Post Spring Break Blizzard

I still prefer the NBA
If I'm watching a sport, I'd rather watch that sport's best players. College basketball is exciting, but at the end of every day of college basketball, I still found myself more intrigued reading NBA box scores and checking the changes in the Western Conference standings (it's still nine teams between 42 and 48 wins, with five teams within a game of the first seed). Whenever I've watched great college players, I've watched them in anticipation of what sort of pros they might be. Somehow I feel the pros have a greater historical importance (I love NBA history), and a more exciting game.

The one-and-done NCAA tournament
A hot three-point shooting team can knock off a higher seed in the first few rounds of the tournament. But I don't think a team can win a championship relying on outside shooting guards. It's unrealistic to expect six consecutive hot shooting games against progressively more difficult competition. To win a championship, you need to have some sort of low post offensive game and a strong defense to help you past the cold offensive games. Any team can lose any game to a team with good guard play, but if you're looking for a team to win six straight in the tournament, look to the team's defense and to its forwards and centers.

Links
Evidently the Vikings signed safety Michael Boulware (Star Tribune). The secondary and defensive line are similar: it's hard to have too many players capable of contributing.

The NFL might ban long hair flowing out from under helmets (Fanhouse). Safety issue, or yet another attempt to destroy individual personality in football games? I like the long-haired players: Troy Polamalu looks good running around with his hair flowing. If I were an offensive player, I wouldn't want something else for tacklers to grab, but defensive players should be able to let their hair flow: it's a harmless form of personal expression.

The NFL draft is still a month away (Epic Carnival).

OK, this photo shows that UCLA got away with one (Deadspin). To be fair, we should see how much the refs were letting go all game long (in a 53-49 game, I'm guessing it is quite a bit).

Dave Zirin's "Brett Favre: the Restricted Archetype" (Edge of Sports), a comment on how players can be unfairly portrayed and perceived based on race: black athletes rarely get the "flawed hero" treatment that white athletes sometimes get.