Best Ever?

Three staight days of hosting banquets kept me from posting anything for over a week. By the time the weekend hit, I was ready to relax and get caught up on a few things. Congrats to the athletes selected to this years Basketball Dream Team, and it was a pleasure to meet all of them, and the coaches as well. I think things went pretty well this year. Had the banquets at a new venue that seemed to be a hit with everyone, and as always the food was excellent. Glad they are over though, and glad the HS sports season is winding down, because it's been a whirlwind year. Anyways, onto the tourney.

I'm sure by now most people have heard "experts" on the Worldwide Leader declare the 2008 edition of the NCAA Final 4 the best ever, despite one dribble taking place. Fact is, right now, we don't know if this will be the best ever. Sure, having all four #1 seeds would create such buzz, but lets hold judgement until the games are completed.

Anyways, as for my brackets, as you can probably guess, they are in the crapper right now. I still had a fighting chance after the Georgetown loss, but once Texas bit the dust, my hopes were dashed. Despite the upsets in the first weekend, and having 3 double digit seeds in the sweet 16, the tournament all of sudden took a turn down Boring Blvd. I'm sure CBS is excited about the Final 4, and it's storylines. Roy Williams takes on his former team, UCLA getting into a 3rd straight Final 4, and finally Memphis lived up to their overhyped expectations from the previous three seasons. Plus they got three of the biggest names in college basketball in UCLA, North Carolina, and Kansas. Still, it would have been really nice to see the Final 4 consist Xavier and Davidson, instead of UCLA and Kansas, just because it would have been karma smacking the selection committee in the face for all the suspect first round matchups. I'm still staying with UCLA as my champion, but if the Royals were playing in KC Saturday evening, I'd rather go watch their game, than have to sit through Nance and Packer slobber over the fact all #1 seeds are in the Final 4.

Speaking of those Royals; How 'bout them Royals? Yeah there's still 161 more games left in the season, and by September Detroit will probably have a better head to head record, but for one day, the Royals lived up to, and exceeded expectations. I thought it was all lost when Detroit tied the game up at 4 apiece, but that was probably the ghosts of Royals' past coming alive. Had the Royals won in 9 innings, it wouldn't have meant as much, but coming from behind, getting a HR from Gordon, and getting your #9 batter to bloop a single for the winning run, shows this team may have what it takes to compete. I think most Royals fans will admit that 2003 was more luck and good timing, than anything else. If the Royals have the same out put, most fans will admit it's the beginning of something special. Hopefully DeJesus isn't too badly injuried, and Grudz can stay healthy to play in at least 100 games, because I think his good glove and steady bat could really help this team through tough portions of the season. The Royals are over .500. hopefully it won't the only time of the season fans can say that.

BTW thanks to Jake for his extensive preview on the 2008 MLB season. He'll be adding his insight to the MLB season here on the blog when he wants to.