Sports Since Friday

T.O. in Buffalo. If this isn't an indication that this guy is on his last leg, I don't know what is? Nothing against Buffalo, but T.O. in Buffalo? It doesn't make sense, the only logical explanantion is he got absolutely no interest from other teams. T.O. won't even be the number one WR, Lee Evans has a hold on that position. If this guy was mad in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Dallas, T.O. is really going to hate Buffalo. I feel bad for Bills QB Trent Edwards, the guy was doing good things for the Bills last season and this is his gift? Talk about a lump of coal. I guess it is good publicity for Buffalo though, up until now they have been the NFL's forgotten franchise.

The Broncos bosses' had a conference call with QB Jay Cutler in attempt to smooth things over from the trade debacle. A source inside the originization says that things have gone from bad to worse. Denver did sign QB Chris Simms. Things are looking up on his end, at this rate Cutler will never be in a Denver uniform again. There isn't much in the free agent market if you are looking for a QB. Aging QB's Jeff Garcia, Joey Harrington and Byron Leftwich top that list. Denver could maybe trade Cutler to Detroit for the #1 draft pick, but I don't see the point in that. Denver has screwed up so bad, they might get the #1 draft pick in 2010.

Has anybody been watching the WBC? It has been pretty good baseball. The Nederlands elliminated powerhouse Dominican Republic, the USA has looked dominant, and defending champ Japan looks beatable, hence their loss to Korea on Monday. This is actually a good tournament to watch. The countries involved have been passionate about the tournament and you are seeing great games and upsets. The Nederlands have been a great story and it is hard not to root for them, but the flops from the Dominican and Canada have been humiliating, and those two teams should be ashamed of themselves.

Alex Rodriguez will be out for an extended period of time after hip surgery. The Yankees will manage, as for Rodriguez, you kind of get what you deserve.

The NCAA conference tournaments have been fun to watch. Two teams grabbed my attention last night as they gained their automatic bids to the NCAA tournament. In their first year of elligibility, North Dakota State beat Oakland to take the Summit Championship. This is the first time this has been done since Long Beach St. of 1970. I expect the Bison to get in as a 12 or 13 seed and be a difficult out for their opponent. This team is #2 overall in the nation in 3 point shooting, and they play a fast paced type of game that if they make their shots, they will pull off an upset or two.

The other team that grabbed my attention was Cleveland St. who beat Butler to gain their automatic bid. This team is athletic and passionate. Cleveland St. refuses to lose and can pull of an upset in the first round. It doesn't matter what the circumstance, this team will give whomever it plays all it can handle. On the opposite end, Butler has been a "cinderella type" favorite the last few years to win their first round game. It won't happen this season, this is a team that is overrated and should not even be ranked. They will get in as an at large, but expect a quick exit.

Depaul was a nice story in Big East. They took down "bubble team" Cincinnati and gave another "bubble team"Providence all it can handle this morning before losing, not bad for a team with an 0-18 conference record. Georgetown should be ashamed of themselves. Once ranked very high, the Hoyas fell to lowely St. Johns in the opening round of the Big East. G-Town doesn't even deserve and N.I.T. bid, they are horrible. Due to the new format, this Big East Tournament is just brutal.

Who will get the #1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament? Ink in UCONN, Pittsburgh and North Carolina. I don't know who will get the 4th #1 seed. Expers are saying Louisville, but I can't see the committee giving the Big East 3 #1 seeds. I'll throw in Oklahoma, Kansas and Memphis. I think one of those 3 teams will get the 4th #1 seed.

The UCONN women are incredible and still undefeated. They had Louisville by 40 + in the Big East Championship last night. I would take this team against a handful of mens' teams. I don't know who can trip them up in the NCAA Tournament. Oklahoma-no. Duke-no. UNC-no. Maryland-no. The rest of the field should just give up and hand the Huskies the trophey.

I'm officially ruling out the Phoenix Suns as a playoff contender in the NBA's Western Conference. Your playoff teams in the West will be the Lakers, Spurs, Hornets, Jazz, Blazers, Nuggets, Rockets, and Mavericks, in no particular order. The West is brutal, hence the Denver Nuggets. Denver was in a virtual dead heat with San Antonio for the number 2 seed, then the team loses 5 out of 6, and are now 7th in the West and 3rd in their division. If the Nuggets are going to do anything to get back into the upper part of the West, they have to win their next 5 games, all against bad teams.

The Eastern Conference is horrible. Seeds 1-6 are locks in my opinion. Cleveland, Boston, Orlando, Atlanta, Miami and Detroit will all be in the playoffs. Philadelphia should get in, and then the # 8 spot is up for grabs. Seeds #8-14 are within 6 games of eachother, so I'm saying that Chicago, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Charlotte, Indiana, New York and Toronto will all be playing for the right to bring their sub .500 record into the playoffs and get their head kicked in by Boston or Clevleand, fun stuff.

Picks....I put out 8 games last Friday and went 5-3. The overall record stands at 62-38-1. Many games are going on in the afternoon today, so my picks will begin with games that start at 7 eastern.

NBA

@Atlanta -1 Utah
@Philadelphia - 6 1/2 Toronto
LA Lakers @ Houston OVER 201

NCAAM

Syracuse - 6 1/2 Seton Hall
Oklahoma St. -10 Iowa St.
Notre Dame + 5 1/2 West Virginia
Texas A&M -6 Texas Tech