CV

I came home last night to discover that I had every hockey and baseball game available on my cable system. I thought that maybe they read my Cablevision rant yesterday, felt truly horrible about their shoddy service, and decided to repay me with free MLB Extra Innings and NHL Center Ice packages. LLOL!!! As I suspected, there's a free preview for the MLB package until Sunday, April 9. (This doesn't explain why I got all the NHL games too, but I'll live with it.) They also updated their channel listing, mere hours after I pointed it out. I think I'm being watched.

Oh, you may have wondered why I haven't mentioned anything lately about the FINAL FOUR and the NCAA tournament, which ended last night with Florida beating UCLA. You may think it has something to do with the fact that I did horribly in my bracket pool, or that Villanova was unceremoniously ousted in the Elite Eight by the eventual champion. Well, no, that's not it, although those things certainly didn't help. The actual reason: the last three games SUCKED. Sloppy basketball, poor shooting, one-sided games that were never in doubt, no drama, no exciting individual performances, no players to root for, no villains to root against. Seriously, the Final Four was a stinker. What started off as a fantastic tournament ended with a "meh".

One more thing: why do they insist on stretching out the tournament so the final game coincides with Opening Day of baseball? Bill Simmons has a great idea: move opening day on Sunday. They already play the first game on Sunday night for ESPN, why not move all the games to a day where everyone already has off? That would be great, and you wouldn't have everyone playing hooky on the actual Opening Day. Save the sick time for the Masters (my brilliant preview is coming tomorrow).

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The Black Keys are a fantastic duo who recently put out an album entitled "Rubber Factory" on blues label Fat Possum records (also available on eMusic). While the White Stripes get all the press, their bluesiest songs come off as merely a homage, while the Black Keys sound like the real deal. Some people question their authenticity, since they're two white guys from Akron, Ohio. But I've driven through there, and trust me: it's easy to get the blues in the middle of Ohio. Good stuff.

DID YOU KNOW?

* The Detroit Red Wings have not been shutout this season. The last team to do that was the Detroit team from 1995-96.
* Despite Pat Quinn being a contemptuous asshole, and Darcy Tucker taking out one of Buffalo's best players in last night's shootout win, the Sabres qualified for the playoffs for first time since 2001. That postseason ended with a loss to the Penguins, on a Darius Kasparitis OT goal in Game 7 of the semifinals.
* Lundqvist is "out with a hip" and will not suit up when the Flyers play @ the Rangers tonight. His replacement, Weekes, is 0-1-1, 3.67 GAA, .892 SV in his last 3 games, and is not good @ MSG this season.
* Jaromir Jagr, in 6 games vs. the Islanders, has 6 goals and 10 assists for 16 points. Wow.
* Mets OF Xavier Nady's first name is pronounced "ZAY-vee-er" NOT "eks-AY-vee-er". Please try to get it right.
* San Diego fans threw a syringe (plastic, empty, needle-free) at Baroid Bonds in left field during yesterday's game. Major League
Baseball: fun for the entire family! The state of baseball is utterly depressing. I turned down an invite to a Mets game this weekend because I have to stay home and darn some socks.
* Although the New York Yankees have been on top for a long time, and they and their fans might think they own this town (and it's hard to argue with 26 championships), they do not actually own the rights to the song "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. Therefore, it is up for grabs for anyone to use during any sporting event (as long as Lars Ulrich somehow gets paid). Thanks to arrogant shitheads like Francesser & the Angry Puppy, sports talk radio in this area has degenerated into ignorant fans bitching about nonsensical topics such as this, like a bunch of 13 year old girls arguing about My Chemical Romance lyrics. As far as I'm concerned, if it didn't happen on the field, it didn't happen. And although New York considers itself the best sports town in the country, it's simply not.

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Although no one has been charged with a crime, many media outlets have already tried and convicted several Duke lacrosse players who have been accused of rape at an off-campus party. One newspaper, the New York Daily News, several days after printing a front page story ran a correction on Page 24 today, saying that "one of the students implicated was not at the party." They apologize for wrongly accusing a student by name way back on PAGE 24. Hey, thanks for nothing! I just have one question for the irresponsible idiots in the media: who made you Judge Judy and Executioner?