So I know my blog has been pretty silent for the past month and a half.  Once football season ends, I just don't feel I have much to write about.  NASCAR?  No way.  Spring Baseball?  Boring!  The WBC?  Viva Fidel! (just kidding) The NBA?  I'm a Knicks fan so take pity on me.  Hockey?  Is the strike/lockout actually over?  Sidney Crosby may be fun to watch but until they get him a Stills and a Nash for his line, the Penguins will suck.  College Basketball?  There is way too much already written by people a lot more knowledgeable about the game than I am so I don't feel I'd have much to contribute (by the way, if you're only knowledge of Seth Davis is as a CBS studio commentator sharing the stage with that buffoon, Clark Kellogg you really need to read what he has to say.  He is spot on with his college basketball analysis) So the blog stays relatively inactive until right before the NFL Draft.

Until now.

So I'm sitting down with 21 hours to kill until my beloved Gators storm the court to "shock the world" by beating Villanova and marching on to the Final Four so I tune into the Memphis - UCLA game.  I actually looked forward to this match up since it is the only Elite Eight match up pitting a number 1 versus a number 2 seed.  I really thought this had the makings of a classic match up and a game for the ages.

Boy was I wrong.

I will go out on a limb here and contend that this was the worst game ever.  Not just in the NCAA Tournament, not just in college basketball, but the worst athletic contest played since the Christians versus the Lions.

So what exactly makes this the worst game ever?  I'll make three quick points:

1.  The Numbers Don't lie - After mustering up the courage to actually check out the box score, the numbers I saw were worse than the numbers on an Enron audit.  Straight up terrible.  The teams shot a combined 31 of 94 from the field, 32.9 % field goal percentage.  Folks, when the combined shooting percentage of two teams playing for a shot to go to the Final Four is lower than the freezing point temperature, you have problems.  The teams combined to shoot 29 of 54 from the free throw line (not so "free" in this game eh?)  I know junior high school players that would shoot better than 53% from the line.  Heck, even Shaq is about a 50% free throw shooter!  The teams combined to shoot 4 of 25 from three-point range.  Memphis alone was 2 of 17 from three.  Lastly, the teams combined for 35 turnovers (with about 10 of those coming in the final five minutes, but more on that in point #3).

2.  The Stars Never Stepped Up - In big games, the superstars have to step up.  Teams feed off of the energy supplied when their superstars play even beyond what most thought they were capable of.  Jordan Farmar and Rodney Carney were supposed to have the game of their lives but both turned in arguably the worst performances of the season.  Here are the stat lines for the "go-to guys" from Memphis and UCLA:

Jordan Farmar (UCLA): 1-9 FG,  2-4 FT,  0-2 3Pt.,  0 offensive rebounds,  3 defensive rebounds,  3 assists,  1 steal,  5 turnovers,  0 blocks,  0 fouls,  4 points

Rodney Carney (Memphis): 2-12 FG,  0-0 FT, 1-5 3 Pt.,  1 offensive rebound,  2 defensive rebounds,  0 assists,  1 steal,  0 turnovers,  0 blocks,  4 fouls,  5 points

So to put this in perspective the "stars" were a combined 3 of 21 from the field, 1 of 7 from three, had one offensive rebound and two steals?  At least Farmar will have a chance to redeem himself but for Carney, there is going to be a lot of nightmares about this game.

3.  The Ending was Terrible - So even though I knew I was watching something historic, ineptitude that I may never witness again, I figured as long as the game is close with five minutes to play the game can be redeemed.  I mean, I saw some great endings this week.  Watching Shane drop a grenade on Lem in The Shield season finale (for those of you that have never seen The Shield, it is the best thing on television since Crockett and Tubbs roamed the streets of Miami) was a real shocker.  Watching Kevin get booted ahead of Bucky on American Idol this week was a bit unexpected.  I was beginning to believe that I would be able to witness the third great ending in a week and boy was I wrong.  The turnovers continued, the missed shots continued and the frustrated fouls continued.  Unless you are a UCLA fan, you can not be happy with the last five minutes of that game.

So there you have it.  A historic moment in the world of sports broadcasting.  I sure hope LSU settles in for a long weekend in Peyton's town next weekend.