Let's Go Kansas State!

I still can't name a single player on the Kansas State Wildcats basketball team... yet I am still rooting for them.

And after their double overtime win against Xavier last night a wonderful thing happened for K-State fans:

They are now favorites to go to the Final Four.

With Butler's win over top ranked Syracuse (two other teams that I don't know the starting 5 for), Kansas State is now the top ranked school in the West Region.

Now I am sure Syracuse thought they were going to beat Butler, so K-State can't take them lightly... but if a #2 seed can beat a #5 seed then my Schadenfreude fueled scenario would come true.

Kansas State would be a Final Four Team while Kansas, the #1 team in the country, couldn't even make the Sweet Sixteen.

And if they make the Final Four, they wouldn't have to face a #1 seed from the Midwest as Kansas has been knocked off... so it isn't outlandish to see Kansas State in the Championship game...

And if they can beat Kentucky or Duke...

OK, I am getting ahead of myself. BUT for all of you Kansas State fans out there, savor this. This could be YOUR 2004... that year where your team was better than the big bad "always better than you and you are sick of hearing of it" powerhouse.

Unleash the prick within!

Joe Mauer better not be Vernon Wells

An unlikely team opened up their wallets and signed their All Star potential Free Agent to a long term deal.

And the deal is called great for baseball.
No doubt on the open market this All Star would sniff New York or Boston's offers.

And a home grown star, someone who is one of the good guys in the sport, would have been lost.

Instead competitive balance was restored... and a fan base who saw glory under the dome the 1980s and 1990s including a pair of World Series titles FINALLY got a sense of continuity with their favorite star.

Who am I talking about?
Joe Mauer?
Vernon Wells?

Wells signed the mongo 7 year $126 million contract after the 2006 season. The Blue Jays, who finished second that season, looked like they were getting ready to make a move on the AL East.

They did alright... they moved down.
And Vernon Wells has slumped and is a shell of his former self.

And you have to wonder if they didn't have such a backloaded albatross of a contract with Wells if the Blue Jays would have been able to keep Roy Halladay.

The only way to move Wells would be to take on another albatross, as I suggested earlier this year.

Remember how A-Rod's contract prevented the Rangers from getting better?
Remember how Ken Griffey Jr's contracted prevented the Reds from getting better?

What I am saying is... I hope Joe Mauer stays healthy and doesn't slump.

Catchers wear down faster than center fielders

I'd hate for this contract to be a burden 5, 6, 7 or 8 years from now

I think I am going to root for Kansas State to get to the Final Four

Yup... Sully Baseball will endorse Kansas State to win big.

Now let me make it perfectly clear, I can't name a single player on the Kansas State team.

I have no financial stake in them making the Final Four because I didn't fill out a bracket this year.

Up until 2 minutes ago, I didn't even know they were called the Wildcats.

And as I type this sentence, I am not sure where the school physically exists in Kansas.

So why do I want them to win?

Because here's a little thing you need to know about your pal Sully: I can be a bit of a prick sports wise.

Oh I am a hell of a nice guy in real life. I am a good friend, a thoughtful neighbor who is involved with the community, a caring father, a faithful husband and a dependable coworker.

But in sports, I love a little Schadenfreude. It's not enough to win... you have to stick it in the eye of someone else.

Maybe it was all of those years seeing the Red Sox flop a la Wile E. Coyote and hearing it from Yankee fans, but I have developed a taste for watching other fan bases squirm.

Which brings us to the Kansas State Wildcats. They are a good team evidently. They are a 2 seed in the tournament and ranked #7 in both the AP and USA Today/ESPN polls (a fact I did not know when I started writing this post.)

So it isn't like I am pulling for Northern Iowa to go all the way. Kansas State has a shot. And I am positive the fans at KSU (do they call themselves that?) would be thrilled for further victories.

But as of right now, they can rub another fan base's nose in it. The #1 team in the country is Kansas. And they didn't make the Sweet 16... and Kansas State did.

I am sure Jayhawk fans have rubbed it into Wildcat fans' noses for quite some time.

The Jayhawks have made 13 Final Four appearances and won their conference 53 times. They've made it to the title game 8 times (including 2 in the 2000s) and won three National Titles including 2008.

They are one of the marquee programs. Even I know that!

Kansas State has made a grand total of 4 Final Four appearances. They went 12 years between NCAA Tournament appearances between 1996 and 2008.

They will never be THE team in Kansas... except maybe this year.

Maybe, just maybe, in a year where the Jayhawks were supposed to make it to Indianapolis to play for the title, the Wildcats fans will have something to cheer about.

And trust me, Wildcat fans would love a National Title and also love that their cross state superiors face planted in the second round.

That is, if their fans are as big pricks as I am.

Do people REALLY root for Cinderella in the NCAA tourney?

I am not going to claim to be an NCAA Men's Basketball expert. I can't name the starting 5 of a single team in the tournament.

But I find the 64 team bracket to be fascinating, much like I find the US Open in Flushing and the Masters to be compelling even though I am not a tennis nor a golf fan.

One prevailing notion (or myth) of the NCAA tourney is that the Cinderella team has a shot to win it all. You could be Arkansas Pine Bluff, or ITT Technical Institute or DeVry and have a chance to win the National Title... provided you go on a doozy of a 6 game winning streak.

And this year you have an Ivy League school (Cornell), a 9 seed that I have no clue where they play except that I am guessing it is in the Northern part of Iowa (Northern Iowa), and a couple of more double digit seeds (Washington and St. Mary's.) One of those programs could win it all.

It won't happen. The closest you will get is a George Mason making the Final Four, but in the end there will be two elite programs in the final.

The real question is "do people WANT to see upsets?"

In theory, yes. In theory sports fans love to see the little guy triumph. But I can tell you CBS sure doesn't want a Northern Iowa vs. Cornell final! As cool as it sounds, the TV interest will be close to nothing except true die hard fans. They want programs like Duke and Syracuse in the finals... colleges with a storied basketball past and lots of alumni scattered across the country.

I also think most sports fans would rather see the best teams face off for the title. You couldn't get a more unlikely underdog story than the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays, who finished ahead of the Yankees and knocked off the defending champion Red Sox to make it to the World Series.

Yet nobody watched.

This year's Super Bowl pitted each conference's #1 seed... and it scored bigger than the last M*A*S*H.

The 2008 World Series barely beat After MASH.

Also let's face it, as cool as the Northern Iowa win over Kansas was, I am sure it got a lot of fans furious. Let's just say a lot of people looked at their brackets and threw them out in disgust.

I actually would like to see a Cornell/Northern Iowa final... but then again I don't work for CBS and I didn't fill out a bracket this year!

Welcome back Alan Embree

I've always been fascinated with Alan Embree's career. Actually one of these days I'd like to make a documentary about his career because... well... he has played everywhere and for almost every significant team in the post 1994 strike era of baseball.

But that is for another post.


Today, let me warmly welcome back the man who had the highlight so many Red Sox fans dreamed about for generations... getting the final out to stick it in the hearts of the Yankees and their fans.

A lot has changed since 2004... but that image still gives me chills.

Welcome back.

Oh dear... it is beginning for Milton Bradley

Milton Bradley got ejected during yesterday's spring training game against Cincinnati.

At least he is showing his hot head days are behind him... oh wait.

Exactly how p*ssed off do you have to be to get tossed from a spring training game?

Hey Milton! It's a practice game! THEY DON'T COUNT!!!

Seriously, if you wanted out of the game, just hold on for an inning or two. By the 5th inning, your spot in the lineup will be taken by someone destined to play for the Clinton Lumber Kings with #94 on his back.

At this rate, Bradley will beat the crap out of the Mariner Moose on opening day.

Although maybe this is an omen for the Mariners this year. With Cliff Lee getting tossed and Milton Bradley showing that he remains a total lunatic... maybe the Mariners will be a brawling and scrapping team.

I wonder if around this time, Carlos Silva and his 6 something ERA is starting to look better.

Maybe there is a reason that a super talented former All Star is now on his 8th organization in 11 years.

I don't know how this season is going to end for Milton Bradley (actually I do... he'll be cut and top prospect Michael Saunders will take his place.) But one thing I DO know is the Mariners have to make sure they keep the coffee away from Milton... he's wound up enough!

Bad news for the Mariners, Marlins and Brewers

I have a hunch that there will baseball played in Seattle, Florida and Milwaukee after October 3rd this year.

I feel the Angels have taken a big step backwards and the Mariners have the best 1-2 punch in the division and possibly the AL with King Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee. And Milton Bradley will be cut by June, so he won't be a distraction.

The Marlins have some dynamite arms in Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, Chris Volstad and maybe even former phenom Andrew Miller. Plus they have the dynamic middle of the infield combo with Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla plus defending Rookie of the Year Chris Coghlan.

The Brewers line up should be outstanding as Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun lead the way. And the addition of Randy Wolf to the rotation with Yovani Gallardo should be a big improvement as I think St. Louis overachieved in 2009.

I have not made my official picks yet, but I am leaning to picking the Mariners to win the West, the Marlins to be the NL Wild Card and the Brewers to win the NL Central.

Now my hunches aren't always right, which is why I might be dooming these three teams by picking them.

Remember last year? I picked both the A's and the Reds to not only win their division but to face off in the World Series.

Whoops.

Then again all of my other post season picks were right (including NOT picking the Cubs and predicting the Cardinals would be a playoff team.)

But my collective hunches should be sending shivers down the spines of Mariners, Marlins and Brewers fans everywhere.