My bracket.... saved?

I was 4/4 yesterday in the first day of sweet 16 affairs.. shocking. So far all my Elite 8 are still active and going. Should be an interesting evening down at Ford Field.

As for last night's games... Louisville is such a legit team. I really think that Rick Pitino is one of if not the best coach in the country. His teams just do things the right way. Even when they struggled with turnovers yesterday, they did the little things like rebounding and playing defense and still got away with a win.

UCLA struggled with WKU quite a bit. Western Kentucky completely slowed down the game. It probably didn't help that UCLA was looking way ahead of the Hilltoppers.

---------------

The Pistons played the Miami Heat yesterday. It was a joke of a game. I implore (e-mail, comment) anyone on this blog to convince me that the Heat aren't taking. You mean to tell me that they legitimately have the top 8 guys on their roster out with injury? Daequan Cook was out because he had bubblegum stuck to the bottom of his shoe..

Random Thoughts/Rumors 3/8

• According to this report the Detroit Lions have signed cornerback Brian Kelly. This is the fourth former Tampa Bay Buccaneer to sign with the Lions this off-season. Many of these players were familiar with coach Rod Marinelli when he was the defensive line coach with the Bucs. Its a nice move for the Lions, as the only players they can sign are veterans that are trying to make a final check.
  

• A report in the New York Post cites a source as saying that Flip Saunders met with disgruntled New York Knick Stephon Marbury after the Knicks lost their game against Saunders' Pistons in New York.

• According to a report on SpursReport.com, the San Antonio Spurs have hired former Indiana basketball coach Kelvin Sampson as an adviser. Sampson and Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich met with through the United States' basketball program.

Random Thoughts 3/2

- The Lions are having a decent off-season. They got nice quality for Shaun Rogers, and are addressing their needs. If they can land another offensive lineman along with another defensive back, this team will be in good shape going into the draft.

- The Red Wings have probably not been worse then they are now the past two seasons. They can't do anything right, and the pucks certainly aren't bouncing their way. I guess I can't expect much from a team missing its top 3-4 defensemen, but you still have to expect some victories.

- Rodney Stuckey isn't nearly as ready for the NBA as I thought he was. He is a terrible shooter from outside. There were periods of play last night where the Clippers defender was 3 arms-lengths away from Stuckey. He is easy to defend without the threat of him putting up a jumper.

- The Michigan State Spartans are a debacle. They consistently land top-end recruits and yet are stagnant offensively. Drew Neitzel greatly regressed from his Junior to Senior year, and they are an extremely soft team. Unless Izzo can start to get this team back on track in the next few years, I think Izzo may need to step aside and allow Tom Crean (Marquette Head Coach, former Izzo assistant) to have a chance to take the job.

- The Patriots aren't going to be the same team they were last year. They have already lost Asante Samuel to the Eagles and Donte Stallworth to the Browns while Randy Moss and Randally Gay are both weighing their options in free agency.

A Tarnished Legacy is now commonplace

There seems to be another trend going on in sports. A team or person in sports cannot just take their success and fade into the sunlight.

Two perfect examples of this are going on right now -- Roger Clemens and the New England Patriots.

Growing up, Roger Clemens was the most dominate pitcher I had ever seen. His 'I don't give a damn' persona fit perfectly with his overpowering pitching ability.

However, the persona isn't as fitting when you find out that its not a persona, its the real Roger.

This week, Clemens testified at a Congressional hearing on the McNamee/Clemens debacle. You can say that Clemens is trying to save his legacy by proving he hasn't used steroids.

Sorry Roger, thats not even possible at this point. You have Andy Pettite saying you used steroids, and apparent proof from everyone (Including your wife) saying that you were around the juice.


Now we come to the case of the New England Patriots. The NFL Dynasty in waiting has all but collapsed since losing the Super Bowl to the Giants just a few weeks ago.

Reports came out that the Patriots have been cheating (stealing opposing defensive signs) since 2001.

I have known that the Patriots were way too secretive about something and now I realize something:

We live in a time where publicity is money, and money is power. We see people like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan glorified on the news every evening with their underwear-less escapades and DUIs galore.

This doesn't just apply to star-dom, but also applies to Sport.

In this corner we've got Britney Spears, the girl who truly never had a childhood and needs everything from everyone and thinks that even in the negative, she is still popular.


In the other corner, we have Bill Belicheck. The coach who can do no wrong and even in defeat will be the newsmaking story, the guy who's secretive nature becomes so comical that you can't do anything but laugh at how idiotic he is.

Random Comments 2/10

• Curtis Granderson was in Africa with MLB's ambassador program as a part of not only Black History month, but also to hold clinics to help spread the game. You can check out the pictures from the trip on Curtis' myspace page.

• Red Wings winger Dan Cleary may be out 6-8 weeks with a fractured jaw. After having surgery, Cleary will now have his jaw wired shut for over two weeks. Fun.

• The SportingDetroit love luck continues once again, with the Purdue Boilermakers up ending the Wisconsin Badgers last night in Madison.
  

• Rich Rodriguez was on SportsCenter with a short interview last night. To summarize, he basically just said that WVU was a good place, but Michigan is Michigan and it was the chance of a lifetime. He also got emotional when he addressed the death threats his family has endured during his switch. The video can be found on youtube HERE.

• Apparently Brian McNamee decided that everyone in Roger Clemens' fav 5 also used steroids since he has now accused Rogers' wife of "taking it in the butt" as well.

The Clemens family poses for a family portrait, circa 2003.

-

Random Thoughts 2/8/08

• The Tigers got a huge bargain when they resigned Curtis Granderson earlier this week. Granderson's deal will keep him a Tiger into 2012, and possibly '13 if the Tigers pick up his option. If he waited until next season, Granderson could have been a $10 million dollar a year player now.

• {Insert Me saying that I don't hate MSU} If I am a Sparty, I am very disappointed at the offseason that MSU coach Mark Dantonio has engineered. The combination of new coach smell and the Michigan coaching search debacle should have lead Michigan State to starting a new breed of domination in intra-Michigan recruiting. However, Dantonio finished with a measly 7th in the Big Ten in recruiting.

• Michigan head basketball coach John Belien may have the ugliest style of basketball I've ever seen. His idea of lack of rebounding and defense alongside low percentage shots make for some moments of deep, deep depression.