Links Ahoy

Losing Westbrook and two other stars will almost surely hurt the Bruins' Final Four chances in 2009.

-UCLA will probably be losing three starters to the NBA draft. Kevin Love and Darren Collison have all but declared, and sophomore Russell Westbrook is expected to leave as well. Alfred Aboya may forego his final year of eligibility to earn his master's degree. [LATimes.com]

-Giants and Padres bloggers rap about their teams and the upcoming season. BP also breaks down one of Bruce Bochy's asinine managerial moves in last night's game. [Disfrute El Lefty Malo, Baseball Prospectus]

-Kenny Phillips is likely still the #1 safety in the NFL draft. Get a full positional preview here. [Rumors & Rants]

-The New Orleans Hornets "Fleur de Bee" patch is available for purchase online. One of the more unique logos created in recent memory. [HornetsNestOnline.com]

-For the jersey and uniform obsessed, there is forum called Next Level Talk. Looking for that rare throwback or just want to chat with other uni nerds? This is your place, [www.nextleveltalk.com]

-Memo to the Chargers PR staff: Please play the following clip from be Cool anytime Eric Weddle makes a big play. "E-WEEEEEZY! Twinkle Twinkle, baby!"



-The football movie "Leatherheads" does a few things right, but overall it's not funny according to this review. [MovieBlog.com]

-Finally, UC Berkeley has hired ex-Stanfurd coach Mike Montgomery to coach the basketball team. Fan reaction seems to be mixed, but anyone who saw Ben Braun's teams underperform knows this is an improvement. [SFGate]

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Toréador, en garde !

Congrats to USD for beating UConn in a huge upset in the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament!

Someone from the Toreros...playing someone who's not UConn.

In a thrilling overtime win, the Toreros beat the Huskies 70-69. USD was ahead by as many as 11 points earlier in the game, but UConn closed the gap, eventually pushing it to OT on freethrows.

But five extra minutes was all USD needed. As a 13 seed, USD's win is the biggest upset of the tournament so far. In a crazy twist of fate, it came right after 12 seed Western Kentucky upset Drake with a 3-point buzzer beater, also in overtime. Continuing with the crazy, USD and Western Kentucky play each other in the next round!

Since they're playing a 12 seed, USD actually stands a chance of getting to the Sweet 16. Not bad for a team who's coach even said it would be tough to get out of the first round.

Go Toreros!

The Madness Begins

It’s that time of year again: March Madness! When everyone suddenly cares about college basketball. And by “cares about,” I mean gambles on. Seriously, is there any other sports event that proves gambling is at the root of its appeal than this one?

Well, I’m not generally a huge gambler, but I do participate in the annual office March Madness pool. As far as I can tell, there are three ways to make your picks:

1) Watch tons of college basketball throughout the season and analyze the match-ups based on what you’ve seen.

Percentage of people who actually do this: .83

2) Watch and read tons of analysis that others have compiled for you before making you picks.

Percentage of people who do it this way: 27

3) Pick schools based on completely random factors, such as the viciousness of their mascot, whether or not you know anyone who goes/went there, whether or not any of their athletic programs have been remotely good in the past 30 years, the color of their uniforms, the catchiness of their fight song, etc.

Percentage of people who pick this way: 72.17 percent.

This year, after an inter-office discussion about Kent State making it to the dance, I came up with a fourth method of making picks: tragedy points. If a massacre or some other notorious crime/disaster has occured at the school, that team at least makes it out of the first round. This works for Kent State , Texas and Baylor this year. Other years, it could work for Northern Illinois, Virginia Tech, Seton Hall and probably others I can’t think of. You can't base an entire bracket on this method – and let’s all thank God for that – but it could help you chose some interesting upsets. (And yes, my entire office is scared of me for thinking this up).

What other interesting ways do you fill out your bracket?

8-1

Kicked Pepperdine's Jamie Kennedy lovin' ass last night, 68-57. Can't stop the Juggernaut.



BITCH!