Well, as a Butler fan I'm surprised - to say the least - that head coach Todd Lickliter is leaving the Bulldogs for the head position at Iowa. A good opportunity for him, I'm just surprised it was offered to him.

See, I've had this thing against Lickliter since 7th grade, when I had to guard him in 3 scrimmages during tryouts for the junior high basketball team (the Fighting Falcons of Northview Junior High). Of course, he lit me up me very, very badly; I think I tripped him once and took a charge from him once - and dribbled it off my foot, threw it to his teammate several times, and just generally proved that I was better suited to football than basketball. He starred on the team, I was cut. Jerk. Bastard.

So, as decent a coach as he's been for the Bulldogs, building upon a tradition started by Barry Collier and Thad Matta, I'm thrilled to see him go. Bitter, ... yes. Not terribly rational, ... yes. Carrying a grudge for far longer than is healthy for a middle aged adult, ... again, yes.

I expect the Bulldogs will find a good replacement, and in truth wish Lickliter well in his new position. He is, afterall, the NCAA Coach of the Year.

Well, that didn't work ... back to the bitter stuff ... He doesn't strike me as a big time college coach (suspect in the recruiting area and in ability to make mid-game adjustments), but it's just Iowa. Expectations have been lowered in the Hawkeye program, and this is probably as perfect a big time opportunity as any coach from a mid-major could hope for. Then again, I thought that Mike Davis was going to succeed at Indiana, that Joe Barry Carroll was a shoe-in for NBA stardom, and that I was going to make the 7th grade team ...

How long is too long for a NASCAR Cup event? I seriously think NASCAR has absolutely no idea how long "too long" might be.

SUNDAY, APRIL 1st - MARTINSVILLE RACE:

I watched the start of the race (would SOMEONE please put a merciful stop to the military fly-over at sporting events during the Star Spangled Banner?), and then headed out with my wife for a nice afternoon stroll around Carmel.

It was a gorgeous day here, and we spent well over two hours on our walk/jog. The race was still on when we got back, although I didn't pay attention to which lap they were on, ... there was a caution at the time.

I waited for my wife to finish her shower, then took a long hot shower myself - felt good after being on my feet for so long - still trying to shake off the winter doldrums ...

I then drove over to my folks house. They live 15 miles away, and their landscape lighting system and the dog's invisible fence hadn't been working for some time. It took me a while to find the break in the invisible fence wire, but I got it fixed. And I had to do a little rewiring on the landscape lighting system as well.

After finishing these repairs and chatting with the folks awhile about the NCAA games last night, I drove to the grocery to buy stuff for Sunday dinner. After a leisurely stroll around the store to find my wife's preferred ingredients for chicken marsala, I drove home.

I'm not sure how long it takes to cook chicken marsala, but I had time to write a two page report for a client regarding their compensation programs before being summoned to dinner.

My wife and two grown children (in town for the weekend) had a very nice meal and had a nice conversation afterwards. Then it was time for them to hit the road - the boy heading back to Purdue and our daughter back home to Louisville.

After about 45 minutes, we noticed that our daughter had left some of her clothes behind. We called her and made arrangements to meet her 1/2 way to get the clothes to her. I hopped into the car, drove down the road a bit and turned on the radio.

AND THE #$&@! RACE STILL HAD 56 LAPS TO GO ! !

Unbelievable. Who can spend that much time watching a race around a little bull-ring, let alone a larger track? I have gotten to a position where I want to like NASCAR, as they're on far more than any other form of racing. And I like some elements of the competition. But I simply can't get past the incredible, INCREDIBLE length of EVERY RACE.

So ... who won?

First Half Rant:

As a sports official myself, I rarely get concerned about sports officiating - knowing how very difficult their jobs are, particularly officials in fast-paced, physical sports. I know that players typically make far more errors in a game than the officials do. And I also know that these three referees surely had intentions of calling a fair game. They likely have families who love them and nice doggies that wag their tails when they hear their master's car come up the drive. It's not like they set out to suck in the performance of their job so badly that they'd make Mike Brown (as in "helluva job Brownie") look like General George Marshall or to make one wonder if Captain Joseph Hazelwood might be better able to see the elbows that Joachim Noah has been dishing out than these three ya-ya's.

I admit that I am a homer here - a Butler Alum and long-time season ticket holder. Having said that ...

The officiating in the first half of todays game has been head-in-the-rectum awful. ... I already said something to that affect? Sorry to be redundant. Granted, Butler's been playing a pressure defense (as has Florida), and they have certainly committed fouls. But the lack of calls on so many Butler possessions where a Florida guard has body checked Graves or Green all the way down the floor, and where Horford or Noah have crashed into a Bulldog shooter - WITHOUT calls seems highly inconsistent with the types of fouls whistled at the other end of the floor. Florida stepped up their defensive pressure, and helped cause Butler's cold streak at the end of the half. But the officials also did their part - whether calling travelling on Graves where his foot stayed planted or failing to call Horford for obviously fouling Graves on a shot from the corner or calling a foul on Betko for pushing Noah off of a rebound under the bucket (very little contact - other than that initiated by Noah backing in to Betko). Ah well, that's half the fun of basketball - a part of the game I've missed for many years - yelling at the officials, thru the T.V. no less. These guys have stunk it up. Call it even fellas; forget that Florida is the favorite or I may just have to throw something harder than a throw pillow at the plasma screen. I still think Butler pulls it off. Graves has been ICE cold, and he NEVER stays cold for a whole game. And Florida is likely thinking they've dodged the bullet now that they have the lead. GO BULLDOGS!

Update 5 Minutes Into Second Half:

Clearly, the officials decided at half-time to call about 1/2 as shitty a game as they had been calling, and also made the wise choice to even-out their blithering ineptness. The calls so far in the 2nd half have been pretty even - albeit in a consistently-inconsistent-across-both-teams kind of way. However, I'll take that over the first half calls (although we started in the hole due to the huge # of calls in the 1st half, and are now missing our best defensive guard due to 3 questionable hand checks and 1 clear pushing foul).

Post Game Update:

These officials can take a flying leap into East St. Louis - they've ruined what could have been a great game. Butler has done it's part too, missing a couple of free throws that could have changed the flow of the last minute of the game. And Florida did shut down a key element of Butler's offense throughout the last ten minutes. Florida is a very tough, talented team. Horford is the man - he's carried them over the last two games.

Enough of the charitable drivel. ... the refs were so bad, they were so bad, ... analogies escape me for just how much these guys blew the pooch. Very tough calls against Crone (his 5th, with Horford backing him down was a chicken-sh*t call) and the Florida big men skated with virtually no calls (most calls against the Gators were hand check types against their guards). The Bulldogs had a chance, played very well, but for too long it was 8 against 5. The more talented team won - but it wasn't all that fair of a fight.

Really interesting defense by Florida - zone with the big guys checking out to harrass Graves - pretty effective too - he couldn't get his perimeter shots off. The first game I can remember where a team has successfully prevented his perimeter shooting.

(Did I mention the refs were likely on meth, crack or, at the very least, loaded with Schlitz? I may have - please forgive me for persisting in this barely rational rant, or don't forgive me - doesn't really matter: I'm not sure if they had a bias towards the obviously bigger, stronger, more talented team, ... or maybe they just got lost in a simultaneous man-crush for Joachim Noah after staring into his big doe-like eyes, or perhaps being brushed by his sensuous mane as he flopped to the ground once again after contact with a young man fifty pounds lighter than him, or perhaps he engaged them in "discussions of worldly issues" during breaks - to quote the most lame color commentary of the tournament to-date. Off to much needed therapy, anyone seen Undecided?).

Although I hope fervently for a different outcome, you may want to set your Tivo's for this coming Saturday night's SNL. It promises to be a train wreck of mythic proportion. Peyton Manning will be guest host. ... yes ... Peyton Manning.

Peyton Manning hosting a comedy show? Peyton Manning in LIVE comedy skits? This will almost surely be as painful as the Chris Evert "event" on SNL. Sure, athletes can make good hosts - Andrew Roddick was GREAT. But it's very rare that they do more than slide through (or worse).

The writers most definitely have their hands full this week. Hopefully it will be loaded with self-deprecating stuff - that's about all he'll be able to pull off (bedroom scene with frenetic audibles, and maybe a cameo from Tom Moore). Maybe he'll revive Will Ferrell's "man who can't modulate his voice" character. I'm sure there will be lame stuff featuring his appearance in nearly 1/4 of all advertisements that run during an NFL game.

It's gonna be a wince-fest.

After the completion of the first day of games, my picks have been PERFECT - sixteen for sixteen.

Didn't fall for the Old Dominion is hot and will physically dominate the decidedly cold and smaller Butler Bulldogs line. Nor did I bite on the Cinderella prediction for Oral Roberts. It was clear to me that Duke was gonna end their mysteriously but unambiguously mediocre season against a quick, tenacious, and resilient VCU. And there was no doubt at all in my mind that Stanford would crumble - having all of their starters back simply meant that they were going to have fewer excuses after their loss.

I have been fully validated. There is no reason to play any more games, although I know the whorey needs and wants of the NCAA dictate that the revenue be raked-in.

Columbus, go ahead and plan the parade. The scarlet and grey will be cutting down the nets in Atlanta on April 2nd, having prevailed over Florida 87 to 83 (Lee Humphrey will struggle - going 3 for 18 from the floor, suffering from the flu & a 102 degree fever). Southern Illinois will be the official Cinderella team, having advanced to the elite eight only to lose to UCLA in a squeeker. And Georgetown will be left to wonder what could have been had Green NOT been called for charging during the last ten seconds of their overtime loss to OSU in the semi-final.

If you'd rather watch the games without knowing who won, fine. If not, and you simply want to know who will win which game, just post your specific question below and I'll let you know (warning, if you don't want to know specific game outcomes in advance, beyond those already revealed above, don't read any further).

It's actually kind of sad to have this knowledge, this perfection. The lack of suspense renders what should otherwise be one of the most exciting sports events on the planet into the mundane. I find myself praying for divine intervention.

Lord, intervene in the already pre-ordained perfection of my NCAA Tourney picks. Let, say, Arizona defeat Purdue today - even though I KNOW they will not. Or, perhaps, let the favored UNLV go ahead and actually beat Georgia Tech (I know, I know, you really LIKE Georgia Tech better than the team from you-know-where). But Lord, I NEED to feel excitement again, I need to believe that there is some chance that watching the games will actually seem fresh and exciting, and not like watching reruns. Give me the gift of imperfection, the gift of uncertainty. Just one unexpected win/loss Lord, just one. Please. (But ONLY one, I've got some serious cash riding on this.)