Sweet 16
On March 12, of the 68 teams selected to enter the 2012 NCAA tournament, I picked Kentucky, Florida State, Louisville, and Kansas to make it to the hallowed Final Four.
Well, for one who had no allegiance to any of the teams and couldn’t care any less which team wins the national championship, I did a pretty good job of picking winners in my office pool. For, of the four teams I picked, three (namely, Kentucky, Louisville, and Kansas) made it through to the Sweet 16 – as the following matchups confirm.
Kentucky vs. Indiana; Syracuse vs. Wisconsin
Baylor vs. Xavier; Cincinnati vs. Ohio St
Michigan St vs. Louisville; North Carolina vs. Ohio
Marquette vs. Florida; NC State vs. Kansas
Alas, I picked Florida State to win it all. So it is more than a little ironic that it was the only one of my four picks to fail to make it even to the Sweet 16. I hereby choose Kentucky to win it all….
Tebow to the Jets
On March 20, after news broke about the Denver Broncos signing Peyton Manning, I wrote the following:
I have no doubt that some other team will be happy to exploit what little remains of the “tebowing” phenomenon by signing Tebow to hang out on the side lines like a de facto mascot.
(Denver Broncos: We want Peyton; Tebow can go to Hell, The iPINIONS Journal, March 20, 2012)
Therefore, I was not at all surprised when news broke the following day about the New York Jets picking up Tim Tebow. More to the point, after re-signing their young franchise quarterback Mark Sanchez to a three-year extension just last month, the only possible reason for the Jets signing Tebow is to profit from all of the sideline hype they hope he will generate (or like I said, to use him like a de facto mascot).
To be fair, the Jets claim they will use him as a running quarterback on third-down plays. But this only reinforces the inadequacies of both Sanchez and Tebow (i.e., that they are both needed to play this one position: one to pass, the other to pass and/or run).
But this only reinforces the reasons why Robert Griffin of Baylor not only won the Heisman this year, but is the most coveted player in the NFL Draft: he has that Michael-Vick ability to throw like a quarterback as well as run like a running back.
Of course, one can be forgiven the impression that the ostentatiously Christian Tebow actually ended up in Hell given reports about the relatively debauched and profane nature of the Jets locker room, which Head Coach Rex Ryan reputedly presides over with devilish relish. Actually, this might just be the sports version of Mephistopheles attempting to lure Jesus over to the Dark Side. Except that where he failed, I suspect Ryan will succeed….
Related commentaries:
My picks for the Final Four…
Denver Broncos…