Not Interested Tonight

It's my fault. I jinxed 'em.

The one game I sit down to watch (and actually can watch - thanks, ESPN) during Michigan's NIT run is a total snoozer. As I write this, South Carolina is up by 15 points with five-and-a-half minutes left, and I don't see Tommy's guys making a game of it. Maybe Michigan never had a chance. If there's one school that's better at this NIT thing, it might be the defending NIT champ Gamecocks. I bet those "back-to-back" shirts will sell like hot pimento cheese in Columbia. Maybe I can get my sister to drive up from Charleston and snag me one.

Speaking of my Lil' Sis, this NIT match-up was worth it, if only to get a "Beat the Cocks!" e-mail from her today. What has the South done to my little sister's mouth? This from a woman who refuses to get me one of those "COCKS" hats (for which I should probably be thankful).

I was ready to take some notes so I could have some actual analysis for tomorrow, but this thing has just bored me to tears. Wiping the dust off the top of my TV seems more interesting. So as my mind drifts to other, random thoughts, we'll call this my Larry King post...

▪▪ Was Tuesday's Pistons-Mavericks match-up the best regular season game you've seen in a while? I don't watch anywhere near as much regular season NBA basketball as I used to (when I'd sit through entire TNT doubleheaders), but I can't imagine many games having the same kind of urgency I saw on Tuesday. The fans were making serious noise, and the players seemed to drive harder to the basket, fight more fiercely for rebounds, and stand tougher on defense.

▪▪ And then the Pistons follow that up the next night - when they could've been understandably worn out - with a win over Philadelphia on the road? If anyone was worried about these guys over the past couple of weeks, I think you can stop now. They're getting serious again.

▪▪ So Joey Harrington's going to have a free-agent tour across America? Someone should make t-shirts. Seven teams are interested in him? (Oops, make that six teams. Scratch Denver off the list. Thanks, Kevin Antcliff.) But Joey's still going to Kansas City, isn't he? Doesn't that make the most sense for both teams involved?

▪▪ And if Dallas is interested in Harrington, what does that say about the Cowboys' opinion of Drew Henson? Apparently, Parcells isn't much of a Rhein Fire watcher.

▪▪ I'm already tired of this Barry Bonds $#!+, and George Mitchell's Steroid Probe (hey, there's a title for a blog, if you were looking for one) hasn't even started yet. The best thing I've read on the story, however, was Buster Olney's ESPN blog today. This investigation brings up far more questions - Why now? How deep will it really dig? - than any answers it'll hope to provide.

▪▪ During a fantasy baseball draft I was in this week, someone took Curtis Granderson, and then asked me if he'd be this year's Grady Sizemore. And I started to shiver. If Granderson plays well enough to score a six-year extension like the one Sizemore just signed with Cleveland, the Tigers will be looking good.

▪▪ This is my first year playing fantasy baseball, and I can already see that I'll be way too into it. I've been checking over my rosters obsessively since my drafts, wondering where I came up short. I think I underestimated stolen bases with most of my picks. Any veteran fantasy players have a thought on that?