Friday Bracketology

- Did UCLA's choke job last night cost them a #1 seed in the NCAA tourney? Last night, I thought the answer to that question is "for sure." Today, I'm not so sure. Even if OSU, Kansas, UNC, and Florida all win their conference tournaments, an argument could still be made for UCLA to get a #1 seed. Their RPI is still #1, with a very high SOS, and a 15-3 conference record in the second-best conference in the country. Five losses overall hurts, but 9-1 against the RPI Top 50, and a ton of quality wins--most recently at Washington State--adds to their already strong resume. As of right now, my four #1 seeds are UCLA, OSU, Kansas, and UNC, with the last two being chased by Wisconsin and Georgetown.

- Dominic Rhodes has bolted the Indianapolis Colts for...the Oakland Raiders (?!?!), signing a two-year deal worth up to $7.5 million dollars. I don't get this signing for a number of reasons. First, um, it's the Raiders! Second, Rhodes still won't be the feature back, so as long as Lamont Jordan is there. Third, did Rhodes not see what happened to Edgerrin James? At least James went to a system where he could flourish, with Leinart, Boldin, and Fitzgerald. Rhodes is going to the Raiders! Well, if the Raiders get help at QB, just about everywhere on the OL, and WR, they might be good...

- Chris Simon is a thug, plain and simple. That clothesline he delivered to Ryan Hollweg with his hockey stick is criminal, and I don't care that Hollweg was able to get up with minimal injuries. Simon was suspended indefinitely by the NHL, and he needs to be banned for the remainder of the season, including the playoffs. Even that might not be enough of a penalty, in my opinion.

- Gary Matthews Jr. is ticking off Arte Moreno. Just come clean already, says Moreno. I was never a fan of Moreno because of insistence of naming his team the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim), a joke considering that they don't even play in the city of Los Angeles, much less the county. That being said, good for Moreno to demand that Matthews come out and explain himself. He just gave the guy $50 million after a strong one-half of a season (preceded by a couple uninspiring seasons); why shouldn't Moreno not want to know if that half-season was fueled by performance-enhancing drugs?

- Adam "Gunman"...er..."Pacman" Jones may not report to the Tennessee Titans' practice facility soon. Ten separate incidents with the law since being drafted only two years ago, and yet he hasn't been cut yet? What is Tennessee waiting for? Hilarious statement by his lawyers, by the way, who "acknowledge[d] that their client too often is in the wrong place at the wrong time." If Pacman was involved in one or two incidents, then maybe we have a case of "wrong place, wrong time." But TEN such incidents? Yeah, I'm sure Pacman was not directly involved in any of the ten cases.

- Finally, I leave my loyal readers (all zero of you) this bit of absolute ridiculousness, or unbelievable power of the mind if you're so inclined to believe it. The comments are hilarious, especially responses #42 and 43. Comment #42 openly mocks the spoon-bender, and the moron's...er...medium's response makes me wonder how dense the guy really is. Maybe he expended way too much psychic energy bending the spoon (with his hands)? The page also has a link to a discussion of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) Million Dollar Prize, and how much of a "scam" it is. By the way, as I typed up this blog entry, a mysterious force knocked a water bottle off my desk. Either that, or it was my forearm striking the bottle as I spun around in my chair.

By the way, the JREF's web site is located at http://www.randi.org. That site is a great source for news about the paranormal, and how embarrassing/shocking/unbelievable some of their claims are. I stumbled upon this site while looking up information about LifeWave energy patches (my sister obtained a box of these scam patches, which contain nothing more than glucose and glycerin). Spoon-bender Uri Geller and frequently-wrong psychic Sylvia Browne are constantly mentioned in Randi's Commentary section. I'll mention that, while I enjoy reading his comments about these "empowered" individuals, I don't quite share his extreme views on religion being a complete farce.

More bracketology talk to come!