The tournament’s off to a great start. The first four games were decided by 12 points, with two going to overtime. That matches the number of OT games played in the entire 2009 tournament.

You had to like the way Saint Mary’s took out a very good Richmond team, 80-71. Watch out for the Gaels. I think they’ll beat Villanova, the weakest No. 2 seed in a long, long time. Maybe the Big East was overrated. Notre Dame’s already gone. ‘Nova was lucky to beat Robert Morris.

UPDATE: 5:09 p.m.

Another Big East team, Georgetown, is trailing Ohio University by a double digit margin.

Washington’s playing well. The Huskies lead 17-16 with 12:07 left in the first half. It’s a good matchup. The offenses on both sides are having their way right now.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

Bremerton native Kyle Johnson, a midfielder, won’t be back with the Kitsap Pumas. Jeff Graham of The Sun reported the news Tuesday and the club confirmed it with its press release on Wednesday.

Mark Conrad, a forward/midfielder, won’t be back either. Nor will French native Aziz Dieng. Here’s the current roster of players who started practice today, the first formal day of training:

• Goalkeepers: Dustyn Brim, Darby Carillo, Garrett Staples
• Defenders: Mark Lee, Stephen Mohn, Taylor Hyde, Daniel Scott, Jamelle Wallace, Lamar Nagle, Jason Cascio,
• Midfielders: Matt Friesen, Nik Besagno, John Fishbauger, David Gray, Cameron Hepple, Alex Megson, Greg Miley, Thiago Silva, Kellen Wantulok
• Forwards: Tony Kerr, Stephen Phillips, Todd Wallenius, Tye Perdido, Alex Chursky, Zack Sampson, Eli Gordley, Spencer Schomaker

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

He’s been seen working with his swing coach.

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, now a PR gun for hire, has joined his team to deal with damage control and help re-create his public image.

Yes, Tiger Woods is coming back.

The world’s greatest golfer announced that he will return to the game he’s owned by playing in The Masters next month at Augusta, Ga. (One of my favorite writers, Joe Posnanski, wrote this about Tiger’s return.)

All eyes will be on 14-time major champion and XX-time (nobody but Tiger knows how many extra marital affairs he had) cheater. The Masters will be the most watched tournament in the history of golf.

Don’t kid yourself. Love him or loathe him, you’ll be watching. You know you will. Won’t you? (Let me know what you think).

I think a lot of people will be pulling him for him. Before, he seemed almost too perfect. His carefully crafted persona seemed almost robot-like. He was too good. Even when his golf swing wasn’t pure, he somehow figured out ways to make seemingly impossible shots and drain clutch putt after clutch putt.

He was the face of golf with no challengers. As much as you admired his enormous talent, it was, in a way, easy to root against.

Sure, he’s probably lost a lot of his fans, especially females. Now that he’s been exposed, that he isn’t the person everybody thought he was, he’ll be viewed differently.

Do you think Tiger cares how people react to him?

I don’t think so.

Out in the public, I don’t think you’ll notice much difference in Tiger Woods. If anything, he’ll probably protect his privacy more than he did in the past. And that’s OK. I really don’t care what Tiger does when he’s not on the golf course. I don’t need or want to know details about his private life anymore than I want to know private details of Arnold Palmer’s life.

If Woods was cheating on the golf course, or using banned steroids that helped him become the golfer he is, then it would be different. But we’re talking about perhaps the most focused athlete of all time, a guy who has blocked out just about any kind of pressure imaginable to become the greatest golfer of all time.

Even in this day and age of TMZ and tabloid sleeze, I think Tiger Wood will show that he’s still the best golfer on the planet. It won’t surprise me if he wins the Masters.

Tiger’s not a Golf God on a pedestal anymore. Because of all of his issues, he’s now a bit of an underdog, and you know how America likes underdogs.

If I could give him any advice, I’d tell him to lose Ari Fleischer. Get rid of the PR flak, man. Be real this time. Be yourself.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

Me? I think both face difficult first-round games, but Washington matches up well with Marquette. Gonzaga’s more talented than Florida State, but the Seminoles are huge and like to keep the score low. If the UW and Zags both surive, you have to like Washington’s chances (against either New Mexico or Montana) over Gonzaga’s chances of knocking off Syracuse …. in a game that will be played in Buffalo, N.Y. It’s been a long time since Gonzaga’s been called a Cinderella, but if they get a chance to play Syracuse, somebody better break out the slippers.

Here’s one guy who gives the Zags a shot at knocking off Syracuse.

Remember the last time Gonzaga played in Buffalo. The late Dan Fitzgerald was coaching then. Bud Withers of the Seattle Times tells the story.

Marquette, meanwhile, sees a lot of themselves in Washington. Check out this story in the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

And don’t forget to vote in the poll.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

 1)    It’ll be a crime if California isn’t awarded an NCAA at-large berth. The senior-dominated Pac-10 champs are solid. Don’t know about you, but I thought the Pac-10 championship game was a classic, showcasing a couple of teams that are much better than how they’re perceived nationally. Cal’s a veteran team that’s good enough to get to a regional final. So are the Huskies if they can duplicate Saturday’s winning performance.

 2)    My No. 1 seeds: Kansas, Kentucky, Duke (if it wins Sunday) and West Virginia. Sorry Ohio State. If the Big East is the best conference – and it is – then one of the beasts from the East should be a No. 1. It could have been Syracuse, but losses in two of its last three games gives West Virginia that spot. Because of the ACC’s down year, I might even put West Virginia and Syracuse ahead of Duke.

 3)    You might not like Bob Huggins, but I sure like the way his team (West Virginia) plays. Outside of the Pac-10 championship, the Big East title-game between the Mountaineers and Georgetown Hoyas was the best game of the week. The hard-nosed coach turned into an emotional Huggy Bear after the victory.

 4)    How good is the Big East? Georgetown was eighth in the conference during the regular season and the Hoyas are good enough to get to the Final Four.

 5)    Most overrated conference this year: The Big 12. Outside of Kansas, the top team in the country,  I don’t see anybody that’s scary. When Texas was No. 1 and 17-0, they didn’t seem that good to me. Kansas State isn’t any better than Cal, Washington or Arizona State and the Wildcats are projected to be a No. 3, or even  a No. 2 seed.

 6)    San Diego State played its way into the tournament by winning the Mountain West Conference tournament. That’s a tough conference with New Mexico, BYU and UNLV all getting strong consideration for at-large berths. Do you know who’s coaching at San Diego State? Hint: Fab Five. Yeah, Steve Fisher. Yeah,  sometimes nice guys do finish first.

 7)    Illinois has lost six of its last eight games and is still on the bubble? C’mon, that’s not right. The selection committee needs to wipe ‘em off the board early on Sunday.

Wonder where and who the Washington Huskies will play? Don’t know how you can even predict this stuff, but Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com, the bracketology guru, has the Huskies (23-9) facing Michigan State (24-8) in the Midwest sub-regional Spokane. Washington’s a 12 seed; MSU a 5 seed. Lunardi’s got Gonzaga (25-6) in the West, playing Old Dominion (26-8) at Oklahoma City. The Zags are a 7 seed; OD a 10 seed. Remember, this is purely conjecture.

 9)    Washington’s getting a lot of contributions from a lot of players right now – which is why they’re riding a seven-game winning streak – but Justin Holiday really caught my eye this week. The 6-6 junior has always been a superb defender, but he’s going to have a chance to be a special player next season when the Huskies look for somebody to replace Quincy Pondexter. Not saying he’s going to be the next Q-Pon, but don’t be surprised if he averages 14-15 points and close to 10 rebounds.

 10)    Strangest thing I saw was the heated verbal exchange between Kentucky coach John Calipari and freshman Daniel Orton. Evidently, Calipari didn’t think Orton went after a loose ball hard enough at one point during the first half of Saturday’s SEC semifinal against Tennessee, and he yanked the player. Orton never sat down and next thing you know, CBS’ cameras show the player walking off the court toward the lockerroom. Minutes later, he was back, apologizing to Calipari, who slapped his hand and put him back in the game.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

Note: Courses have to be open to the public to be considered.

Here’s the full state list:

Washington
1. Chambers Bay, University Place (No. 20 m)
2. Palouse Ridge, Pullman (m)
3. Wine Valley, Walla Walla (m)*
4. Loomis Trail, Blaine (m)*
5. Olympic Course at Gold Mountain, Bremerton (m)
6. Indian Canyon, Spokane (c)
7. Semiahmoo, Blaine (m)
8. Trophy Lake Golf & Casting, Port Orchard (m)
9. Suncadia (Prospector), Roslyn (m)
10. Home Course, DuPont (m)

Note: Chambers Bay is No. 20 nationally; the m is for modert courses and the c is for classic courses. The asterisk is for courses that are new to the list.

Port Ludlow Resort was dropped from the Top 10.

Here’s the GolfWeek story about the the rankings.

Here’s the link to the state-by-state listing.

Here’s the best classic courses and the best modern courses, which has Oregon’s Pacific Dunes No. 2, Bandon Dunes No. 4 and Bandon Trails No. 28. The No. 1 modern course? I let you find out for yourself.

Of course, this is all pretty subjective. How would you rank the top 10 courses in the state? I keep hearing good things about the Home Course in Steilacoom. Should it be higher? And what about McCormick Woods or the Cascade Course at Gold Mountain? Are they among the state’s top 10? Just throwing it out. Chambers Bay will host the U.S. Amateur this summer and the U.S. Open in 2015, but is it the state’s best public-access golf course?

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

Check out this story about a 1,800 pound named Hard Ball who somehow made it out of the stadium while at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.

If we could ever get Silverdale rodeo announcer Randy Corley off the golf course, I bet he’d have a few stories to tell about runaway bulls. Corley worked the San Antonio rodeo with his father-in-law, Hadley Barrett, last month. Here’s a picture of Randy Corley annnoucing into a cucumber. Hey, Randy, is that a Raging Cucumber?

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

Few is an Oregon graduate, and his name is again circulating as a possible replacement for UO coach Ernie Kent, who is not expected back.
Few has always refused to discuss jobs that are not officially open. An insider with ties to Gonzaga told The Sun that Few recently indicated to him that he plans to remain at GU indefinitely, and Bulldog athletic director Mike Roth said, “No one even calls (inquiring about Few) any more.”

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

But what if the Huskies stumble? In a year in which the Pac-10 has been perceived as a weakling in the world of college basketball, the Huskies can’t afford to do that. An at-large berth seems possible if they get to the Pac-10 championship game, but it’s no guarantee.

If they get to the title game and lose, Washington will be 24-10, but their resume looks a lot better than it did two weeks ago. After being discarded by a lot of people who follow college basketball, Washington’s at least put itself on the bubble. They deserve consideration. They’re No. 49 in the latest RPI rankings and do have wins over two Top 50 teams (No. 12 Texas A&M and No. 19 Cal) and are 6-5 against the Top 100. And they are playing better. The Huskies performance on the road, however, remains a sticking point. Washington’s best road win was over Washington State (No. 150).

What do you think? Are the Huskies worthy of a spot in the tournament if they don’t win the Pac-10 tourney?

Meanwhile, cozy up to the tube to watch Gonzaga begins its quest for another West Coast Conference championship. The Zags take on Loyola Marymount in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. Finals are Monday. Gonzaga, by the way, is No. 35 in the RPI rankings.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

Mike Klis of the Denver Post breaks down the compensation package from a Broncos’ standpoint. If the Seahawks submit an offer sheet, they would have to surrender the No. 6 pick (their own) in the upcoming draft. Seattle also has the No. 14 overall pick, which they received from Denver for a trade that involved Alphonso Smith.

Marshall’s visit is nothing but a get-to-know-you visit, according to this ESPN.com report..

Also, sounds like Mike Holmgren’s interested in brining Seneca Wallace to Cleveland.

Here’s a guy who agrees with me. The Detroit Lions overpaid Nate Burleson, the former Seahawks’ wide receiver. $25 million over five years. $10 million guaranteed. Are you kidding me?

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post