SHORT AND SWEET

***THE MOST DANGEROUS POSITION IN SPORTS***
No, it's not quarterback or pitcher or goalie. The worst place to be now is ranked in the top ten in college basketball. The number one ranked team has been "upset" SEVEN times already this season. And teams ranked two thru ten haven't done much better. We're not talking a #13 ranked team beating a  #3. No, it's an unranked team beating a #10.
There have been so many "Storm The Court" events this year, students aren't even buying seats anymore, they just stand in the back wearing track shoes.
Interestingly, ESPN Magazine ran an article last month saying basically that college basketball rankings have little value. They compared their RPI (which I believe is their power ranking formula) to the UPI, AP and coaches poll, and found that the two don't match up very well. They gave examples of a team ranked in the sixties in the official poll, actually ranked in the top 20 of the RPI system. So how can that be called an upset when that teams beats a team ranked #20.  According to ESPN, the NCAA Tournament seedings may have very little to do with the quality of the teams in the tournament. If this is true, I may finally be able to beat my wife in our private pool. She doesn't pay attention to rankings, watches only Syracuse play and picks by a method known only to her (and other female winners). I think it's time to put some real money on the table in front of her.

***IN THE BASEBALL WORLD***
## There are fewer major leaguers playing in the WBC tournament this year than ever, a fact that most General Managers are probably secretly happy about. Supposedly Dice-K Matsuzaka hurt his arm in the tourny four years ago and hasn't been the same since. Don't think this kind of thing is lost on GMs.

## The Yankee spring training record is a whopping 1-6 so far. I don't know what that means, since the regular position player - the healthy ones, that is - play only five innings, or two at bats, and Girardi is being ultra-careful with his talented, but aging, pitching staff. So far, he's used them only in "simulated" games, which is akin to batting practice.

## We've all heard about the odd injuries that take players out of games, things like tripping over the fences while jumping on to the field, or straining a muscle picking up a child, but a new one to add to the list.
Elvis Andrus, Texas Ranger shortstop, has missed a game because of a sore tattoo. I can only imagine the look on mgr. Ron Washington's face when Andrus explained this one to him.

## Every time a Yankee player gets hurt, sportswriters go crazy trying to speculate on  trades and signings to 'fix' the problem. Granderson breaks his arm, and it's a free for all. Writers have suggested, Alphonso Soriano (The Yanks won't spend the money), Johnny Damon (Yanks not interested) and Bobby Abreu (even less interest in him). Damon is so desperate, he even told Michael Kay in a radio interview, that he was willing to just play the six weeks that Grandy would miss and then go home. And, he would do it for the major league minimum salary which is $500,000. pro-rated, that comes to about $125,000, which I believe is the Yankee batboy salary.

## A 27-year old Navy veteran who lost the lower part of his left leg while serving in Iraq, was given a tryout by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Obviously he didn't do very well, but it was mostly honorary anyway. He just wanted to show kids that you should never give up striving for your dreams.

***MORE BASKETBALL***
#3 Duke was beaten by an unranked team (Hah!) last night. Duke leads the nation  in "Storm The Court" celebrations after being beaten, and Coach K (Last time I tried to write his full name, my spell-check program exploded) is becoming very unhappy with the drama. "When we've lost in the last 20 years, everybody rushes the court," he said. ""Whatever you're doing, you need to get the team off first. Celebrate, have fun, obviously you won. That's cool, but just get our team off the court and our coaching staff before students come on." I like this show of enthusiasm, but coach has a good point.
[Update: I just saw the replay of last nights game and the Duke players were never in danger. They filed off the court on the sidelines with a group of yellow-clad security guards holding hands, forming a human fence. Not to take away from Coach's point, but this probably wasn't a good example.]

The Gonzaga Bulldogs, 28-2, will probably be the #1 team in the nation next week. They're not likely to get upset, since their only game left is against the Portland Pilots, 11-19, and were already beaten once this year by Gonzaga by 22 points.

***THEY SAID IT***
" LeBron James said he's faster than Manti Te’o. Judging from Te'o’s time in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, actor Kevin James is also faster."  -- Brad Dickson
"In the Honda Classic tournament Thursday Tiger Woods walked into the water on the 6th hole to play a partially submerged ball and save par. Of course, long-time golf fans remember the days Tiger used to walk on water to make birdies."  -- Janice Hough
"Jesse Heiman, the nerd from GoDaddy's Super Bowl ad with supermodel Bar Refaeli, says they had 60 retakes of them French kissing 'to get it perfect.' We're talking about Bar Refaeli! One kiss is perfection. Sixty is cardiac arrest."  -- RJ Currie
"And from the "Why, Of Course" File comes word that Twins catcher Joe Mauer and his wife are expecting ... twins. Good thing Joe didn't catch the daddy bug when he played in Quad Cities."  -- Dwight Perry
"Some pizzas in Denmark were found to contain horse meat: Police got suspicious when people started betting on Domino's delivery guys."  -- comedy writer Tim Hunter
"Best Sound Editing Oscar was a tie. Awards went to Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty. Can’t they settle this with penalty kicks? Or a coin toss? Or arm wrestling? What about editing out the sound of each other’s acceptance speech?"  -- TC Chong
" A 101-year-old Brit named Fauja Singh announced he has retired from distance running. No reason was given, but I'm guessing it has something to do with a lack of competition for those age group records. This means I can safely run my first marathon now that I no longer have to worry about being passed by a 101-year-old man in the homestretch."  -- Brad Dickson
'That's not Gatorade in the Yankees dugout jug. It's Metamucil."  -- Alan Ray
" The Buffalo Bills plan to interview Manti T’eo at the NFL combine -- hopefully, in person."  -- Bill Littlejohn

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