Sports sports sports sports

I think I said it once on here already, but for all those who have asked: I will, officially, not be doing a March Madness pool this year, for several reasons. (In brief: the combination of work, school, and having watched basically no college basketball all year.) On the one hand, it's kind of weird not to be doing one; on the other hand, I think it's going to be nice just to be able to enjoy the upsets for once, because I won't have anything riding on the outcomes of games. The last time I didn't make picks for a pool was 2000, and I haven't made no picks since, I think, 1996. Between 1997 and 2000, my picks weren't terribly serious, so, for example, in the 1998 tournament I was mostly able to enjoy the upsets because the picks weren't "ruining" me in any real way. (That said, I can still list off the entire Midwest region for you, since I foolishly picked #5 TCU to emerge only to have them lose to #12 Florida State in Round One. Though I was right not to trust #1 Kansas, since they followed a 110-52 demolition of Prairie View by losing to #8 Rhode Island in Round Two, and #4 Ole Miss, which lost to Bryce Drew and Valpo in Round One, I also failed to trust #3 Stanford, the eventual Final Four team. No, I did not look any of that up, not even the Kansas score. But I digress.)

If this information bums you out at all, just heed the words of Nemo, who rhetorically asked, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, "Where else can I find a competitive tournament picks contest to enter?" There's like one or two out there, I think.

In other sports news, Tiger Woods won again, and the Rockets won again. I'm really curious to see how long each can keep up their respective streaks. I thought Houston might lose today (though I hoped they wouldn't), but they won again. It's hard to believe they could run it as far as 26, what with the next four games being Boston, at New Orleans, at Golden State, and at Phoenix... but who knows? (I realize few of you care about the NBA, but this is a pretty amazing streak. They've gone from fringe playoff team to top seed in the West during this period.)

As for Tiger... the idea that he could ever catch Byron Nelson's record for tournament wins, with the depth of today's fields, is sheer insanity. On the other hand, he's won five in a row on the PGA, and if you include Dubai, he's more than halfway to Nelson's 11. Still, to win six more PGA-eligible tournaments in a row, or seven to break? Hard to believe. He might win next week - Tiger loves Doral - and after that he might not play again until Augusta, where we know he can win. That'd be seven PGA tournaments in a row, but he'd still need five more - percentage-wise, he'd only have a 36-game hitting streak, with DiMaggio still 20 games off. In other words, damn impressive, but also a good deal short of historic. But if anyone can do it... well, that pretty much goes without saying.