Fox Sports’s Michael Lazarus takes a first look at the potential NCAA Tournament field. Like Lunardi, he has USC, Notre Dame and Gonzaga all in the tournament.

P.S. CBS Sportsline’s Gary Parrish has a bubble watch up (as of Sunday).

Incidentally, you can already sign up for March Madness On Demand, so you won’t have to “wait in line” come March.

Further proof that everything is offensive to somebody or other:

In a 30-second [Super Bowl] ad for Nationwide Insurance, [Kevin] Federline is shown dreaming he is a rap star but then snaps out of it to face reality — he’s working at a burger restaurant. …

But the National Restaurant Association’s Chief Executive Steven Anderson has written to Nationwide saying the ad leaves the impression that working in a restaurant is demeaning and unpleasant and asking the commercial to be dumped.

“An ad such as this would be a strong and a direct insult to the 12.8 million Americans who work in the restaurant industry,” wrote Anderson, head of the association that represents 935,000 U.S. restaurants. “Developing creative concepts that accomplish the marketing strategies for a product should not require denigrating another industry.”

Anderson added, “Would you like fries with that?”

Heh: “What was worth commenting on…was the contrast in blinks per minute between Pelosi and Cheney. While Pelosi clocked a good 25-30 blinks per minute, Cheney barely mustered 3 or 4. If energy conservation is a personal virtue—as he once said so dismissively—Cheney is a saint. The man functions admirably on standby power.”

Well, c’mon, everybody knows “Dick Cheney,” the one who attends public functions, is actually a robot. The real Dick Cheney (yes I’m the real Cheney / all the other Dick Cheneys / are just imitatin’) is in an underground bunker somewhere, y’know, running the government. Which is ironic — that someone underground can still manage to run the government into the ground. :)

That said, I did notice that Pelosi seemed to be blinking a lot. She’d better be careful: excessive blinking became a political issue for Bob Dole during the 1996 debates. (Because, y’know, there’s nothing more important to judge our nation’s leaders on than how often they blink.) Although, in Pelosi’s case, I’d say it’s better to blink frequently than to sport her usual unblinking “deer in headlights” look.

I realize this is rehashing my earlier post somewhat, but now we’re hearing directly form Kyle McAlarney — not just from his mother — his reaction to Notre Dame’s decision to suspend him for a semester for marijuana possession… and it ain’t pretty:

“Speaking for my family, we’re very ashamed and very disappointed with how Notre Dame handled everything. I did everything I could do and more, but they didn’t judge me on that. A regular student would not get half the punishment that I received.”

Look, I don’t care where you come down on the issue of marijuana use or Notre Dame’s drug policy. Personally, I tend to think that marijuana should be legalized, and that regardless, Notre Dame’s policy is too harsh. But those are side issues. The central issue here is that Kyle McAlarney is not being truthful. His statement to the press is either dishonest or ignorant (and if the latter, he should know better). He is publicly bashing Notre Dame for inconsistency where no inconsistency exists. There is simply no possible defense of McAlarney’s statement. He should be “ashamed” — not of Notre Dame, but of himself.

Cue Black & Green, which says it better than I could:

Now to a story that really bugs me. Kyle McAlarney said in no uncertain terms, that he is “ashamed” by Notre Dame’s punishment for him. I caught the headline and thought for sure that it read “McAlarney ‘ashamed’ about his own actions.” In my morning stupor, I thought that the young man had taken responsibility for his mistake and plans to move on. How silly of me. In today’s society, when does anyone take responsibility for their own actions? …

I’m not feeling sorry for you, Kyle. I truly believed that you would take the high road here and just take your punishment. I understand that you must be frustrated. It’s ok to disagree with the University’s reaction to your crime. However, to pretend that you are being held to a higher standard than everyone else is blatantly ridiculous. Apparently you haven’t heard that just about every other drug case ends up with a semester dismissal from Notre Dame. ND is not like a public school, it’s not like Boston College, it’s not like any other university in the world. True, this suspension is harsh. You should have thought about your punishment before you decided to light up.

While the semester suspension doesn’t come as a surprise to me, the McAlarney family seems blindsided. This is where I have some sympathy for K-Mac. He obviously was surrounded by people who told him that the disciplinary action would not be this harsh. If he was expecting better news, it is natural to be bitter. He did act respectably before this and took the indefinite suspension from basketball well. However, saying that he is being treated more harshly than others is downright false. I really hoped Kyle would rise above that.

Read the whole thing, which notes that McAlarney’s blatantly false comments are feeding a predictable spasm of anti-Notre Dame backlash in the media. Way to pay back the university for the free education and all the opportunities it offered you, Kyle.

I’d also recommend this earlier post by Black & Green, written before McAlarney whined to the press, which shows just how absurd the whine really is:

(more…)

Hey, that shark looks kind of like a… uh… nevermind.

Soon to be featured in a new Discovery Channel special, “Phallic Animals of the Deep.”

(Hat tip: Mark West.)

P.S. Video here.

Scott Schmidt, both on his Boi From Troy blog in his role as a contributor to Spot-On, declares that “the State of the Union is…California”:

With a Republican chief executive forced to work with a hostile legislative branch, the Washington is looking a lot like California has over the past three years under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. …

[I]t seems President Bush is reading off the cue cards of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election script.

The domestic issues highlighted by President Bush in his 2007 State of the Union reflect a “progressive libertarian” approach to solving issues traditionally considered the domain of Democrats; he’s taking a page from Arnold. …

We don’t need to “Amend for Arnold” because we have the new George W. Bush, Presidentnator of the United States.

Read the whole thing.

The latest edition of ESPN’s Bubble Watch is up. Notre Dame is bumped down from “lock” status to “should be in” after last night’s loss to St. John’s. USC remains a “should be in” team, though resident bubble-watcher Andrew Glockner asks, “What more does USC need to do? Other than still-middling computer numbers, everything about the Trojans screams ‘lock.’” Gonzaga is listed under “work left to do,” but Glockner says “the Zags probably will be fine.” The Huskies, not so much — both sets of ‘em. “UConn is not even in the bubble discussion at this point after two more losses and a triple-digit RPI” and “Washington…dropped out of the mix this week.” UW is still seen as a “darkhorse conference tournament threat,” though, and even without ‘em, the Pac-10 “likely will get the highest percentage of its teams into the NCAAs. At this point, even seven bids is not impossible.” Arizona, UCLA, Wazzu and Oregon are locks; USC is likely; and Cal and Stanford are on the bubble.

The next update will be next Wednesday.

Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology is also newly updated today. Gonzaga drops to a #11, on the very cusp of the bubble. USC is seeded #9 and matched up against #8 Georgetown in what would be a first-round battle of my college vs. my dad’s college. Notre Dame is seeded #8, with #1 UCLA looming in a potential second-round matchup. My soon-to-be hometown team, Tennessee? They’re a #8, too. And my favorite conference (well, other than the Pac-10, I guess), the Missouri Valley, gets three bids: #7 Southern Illinois, #10 Northern Iowa and #11 Missouri State, with Creighton and Bradley waiting on the doorstep. Man, this is shaping up to be a really fun March.

P.S. I’ve reorganized my sports blogroll sidebar to emphasize the basketball stuff over the football stuff. More changes will probably be forthcoming.

P.P.S. NIT-ology is up and running for 2007. In the first update of the season, as of Monday, UConn and Stanford get #1 seeds. USC gets a #3, which is odd, considering that Lunardi thinks they’re in the NCAAs as a #9, and Glockner thinks they’re a near-lock! NIT-ology says Cal is in the NCAA tourney ahead of the Trojans. Cal? Really? Well, it is pretty early; there’s a lot of room for disagreement at this point. Anyway, last year’s Final Four darling, George Mason, is on the bubble… the NIT bubble… and is currently on the outside looking in. Also below the NIT cut line: Washington.

This Daily Show clip has a lot of funny parts, but my personal favorite is the shot at Chris Dodd ~2 minutes and 20 seconds in:

source file

Heh.

P.S. For those who might be wondering what a “mimbo” is… here you go.

Another key figure in the Watergate conspiracy is dead.

Out: The Kiss. In: The Warm Handshake.

Conservative blogger Mary Katharine Ham of Townhall was a bit surprised to see Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, one of the more vocal Democratic critics of President Bush, lean in to shake hands with the commander-in-chief as he entered the House tonight for his State of the Union speech.

Ham was even more suprised to see Kucinich go out of his way to shake hands with Bush a second time as he left the House after the speech. “The nutroots will make you pay, Dennis,” she said.

The “nutroots” did, in fact, notice. Kos asked: “And was that Dennis Kucinich by the entrance/exit grabbing Bush warmly on both the ways in and out?” He later added in an update, “Yes, it was Kucinich.” One commenter declared, “Kucinich should drop out of the race, then.” (In fairness, another responded: “Is DK not allowed to be civil with the president? WTF?!”)

John Kerry has decided not to run for president in 2008.

source file

We already knew that Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl likes to take his shirt off, and that he’ll do whatever it takes to get the fans psyched up (e.g., “We are your basketball team, I am your basketball coach, and we are going to kick Florida’s ass!“), but he took it to a whole new level Monday when he showed up in the student section — topless — for the Lady Vols’ game against #1 Duke.

(Hat tip: Jay, who explains, “As some backstory that no one outside of the state probably knows, he basically promised to do this during the regular Vol Network broadcast of ‘Vol Calls’ which airs weekly on Monday nights, and is a recap/pregame show with coaches, players, etc. for the week. He’s certainly a dynamic guy, and it seems like he’s been here forever. [It’s actually only his second year. -ed.] This guy can coach, motivate, and generally get it done like no one I’ve ever seen before.”)

I’ll put the photos after the jump, because as Ryan says, “it’s kind of cool, weird, scary, and disturbing all in the same breath.” Seriously… if you want to see someone attractive and topless, click here (NSFW). If you want to see someone unattractive and topless, and also possibly NSFW, click the link below…

(more…)

Okay, agree or disagree with the politics, but this is totally way better than Bush’s speech.

WARNING: Nudity! NSFW!!

(more…)

I mentioned this in my State of the Union post, but, um… yikes:

North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one Pyongyang carried out last year.

Under the terms of a new understanding between the two countries, the North Koreans have agreed to share all the data and information they received from their successful test last October with Teheran’s nuclear scientists. …

A senior European defence official told The Daily Telegraph that North Korea had invited a team of Iranian nuclear scientists to study the results of last October’s underground test to assist Teheran’s preparations to conduct its own — possibly by the end of this year.

The test will be for “peaceful purposes,” I’m sure.

Okay, so yeah, I’m sober. That’s going to be make the speech much less interesting. Alas.

Anyway, after the jump, I’ll post my latest thoughts in reverse chronological order. I.e., the newest stuff will be at the top.

Colin Pedicini is also liveblogging. So is Wonkette, of course.

Glenn Reynolds links to other liveblogs, and it looks like he’s liveblogging, too.

(more…)