It's Been a While . . .

And so much has happened since I last had a chance to post. Kansas made my brackets happy and won the tournament in a game where the basketball gods clearly intervened in order to enforce their decree that no team that shoots below 60% from the line can ever win a championship. That being said, I think Derrick Rose was extremely impressive all tournament long. He's got the size and strength of a Jason Kidd and, although his passing isn't yet up to Kidd's level, he's got much better quickness and scoring ability. Beasley will probably go number one, but let me just say that if my team got "stuck" with the number two pick, I would not care one bit.

I watched some Champions League action as well. Fenerbache couldn't recapture the magic yesterday at Old Trafford and exit the Champions League leaving no particularly intriguing underdog stories to follow. On the other hand, at least the scum lost to Liverpool. Of all the "Big Four" teams in the Premiership, Liverpool annoys me the least. And as for the Gooners? Well, they've got a boatload of cash and young talent, a good combination for success. However, as the oh-so-wise Ives Galarcep has predicted, Spurs' combination of Juande Ramos and a large chunk of change to put toward summer signings could put them through into the top four next year. I certainly hope he's right. I'd love to knock the Gooners out of a Champions League spot, but I'd certainly settle on knocking out Pool or possibly even the Blues, especially if there's a fire sale this summer at Stamford Bridge. However, I don't think anything would make me happier than stealing the Premiership title from ManU and watching Cronaldo cry . . . hey, we can dream, can't we?

The Hawks have somehow managed to find their way into the eighth playoff spot. Of course, getting blown out by Indy the other night certainly didn't help, but they still are looking pretty good. However, leave it to Woodsen to find some way to encourage the Hawks to mail it in these last three games and fall short of the playoffs once again. I don't care if we make the playoffs this year or not. Another year of a sub-.500 record and little to no improvement means it is time for Woody to go.

The Braves, on the other hand, have not exactly had a dream start to the season. No, I can't complain too much because it is extremely early and, hey, at least we're not the Detroit Tigers (who have looked a lot more like the Tiggers on offense). But 3-6 is not fun, especially when 5 of those losses could easily have been wins with a little more timely hitting or just slightly better hitting. Oh well, I'm not concerned as our starting pitching, with the exception of Chuck "Homer" James looks pretty solid (Seriously, his propensity to give up homers is unbelievable. He's got moderate stuff, but good hitters can sit back and wait for him to hang something and smash it 430 feet). The only thing that concerns me is Soriano's elbow, which has bothered him enough to land him on the 15-day DL. For a bullpen with lots of talent but little experience, it's important to have stability, especially after some of the guys got off to a rocky start. I have faith in everyone in the pen, but it will definitely make things more difficult if Soriano is sidelined for a while. At least getting Mike Gonzalez back in June will be a big boost and give us a proven option at closer.

Ok, well, my lunch time is done so I guess that's all for now. A friend and (hopefully) future contributer to Curry and Rice and I are going to be watching MLS primetime tonight. Perhaps I'll get around to doing some MLS stuff later in the day.