Let’s face it. I am a college basketball junkie. In July I watch games that I have taped from previous NCAA tournaments. In October I am dreaming of the final four. In March I find it very hard to even focus on walking in a straight line. Well let the swerving begin. Normally, I am very good at handicapping the tournament. For the first thirty-two games I usually get between twenty-four and twenty-eight right. Remember that’s just the game not against the spread, so don’t be mad at me if you take my picks to Vegas and lose.

As the madness begins I know one thing that is absolute. Florida will not win again. Other than that it is wide open. Every favorite has a question mark. Every upset in the making is possible because there is tremendous depth in the college basketball ranks now. We will get in to specifics next week, but look around the hoops landscape and you will see impact freshman, big men with skills, outstanding shooters, and innovative coaches willing to try different things in order to be more than competitive.

And if the madness is not enough to get your juices flowing, baseball season is underway. Yes, I know it’s “only” spring training, but let’s be realistic the joy of baseball is not as much the game, but the conversations and debates that arise from the game. Spring training is just the jumping off point of speculation and rhetoric that anyone can spew. How do I know if Albert Pujols’ elbow will hold up for a season? Do I know conclusively that Dontrelle Willis will be better in the American League? Can I possibly be so well informed that I can tell you just how much better the Dodgers will be with Joe Torre at the helm? I really can’t, but if I say it loud enough maybe people will believe me. That’s what is fun about baseball. We think we have all the answers because we can quantify the game in nice little compartments. “He hits .318 on turf against left-handers during day games on Thursday in August after a night game on the west coast”. Does that have any bearing on this at-bat? Yes and no. That is what makes baseball so great. And it’s just getting started.

Don’t look now, but Roger Federer hasn’t won a tournament yet this season. Andy Murray has won twice as has Andy Roddick. I’m not sure if there are too many other guys named Andy on the tour, but in my opinion it’s still a good bet that there will be more events won by guys named Roger than Andy this season.

While trying to make sense of the NFL’s free-agent movement, I can’t by the way. I make the analogy of giving up my sister for some other guy’s sister. Sure we may have our differences on occasion, but I know what to expect from her. So why would I invest my time and energy in some other person’s sister who may or may not be as good as the sister that I already have. (By the way, in case she reads this, I wouldn’t trade my sister for anyone…she’s a black belt now and would kick my ass). Besides if you are the Rams why didn’t you just bring back John Hadl or Vince Ferragamo instead of Trent Green?

If you read these “pages” looking for profound commentary concerning the sport of boxing, look elsewhere. You may recall at about this time last year I proclaimed that we had seen the future and the future would be Paul Williams, Juan Diaz, and Miguel Cotto. If I were Cotto I would hide, or least hire someone to break my fingers or destroy my computer. Both Williams and Diaz were fighting essentially tune-ups while waiting for things to shake out for their respective big fights. Both are high action, non-stop attackers who quite frankly lack one-punch stopping power. In both fights they ran in to fighters who refused to be bullied by the flurry of action presented by Williams and Diaz. Instead Carlos Quintana and Nate Campbell decided to stay in front of their opponents and fight back. In the case of Quintana/Williams, now champion Quintana exposed Williams as a slapper rather than a puncher and he just waded through his attack and fought back. Campbell on the other hand decided to bully Diaz and prove that he had just as much heart as Diaz, which until this fight had been enough to wear down and intimidate his foes. Previously he had made champions Julio Diaz and Acelino Freitas quit in their corners by taking away their desire. In this fight it was Campbell who took the will from Diaz, Diaz never quit but it was obvious he wasn’t the same in the latter stages of the contest. For Cotto’s sake I hope his showing against Shane Mosley is more proof that “Sugar” Shane is back to being an elite fighter more so than a portent of Cotto’s weaknesses and an inability to dispatch an aging one-time elite fighter.

Golf…Tiger Woods.

I refuse to say anything about the NBA for at least three more weeks. Let’s see how the trades work out. However, Sam Cassell in Boston could be a stroke of genius by Danny Ainge or cause a stroke for “Doc” Rivers. You make the call.

I do have one question. Every time I hear an NFL general manager talk about the upcoming draft we hear this response. “Yes, the combine is important, but we really put more stock in how a player performs and what we see on film.” Yet every year a Colt Brennan, a Mike Hart, a Steve Slaton is downgraded for not having the measureables that every team is looking for. I mean Emmit Smith gained a thousand yards in pee-wee ball and every subsequent season after that, yet he slid. Whatever happened to him? Remember Jeff George? I once saw him flushed from the pocket to the right sideline, turn and flick (not plant and throw) a laser thirty yards downfield to the left sideline. The ball had no air under it whatsoever. But I can’t remember how many games he won. My point is does it matter if a player can bench press a tank two-hundred times or if he just knows how to make plays. The late Sam Mills, Chris Spielman, Dat Ngyuen, Zach Thomas. Would you rather have a guy that plays like Butkus or guy that can pose for a poster with his shirt off? Maybe Former Redskins GM Bobby Beathard had it right, trade out of the draft for players that we already know can play.

Here’s hoping that all of your bubbles stay intact.