Thursday, March 18, 2004

Big Ol' Lot Of Stuff

Bracket Advice

And if you don't know what I'm talking about, just skip to the next thing. I mean really.

Wanna know why No. 12 seeds beat No. 5 seeds? Your general 12 is either a borderline big-conference team that may have had an up-and-down season or some injuries or something (Prime example: Missouri in 2002) or it's a mid-major that won 25-26 games and knocked off some middle-of-the-pack big-conference teams along the way.

SEC teams not named Kentucky have been overrated recently (Alabama in 2002 may be the worst 2-seed ever).

We're about to find out whether or not the rule was "Don't bet the house on Kansas" or "Don't bet the house on Roy Williams." And don't sleep on the real Illinois-Chicago. The Flames start five seniors and guards Martell Bailey and Cedric Banks have been teammates for seven years, going back to high school.

I'd pay good money to see Louisville-Xavier. If I HAD it. (More on this later.)

I know I said it last year, but Arizona's way overdue for another first-weekend meltdown.

On the flip side, get off the Saint Joseph's bandwagon at your own peril.

Terrell Owens Is An Eagle

Well this is just lovely.

Apparently Owens and the players' union had a stronger case than we all thought, and rumblings started occuring Monday night that the arbitrator might rule in his favor. We'll never actually know, of course, unless somebody asks the guy.

One of the ironies here is that the Ravens arguably needed him more than the Eagles did.

On the one hand, yes, he's worlds better than anyone they had, his talent's exactly what they needed, and they practically stole him.

On the other hand, the first pass he shortarms or drops or the first tantrum he throws, forget it. The fans will hang him. Philly sports fans have two rules: Don't have an ego, and don't make it look too easy. Remember, Ricky Watters never got over "For who? For what?"

MTV's "Real World" Pulls Out Of Philadelphia

MTV producers gave up on Philadelphia as the site of its 15th season after a lengthy dispute with city labor unions.

This was doomed from the start, really. They'd already recast the, er, cast (I guess they came up with too many people of substance), and you're not going to get away with using non-union labor in Philly. It just doesn't work that way.

And beyond that, MTV stopped trying with that show about seven years ago. The debacle that was Miami started it (although Scott Christ correctly says that Sarah was five years ahead of her time). Then Stephen punched out Irene in Seattle and didn't get booted (and didn't Irene end up going nuts? I forget) and that was pretty much it.

There's actually an OUTCRY about this. The Philadelphia Daily News set up an online petition to try to get the show to come back. And what's this crap about people being upset because RW would've promoted the city? Has anyone ever commented about the city when talking about Real World? Anyone? Like Mayor Street said, "I don't think it's the end of the world."

I've Also GOT To Get Out Of This STATE

Nothing is certain but death and getting hosed by the State of New Jersey at tax time.

I read somewhere that we're #2 per capita in the amount we're taxed and dead last in the amount per capita we get back, so I shouldn't have been as optimistic as I was.

But I wasn't prepared to owe the federal government $76. Not after owing the state $83 last year.

The "good" news? This year I'm getting $90 from the state.

Bastards.

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