Bittersweet 16 Are Mostly 6th Seeds

This year's Bracket Busters have provided a fair share of madness already.

Now it's time to assess the damage.

Well let's see, Team Stijl is dithering along at 10,418th place, just about where you'd expect someone who hasn't followed the season all season and used an elaborate dice sequence to make his selections.

And so far, there's still Arizona and Washington, my last remaining Final Four picks remaining. Tragically however, I had Syracuse winning the National Championship and since they were bounced out by a the mighty University of Vermont, it's time to have a reshuffle and look to see if there's another school ready to be knocked out in the next round by upset that I can root for.

Actually, I will say this much: the major upsets are over. There are only two teams left that are 10th or lower seeds.

Once you get past all the craziness, what you have left are the good teams, the well-coached teams and the powerhouses, sometimes all rolled into one. The fantasy world schools who no one can believe are still here, like the 12th seeded University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, are out on the next high speed train to waiting til next year.

Actually, what's left is this:

#1 seeds - All of them (Illinois, Duke, UNC and Washington)
#2 seeds - 2 of 4 (Okla St & KY)
#3 seeds - 1 of 4 (Arizona)
#4 seeds - 1 of 4 (Louisville)
#5 seeds - 2 of 4 (Michigan St and Villanova)
#6 seeds - 3 of 4!! - (Texas Tech, Utah and Wisconsin!)
#7 seeds - 1 of 4 (West Virginia)

1 10th seeded NC State and of course 12th seeded UW-Milwaukee.

So yeah, the 6th seeds made out.

Of the so-called experts at SI, only one guy has all four of his Final Four still alive.

So, who to root for now?

Who knows? But there should be some classic matchups coming up in the next round:

Duke v Mich St
Louisville v Washington
UNC v Villanova
Arizona v Oklahoma St

The not so classics might be:

Illinois v UW-Milwaukee
Texas Tech v W VA
Wisc v NC State
Utah v Kentucky

And since I might as well, just for the helluvit, here are my....what do they call it, Elite 8? All teams I'll be rooting for but who might not necessarily win.

Illinois
Arizona
Louisville
Texas Tech
Villanova
NC State
Michigan St
Kentucky

And from there the Revised Final Four:

Illinois
Louisville
Villanova
Michigan St

Deam on. More likely we'll see the same old rubbish: Duke, UNC, and then Louisville and Illinois.

*****Baseball*****

So, what's new on the steroid front?

Well, for one, there are now 3,770,000 results on google for it.

As for Congress, they are still happy that they're still able to waste America's time and money on this rather than on substantive issues like the national debt, Social Security, the War on Terror, etc.

Now they've got undercover investigators out there trying to root out steroid users in baseball wherever they can find them.

But a committee source told the New York Daily News that VA Republican Rep Tom Davis' use of the word "undercover" may "sound more dramatic than it is."

"The committee wants to show how easy it is to obtain steroids," the source said.

I think the committee is doing a damned fine job showing everyone how easy it is to waste taxpayers money on frivolous investigations. I wonder how interested Congressmen would be if they had to pay for these investigations out of their own pockets?

And lo and behold, none other than the esteemed former Prisoner of War himself, Senator John McCain has added his two cents, even though he's not even ON the committee, but "urging" a law on steroids in sports.

McCain, in all his infinite, twisted wisdom also offered advice to Mark McGwire, the retired slugger who evaded questions about steroid use. "The first thing Mark McGwire should do is get himself a new lawyer. I was saddened by what he had to say, and it's unfortunate, because he's one of America's heroes."

Heroes? How is Mark McGwire a hero? He didn't even get killed fighting the War on Terrorism in Afghanistan like our last hero-athlete, Pat Tillman.

Does this mean you don't have to fight for your country to be a hero? That you can just take steroids and hit alot of homeruns and you're still a hero?

Wow. Thanks for the clarification Senator McCain.

Ahem, does this means Barry Bonds is also a hero?

*****

Oh alright, enough of Congress and Steroids.

The good news is, The Mets have bolstered their rotation by trading for Ishii.

You can have a more detailed look at the pros and cons of getting Ishii over at Archie Bunker's Army under the Ishii Come, Ishii Go heading.

*****

Wow, everywhere you look: steroids. It's almost as though "steroids" has replaced "terrorism" as the buzz word of the year.

Some Rockie broadcaster had to apologise for implying Todd Helton had been "on the juice".

Meanwhile, Bonds Bimbo Blabs about the slugger's steroid use. Apparently, he'd paid her off several times in the past and when he stopped, she threatened to sue and decided to pursue writing a book instead and let's face it, other than accusing Bonds of admitting he'd used steroids, what other reason would anyone on earth possibly buy a book written by a Bonds Bimbo?

*****

It's 8:30 in the evening in Worcestershire and I'm listening to a Milwaukee broadcast of the Brewers facing the San Diego Padres in an unbelievably dull Spring Training game that reminds me of the depths it must take to sink to in order to be a Brewers fan. Can you imagine been water-tortured by the dull, sausage-stuffed Midwest somnambulistic voice of Darren Sutton, half asleep with stupidity, droning on and on, game after game, all summer long as loss after loss piles on...

Well, to tell the truth, if the Spring games meant anything, the Brewers would be offensive juggernauts and hell, let's be generous and admit there are a few tidbits of excitement to chew on. Russell Branyan is hitting .371 with 3 homers and 10 RBIs in 14 games so far. Lyle Overbay is hitting .394, Prince Fielder, Cecil's son, is performing beyond expectation and is hitting .333 with 2 homers and 11 RBIs in 13 games, Geoff Jenkins hitting .375 with a pair of homers and new acquisition and former White Sox, Carlos Lee is hitting .421 with 4 homers and 11 RBIs in only 8 games!

Is this the renaissance of The Brew Crew and Harvey's Wallbangers?

Ahhh hell. Bad beer and Bernie Brewer to help you drink yourself into oblivion whilst following the vaunted Milwaukee franchise as it hovers near the NL Central cellar long into the deep, dark summer nights.

Nevertheless, let's keep an eye on Against the Grain this season if things ever shake themselves out of catatonia.