OKAY, IT'S OVER.

## They came close, but finally got put away. Michigan is a good team, but I haven't seen anyone deal with that Louisville pressure.
The Orange had another fine team that was exciting to watch - most of the time.  Like other Syracuse teams, they had potential, but again, that's were it stopped. Michael Carter-Williams is a force to be reckoned with, but he is prone to making some bad decisions. The real problem is that Brandon Triche was not the leader he should have been. You look to the seniors to take control at the end and Triche hardly ever did.
They have a good nucleus coming back next year, but they will be counting heavily on a couple of sophomores to make a good showing.
At least I finally beat Annie-O in the NCAA Brackets.

## Speaking of good showings, do we have to wait for every fifth day this year and rely on Andy Pettitte to give us a good pitching performance? It appears that Mariano Rivera isn't going to get many saves unless they bring him in in the fifth inning to protect one of those rare leads the Yanks are getting.
Interesting lineup: 6 of the 9 players weren't with the Yankees last year.  One of the three spent the year in the minors, one missed most of the year with an injury and the last one stopped playing in the post season. Things won't be getting any better today - Verlander is on the mound for the Tigers.

## This is real class. Josh Hamilton's wife called security before his first game in Texas, his former team. He says fans were yelling obscenities and personal insults at her and her children. This is stupid. These fans should be barred from the stadium for the rest of the year. They showed the fans in the bleachers on ESPN, pulling out newspapers and pretending to ignore the game when Hamilton came up for his first at bat. Now THAT was cool. This other stuff isn't.

## Okay, this austerity program has got to stop. It's one thing to limit player salaries - that's a good thing - but when they start fooling around with the bonus gifts you get at the gate, well, enough is enough. In the past the Yankees have given away team pictures, baseball bats, baseballs, even visors. Now they are giving away Flower Seed Packets.  Really? Flower Seed Packets?  And they don't say what kind of flower. There may be an awful lot of dandelions growing in the Bronx this summer.  C'mon, Hal, dump a middle reliever and spent the 2 or 3 Million on a real gift, like a George Steinbrenner bobblehead doll, with extra large pockets, of course. Or a Hal Steinbrenner doll, with the pockets sewn shut.

***THEY SAID IT***
"Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera — a combined 83 years old — teamed up to do the pitching in the Yankees' first win this season. And not taking any chances, the team had Whitey Ford warming up in the bullpen."  -- Dwight Perry
"Saturday’s Husker spring game was on BTN. Which is an improvement over last year’s game, which was on the Weather Channel."  -- Brad Dickson
"The best beer prices at MLB Parks this year are $4 at Cleveland’s Progressive Field and $5 for Arizona and Houston. The beer is not The Schlitz, but their teams sure are."  -- TC Chong

"A rare Honus Wagner baseball card just sold for $2.1 million. What's crazier, the price for a single card, or the fact that these days $2.1 million might get you a mediocre middle reliever?"  -- Janice Hough 
"The Pittsburgh Steelers considered signing free-agent running back Ahmad Bradshaw. The headline read: “Steelers Nearing Offer To Bradshaw.” I thought to myself: “They wouldn’t. Would they?”  -- Brad Dickson 
"Lakiha Spicer has filed suit in Los Angeles for emotional distress over threatening emails sent to her, but in the end, Spicer might not be the one in need of protection. She's married to Mike Tyson."  -- Dwight Perry 
"A White House report puts the odds this year of a city-sized asteroid hitting the earth at one in 20,000. Or about twice as likely as the Cubs winning the World Series"  -- RJ Currie 

CP-