Thought #1

College basketball analysts tend to look a lot like little kids at a merry-go-round this time of year. They can't decided to jump on or off, if they want to laugh or go into a crying fit, or if they want a grape or red snow cone which they no doubt throw on the ground after abut 2 minutes. Just take the Big East for example. Thursday morning they are the unshakable Goliath of college basketball conferences, by Thursday night they are 1-3 in the tourney and being talked about as if they are one of those giant inflatable Santas who just got it's plug pulled. Granted Friday's 3-1 resurgence did help, and if the guys around the table can find time enough to jump off the Pac-10 wagon, which they had previously kicked to the curb and set on fire, they will no doubt rejoin the supports of the Big East.

Thought #2

Is it just me or is there an element of relief once your bracket is completely destroyed? Granted there is a mourning period, but once you get over that and come to terms with the fact that 10 bucks you dropped into your office pool is probably going to the lady who picked the teams based on jersey colors, it is quite liberating.

Think about it. Until this point you have spent all your time watching games, struggling to juggle looking through papers and the internet to check and double check your picks just to ensure that you are not rooting against yourself. No more of that.

Now you can feel free to hate who you hate, love who you love, and pull for the ridiculous to happen. Best of all, you no longer have to pull for that team you hate to win just because you didn't have the guts to pick that mid-major over them. Now your burden has officially been lifted. It feels as liberating as the time you went to church with no underwear and as stress free as that oceanography class you took in high school with that teacher who spent a lot of time in his "special garden" in the school greenhouse. So when that moment hits when your bracket goes up in flames and find yourself struggling to understand how Georgetown got lost on the way to play Ohio, remember that a new day is coming soon and you'll be right back to freely hating on the Duke Blue Devils and pulling for the underdogs.

update: how fitting that I put a Nova pick on here this morning when I wrote this? Prophecy fulfilled.
Thought #3

Carl Edwards has been setting quite a few fires around the world of stock car racing lately. First it was his attempted homicide, I mean accident with Brad Keselowski at Atlanta. Now it seems Carl wants to light a fire under Kevin Harvick, and it appears to be a large one. So did Carl criticize his driving or marketing schemes? Nope. Carl went all out and called Harvick a "bad person."

Wow, what does this even mean Carl? Is Kevin out there hurting puppies and selling bootlegged copies of Alice in Wonderland to little kids? Is he scamming the elderly or picking fights with disabled people? I mean that's what bad people do right? Or wait is he out there intentionally wrecking other drivers and potentially putting them and innocent fans in danger? Hmm. Listen Carl, be careful throwing that whole bad person label out there, it's a pretty hefty tag, but then again, maybe you can smell your own.

As for Nascar's part, be sure of one thing. They aren't in any hurry to put this fire out. In fact this is exactly what they wanted when they decided to let the fellas duke it out on the track. There a good chance the Frances can't even hear the sirens going off over the sound of cash registers going off in their heads. Carl might have lit the match for this fire, but Nascar piled up the brush and covered it with gasoline.