookie card (pictured), to that of someone who does matter - and someone who went to North Carolina for that matter. Gminski's 1981-'82 Topps RC is currently on eBay for a whopping $1.97. This item has zero bids. Get it while it's hot. Michael Jordan's rookie card has been listed for three hours. It has nine bids, topping out at $710 so far. It has four days, 21 hours, 28 minutes to go. If Michael was on the bus and wanted a seat for his bag, I think it would be safe to say he's earned it. But, Mike Gminski, if you were important enough to be within 50 yards of a real man like MJ, he'd move his ratty burlap bag and give you the last seat on the bus. But let's face it, you're not that important. I hope that guy that stood out in the cold doesn't mistake you for Will Ferrell and is able to tell everyone he knows what a loser that you really are.

Who cares?

Watching Duke win the ACC championship is nauseating. The only thing making it easier is the fact that everyone knows that the team is a joke and won't last in the NCAA tourney. I'm not just coming up with this because North Carolina didn't win the conference championship that it obviously deserved, despite the fact that it may seem to be my primary motivation.

Instead, I took a look at various top seeds from the other power conferences and how they did in what has honestly become a meaningless exhibition prior to the NCAA tournament. I understand that teams can use the platform to get on a roll heading into the field of 64, much like Duke has. The Blue Devils were a team that desperately needed some cohesion if it had any hope of navigating to the latter stages of the championship chase. But the fact of the matter remains - Duke is not a title contender. Missouri isn't a title contender. Syracuse isn't a title contender. Neither are many of the teams that used their respective conference tournaments to either get in the NCAAs or to perhaps crawl up a spot in the upcoming seeding.

The way I see it, there are seven possible champions: North Carolina, Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, Connecticut and maybe Michigan State. Memphis and Louisville are the only two of those teams who won their conference tournaments (and Memphis might as well be the only team in C-USA), and the only two to even compete for that matter. You can't tell me that five of the seven bona fide title contenders weren't good enough even get to the conference finals. The truth of the matter is that no one cares about conference championships as much as they used to. None of these teams had anything to gain from winning their respective conferences and it showed in their play. With the exception of the two winners and UConn, which lost what may have been the greatest college basketball game of all time, no one really seemed to have any fire. Even Huskies players were saying the presser after the game that they didn't care; at a certain point, they just wanted somebody to win so that they could go home.

More and more, conference tournaments are becoming isolated NITs. That's why Duke's win of the ACC doesn't amount to a hill of beans to me.

Maybe the best prank ever

With Maryland taking on Duke in the ACC tournament today, I'm going to find myself rooting for the Terrapins, right along with the rest of the meanest, most heartless fans in America. Now, I have a ton of respect for Maryland fans. They've won before, generally, they're not dorks, and their gimmicks are a hell of a lot better than Duke's. This video that someone put me on to is a perfect example of how undeniably ... just wrong (and hysterical) these people are.