THANKING THE ORGAN-EYE-ZA-TION

I put little clocks and counters up on the blog, just to remind you of the NCAA tourney and the Masters (like I'd overlook those without this). Villanova made one step closer to a possible tournament bid as they got their 20th win tonight at UConn (who can never lose enough for me), thanks to Scottie Reynolds' 40 points, a Wildcat freshman record. I don't know where Jay Wright finds these kids, but I hope he continues (and doesn't have evil guys like Larry Brown lure him to the NBA). Anyway, I already signed up for my March Madness On Demand--can't wait for Selection Sunday!

As for hockey news, I heard on XM Home Ice a bit of Ryan Smith's interview when he left Edmonton. Apparently, there was a crowd of people seeing him off at the airport (!) and he was talking about how much he was going to miss the city and thanking the organ-EYE-za-tion and everyone he's ever met for their support. He was crying (damn soft Canadians!) like he was being shipped off to the front lines or something. WTF? Hey, cheer up, you're only going to Long Island! Oooh wait, he might have a point. Anyway, sounds like he's not too happy about leaving home, which does not bode well for the Islanders. Besides that, there's not much else to talk about trade-wise (Bertuzzi to Detroit, Zubrus to Sabres, Biron to Philly--yawn). Predictably, the Devils made no moves, and the Rangers didn't unload Captain Jagr (get ready for the "FIRE SATHER" chants again).

For Jeffuary, I did get to see a Devils game last Saturday (naturally, they looked sluggish in a 4-2 loss to the Caps), probably the last one I'll see in the Continetnal Airlines Arena. With regards to the new Newark arena (WELCOME TO THE ROCK), and there's simply no easy way to get to a game from Rockland via train, and I'm certainly not driving down there. I know they're banking on corporate types to fill the new place, but I don't see regular middle-class families making the move. Maybe I'm wrong, but we'll see.