|
Los Angeles, California – March 13, 2007 I'm sure this isn't the first time you've read this, but this year's NCAA Tournament is one of the most wide-open ever. Last year's winner—Florida – and last year's runner-up, UCLA – could win it, as could Oregon, Ohio State, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Kansas, Washington State, Georgetown, Virginia or Memphis. And any of those teams might not make it into the Sweet 16. That why you've got to love this year's tourney maybe a little bit more than in most years........ My 12-5 upset special is Long Beach State with a victory over Tennessee. Twelves have beaten fives nearly 35 percent of the time in recent years, and the 49ers haven't been to the dance since 1995. So, they're due for a moment in the sun. The other 12-5s are USC-Arkansas, Virginia Tech-Illinois and Butler-Old Dominion. In the professional ranks, do you think any team can stop the Dallas Mavericks? I don't. Not if they stay healthy. They've gone 52-5 (as of this writing) since starting out 0-4. I give an outside shot to the defending champion Miami Heat if Dwayne Wade comes back and is semi-healthy. Otherwise, start planning for the late-June parade in Big D.  Dirk Nowitzki should be the MVP in the author's book. Dirk Nowitzki should be the MVP, even though Phoenix can't win without Steve Nash. The Mavs have been too dominant to overlook their star for a second straight year. * * * I interviewed Jody "Babydol" Gibson, the ex-madam/hooker, who wrote a tell-all implicating many famous people, including former Dodgers' manager and current executive Tommy Lasorda. In the book, Gibson claims that Lasorda paid $1500 for oral sex with one of her workers. That statement right there tells you she's mistaken, if not outright lying. Lasorda is tighter than a drum full of nuclear waste material, and is notorious for never paying for anything!. If she said that she comped him the service, then I might believe it. But Tommy paying that much for a sex session is extremely laughable......... She also claimed she set up the transaction by calling Lasorda back on his cell phone sometime in the years between 1993 and 1997. One problem with that. Lasorda never had a cell phone until the Dodgers forced him to get one sometime after 2000. When I asked her about breaking the "confidentiality code" between her and her clients, she said she could care less, and that none of them had written her in jail to see how she was doing. Well, why should they? They were doing business with an understanding that their under-the-sheets forays would be kept under wraps. Are you supposed to write to every person you do business with who ends up in the Graybar Hotel? She came across as a very bitter woman who didn't care whose life she ruined in order to cash in. * * * The Angels put enough pressure on Gary Matthews Jr. for his alleged purchase of HGH that he finally came out and apologized for being a distraction. What a bunch of garbage. The Angels should have been supporting Matthews Jr., waiting for the facts to become clear before persecuting him. And a note to Angels' owner Arte Moreno: HGH wasn't on the banned substance list until 2005, the year after Matthews Jr. allegedly made the purchase. If you feel like you wasted $50 million on a player who's had one good year in the bigs, that's your fault. Don't try to use a controversy about something that wasn't against the rules to get out of paying him. That's below a man of your caliber, Arte.
|
Newswire 
