UConn win ugly

Well that was a perfectly terrible ending to an otherwise entertaining NCAA hoops tourney.  53-41?  It looked like a WNBA game, or what one would imagine a WNBA game looks like since nobody has fully watched one.  Maybe the NCAA should note that since Final Fours moved to domes 15 years ago, 3-pt FG% is down to 32% and overall FG% down to 42% from 36% and 46% respectively before.  Something to do with depth perception I guess?  Of course, the NCAA won't give up the added revenue, quality of play be damned.

Into the quarter-finals of Champions League we go the next couple days, with a pair of games on each day.  Today, hard not to like Inter Milan to take the opening leg over Shalke at the San Siro, though Inter looked less than strong in a 2-0 loss to AC Milan Saturday so they'll have much to bounce back from.  Tottenham Hotspur look to continue their run with a trip to visit Real Madrid, who are without Karim Benzema for sure, but on the upside it appears Cristiano Ronaldo will play.  As much as I'd love a Spurs upset here, and Rafael Van Der Vaart stab his old team in the heart, I'm thinking Real do the business at home.  Can't imagine Real coach Jose Mourinho guides his team to a second straight home loss, not after Saturday's loss was the first time in 150 games he coached across three teams that he tasted home defeat.

Former MLBer Kevin Millar might be the guy I hate most in baseball history.  He was the epitome of a self-promoting douche while with Boston, then was the lead figure in the final weekend of 2009 mutiny in Toronto against manager Cito Gaston, and then was booted from front row seats at Fenway last year that he didn't have tickets for - thanks for the memories, KM! - and is now saying that former Chicago Cubs manager Lou Pinella wasn't prepared as manager of the team.  Wonder how Millar picked all that up, given he was cut in spring training.

You may have heard Steve Nash left his wife and filed for divorce days after she gave birth in December.  An un-Nashlike thing, most assumed.  Until you hear that it turns out the baby came out black, and the father was in fact former Phoenix Sun teammate Jason Richardson, who was quickly moved to the Orlando Magic.  I knew there had to be some reason the Suns would take on Wince Carter, but never thought it'd be that.

Former New York Met GM and baseball analyst Steve Phillips says, on the subject of Barry Bonds and steroids: “Thank God for steroids. It brought the game back from extinction.” A bit extreme, no?  Don't believe the game was extinct, or even heading there, but no doubt the long ball did bring lots of spotlight back to baseball coming out of the lockout.

Wonder how Gary Bettman and the NHL would feel about a player in another sport being given a two-game suspension for swearing?   That seems as harsh as the NHL seems lenient all too often.

Not sure if you noticed but the Mets have a pinch runner named "Hu".  It is great when he starts on first.

Sugar Shack time at Epic Meal Time...