While wondering whatever became of Robert Benigni...

I'm listening to the Tribe game. Tom Hamilton is describing what sounds like an earthquake. I don't feel a thing. Apparently, the East Coast was in a panic. Or wanted a free day on a nice summer afternoon.

Of course, it was near a nuclear power plant. Fuck.

Meal of Links

Jerry Lieber died yesterday. How would you like to have your name attached to that songbook? Think of the Elvis hits, the Coasters hits and on and on. Lieber and Stoller also produced "Stuck In The Middle With You". This is my favorite Lieber and Stoller tune:

"Spanish Harlem"/Ben E. King



Nickolas Ashford died yesterday, as well. He, and his wife, Valerie Simpson wrote many Motown hits. Listen to Marvin Gaye just kill on this Ashford and Simpson record.

"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"/Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell



The odd death of Arturo Gatti. Next week, a P.I. gives his findings. Never bought the suicide for one moment.

15 arcade games we miss. They are all there. Circus never makes these lists, but damn, I ruled that game.

Art of the Title with the classic, "Catch Me If You Can". One of the best title sequences ever.

10 songs ruined by advertising. "Saved by Zero" not on the list? Bah.

"Snakes On A Plane" is 5 years old. Only made $34 million at the box office.

The Rock plus Bruckheimer equals...'80s Wrestling Show! Dust off Ron Garvin running up those stairs.

Speaking of earthquakes. What's up with Haiti?

Versus is getting more NFL on its network. Mike Florio has a Friday at 6 show, with Darren Rovell following. Now, NFL Films is producing "Turning Point". This looks like old-style NFL Films stuff, Thursdays at 10.

Exercise Yard

Pat Summitt has early onset dementia. At age 59. Fairly obvious she can't coach much longer. But damn, that's an early diagnosis.

Visitor

43 Down: Hairy TV cousin (3 letters) Answer: Itt

Housh Still Rules Fantasy



Kills me every time.

Meal of Links

The Dude lives. At the NYC Lebowski Fest.

Nate Silver on Rick Perry's electability. I just can't see it. I actually like what Jon Huntsman (However, he blew the Iowa debate) and Gary Johnson (He skipped Iowa every way possible) have to say, but they have worse than a snowball's chance.

Edmunds has a new car inventory tool. Instructions here.

Time has the Top 50 Websites of 2011. Pretty nice selection.

McNulty from "The Wire" is in a BBC America show like "Mad Men" with a bit of "Rubicon". I watched the first episode. I'm in.

The summer of the Woodman continues. "Midnight In Paris" is actually adding theatres. It is a good one.

Exercise Yard

The legend that was, or could have been, of Arvydas Sabonis. The greatest Lithuanian hoopster of all time.

Visitor

42 Down: Laker teammate of Magic (6 letters) Answer: Kareem

While waiting for the new local sports talk station to arrive...

I was able to see a couple of movies recently. The first was "Captain America". This was even better than I expected and I'm not even sure what I expected, but this one was extremely well done. As far as the Marvel characters go, easily the best one since the original "Iron Man".

When I was in college, we came up with a comedy bit that superheroes had to register with the authorities. After following the likes of Superman and Spiderman, Cappy walks in and starts answering the questions. When it came to superpowers, he had to admit, "Well, all I have is this shield." Of course, everyone starts making fun of him.

And that, my friends, might be why this one is so special. It's because of that lack of a superpower, that the character has to be more human. That's why this is a throwback to the old war movies, where we shoot at Nazis, there's a guy from Brooklyn, we win the girl, and the world is a better place. I didn't think you could pull that off in 2011, but they did.

Kudos to whoever cast this picture. Chris Evans as Captain America, Haley Atwell and Tommy Lee Jones are spot-on. Dominic Cooper was outstanding as Iron-Man's father, Howard Stark. Hugo Weaving was the perfect Nazi villain. Only Stanley Tucci was a bit over-the-top as a good German scientist who developed the super-soldier serum, originally given to Weaving, turned bad, and now Evans, for the good.

Of course, Nick Fury shows up at the end (this time, pre-credits), as we prepare for next year's "The Avengers". Starting to film around here very soon. But I'd put "Captain America: The First Avenger" on the must-see of the summer list.

Next up was "Cowboys and Aliens". Much like "Snakes On A Plane", this is what you get. Sort of a weird combination of an old-timey Western transposed on a "Close Encounters"-type movie. Or maybe even a "Jeepers Creepers"-type as some of the townsfolk got snatched up by the flying aliens.

Not really sure what to make of this. I sort of liked the opening acts where Daniel Craig didn't know who he was or where he was, but he was definitely a badass. So, he has to mosey into town as the stranger. Causes a bit of a row, but then the sheriff, Keith Carradine, recognizes him from a wanted poster, and indeed, Craig is a badass.

Harrison Ford then shows up, because his son, Paul Dano, had a run in with Craig. And because he was the local rich rancher, he had to go to town and try to spring Dano. Olivia Wilde is around, I guess, because she looks hot.

Then the aliens show up and start scooping up some locals. For the most part, these are the red-shirted "Star Trek" types, except for Dano and Kenny Powers Mexican girlfriend. So, a posse is formed to find out where the aliens took them.

Then the story weakens because of that old plot drag, "This is where things need to be explained". I should probably mention I thought the aliens looked and acted kinda lame. We travel from God knows where to steal gold (WTF?) and we get attacked and can be killed by a spear? Huh?

So, the last half of the movie is where we learn:

Daniel Craig is a badass, but just may settle down.

Olivia Wilde is pretty beyond belief, and she's got a secret.

Harrison Ford is a crusty old coot with a tender side, but doesn't know Indian talk. Lemme tell ya, John Wayne always knew "Comanch" in his movies.

God can't save all preachers.

Sam Rockwell learns how to use a gun.

I don't know what it all means, but a decent start was sorta derailed halfway through. Trust me, you'll have more questions than answers after watching this one. Maybe it would be better as "Cowboys and Crusty Old Coots", or "Let's Stare At Olivia Wilde For 118 Minutes".

Meal of Links

Your Top 50 Politicos. Oddly enough, from Politico.

John Boehner actually said this on the floor of the House this evening: "A lot of people in this town can never say yes."

"Hell No, You Can't"



Billy Hunter is the head of the NBA Players Association, currently locked out by the owners. His life story reads like something from "Zelig".

Guess what? Matt Pinfield returns to MTV as host of "120 Minutes", starting tomorrow. And VH-1 salutes MTV's 30th anniversary, also tomorrow.

All about "Zodiac". One of Fincher's finest. Still have not seen the "Dragon Tattoo" trailer in the theater. Did see trailers for "Moneyball", "Contagion", "Battleship" which looked shitty for 5/12, "The Amazing Spider-Man" again for 7/12.

10 Popular Shows from the '90s that were terrible. I successfully avoided them all.

New GDP figures are out. Uh-oh.

Exercise Yard

U.S. Soccer finally did the right thing and hired Jurgen Klinsmann as men's national coach. Klinsmann has played in the World Cup many times, coached a WC semifinalist, and lived in the States for many years. Outstanding credentials. Truly a thinking man's coach who desires an attacking style of play. This is the man most fans have wanted as national coach for years.

Bob Bradley spent his time as U.S. coach rather well. But it is so difficult to have the same man in charge for multiple runs at qualifying and playing for a World Cup that a move had to be made. This year's Gold Cup Final showed it was the end of the line for Bradley.

This move is a no-brainer. But Klinsmann has to find someone, anyone, who can put the ball in the net consistently. It's a problem that has haunted the U.S. in international play forever. Right now, at age 46, Klinsmann might be the team's best striker. If he doesn't find that guy, today's holiday may not be as fondly remembered in 2014.

BTW, we are only 8 days til the Community Shield. The EPL has less of an off-season than NASCAR.

Visitor

26 Across: Rowan Atkinson character (6 letters) Answer: Mr. Bean

I was actually at the Tribe game on Thursday. The Indians had some insane deal (meaning advance ticket sales were dreadful) for the Toronto series where you can still get $44 tickets for $13 plus fees. Take that, StubHub!

But I wasn't there for this:



Somewhere, Bill Selby nods approval.

Anyhow, I'm not a master of the ALE (Always Leave Early) theory, but if you witnessed the first 7 innings of that game, no one would begrudge you leaving. Indians starter Zach McAllister threw 94 pitches in only 4 innings, while Carlos Villanueva for Toronto threw 110 in 6 innings.

I may have had a sense of kismet on the way home because I mentioned to my Dad that we had missed comebacks from large deficits in the past (ahem...the largest), so no big deal if we missed something that night. With that Joey Bats homer in the 9th to put Toronto up by 4, I thought that was the clincher.

But then Hafner came up and he smoked one. Good for them. Victories like that can really mean something come September.

Hey, at least the hot dogs were good.

Meal of Links

I don't know this guy from Adam. But he did co-invent Rotisserie Baseball. Deserves a parade.

What is with the fake fireworks? Child, please.

Another series jumps ahead in time. This time, it's "Dexter"!

There was a time if you had anything to do with baseball memorabilia, you knew the name, Barry Halper. Turns out most of his artifacts were stolen or forgeries. it's a long read, but fascinating.

Getting your kicks. On Route 66. Don't forget Winona!

Philly saves $2 million a year. How? By essentially decriminalizing marijuana.

Marc Maron does have a fine podcast. Listen here.

F-A-T. That spells fat.

Monkey self-portraits. Funny. Put a hat on hiim. Really funny.

Exercise Yard

We have two lockouts. One has been rumored as "close to ending" for weeks now (NFL), the other (NBA) has two factions divided like Korea.

Bill Simmons tries to solve the latter.

Visitor

10 Down: Pink Floyd's "The Wall:, e.g. (9 letters) Answer: Rock Opera

Casey Anthony is off to find the real killers.














Meal of Links

It's the American way. Making fun of Hitler.

Have you seen the light? The world's greatest light bulb.






















One of the most hilarious things I read today was Hollywood's reaction to the Tot Mom verdict via Twitter. Kim Kardashian, of all people, was shocked at the verdict. Prompting this response. Dexter Morgan was also trending high on Twitter, as if he were a real person who could take care of Tot Mom.

David Simon has a real knack for season-ending montages. He did it again with Sunday's season-ender on "Treme":



Simon talks about "Treme" here.

What's lurking in a navel? Strange stuff.

E-Harmony guy says don't get married. Wait a minute. What?

Exercise Yard

Nate Silver writes about the NBA lockout. The financial distress of the owners is a canard.

Visitor

9 Across: Jake LaMotta, e.g. (5 letters) Answer: Boxer

David Simon talks (briefly) about "Generation Kill". And says the most satisfying show he's done is "Treme".

NOLA's Dave Walker In Treme



Meal of Links

Is it too early to bitch about the American version of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"? Boobs on a poster are not going to bring in the teens. If it was "The Girl With The Tyson Tattoo", maybe.

"Boys, we got ourselves a werewolf. Right here in River City."

Lots of talk about cloud computing lately. Here's the scoop.

Craig Ferguson takes his show on the road. To Paris?

End-of-life questions you may want to think about.

Tim Pawlenty. WTF? He wants tax cuts three times larger than the Bush tax cuts. So what then does Romney offer? Or Bachmann?

F1 finally bails on Bahrain. No one really wanted to go there.

Exercise Yard

Grantland debuted today. Simmons on LeBron. Boy, what we saw in Game 4 this year was as perplexing of what we witnessed in Game 5 last year.

That will remain one of the greatest sports mysteries of our time. Leonard Nimoy should do a show.

Visitor

53 Down: "Another Saturday Night" singer Sam (5 letters) Answer: Cooke

Things are looking up. The Cavs got the Number 1 pick in the draft and also got the Number 4 pick, from the Baron Davis trade. So, the NBA lottery goes our way!

The ramifications of that go way beyond just the players acquired. If those two are parlayed into star players, along with the trade exception still lingering, they may be able to get back to respectability quickly. Hence, fewer empty seats, more revenues, and on and on.

Who cares if it was fixed.

Just can't have the world end this Saturday.

Meal of Links

The ESPN book comes out next week and the buzz is really high. GQ has an excerpt. The subject of the excerpt? Why, Keith Olbermann, of course. His reign of terror at ESPN was legendary. "Welcome to the end of my career." still rates as one of the best lines ever uttered on TV.

Jerry Lewis is out as the MDA Telethon host. Probably due to the fact it's only 6 hours this year.

Elaine's in New York is closing. She once threatened this guy.

Dylan and his cult. One man wants it stopped.

According to Peter Griffin on last week's "Family Guy": "1985 brought us the gayest music video of all time":



"This happened and we all let it happen." I was on the floor.

Seth Macfarlane reboots "The Flintstones". That has hit written all over it.

You hit a deer. Now what? I ain't movin' no fuckin' deer.

Earworms? Maybe "Dancin' In The Streets".

The Pearl Jam doc goes to PBS. This is the Cameron Crowe one. Should be appointment TV.

"Wires"/Red Fang



Cuddy leaves. "House" becomes a sausage fest.

Huey Lewis and the News hit Number One with "Sports". Patrick Bateman, in "American Psycho" said this: "Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when "Sports" came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humor." Then he put "Fore" on and killed Paul Allen.

Exercise Yard

Dean Smith vs. segregation. Nice history about Dean-o pushing for his Kansas school to be desegregated on the court in the late '40s.

Visitor

66 Across: Country star Travis (5 letters) Answer: Randy

"Better Class of Losers"/Randy Travis

I was lucky to find out about the death of Bin Laden when I did. I finished up "Treme" and somehow landed on Fox 8 to watch a scene from "The New Adventures of Old Christine". Then I landed on the baseball game where ESPN was running a Breaking News crawl about the death of Osama Bin Laden and we had the body. Mercy! So, I grabbed a news channel and continued to watch the President and the aftermath of his speech.








































I was surprised at the gathering outside of the White House and the subsequent cheering. I seem to recall when we see people in their homeland cheering at our misfortune, we are none too happy about it. Somehow when we cheer it's not necessarily a celebration, but something else? I don't get that. It looked like a bunch of students with nothing better to do and having some sort of meetup at the WH. I found that very strange, because frankly, there wasn't a whole lot to cheer.

I mean hadn't Bin Laden won this fight a long time ago. In terms of the human cost and dollars spent to get him. Setting aside other freedoms that were lost via the Patriot Act, travel restrictions, constant fear mongering, etc. Plus, he still wins in death, by the virtue of the war not ending, meaning more lives are wasted.

Don't get me wrong. I love the fact Bin Laden is gone and the mission was pulled off expertly. I see it most definitely as a milestone, but the job is far from finished.

Meal of Links

The story behind the FDNY photo that made the rounds after Sunday's news. Oh, that'll get awards.

Top 25 Newspapers in America. By circulation The PD is 20th daily and 15th on Sundays.

There is "Dexter" news already. He gets a Latina love interest.

Beastie Boys references. These are my favorite rhymes:

"Hey Ladies"/Beastie Boys



"There's more to me than you'll ever know
And I've got more hits than Sadaharu Oh"

"Three MCs and One DJ"/Beastie Boys



"Sweet and sour like a tangerine
Fresh like a box of Krispy Kremes
Kenny Rogers' Gambler is my gambling theme
Mix Master Mike with the scratch routine"

"Sabotage"/Beastie Boys



"But Make No Mistakes And Switch Up My Channel
I'm Buddy Rich When I Fly Off The Handle
What Could It Be It's A Mirage
You're Scheming On A Thing That's Sabotage"

The economics of fighting Bin Laden. His strategy all along was a financial one.

Here are all of your May TV finales. Not on there, but the Champions League final is on my birthday.

Finally. Deconstructing Limbaugh's act on Monday.

Exercise Yard

Bill Simmons combines "The Wire" and the NBA Playoffs. Complete with a Hebner Brothers reference.

The Hebner Brothers



Jesse Ventura: "How can there be two Dave Hebners?"

Classic.

Visitor

5 Down: Sandinista Daniel (6 letters) Answer: Ortega

The anniversary of the BP oil spill is around the corner. I've been reading some conflicting things about where all the BP money went. First off, was the excellent Spillionaires article that got some attention. It implies St. Bernard Parish used BP as a makeup for Katrina. This got my attention: "Flush with cash from cleanup and claims, many fishermen bought new toys, boats and trucks. Sales at the nearest Chevrolet dealer rose 41 percent."

The AP reported local governments bought items not associated with cleanup activities with BP money.

Others are not getting compensated. And attorneys general are getting involved.

Meal of Links

Maybe not the death blow to online poker in the U.S. But close. This seems like an effort to sort of clean up online poker stateside before legalizing it. But it's all very confusing.

Matt Taibbi with another gem. Per Gale, his Imus appearance. Complete with a classic Kenneth "I'm a proper citizen" Dahlberg reference from "All The President's Men".

The trouble with Twitter. Now on their third CEO in three years. Plus horrible ad revenues means they still haven't figured out how to make money off the thing.

Drug songs. Three listens worth it: Rick James, The La's and Tom Petty.

This article actually hooked me. The current state of the Royal Family.

NBA playoffs start tomorrow. Shitty weather allows for max viewing opportunities. Leitch on Carmelo.

iRobot. Beyond the Roomba.

Exercise Yard

Coco's fro.

Visitor

57 Across: University of Cincinnati team (8 letters) Answer: Bearcats

I've been in somewhat of a cinematic mode this week.

I discovered I had some passes from the Capitol that were due to expire tomorrow. The only non-pass restricted engagement this week was "Kill The Irishman", so I went. Spoiler alert: Danny Greene gets blown up. Shawshank alert: The guy who ran Shawshank is back in this one as the union boss before Greene ran him out.

This was better than I thought it would be. Not the greatest, but interesting to see Hollywood's take on the story. For sure, Greene was made out to be the Robin Hood of Collinwood, but overall, it was a decent story. What hooked me was the old actors who got to chew on some scenery. Paul Sorvino, Robert Davi, Tony Lo Bianco and Christopher Walken, all professionals here. Walken as Shondor Birns made me laugh, because he's just playing Walken, but it fits. Even Vinnie Jones (old "Bullet-Tooth Tony") shows up as Keith Ritson.

A nice trip down memory lane. Even though it was filmed in Detroit.

Lots of movies to see at the Cleveland International Film Festival, but so little time to see them. I actually made it to the HBO presentation of "Bobby Fischer Against the World", by Liz Garbus. HBO is showing this doc over the summer and I urge you to watch. It's a pretty compelling view of the rise and fall of Fischer.

Hard to comprehend now, but in 1972, Bobby Fischer may have been the most famous person in the world. And he played chess! Great archival footage and photographs from that time. Even "Wide World of Sports" is there, covering Fischer-Spassky.

You get the chess genius of Fischer, a US champ in his teens. The defeat of Spassky. His complete withdrawal from the game. His sudden re-emergence and subsequent exile from the US. And his demise, following his anti-US rants, post-9/11.

A very good documentary.

Meal of Links

This explains why the Michigan film industry is probably dead. Those tax credits got rolled back. Let's see if Ohio can make it work.

Interested in the Royal Wedding? Here are the media in attendance. Even the Weather Channel will be there. They better send Jim Cantore to see if he brings bad weather everywhere.

March Madness fans have spoken. It's back to Luther's version of "One Shining Moment". The last one with Luther had Raft with the famous "Onions! Double order!!" from Siena-Ohio State.

Thank God for "Archer". It stayed out of the Danger Zone and got renewed.

"Archer"/Danger Zone



20 great songs from movie trailers. "The Lake House" made it. And "(500) Days of Summer". Check that one out, if you haven't seen it.

Matt Howard is from Connersville, IN. That city chipped in to help his parents see Butler in the Final Four Fear the Glasses!

What's up with baseball cards? The 2011 sets look pretty good, especially those Allen & Ginters.

"Mad Men" seems to be in chaos. Rumors are some characters need to be axed. That means you, January Jones.

Boots on the ground. Boots on the ground. In Libya. Only for (ahem) "intelligence gathering".

Costco sells wedding dresses. And giant cans of olives. "Lindsay, Jerry, Lindsay".

Exercise Yard

Baseball starts tomorrow. Guess what happened 30 years ago? Fernandomania!

Rookie of the Year, Cy Young Award winner, Silver Slugger winner, World Series ring. That's a nice start to a career.

Visitor

17 Across: Whip-cracking cowboy of old films (9 letters) Answer: Lash Larue

I took advantage of an early AMC start time and saw "The Lincoln Lawyer" this morning. Four were in attendance. Bottom line? This is actually worth seeing.

Matthew McConaughey is the Lincoln Lawyer, because he had a DUI and works out of the back of a Lincoln, driven by his own chauffeur. He had his shirt off for the briefest of moments here and no trampoline in sight. Marisa Tomei is around as his ex-wife, who works for the DA. Marisa is just starting to have old age creep in around her eyes, but still looks great. Ryan Phillippe is a wealthy guy accused of beating up a hooker and hires McConaughey to get him off.

Now that should put everyone on alert. Phillippe has the guy who ran Shawshank as his "family lawyer", but John Leguizamo is a bail bondsman who tells McConaughey he should take the case. And when we find out there was a similar case that McConaughey had worked on in the past, well, now we have ourselves a movie.

William H. Macy, in full "Shameless" mode, is McConaughey's investigator. Frances Farmer plays Phillippe's mother. Bryan Cranston takes time off from "Breaking Bad" and has a bit role as a cop, as does old hand Michael Pare. My God, Michael Pare was in this movie!

I liked this movie. This was actually written for adults and when you have a rogue attorney like McConaughey, you know that means interesting characters are gonna pop up. You have a good cast and when you combine it with a cool title sequence and a gem of a soundtrack, it's a keeper. I'm afraid it's going to get lost in a web of "Wimpy Kid", "Limitless", "Sucker Punch" and "Rango".

Seriously, a terrific soundtrack here. Bracketed by Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City" with a new take on Ashford & Simpson's "California Soul". Plus, Eric B. and Rakim bring us "Don't Sweat The Technique". You gotta love this stuff.

Meal of Links

There's smart. Then there's Shaka Smart.

Passports make you liberal. It's a fact.

Happy Birthday, Leonard Nimoy



Have you seen the 2011 update for Faces of Meth? What a surprise.

Exercise Yard

Well, the Final Four has been decided. Yesterday's half of the bracket was where I was having the most trouble and I obviously did not have Butler or UConn. Going into today's action, I did have Kansas and Kentucky.

In the large pool that I play, I ended up Top 30 of 479, so I was not too disappointed with my performance. Especially how most of the brackets were getting blown up every day since Thursday.

In this part of the country, you had to go contrarian with Ohio State and Kentucky was my play there. There was lots of talk about how Kentucky was a good home team, but terrible road team. But they had five SEC losses from mid-January by a total of only 11 points and they did win the SEC tournament. Not an obvious pick, but one I felt confident with.

My Final Four was:

Wisconsin
Duke
Kansas
Kentucky

I thought a Pitt loss would open up the bracket. It did. Unfortunately, Wisconsin played a truly awful game against Butler. Duke just got steamrolled by Arizona and Kansas was probably the biggest disappointment, not beating VCU today. I had them winning a final against Duke.

So, we'll see how it goes. Everyone loves the Cinderella, but let's see who actually watches VCU-Butler besides me.

In what may be his finest hour, let's see if Kentucky coach John Calipari can make this one stick.

Visitor

None, on a cold sunny Sunday.

I found out something new about my Blackberry Torch today. For the last few days, I could not figure out what the hell was causing it to drain the battery. I couldn't get past 2:00 in the afternoon without it dying on me.

Alas, it was the constant running of Google Maps. I guess I opened it inadvertently and with it constantly looking for GPS, I was hosed. Maybe there should be a better way to signal you have open apps, but I'm glad I found it. Because I was going bats.

Meal of Links

New stuff at Progressive Field this year. Great, there is a Hafner Burger in April. Probably a single. Then there are Steak Sammies from the Food Network. Plus, "Your Dad's Beer" stand. Lemme guess, Pabst and P.O.C. I'll be at the Opener next Friday.

A look back at "Highlander". Actually saw this in the theater. Not sure if it's good, it's just different. Plus, there is Queen. They used to play this at the start of Cavs games in Richfield. Now they shoot fire out of the scoreboard.

"One Vision"/Queen



I'm not too disappointed about this one. But add another show I've watched to the scrap heap. It's lights out for "Lights Out".

Zidane Still Has It



Exercise Yard

Gus Johnson broadcast the March Madness games from New Orleans tonight. He made a horribly strange non-Gus error near the end of Florida-BYU by asking if BYU should foul Florida with 10 seconds left and the game tied. WTF?

Plus, Westwood One put Kevin Harlan on the least significant Friday matchups for the radio coverage. Why is he doing Kansas and Richmond? Another WTF?

Visitor

50 Down: Volleyball great Gabrielle (5 letters) Answer: Reece

Elizabeth Taylor died today. Uh...those eyes. She gets the Turner marathon on April 10.

Meal of Links

Paul Reiser is back on NBC. But do they really want it to be a hit? Doesn't meet their age requirements.

The best journalism want ad ever. Great stuff. "We have all kinds of corruption, violence and scumbaggery."

Corey Feldman's jacket from "Dream A Little Dream" was stolen. I guess he still wears it.

Medical marijuana sales are now at $1.7 billion. Only $200 million behind Viagra.

If Trebek Did Football Highlights



Cartoon Network announces its new series. What? New productions of Bugs and Daffy? They better not be despicable.

Music from 1981. Rick James at his best. Plus two albums I've worn out. Elvis Costello with "Trust" and "Sandinista!" by The Clash.

Exercise Yard

This essay contains some of the best boxing writing you'll read for a while. We get Virginia Woolf, Gatti-Ward and Castillo-Corrales. Also video of Round 9 of Gatti-Ward and Round 10 of Castillo-Corrales. Long form writing at its finest.

Ditsractions at college basketball games. New this year: Giant cardboard heads.

That reminds me. Here are are your Sweet Sixteen winners.

Thursday:

San Diego State
Florida
Duke
Wisconsin

Friday:

North Carolina (I had Washington)
Kansas
Kentucky
Florida State (I had Purdue)

Visitor

46 Across: Slugger Ramirez (5 letters) Answer: Manny

I just recovered from March Madness. It's not so much the physical exhaustion of watching the games (I was home by 10:30 on Sunday night), it's the mental strain. But it figures I would pick up my first cold of the winter, just as it is ending. I have been sneezing a lot for the last two days. Cannot decide if it was NCAA or NIT people who gave it to me.

To add to the confusion, Marc's did not have an ad this week. How can they do that? They are getting to be like NASCAR. They toss in those odd dark weeks.

Meal of Links

Chloe Moretz has a huge career ahead of her. Probably the best child actress since Natalie Portman.

Whatever happened to Mickey Rourke? He even lost out on "Taken 2", which went back to Liam Neeson.

Randy Lerner's Other Team, Aston Villa, is getting dangerously close to the relegation zone. Who's going down? Probably Blackburn for sure, with QPR definitely up.

Programming, Motherfucker! Do you speak it?

Soap operas have been dying fairly rapidly. Is "All My Children" next? It's moving to LA for production. Or dying in NYC.

Movie Characters Saying Their Title



Jack made a new whiskey. It's called Tennessee Honey. For the chicks, apparently.

Amazon has some digital albums for 5 bucks. Good shit here. From Frampton to Dropkick Murphys.

Digital media in the Middle East and Africa. Who's next?

Yep, he's my congressman. And may still be what's left of any anti-war movement we have in this country.

Sure, these candidates are awful. But don't write them off.

The Blackberry Playbook arrives. Same pricing as the iPad. I need to see more of it.

Exercise Yard

My Conspiracy Spider Sense is tingling. The new NFL kickoff rules have tripped it. I realize the owners have decided to move the kickoff back to the 35-yard line under the guise of safety. At least the two-man wedge and touchbacks to the 20-yard line survived.

But in the process of making the game safer, they have taken away one of the more, if not the most, spectacular ways to score. Along with the one play that can be a huge momentum swing.

What I really think the owners have done is eliminate one more specialist they have to pay. You won't see the likes of a Devin Hester contract anymore or even a Josh Cribbs sorta cashing in like he did. There's no need for them anymore and they have to earn their keep at another position.

Visitor

18 Down: Poet Ogden (4 letters) Answer: Nash

I have been taking hits in the side of the brackets that played yesterday, going 4-4. But I have a dog in every fight today and still have my Final Four intact.

Today's winners:

Washington
Duke
Ohio State
Texas
Purdue
Marquette
Kansas
Notre Dame

Really, Washington and Marquette avoid me being Chalky McChalk for the day.

Yesterday was a long day spent at Quicken Loans Arena watching some NCAA tournament games. March Madness blessed us with four games yesterday and I'll get to them in a moment. First off, we were not so blessed with start times this weekend. With only a scheduled 25-minute break between games on Friday, we were greeted during the late game with the announcement of another late start for Game 2, 7:40 on Sunday. That did not please the Syracuse gathering one iota. First time I ever heard booing for a start time.

But, here's what went down as far as logistics yesterday. Every lot east of East 9th Street did not increase prices. All were listed at $10. I'm sure lots closest to the Q were higher, but that was extremely fair for those who stayed all day. I was in an unattended lot at Bolivar and 9th.

















Part of the angst earlier in the week was the timing between games. Allegedly, the arena was going to be cleaned out because you had to leave the arena as the four games are divided into two sessions. Trust me, they did NOT clean the entire arena between games, as my cups and the peanut shells from the woman next to me remained from our early session. I'm sure the bathrooms got a quick onceover, but nothing in the seating area indicated between-game cleaning.

Yes, they cleared the Q between sessions, but there was no line to get back in. There were people lining up outside, but that appeared to be Xavier people who were not in the place during the afternoon. I walked out a couple minutes before 7, stood around the entrance for a bit, followed some people in, and was back in my seat by 7:15. They didn't tip off until 7:45. To help speed up things, I found it extremely unusual that tickets were not wanded in, as they were in the afternoon, but only stubs were ripped off. Taking two steps to one. Gee, no fraud could take place during that hasty procedure, eh?

But my brother and Paul were able to eat at Tower City, so there was time for a sitdown between games. Maybe not at any 4th Street eateries, but if you went elsewhere, it was doable. And if you left the Buckeye rout early, it could be done easily.

There were no highlights from other games and no in-house replays, but our row was right in front of some clubs where we could peek at some TVs. Only scores from other games were announced and displayed prominently on the scoreboard.

















Oh, and Gus Johnson (in the blue shirt) was there. Ha ha!

I won't bore you with much of the game action but here's the recap of the Cleveland games.

George Mason-Villanova

I have a blind spot when it comes to George Mason. I was big on them getting to the Sweet 16 about a month ago. Then when they drew Villanova and then, perhaps, Ohio State, I wasn't sure about the second game. But I was definitely for Mason against Villanova.

















The first thing you notice about Mason is their band, or should I say, bandleader. Paul called him Cab Calloway, but he goes by Doc Nix. That's a Yale grad in that big yellow suit with cane. Oh yeah, there are also two violins in the pep band.

















This was a really ugly game and the Villanova mascot could not save them. Mason was only down by 6 at the half for reasons unexplained. Villanova only scored 22 points in the second half but intentionally slowed down their offense way too much. When they were quick, they scored. Extremely baffling.

Ohio State-University of Texas at San Antonio

















Really, what can you say about this mismatch. UTSA has a neat name, the Roadrunners. But as soon as their coach got a technical foul early in the second half, he stayed seated. His team must have looked at him and said "If he ain't tryin', why should I?" Game over.

Had to endure lots of "O-H" followed by "I-O" during this game. There was one thing that stood out. There are cheers for many of Ohio Sate players, but you know who gets the biggest cheers? Why, it's Jon Diebler. They just lo-o-o-ove the white man. Watch Sunday, it's uncanny.

















Even at the end of the game, they couldn't contain themselves.

Marquette-Xavier


























Marquette's first half was the best display of basketball on Friday. Good shooting, terrific defense, especially on defense and a loud fan base. Xavier had a ton of fans there, but early foul trouble nicked two starters and they sort of hung around, but Marquette was never really in danger of losing this one.

Syracuse-Indiana State




















The crowd really wanted to cheer for Indiana State. And, for a late game, their fans were boisterous. ISU somehow cut the Syracuse lead to 6 at the half. Then, at the start of the second half, Indiana State, for two minutes, had all of us in the palm of their hand. Then they crapped the bed.

Syracuse in a romp. We finally left when the ISU coach called a timeout with 2 minutes to go. It was about 12:35 a.m. Still observing Lent, I finally had a corned beef sammie when I got home.

Meal of Links

Now they are rating Full Moons. Tonight's Full Moon is a Supermoon. The largest in 18 years. Or is it just amore?

If you hated Google then, what about now? Google revisited.

Simon Cowell loves "Friday" by Rebecca Black. And also hires L.A. Reid for X Factor.

The Foo Fighters are back on tour. Perhaps, in your garage. Would I have to clean it?

We are currently lobbing missiles at Libya. Talk about Madness. Aren't we joining teh losing side of a Civil War? Again. Where's Biden?

Exercise Yard






















My Dad and I took in today's NIT game at the Bart between Cleveland State and College of Charleston. Weird to see Bobby Cremins on the sideline for Charleston, given his past coaching exploits. It was also the last game for Norris Cole at CSU, before he seemingly heads off to the NBA. It will be hard to replace him. Great leader, great teammate, great person, great player.

The season kind of ended with a big thud today. As CSU shot an unbelievable 4% on 3-pointers. That's 1-for-25, if you need it. That's where the problem lied today.

They held Charleston's star guard, Andrew Goudelock, to 13 points in 39 minutes. Decent bench production today. Only 6 turnovers. 40 points in the paint. 81% from the line and they outrebounded CoC. They just couldn't hit a jumper.

The season is over. CSU loses, 64-56.

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4 Down: Nickname for an athletic "kid' (6 letters) Answer: Say Hey

Before I head off to today's NIT matchup between College of Charleston and Cleveland State, I must say the marathon session at the Q went pretty well. The George Mason-Villanova game was sort of a typical 8-9 game for the excitement, but not necessarily the execution.

Ohio State is who we thought they were. Marquette was VERY impressive in their win over Xavier. And Syracuse kept their feet on Indiana State's throats for most of the game and was never really threatened in the last 18 minutes of the game. More on that later.

But, yesterday was a solid day for the pools. Only missed on Georgetown and Texas A&M for a 14-2 record. 25-7 for the first round, which always keeps you close.

Here are today's winners:

Kentucky
Florida
Richmond (I had Louisville)
San Diego State
Pittsburgh
Gonzaga
Wisconsin
Cincinnati (I had Missouri)

I'll be at the Q all day today for March Madness. First game starts at 2:10 and I am looking for it to end probably around 12:30. Then I have an NIT game tomorrow at the Bart.

Yesterday, Richmond was probably a decent upset pick, but Morehead State ("Morehead" on CBS graphics, BTW) was on Louisville from the start and never let up for a huge win. I lost on Old Dominion, as Butler had a buzzer beater. What can you say about Vandy, another first round loss (third time in a row). And I completely overestimated Clemson (or completely underestimated West Virginia), and Missouri, as well.

Had 11 wins yesterday, 7 out of 8 at night.

Here are your Friday winners:

Texas
Michigan
Notre Dame
George Mason
Arizona
Duke
Texas A&M
Ohio State

Kansas
North Carolina
Purdue
Marquette
Illinois
Washington
Georgetown
Syracuse

Can't say enough about three things. Drew and I attempted to save the world once again at O'Reilly's at Cedar Center. I think I had the coldest beer I've had this year last night, a Harp. Man, that hit the spot. And I had their Steak Quesadillas. They never disappoint.

And with March madness in the air, you have to see the docs that aired this past week. Clearly, the star of "The Fab Five" was Jalen Rose. They did a fairly decent job of the Fab Five's journey from high school through Michigan even without Chris Webber's particpation. Now, Jalen appears to be getting in trouble for some comments he made about Duke. It was his thought, at the time, that blacks who played ball at Duke were Uncle Toms. I thought he made it clear that those were his long ago thoughts. But Grant Hill felt compelled to reply

The other doc was an HBO production on the Runnin' Rebels of Nevada-Las Vegas. You have Tark the Shark in all his defiant glory. Remember his quote, "The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky, they gave Cleveland State two more years of probation." Lots of nice footage of their style. The best line was when the word "Thugs" was being tossed around (a lot) to describe them. One guy said, "Thugs? Their point guard was head of the Young Republicans!". Indeed, Greg Anthony was.

Those were two very nice throwbacks down memory lane.

Meal of Links

An excellent primer on drinking early in Cleveland. These gems are rare these days. Unless it's St. Patrick's Day.

Has any company reinvented itself more successfully than Netflix? They now own 61% of the streaming market.

Charlie Sheen. The Anatomy of a Winner.

Gilbert Gottfried got sacked by AFLAC because of some lame jokes about the tsunami. Fairly stupid, because he probably gets a decent amount of cash for saying one word. Now he says do the opposite of of what I do.

Clash of the Titans. Hee Haw vs. Soul Train.

Did Batman go to college? Yale thinks so.

Evan Bayh. Hypocrite.

Exercise Yard

One of the nagging thoughts going into March Madness is this. Does Jimmer shoot too much?

OK, here are Thursday's winners (get your brackets out):

Clemson
Old Dominion
Georgetown over VCU (USC over Georgetown)
Temple
Kentucky
Pittsburgh
Vanderbilt
San Diego State

Florida
BYU
Connecticut
Wisconsin
UCLA
Gonzaga
Missouri
Kansas State

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12 Down: Nicolas Gage memoir (5 letters) Answer: Eleni

Finally, Selection Sunday is underway. Cleveland did not get the two Number One seeds, as had been predicted. For weeks, actually, as Pitt got shipped to DC.

So, the matchups here on Friday are:

#1 Ohio State
#16 Tomato Can

#8 George Mason
#9 Villanova

#3 Syracuse
#14 Indiana State

#6 Xavier
#11 Marquette

Actually, not too bad of a pod. I loved George Mason to win at least 2 games coming into the tournament, but OSU in a faux home game is really a tough one. I think Syracuse could sleep for 20 minutes during the Indiana State game and still win. It's a weaker Xavier team this year, but one that shows up at tourney time every year. So, the seeds may hold here through Sunday.

And, of course, here are the yearly snubs. Virtually every talking head was fired up, because a notoriously weak field combined with an expanded number of teams was supposed to prevent the snubs we saw today. Then again, everyone is an expert this time of year.

Meal of Links

State Department spokesperson had to resign. His comments about Bradley Manning were his undoing.

Celebrities can't hide anymore. Even in the bathroom.

I stumbled upon this today. Google recipes!

Exercise Yard

Yeah, it's pitiful to watch the NIT Selection Show. But I thought Cleveland State might make it, and they did. They were the last matchup revealed and as a Number 2 seed, they drew the Catamounts of Vermont. Kent drew Saint Mary's.

Vermont played BYU and Connecticut and lost. They lost in the BracketBusters to the College of Charleston. Only common opponent with CSU was Iona. They won, as well.

NIT brackets here. First game is Tuesday at CSU on ESPN3.com.

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None, on a quiet Sunday.