NCAA Down To Final Four and more[Sports Week]
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 Be honest – no one could have predicted this final four. I know I didn’t because my final four was lost after the first weekend. Yeah I know it’s sad, but I have a degree in history – not the future. Florida, LSU and UCLA each have the seemingly impossible task this weekend of trying to steal some attention from the darlings of the Final Four.”In the NCAA tournament, there are two things people love to see – a Cinderella story and a team that is so powerful and explosive they look invincible,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said on Wednesday during a conference call with the other Final Four coaches. They have to play George Mason (27-7) who fits Donovan's first description perfectly. Coach Jim Larranaga spent part of Wednesday's news conference explaining how the university has dealt with its identity crisis, being confused with nearby schools such as George Washington and James Madison. Last time I checked, George Mason wasn’t named after one of the Founding Fathers. However, by winning four games in the tournament, knocking off two former Champions, and becoming the first No. 11 seed in two decades to reach the national semifinals, George Mason now has a place in college basketball lore. ”What I told my team right after we were seeded and placed into the brackets was that it really doesn't matter where you're seeded, and I think George Mason is a testament to that and the parity in college basketball,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “There's just so much parity now and the margin for error is so slight among the teams.” No more Touchdown Dances There are some days I don’t like the NFL and when they come out with rules like this, I can tell the league are run by old men. Touchdown celebrations have gotten more and more original lately, from Steve Smith changing a diaper to Terrell Owens using the football as a waiter's tray. And that’s just some of the good ones, there were many more. Those players will need to go back to work on new ideas within stricter parameters after NFL owners voted 29-3 Wednesday to limit such histrionics. Stupid, stupid, stupid. ”I'm looking forward to seeing what Chad will come to celebrate with now,” Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy said after the vote. “He's pretty original and I'm sure he'll come up with something. It's a challenge to Chad in the off-season.” The genesis of the rule change adopted as the NFL meetings wrapped up came from the players' union itself. Last month at the NFL combine, a group of players told competition committee chairmen Rich McKay, general manager of the Atlanta Falcons, and Jeff Fisher, coach of the Tennessee Titans, they believed the celebrations were getting too elaborate. Still, the fans love it. Oh well, these players are creative, I can’t wait. MLB Investigates The worst major league in the United States is Major League Baseball. Only now are they investigating steroids in the sport. The alleged steroid use by Barry Bonds and other players will be investigated by Major League Baseball. Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell will head up the investigation. A baseball official told The AP on Wednesday that final plans were to be announced at a press conference Thursday. Selig's decision to launch the probe, first reported by ESPN, came in the wake of “Game of Shadows,” a book by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters detailing alleged extensive steroid use by Bonds and other baseball stars. It should be noted that nothing has been taken for truth yet. The commissioner has said for several weeks that he was evaluating how to respond to the book. Some in Congress have called for an independent investigation. Mitchell, a Maine Democrat and a director of the Boston Red Sox, has been a director of the Florida Marlins and served on an economic study committee that Selig appointed in 1999. Mitchell clearly has a vested interest in this, since it’s widely known he wants Selig’s job. |
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