Silence

Usually, when a golfer misses a short putt he/she should've made, there's at least a gasp from the crowd, usually followed by groans. But when Tiger Woods missed the putt that would've beaten Nick O'Hern, there was silence. It was the strangest thing, even watching it on TV. The crowd, along with Tiger, was stunned he missed that putt. Just the hole before, he hit a 350 yard drive, wedged into 5 feet and made the birdie putt to send the match to extra holes. That sequence of events made what transpired on the next hole that much more stunning. Of course, if this were Phil Mickelson, everyone would say how he hadn't gotten over Winged Foot. In fact, Rich Lerner of the Golf Channel said this was the biggest collapse since Mickelson's at Winged Foot. What?!?! First of all, this wasn't a collapse. Tiger was 4 down through 7, and in an 18 hole match, that's usually an insurmountable margin. Second, isn't this a little blown out of proportion? I mean, O'Hern beat Tiger in the Match Play just a couple of years ago. And even Tiger said this would be a hard tournament for him to win because anything can happen in 18 hole matches. Another example of today's media making something bigger than it should've been.

2 weeks until Selection Sunday. Speaking of silence, there will be more bubble teams that will be silent after seeing their tournament hopes go down the drain. There are still a lot of questions, especially now with 12 team conferences. In 12 team conferences, you can only play a certain number of teams twice, which makes conference schedules uneven. So you might see a team go 8-8 in conference get in over a team that goes 10-6 based on who they play.

• Marist is a team you don't want to play in the 1st round (if Marist wins the MAAC). Experienced point guard in Jared Jordan (24 points, 15 assists, 7 boards today vs. Siena to win the regular season crown), everybody can shoot the 3 (17/42), and they can dump it inside and get cheap baskets.
• Once again, the Colonial is trying to get multiple teams in. Drexel is 22-7, RPI 48, non-conference schedule rank 4. Virginia Commonwealth is 24-6, RPI just 63 though and they lost at home to Bradley in the BracketBuster. Old Dominion 23-7, RPI 37. And don't forget about dangerous Hofstra, who has NCAA caliber talent. What a conference tournament this will be.
• Virginia Tech is in after getting their 20th win today.
• Syracuse is still alive after beating Providence. They have to split their next two against Georgetown and Villanova, then win their 1st round Big East game at least to have a chance. But Eric Devendorf still takes bad shots and they don't rebound. But they're shooting the ball a little better, they hit 12 3s today. Providence is out right now, they need a Syracuse like run from last year to get in.
• Texas Tech almost blew it again vs. Oklahoma St., but for some inexplicable reason, Mario Boggan ran to the 3 point line after rebounding a miss instead of trying to tie it with a stick back. That mental blunder may cost the Cowboys an NCAA trip. They have a do or die game vs. Kansas St. this week. Texas Tech has the profile to make it, but they need to finish above .500 in the Big 12 and get to 20 wins. Tech needs to close out games better.
• Clemson has gone from 17-0 to 19-9. If they can't score off their press, they're not very good. They're out right now, along with Oklahoma St.
• Tennessee is in right now after winning at Arkansas. Chris Lofton: 10/19 shooting, 31 points.
• In the Southern Conference, Davidson and Appalachian St. are making great cases for themselves. Appalachian St. won at Wichita St., and Davidson is now 26-4. But this is all too familiar for Davidson, who a couple of years ago lost in the Southern semis after compiling an awesome regular season record and were relegated to the NIT. What a conference championship this could be if they play each other.
• It looked like Pitt was going to end Georgetown's streak, but the Hoyas ended the game with a 25-9 run. The Hoyas D really stepped up in the last few minutes. Jonathan Wallace played a great game. What has happened to Pitt's offense the last couple of weeks? They can't make a shot (33% today) and they don't look as confident. They didn't help themselves at the foul line either, just 8/16.
• Illinois might be the 5th team out of the Big 10 because the schedule favors them. Seriously, the Big 10 is heading for a first weekend just like last year when they were all eliminated. The Big 10 isn't nearly as good as last year and they might get 5 teams in?
• 2 teams leaking a little oil: Air Force and Butler. Air Force lost on the road in conference again. Butler lost during the week and won't even host the Horizon League championship unless Wright St. loses. Very interesting that when you compare Butler and Missouri St.'s profiles, Missouri St.'s actually looks better. Well, think about it. Butler beat Indiana, Gonzaga, and Tennessee among others, teams who have not played well the last couple of weeks. Purdue's been ok, but not great. Notre Dame has been solid in the Big East.
• Miami 15-12 and pretty much has clinched a 1st round bye in the MAC tournament, most likely headed for another quarterfinal matchup with OU. Oh boy.
• A team that could be dangerous in the NCAAs: Virginia. Today vs. Georgia Tech, JR Reynolds and Sean Singletary combined for 49 points. Experienced guards give you a chance to make a Sweet 16 run.
• What's going on with Florida?!?! Just like last week at Vandy, they didn't take care of the ball and they couldn't hit from the outside. And LSU did this without Big Baby Davis. Green and Humphrey are the keys for Florida. When they are efficient offensively and make shots, Florida is unbeatable. When they're not, they lost that special quality.
• Bad loss for Alabama at home today. Worst of all, Auburn swept them. That's not acceptable in football, let alone basketball.
• Does the Mountain West get 4 in if San Diego St. wins the conference tournament?
• The SEC West is crazy. Mississippi was the hottest team in the division until today when they lost at South Carolina by 13. Despite the loss, for Ole Miss to even be in the NCAA discussion this year is a great achievement for Andy Kennedy and his club. Cincinnati should've signed Kennedy to a contract, they may come to regret that decision even after this year.
• Impressive 2nd half comeback by Michigan St. against Indiana. And it wasn't just Drew Neitzel, though he got it going with 2 early 3s in the 2nd half. Raymar Morgan is fully healthy and playing like it. Indiana needs Earl Calloway back. Their losing streak is a result of him being hurt.
• I think Ohio St. will beat Wisconsin tomorrow. Ohio St. is good at home and Wisconsin hasn't played as well the last couple of weeks.

I saw Dreamgirls on my day off Monday and loved it. The last 2/3 of the movie are really, really good. Jennifer Hudson owned that part. And yes, I bought the soundtrack immediately after.

Another winter storm warning is coming. 4-6 inches of snow through Monday with sleet and freezing rain mixed in.

I can't decide who I'm more tired of hearing about, anyone associated with the Anna Nicole Smith case or Britney Spears.

Hillary and Obama are already fighting. Who cares?!?!?! It's February 2007 for goodness sakes. That means there are 20+ more months of this.

And I'm proud to say I'm now a member of the Knights of Columbus, so I'm looking forward to getting involved even more here in the community.