IT'S FINALLY HERE

The Super Bowl - er-I mean "The Game,"  (The NFL forbids me to use the SB word) starts about 6:30 tonight. The "Game", that is. The pre-game shows started  two weeks ago. People watch the "Game"  for any number of reasons.
# - For the commercials
# - For the half-time show
# - To see Richard Sherman embarrassed
# - To see Richard Sherman rant after a Seahawk win
# - To hear Erin Andrew's sideline banalities
# - To watch Peyton Manning (That will be the Manning family)
# - To check on their betting squares (Not that anyone bets -Hah!)

# - To actually see and enjoy the game (You know, the weirdos)
Okay, I guess I have to make a pick. I rooted for orange last night, I might as well root for orange tonight.

A very interesting day for Division 1 basketball yesterday. The top 25 ranked teams took a beating the likes of which hasn't happened in a long time, if ever.
#23 Oklahoma
#22 Memphis
#21 Massachusetts
#17 Duke
#14 Wisconsin
#8 Oklahoma State
#7 Michigan State
#6 Kansas
#1 Arizona
All 9 took a licking on "Upset Saturday," which even ESPN will have a tough time marketing as a catch phrase. The new rankings will come out Monday afternoon, and I think the list will have blood stains..

Undefeated Wichita State managed to keep it's unblemished record intact by beating Evansville, which I'm pretty sure is a college, either that or a fraternity. Actually, it is a college, with a student enrollment one-third the size of Oswego State. So Wichita St should move up in the rankings with a cry of, "We're #2...almost."

My cohort in crime, Vod Knockers, suggests that Dick Vitale may have been favoring Duke in the game last night. He wasn't. Dick Vitale only roots for Dick Vitale...baby. Late in the game, Vitale suggested that Coach K should let Jabari Parker work out of the middle. When Parker happened to end up there a few minutes later and scored, Vitale took credit for the move. Between Coach K and Vitale, one of them is pretty smart...and it ain't Vitale.
I've mentioned to Annie-O a couple of times that the student body at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium is pretty inventive when it comes to mocking the visiting teams, and they do it without being obscene, well, too obscene. The Dome Arena crowd showed that they can be inventive, too, with signs like, "SYRACUSE IS GOOD!"     Well, I guess inventive is the wrong word.

Interesting fact. The mittens for the US Olympic team were made in China. The backs of the mittens have "GO - USA" stitched on them. Upon closer inspection, that dash really says "home."

***THEY SAID IT***
"A woman in a bikini streaked the Pro Bowl. The league is so desperate for TV ratings she was removed from the field after 45 minutes."  -- Brad Dickson
"American opera star and soprano Renee Fleming will sing the national anthem at this year's Super Bowl. That's one way to start the game on a high note."  -- RJ Currie
" There was just an outdoor NHL game at Yankee Stadium. Idea: keep the penalty box and make A-Rod sit there all next season."  -- Brad Dickson
"A high-school basketball team in Pittsburgh includes four sets of twins, three of which are identical. It's a lot of fun for everybody except the play-by-play announcer who quit at halftime of their second game."  -- Brad Dickson
"At a pre-Super Bowl NY Jets event, GM John Idzik and coach Rex Ryan said they support QB Geno Smith but also said they won’t tolerate behavior that embarrasses the franchise. Apparently the only acceptable way to embarrass the team is on the field."  -- Janice Hough

"A Denver radio station has refused to play any music from Seattle area musicians. Oh yeah?, just try ordering a Denver Omelet in Seattle."  -- TC Chong

CP-