This Week in Buffy History: March 31-April 6

March 31
1997 - Episode 1.5 “Never Kill a Boy on the First Date” airs on The WB

April 2
2003 - Angel Episode 4.17 “Inside Out” airs on The WB

April 4
2000 - Episode 4.17 “Superstar” airs on The WB
2000 - Angel Episode 1.17 “Eternity” airs on The WB

DGOW Semifinalist - Kristen Bell

Tournament Rankings

-Region Seed: 3
-Overall Seed: 9
-Google Search Results Rank: 16
-SexyDesktop Images Rank: 11
-IMDB StarWatch Rank: 8

Road to the Final Four
1st Round: defeated Michelle Ryan, 75-25
2nd Round: defeated Jaime Murray, 100-0
Regional Final: defeated Jessica Biel, 56-44

The lowest remaining seed in this tournament, Kristen Bell may not be the DGOW George Mason, but has the potential to be the DGOW version of Arizona 1997. I declared Bell my sentimental favorite in the fist round, but never expected her to topple Jessica Biel in the Elite 8.

Bell is best known for her starring role on the WB/CW show “Veronica Mars.” Called a mix between Buffy and Bogart, “Veronica Mars” was a hip show that was significantly more mature than its targeted age group (and between Bell, Charisma Carpenter, Julie Gonzalo and Alona Tal, featured some seriously underrated talent).

Bell’s profile should have been higher with “Veronica Mars” but the show never rated particularly well (nor did it play up her sexiness). All that changed this year, when she took a role on “Heroes”, which gave her an edge and definitely let her be sexy. She also became the voice of “Gossip Girl” and you can hear the sexiness dripping in her voice everytime she says “XOXO” at the end of the opening credits.

I got the chance to meet Bell back in 2006. “Veronica Mars” was just finishing up its second season, and the shine was off the show a little bit, but she was hot as ever, and sweet too. I even have her autograph on my Season 1 trading cards binder (yes, I have Veronica Mars trading cards -- and busts -- and DVDs -- and, well, if they made any other stuff I’d probably have that too).

Your Betty Brant Champion -- Kristen Bell.

She faces Katherine Heigl in the semifinals. Don’t forget to vote.

DGOW Semifinalist - Katherine Heigl

Tournament Rankings

-Region Seed: 2
-Overall Seed: 7
-Google Search Results Rank: 11
-SexyDesktop Images Rank: 16
-IMDB StarWatch Rank: 5

Road to the Final Four
1st Round: defeated Shiri Appleby, 60-40
2nd Round: defeated Rachel Bilson, 75-25
Regional Final: defeated Keira Knightley, 89-11

Most people know Katherine Heigl best from her role as Dr. Izzy Stevens on “Grey’s Anatomy”, but the truth is, I’ve only ever seen one episode of that show and it bored me to tears. No, I was introduced to the lovely Miss Heigl way back in the day, with the cheesy Disney movie “Wish Upon a Star.” She was just 18 then, playing a hot 16-year-old. And I was 16 at the time, so it wasn’t creepy to lust after her.

She continued her mastery of hot teenagers on “Roswell”, where she played Isabel (what is it with that name?), a hot alien pretending to be human. I mean, really, is there anything hotter than a hot alien posing as a hot human high schooler?

Moving on, Heigl continues to play hotties, most notably in the hit comedy “Knocked Up”, which is where American males who wouldn’t watch “Grey’s Anatomy” on principle got introduced to her hotness. Her breasts in particular stole the show, looking large enough to be mommy boobies without any Hollywood enhancement. Plus, her character hooked up with a relentless loser, giving hope to all of us out there that we could eventually sleep with Katherine Heigl -- as false as that hope may be.

Heigl’s look -- tall, blonde, nice breasts -- is classic beauty, but she does seem to have an unusually large mouth. While it doesn’t always come across that way in photos (thanks to the beauty of Hollywood photography), watch her for any extended period of time, and you’ll see what I’m saying (or maybe you won’t, if you just focus on her gorgeous body).

Your Gwen Stacy Champion -- Katherine Heigl.

She faces Kristen Bell in the semifinals. Don’t forget to vote.

DGOW Semifinalist - Hayden Panettiere

Tournament Rankings

-Region Seed: 2
-Overall Seed: 8
-Google Search Results Rank: 22
-SexyDesktop Images Rank: 7
-IMDB StarWatch Rank: 4

Road to the Final Four
1st Round: defeated Anna Paquin, 85-15
2nd Round: defeated Jennifer Connelly, 100-0
Regional Final: defeated Evangeline Lilly, 67-33

As you can see by the results, the DGOW fans are doing their best to save the cheerleader. Panettiere, best known for her role as Claire Bennet on “Heroes”, has yet to be tested. Her combined 1st and 2nd round victories were the most dominant in the entire field.

Obviously, Hayden broke into the public consciousness as a hottie with “Heroes” but she’s been on the Hollywood scene much longer. She made her TV debut on the soap opera “One Life to Live” in 1994, when she was just 5 years old. She played Coach Yoast’s daughter in “Remember the Titans” at 11, and at the age of 15, she stood out in a “Raising Helen” cast featuring 4 Oscar nominees.

Hayden’s “Heroes” success has allowed her to be a little more risque in her photo spreads while still embracing the innocence of a teenager. In the past year she’s done sexy spreads in Vanity Fair and GQ, both of which did not cross the line into Maxim soft-core territory, leaving the image of her playful youth intact.

For me though, this comes down to my meeting with Hayden, at New York Comic Con in 2007. She was a star, as “Heroes” was taking off, but she still didn’t have a big ego, and took the time to talk to everyone who was getting an autograph. We actually had a nice little conversation (I told her I liked her in “Ice Princess” -- a Disney movie also starring former Buffy star Michelle Trachtenberg -- and she said I was sweet) and I got a photo op later in the day. Very good times. I don’t know if the extra year of fame has changed her ego for the worse, but it has changed her body for the better.

Your Mary Jane Watson Champion -- Hayden Panettiere.

She faces Christina Aguilera in the Final Four. Don’t forget to cast your vote.

DGOW Semifinalist - Christina Aguilera

Tournament Rankings

-Region Seed: 1
-Overall Seed: 3
-Google Search Results Rank: 2
-SexyDesktop Images Rank: 3
-IMDB StarWatch Rank: 17

Road to the Final Four
1st Round: defeated Lauren Ambrose, 83-17
2nd Round: defeated Stacy Kiebler, 67-33
Regional Final: defeated Bryce Dallas Howard, 67-33

I think I first became infatuated with Christina Aguilera back when her first single, “Genie in a Bottle”, hit the airwaves. In fact, I’m pretty sure I saw the video for the first time on MTV (back when MTV played videos) and immediately went to Media Play (back when Media Play existed) and bought the CD single (back when CD singles existed -- wow, this all happened a long time ago).

Back then she was just another face in the long line of bubble gum pop princesses (Britney, Jessica, Mandy, et al) but she stood out, mostly because she was the only one who could really sing. I bought her first album when it came out, along with her Spanish language album and Christmas album -- yeah, I was hooked.

Sure, she went through a rough phase with “Stripped”, and it looked like she was messing with her body so much that she wouldn’t ever look good again. But the last two years have been a time of remarkable comeback for Christina, who has once again captured our imaginations (blah, blah, blah... she got super fucking hot again, basically).

Perhaps her biggest asset in this tournament is, well, how damn big her “assets” got while she was pregnant. Her “mommie boobies” (as Sarah calls them) are just a thing of beauty. In addition, her overall style has gone from scattershot to pin-up, which has made her all the more attractive. And if you’re one of the people who voted for “overall résumé” on last week’s poll, well, her last album was pretty good too, so no reason to knock her there.

Your Felicia Hardy Champion -- Christina Aguilera.

She faces Hayden Panettiere in the Final Four. Don’t forget to cast your vote.

Desktop Girls of the Week - The Final Four

Well, we made it. After 3 rounds of voting over a couple of months, we’re down to the final four. Here are your regional champions:

Mary Jane Watson Region:
Hayden Panettiere (2 seed)

Gwen Stacy Region:
Katherine Heigl (2 seed)

Felicia Hardy Region:
Christina Aguilera (1 seed)

Betty Brant Region:
Kristen Bell (3 seed)

In the semifinals, Panettiere will face Aguilera and Heigl will face Bell. Over the next few days, I’ll be giving each semifinalist her own post, spotlighting her road to the final four, but mainly chock full of hot pictures. So get ready for that, and don’t forget to vote!

Tuesday Afternoon DGOW Ramblings

• This week’s DGOW is Mandy Moore, as DGOW (a.k.a. Desktop Girl of the Week) returns to its normal Tuesday schedule. I’ve been a big fan of Mandy’s since her early pop princess days, and I really like her acting. Her guest spot on “How I Met Your Mother” in this season’s premiere was just amazing.

• Speaking of “How I Met Your Mother”, did you hear Britney was on it this week? Really! In fact, she was so great, she might have earned herself another DGOW spot soon, which would mean entry into the 2nd tournament (despite her first-round loss in the ongoing event.

• As for that ongoing event, there’s only ONE DAY LEFT to vote in the Elite 8. Currently, pretty much everything is holding to form, with one notable exception. Hayden Panettiere and Christina Aguilera are winning easily and Katherine Heigl is KILLING Keira Knightley, but Jessica Biel is currently trailing Kristen Bell (as of this writing). This was the matchup that had me torn the most, to the point I put up a separate poll about it. So I wouldn’t be shocked to see it go either way, even though I have said many times that while Bell is hot, Biel is by far the hottest person I’ve ever seen in person, hands down. So don’t forget to vote, and let your opinion be heard by leaving comments.

• I didn’t give much love to last week’s DGOW, Leighton Meester, aside from putting her on the page. But I’m a huge fan of “Gossip Girl” and I’m definitely in the “Blair is better than Serena” camp. Not only is Meester hotter than Blake Lively (the bleached blonde who plays the highly overrated Serena van der Woodson) but she’s a considerably better actress, and gets the more interesting storylines. Besides, the show is called “Gossip Girl” not “Boring, Coming-of-Age Girl” so who do you think the real star is? (Actually, that’d be Kristen Bell, uber-hottie and the voice of Gossip Girl).

Britney, I still love you! You were awesome on How I Met Your Mother!

I know I’m being a horrible enabler, but, Britney, you’re still awesome.

I saw you tonight on “How I Met Your Mother” (one of my favorite TV shows) and you were incredibly hot and didn’t flub your lines at all or anything.

I know I should be giving you advice on how to turn your life around, but I don’t care about that. You just need to keep looking sexy on awesome TV shows and you’ll be fine.

Really, with all honestly, I thought you were pretty damn good. Especially in that last scene with Barney. “If it’s fixed, can we have sex on it, then go shopping?” Fan... wait for it... TASTIC!

(If you haven’t seen the episode, check it out here... you may not get some of the in-jokes if you haven’t watched the series, but you’ll enjoy Britney’s part. It’s seriously pretty damn funny, with a touch of self-deprecation. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see Britney do more things like this, to help improve her public image, which is basically as low as its ever been).

This Week in Buffy History: March 24-30

March 24
1974: Alyson Hannigan born (played Willow)

March 25
1997: Episode 1.04 “Teacher’s Pet” airs on The WB
2003: Episode 7.17 “Lies My Parents Told Me” airs on UPN

March 26
2003: Angel Episode 4.16 “Players” airs on The WB

March 27
1971: Nathan Fillion born (played Caleb in Season 7)

March 28
1968: Max Perlich born (played Whistler in Season 2)

March 30
1965: Juliet Landau born (played Drusilla)

Thoughts on Season 4 of Lost

I don’t want to draw too many conclusions about Season 4 of “Lost” at this point, since the season isn’t actually over, but I do think that we are currently in the middle of the best season ever.

The last two episodes have been fantastic, and the only real clunker this season was the Juliet-centric episode, which not only broke up the flow of the show, but focused on a character that I just don’t care about.

As it stands, here’s how I’d rank the episodes this season, in order from best to worst:

1.The Constant
2.Meet Kevin Johnson
3.The Beginning of the End
4.Ji Yeon
5.Confirmed Dead
6.The Economist
7.Eggtown
8.The Other Woman

And Eggtown is closer to The Constant than it is to The Other Woman -- really, aside from that one episode, there wasn’t anything to dislike about this season.

Focusing on the last two episodes, in Ji Yeon I loved the juxtaposition of the flash-forward and flashback. A lot of people are complaining about that gimmick, but there are giveaways throughout Jin’s flashback (his hairstyle, the cell phone he uses, the year of the dragon reference, etc.). Also, I’m of the firm belief that Jin is not dead. The date on his headstone was Sept. 22, 2004 -- the day Oceanic 815 crashed on the island. My assumption is Jin’s “death” is part of Jack’s well-crafted cover story, and the reason Sun is so emotional at the end is that she believes she’s never going to see him again because he’s chosen to stay on the island.

As for “Meet Kevin Johnson” -- this might turn out to be the most important episode in the series. At this point, we’ve now connected every group (the freighter people, Locke’s camp and Jack’s camp) through a single person: Michael. After watching that episode, I feel confident that the next set of developments will directly lead to the Oceanic 6 getting off the island. At this point, we have some understanding of what’s going on, who is working for whom and the motives of the various people involved. I feel like after 3 and a half years of watching this show, my investment is starting to pay off.

The only thing that sucks (aside from “The Other Woman”) is that we won’t get a new episode until April 24th. Still, if those episodes are as good as these have been, then I’ll happily wait for them.

LeBron is the greatest Cavalier ever!

Not that we needed another milestone to know it, but LeBron James has officially cemented himself in the Cavaliers record book.

Friday, he passed Brad Daugherty for the most points in Cavaliers history. As of Friday, LeBron James is 23 years and 83 days old. When I was 23 years and 83 days old, I was a little more than a year out of college, and had been working at my job for a little less than a year. So, yeah, LeBron’s pretty good, pretty young.

To put this in perspective, LeBron has the 4th-highest scoring average in NBA history, behind only Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and Allen Iverson. If he keeps this up, he could eclipse the all-time scoring record by his 17th season -- at the age of 35! If he plays until he’s 40 (an unlikely scenario given just how damn rich he’ll be by then), then 45,000 points isn’t out of the question.

Another way to put this in perspective: every time LeBron takes the court, he’ll extend his own franchise record for career points. The only other guys in the league who can say that are Gerald Wallace and Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk’s been in the league since LeBron was in middle school, and Wallace’s team has been in the league for fewer years than LeBron himself.

LeBron is now averaging close to 31 PPG this season, accounting for 30% of his team’s scoring. Add in his assists, and LeBron generates better than 43% of every single Cavaliers point. He’s also taken the time to grab 521 rebounds, good for 2nd on the team. Those numbers go up when you only account for the games he played and throw out the games he didn’t (during which the Cavaliers are 0-6). Basically, what I’m saying is, if that’s not an MVP, I don’t know what is.

Fave 5 - Non-"Hoosiers" Basketball Movies

Look, it’s easy for everyone to say that their favorite basketball movie is “Hoosiers”. It’s one of the top 5 sports movies of all time. But what about other basketball movies? Here are my 5 favorites -- and for NCAA Tournament week, all 5 of these movies relate to college hoops in some way.

5.“Glory Road”
Based on the true story of the 1966 Texas Western men’s basketball team that won the national championship starting 5 black players against Kentucky’s 5 white players. Sure, the movie does play a little loose with the facts (Coach Don Haskins wasn’t in his first year at the school, nor were most of his players), but that doesn’t take away from the meaning of the story. Plus, I really like the cinematography in the championship game, using the freeze frames and the flash bulbs.

4.“Harvard Man”
Look, this isn’t really a great movie, but it does involve college hoops (at the Ivy League!) and, more importantly, involves Sarah Michelle Gellar. Plus, most basketball movies are about a team winning a championship, usually against long odds. This one most definitely is not. And did I mention Sarah Michelle Gellar is in it?

3.“Blue Chips”
This movie probably features more actually basketball players than any non-documentary ever, and the basketball scenes (particularly the Western vs Indiana games) are incredibly well done. Shaquille O’Neal made his only competent movie appearance in this one, plus Nick Nolte is incredibly believable as the coach. Also, Penny Hardaway, whose NBA career was unfortunately derailed due to injury, had a standout performance. Surprisingly good for a pro basketball player.

2.“Hoop Dreams”
I was torn on whether to put this on the list, both because its a documentary and its tie to college hoops is slim, but I couldn’t leave it off. It’s a great movie, following the basketball development of William Gates and Arthur Agee, both of whom have dreams of making it all the way, but for various reasons don’t quite get there. Both of them did end up playing college ball on scholarship. Gates was at Marquette in the early to mid ‘90s, playing on the ’93 team that reached the NCAA Tournament and the ’95 team that lost the NIT Final.

1.“He Got Game”
I know this movie has flaws and I really don’t care. To this day I can still watch it and be enthralled. When Ray Allen and Denzel Washington play one-on-one in the climactic scene of the movie, it gives me chills. Ray Allen (or simply Ray) probably does the best job of any basketball player as an actor. And who can knock Denzel? I saw this movie in theaters 8 times the year it came out. I still have the movie poster for it hanging in my bedroom, signed by both Ray and director Spike Lee. I just need to get Denzel for it to be complete. Also, worth noting, the next time you watch this movie, listen to what some of the characters say about Jesus Shuttlesworth (the name of Ray’s character) and replace the name “Jesus” with the name “LeBron”. For example: “LeBron is the best thing to happen to the game since the tennis shoe was invented.” This movie is the LeBron James story 5 years before LeBron was finishing high school. It’s eerie (well, other than the part where Jesus goes to college -- LeBron, not so much).

My Official NCAA Tournament Selections

For the first time since I was in 5th grade, I haven’t filled out any brackets for any pool of any kind. That doesn’t mean I’m not making picks. So, here they are, my official selections for the 2008 men’s NCAA Tournament. (Oh, and if you’re wondering, in my first bracket in 6th grade, I correctly had Duke beating Michigan in the championship game. I loved the Fab Five, but not enough to pick them over the defending champs).

FIRST ROUND
East Region
1 UNC def. 16 Mount St. Mary’s
9 Arkansas def. 8 Indiana
12 George Mason def. 5 Notre Dame
13 Winthrop def. 4 Washington State
6 Oklahoma def. 11 St. Joseph’s
3 Louisville def. 14 Boise State
7 Butler def. 10 South Alabama
2 Tennessee def. 15 American

Midwest Region
1 Kansas def. 16 Portland State
8 UNLV def. 9 Kent State
5 Clemson def. 12 Villanova
4 Vanderbilt def. 13 Siena
6 USC def. 11 Kansas State
3 Wisconsin def. 14 CS Fullerton
10 Davidson def. 7 Gonzaga
2 Georgetown def. 15 UMBC

South Region
1 Memphis def. 16 UT-Arlington
8 Mississippi State def. 9 Oregon
5 Michigan State def. 12 Temple
4 Pittsburgh def. 13 Oral Roberts
6 Marquette def. 11 Kentucky
3 Stanford def. 14 Cornell
10 St. Mary’s (CA) def. 7 Miami (FL)
2 Texas def. 15 Austin Peay

West Region
1 UCLA def. 16 Mississippi Valley State
9 Texas A&M def. 8 BYU
5 Drake def. 12 Western Kentucky
4 UConn def. 13 San Diego
11 Baylor def. 6 Purdue
14 Georgia def. 3 Xavier
7 West Virginia def. 10 Arizona
2 Duke def. 15 Belmont

(Lots of chalk so far, I know, but I did pick two 14s over 3s, so there!)

SECOND ROUND
East Region
1 UNC def. 9 Arkansas
12 George Mason def. Winthrop
3 Louisville def. 6 Oklahoma
7 Butler def. 2 Tennessee

Midwest Region
1 Kansas def. 9 UNLV
4 Vanderbilt def. 5 Clemson
3 Wisconsin def. 6 USC
2 Georgetown def. 10 Davidson

South Region
8 Mississippi State def. 1 Memphis
4 Pittsburgh def. 5 Michigan State
6 Marquette def. 3 Stanford
2 Texas def. 10 St. Mary’s (CA)

West Region
1 UCLA def. 9 Texas A&M
4 UConn def. 5 Drake
11 Baylor def. 14 Georgia
7 West Virginia def. 2 Duke

SWEET SIXTEEN
1 UNC def. 12 George Mason
3 Louisville def. 7 Butler
1 Kansas def. 4 Vanderbilt
3 Wisconsin def. 2 Georgetown
4 Pittsburgh def. 8 Mississippi State
6 Marquette def. 2 Texas
4 UConn def. 1 UCLA
7 West Virginia def. 11 Baylor

(Yes, that’s right 5 Big East Teams in the Elite 8, and none of them are Georgetown. The more I look at this, the more I think I’m insane, but then again, I prefer to trust my gut instinct, even if my gut is shrinking).

ELITE EIGHT
1 UNC def. 3 Louisville
3 Wisconsin def. 1 Kansas
4 Pittsburgh def. 6 Marquette
7 West Virginia def. 4 UConn

FINAL FOUR
1 UNC def. 3 Wisconsin
4 Pittsburgh def. 7 West Virginia

FINAL
1 UNC def. 4 Pittsburgh

So there you have it. The North Carolina Tar Heels will be national champions. Going back, I’ve correctly selected the national champion in 5 straight years, and 8 of the last 9 (I couldn’t bring myself to pick Maryland in 2002). So I’ve got a decent track record at this. Last year, I finished in the top 10 of a 90-something person pool, and would have been in the top 3 had Georgetown beaten Ohio State. Go Tar Heels!

Wednesday Afternoon Ramblings: 60 Posts in 60 Days

• Yes, you read that headline right. Starting today, I promise to have 60 posts over the next 60 days, or your money back! (ummm... not that you pay me or anything). So enjoy my thoughts...

• Also, enjoy the Desktop Girls of the Week Tournament, now into the Elite 8. Check out these matchups:

Mary Jane Watson Final

4 Evangeline Lilly vs 2 Hayden Panettiere

-I’ve got to go with Hayden. She was incredibly sweet when I met her, and there’s something about Lilly that just turns me off (maybe it’s the way Kate treated Jack at the end of the first flash-forward episode of Lost)

Gwen Stacy Final

1 Keira Knightley vs 2 Katherine Heigl

-This isn’t even a contest. Heigl is such so much hotter. I’m not sure how Knightley is even a 1 seed, or how she survived this long. I blame the tournament committee (of me).

Felicia Hardy Final

1 Christina Aguilera vs 7 Bryce Dallas Howard

-Howard is this tournament’s equivalent of George Mason. Can she pull off the upset against Aguilera’s UConn? I sure hope so. Love redheads. I just do.

Betty Brant Final

1 Jessica Biel vs 3 Kristen Bell

-Easily the hardest choice on the board for me. I’ve long said Biel is the hottest person I’ve ever met, by far, but I’ve liked Bell significantly better in everything she’s done. Still, I’ve got to go with... crap... I can’t make a pick now... get back to me on this one.

• Coming up this week for 60 in 60: Fave 5 Basketball Movies (yes, the Fave 5 returns!), my official tournament bracket (non-DGOW version) and the return of TV.

What a day to be a sports fan...

Sometimes the sports schedule lines up so you can plan your whole day around a series of events that happen in succession.

Then there are days where there are 3 HUGE things going on all at once. That was Sunday. Check this out:

-At 3:30 PM ET, the Rockets were tipping off at home, going for their 22nd consecutive win while playing host to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
-At the same time, the SEC Championship game was tipping off in Atlanta, with the Georgia Bulldogs trying to win their 3rd game in less than 30 hours and play their way into the NCAA Tournament.
-And, at about the same time, the leaders were hitting the back 9 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. One of those leaders was Tiger Woods.

This doesn’t even take into account the Big Ten and Big 12 championship games that were happening as well, but didn’t have the intrigue of the other events.

Unfortunately, I don’t have 3 TVs in my living room, and even if I did, they probably wouldn’t all be hooked up to cable boxes, so I couldn’t watch everything at once... but I tried.

At first, my attention was mainly on the Rockets, who opened up a 15-point halftime lead. Midway through the 2nd quarter of the Rockets game, I decided to utilize the TV in my bedroom to “watch” the golf. And by “watch”, I mean “listen for when Tiger Woods is taking a shot and run in to watch that.”

Meanwhile, I was occasionally flipping over to see Georgia open up a big lead against Arkansas. At this point it looked like the only event with true intrigue down the stretch might be the golf, where Tiger Woods was tied with Bart Bryant for the lead, two shots clear of the field.

Then, all the proverbial shit hit the fan: Georgia got tired, the Lakers got hot and suddenly, and with the golf coming to the critical final 3 holes both of the basketball games were incredibly close. This is where the watching got hard. I could keep an ear on the golf, but had to keep flipping between the basketball games.

Everything started to clear up at about 5:30, when, after a series of offensive rebounds, Albert Jackson of Georgia threw it down, giving the Bulldogs a 5-point lead. From there, Georgia cruised to an 8-point win, getting the SEC’s automatic bid to the Big Dance.

Just as Georgia was wrapping up its win, Tiger Woods was stepping to the tee on the 18th hole with this scenario:

-par forces a playoff with Bart Bryant, in the clubhouse at 9-under
-birdie gives him the win outright, the 64th of his career
-bogey or worse gives the win to Bryant

What do you think happened? Of course Tiger birdied. He nailed his drive, hit his approach to 24 feet despite a drastic wind change between the two shots, then holed the 24-footer, the only putt outside 20 feet that he made all week. His reaction was priceless, spiking his hat and screaming in celebration. He’s now 3-for-3 on the PGA TOUR this season, and I’m really not sure when -- or if -- he’s going to lose this season.

Once Tiger had things wrapped up, I could focus on the Rockets, and they apparently could focus on making all their shots. I turned it on with just over 5 minutes left, as Shane Battier (Mr. BATTIER!) hit a 3-pointer to give Houston a 7-point lead. That was the 2nd bucket in a stretch that saw Houston make 6 of 8 shots to open up a 14-point lead in a game they ended up winning by 12. The Rockets have now won 22 straight overall, 15 straight at home, and -- most impressively -- 10 straight since Yao Ming got hurt.

All in all, not a bad day to be wearing red (the primary color for Georgia, the Rockets and Tiger Woods) or to be a sports fan.

Oh yeah, did I mention it’s selection Sunday? Get your brackets ready. I’ll have my picks later this week.

Prospect Watch: Mets C Adam Reisinger

If only MLB 08: The Show were real...

Watch him behind the plate, and you wouldn’t know why his teammates call 22-year-old catcher Adam Reisinger by the name “Red”. But when he takes off his mask you know why.

“He walked into my office the day we called him up, and the first thing I noticed was that beard,” said New Orleans Zephyrs manager Ken Oberkfell. “I keep asking when he’s gonna shave it, but he says he won’t until he gets to the bigs.”

For Reisinger, whose scruffy red beard is usually hidden behind his modern catcher’s mask, that call might be coming soon.

Last year, as a 21-year-old fresh out of Towson University, Reisinger hoped he’d have a shot to make the majors, especially on a Mets squad lacking talent or depth behind the plate.

“I was definitely pressing that whole spring,” Reisinger said. “Getting sent to Binghamton to start the season was definitely a let down.”

Early in 2008, Reisinger let the demotion get to him, getting off to a very slow start at the AA level. However, he quickly picked things up, and by early July he was batting .335, and got the call to AAA New Orleans.

Binghamton Mets manager Mako Oliveras knew Reisinger wasn’t long for Double-A early in the season.

“We’ve got pitchers here [who are] 26, 27 years old,” Oliveras said last season “and he just comes in right away and tells them how he’s gonna call [the game] and they listen. He’s like another manager on the field, and he’s only 21.”

Now 22 and in his first full season at Triple-A, Reisinger’s batting average has dipped down to .275, but he’s driving in runs and scoring at a higher rate than last season.

“If you’re looking for a guy to keep an eye on, this is it,” MLB 08 Analyst Rex Hudler said before calling a recent Zephyrs game.

There are still those in the Mets system who question his maturity -- and his high strikeout rate -- but his manager says Reisinger is wise beyond his years.

“Last year in the playoffs, this guy hits almost .600 and smashes a walk-off homer in Game 4,” Oberkfell said, “and all he talked about all offseason was making the last out. He doesn’t want to do that again.”

Reisinger agrees, though admits that he wants nothing to do with the Pacific Coast League playoffs for a different reason.

“If I don’t get at least September call-up, I’d be disappointed,” he said. “Not in the organization, but in myself. I know there are things I need to be doing, and it’s my job to work toward those goals.”

Plus, he says, he wouldn’t mind at least trimming that beard.

A different kind of bubble

You hear a lot of talk about bubbles this time of year... being on the bubble is good... getting off of it is better... having your bubble burst, well, that’s bad.

But for the past two days, all I’ve been able to think about is my personal bubble -- the one I put around myself years ago to keep people from getting in and keep myself from getting hurt.

The truth is, I know it’s not healthy. But I find my day-to-day life easier to live this way. Do I have fewer friends because of it? Maybe. Have I lost a few girlfriends because of it? Probably. But am I able to go about my days with a generally positive attitude, not getting bogged down in emotion? Absolutely.

Of course, when you live like this, the big things -- the ones that pierce the bubble no matter how thick it is -- tend to hurt more.

I’m not going to go into details here, but last night, driving home, for the second time I can remember, I broke down. I had to pull over and just let it out. And 5 minutes later, I was good, and the bubble was back up, a little worse for the wear.

So, to answer your questions that will inevitably come over the next few days:
-yes, I’m fine, or as fine as could be expected
-no, I don’t want to talk about it
-yes, I probably should stop listening to the Sarah McLachlan, but that’s how I deal, ok

OK, now that that’s out of the way, we’ll return you to your regularly scheduled frivolous blogging, after these messages...

Wednesday Afternoon Post-72 Hour Period Kind-of Late Ramblings

• Back on Saturday, I promised you a whole bunch of topics I’d get through in the next 72 hours. Then I purchased “MLB 08 The Show” for PS3 and my free time went to that... like about 16 hours worth. But, even slightly late, I still have all the leftover topics for you in this edition of the ramblings, plus my early thoughts on MLB 08.

• Topic 1: Other Comics. I’ve been posting issue-by-issue reviews of “Buffy Season 8” and “Angel: After the Fall” so you know what I think about those. But what about the other stuff I’m reading? That would including “Amazing Spider-Man”, “Amazing Spider-Girl”, “Anita Blake”, “Hulk”, “Astonishing X-Men” and “Spider-Man: With Great Power”. Can you tell I like Spider-Man?

• Well, “Amazing Spider-Man” is currently going through some growing pains in the Brand New Day arc, the fallout from the results of One More Day (if you don’t know what happened, hit up Wikipedia, since I’m not going to rehash the entire thing here). There’s two ways to look at the current “Amazing Spider-Man” arc. 1) Taking it as a reboot of the series and completely ignoring everything that’s happened in the last, oh, decade or so, the current series is pretty good. It gets back to the 60s roots of the series, without feeling dated. 2) If you’re like me, you can’t stand the marginalization of Mary Jane. Right now, she’s not involved in the series, or in Peter’s life, at all. As for Jackpot, well, if she turns out to be MJ (as many people think), then it’s a big WTF to the entire One More Day conclusion. And if she doesn’t turn out to be MJ, then it’s a big WTF to the character in general.

• As for “Amazing Spider-Girl”, I actually enjoy reading this series on a month-to-month basis more than “Amazing Spider-Man”. For one, MJ is there (as wife to Peter and mother to May aka Spider-Girl). Also, as much as “Spider-Man” tries to capture the old feeling of dealing with the superhero problems and the everyday problems, “Spider-Girl” does it better, and doesn’t seem forced in doing it, since May is actually still in high school. Also, the drawing on the series is superb.

• I love “Astonishing X-Men”. I know some long-time X-Men fans object to Joss’ storylines, or Cassaday’s character depictions, but I’m a fan of both. I just wish this series would come out more often. It seems like it’s on the “Fray” publishing schedule (i.e., an issue whenever we get to it) and every time a new issue comes out, I have to go back and read the previous one to make sure I remember what’s going on.

• I’m going to reserve judgement on the new “Hulk” series for now, since it’s only 2 issues in and I’m still not really sure what’s going on. Much like “Angel: After the Fall”, we’ve been dropped into a story somewhere in the middle, and some pieces are still coming together. I’ll give the same non-answer for “Anita Blake”, since I’m about 3 issues behind in reading it. Not surprisingly for a comic based on a novel, the stories are very text-heavy, so they take awhile to get through.

• As for “Spider-Man: With Great Power”, what’s not to like? It’s pretty much a solid retelling of the Spider-Man origin story, which is one of the best out there. It’s only a scheduled 5-issue run, but it’s kind of a must-read right now.

• Topic 2: Buffy Day. I was going to have a special feature on my favorite Buffy collectibles on March 10th, the anniversary of the first episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, but my video gaming got in the way (not like last year, where I carved out a whole “Buffy-thon” for the day). So as for now, the planned post (which wasn’t even really that planned, only hinted at) moves to May 20, the anniversary of the last episode of “Buffy”.

• Topic 3: Lost. I have to say, I wasn’t that impressed with the last episode (the Juliet flashback). It wasn’t a bad episode, per se, but it seemed like a step back after the great Desmond episode (and not just because it was a flashback -- I actually liked that part of it, plus the way they teased us into thinking it might be a flashforward at the beginning was pretty cool). I do think the episode succeeded in making us continue to not trust the freighter people, since they --much like The Others when we first met them -- continue to insist one thing while all the time working toward something else entirely.

• Topic 4: MLB 08 The Show. I bought this game on Sunday and have probably logged 15 or 16 hours of gameplay already. The game has tons of great features, but I’ve been hooked on “Road to the Show” mode. This is where you create a player, go through spring training, get assigned to a minor league team, then try and work your way up to the majors, eventually becoming a superstar. The level of detail in this mode is incredible. You control every aspect of your player’s career, including his training (which has goals set by the organization, just like a real minor leaguer would). You can even play in an express mode, where it fast forwards to moments in your player’s career without having to watch the whole game. I’m already in late July of the 1st season of my player’s career. It’s good stuff. I’m hoping to get into the online play aspect of the game shortly, but I need some practice pitching first (my created player is a catcher, so I don’t do any of the pitching in my games).

• I’ll have much more on this game in the next couple weeks -- hopefully I’ll have tried out some other game modes in that time, and PooZ and I are going to try and play some online games and we’ll let you know how that works in the next Podcast, which should be super-sized and super awesome.

Desktop Girls of the Week - Tournament Update!

For those of you who can’t make it over to the DGOW page (and seriously, stop being lazy... it’s one click...), here’s an update on how things are going.

We’re now halfway through the Sweet 16, with only 1 real upset (4 seed Evangeline Lilly is through... though mostly because Kiele Sanchez upended top seed Britney Spears in the 1st round).

Here are the match-ups for the remainder of the Sweet 16. Voting runs through next Monday (the 17th) and then the Elite 8 begins.

Felicia Hardy Region

1 Christina Aguilera vs 5 Stacy Keibler

-I’m voting for Stacy, only if to support Towson... and her legs...

6 Julie Benz vs 7 Bryce Dallas Howard

-Is it weird that Howard isn’t in the Gwen Stacy region? A little. But that won’t stop me from voting for her. God, I love redheads.

Betty Brant Region

1 Jessica Biel vs 4 Megan Fox

-Again, Jessica Biel is by far the hottest woman I’ve ever seen in person. She has my support for pretty much the rest of this tournament.

3 Kristen Bell vs 7 Jaime Murray

-I met Kristen Bell, too. She is very hot. I miss “Veronica Mars”.

If you have any suggestions for who should be in the next edition of the tournament, feel free to leave them in the comments. DGOW returns on Tuesday, so check back then for some new hotness on the front page of the blog.

What if... I could do my NBA predictions over?

Bill Simmons had a great column today on “What ifs” from the last decade in the NBA. Everything ranging from “what if the Wolves didn’t trade KG this summer” to “what if LeBron had ended up with the Grizzlies”. Well, there’s one “what if” he didn’t address in his column... “What if Adam’s preseason NBA predictions hadn’t sucked so bad.”

Well, we’ll never know, but we can at least take this time, with about 20 games left in the season, to look back at some of my most horrid predictions (and I’ll throw in a couple of my good ones too).

[Aside] Oh, and the picture has nothing to do with what ifs... it’s just really cool that I was able to capture the exact moment when LeBron threw the powder in the air from all the way across the arena. [/Aside]

Oh, and I’m trying to focus on teams I had out of the playoffs who are clearly in and vice versa. If I messed up a seeding, it’s not as big a deal to me (though I probably owe the Pistons an apology).

Orlando Magic: I had them 10th in the East. Whoops. I just didn’t think Hedo Turkoglu was that good (to be fair, neither did the rest of the people in my fantasy league, since he went undrafted. I picked him up off waivers right after the draft, and have been happy with him ever since). Will they get beyond the 2nd round of the playoffs? Probably not, but there definitely aren’t 9 better teams in the East.

Miami Heat: I had them 5th in the East, then said they’d win the conference in the postseason. Ummm... yeah... don’t believe any prediction I ever make again.

Chicago Bulls: I had them 2nd in the East. Ditto on the not-believing-me thing.

New Orleans Hornets: To be fair, I did call Chris Paul “the NBA’s most unknown superstar” and expressed a desire for that to change. Yet for some reason, I still picked them 9th in the West.

Los Angeles Lakers: I did have them in the playoffs, but as the 8 seed. Kinda hard not to classify that as a screw-up, when they’re one of the top 2 teams in the conference. I really thought the Kobe drama would mess them up at the beginning of the season, and then he’d be traded. Well, that didn’t happen.

Memphis Grizzlies: I had them 7th. Chris Wallace had other ideas. Let’s move on.

Washington Wizards: I’m calling this one an incomplete. I said they’d be third in the conference, assuming a season of health from them. Well, since they’ve been the exact opposite of healthy, I can’t be blamed that they’re sixth (and really, that’s not a huge dropoff).

I did get some teams right on... for example:

Cleveland Cavaliers: I picked them 4th in the regular season and said it shouldn’t even be considered a step back. I also said they wouldn’t miss Sasha Pavlovic and Anderson Varejao as much as people think, and they didn’t (and in fact, both guys came back). I also said LeBron would play motivated all year, and he has -- another triple-double Monday night against Portland once again proves he’s the MVP.

Boston Celtics: I said they’d win the East in the regular season, and questioned their depth at point guard. Well, they already have 50 wins, and they went out and signed Sam Cassell. Right on both fronts.

San Antonio Spurs: My quote from my preview said they were “damn good.” Sometimes these things don’t really take much guesswork.

LeBron for MVP, Rockets for MVT?

Look, I know I’ve been harping on this for awhile, but how could LeBron James NOT be the MVP.

Yes, Kobe Bryant has the Lakers atop the Western Conference, but he’s got Lamar Odom, a half-season of Pau Gasol and a half-season of Andrew Bynum.

Yes, Chris Paul has been outstanding, but as good as he’s been, he doesn’t even lead the league in assists (that would be the worst 2-time MVP ever, Steve Nash).

LeBron leads the league in scoring (because he has to for the Cavs to win), also chips in 8 boards and 7.4 assists per game. The only guys to put up numbers like that are MJ and Oscar, which is incredible company.

More importantly in the MVP race, without LeBron, I’m not sure the Cavs would be a playoff team, even in the dreadful Eastern Conference, even after making their big trade. Ben Wallace and Joe Smith weren’t going anywhere with the Bulls. Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West weren’t going anywhere with the Sonics. But stick them with LeBron and suddenly they’re key pieces in what could be an NBA Finals team.

Speaking of teams that could be NBA Finals teams, how about the Rockets? They’ve now won 18 straight. With 3 more wins (very possible, as their next 3 games are against terrible Eastern Conference foes) they’ll have the 2nd-longest win streak in NBA history -- they need to win 16 more to have sole possession of the longest streak. Now, is Houston a potential NBA champ? I don’t think so, but let’s take a look at the previous teams that won at least 18 straight:

1969-70 Knicks: won 18 straight
This team was led by Willis Reed and Walt Frazier, who both averaged better than 20 points. Coach Red Holzman led a group with 5 future Hall-of-Famers, and they beat the Lakers in the Finals in 7 games.

1981-82 Celtics: won 18 straight
They had the Big Three (original edition). They had Cedric Maxwell, Tiny Archibald and a deep bench. They went 63-19 in the regular season, before losing a hard-fought 7-game series to the Dr. J/Andrew Toney 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

1995-96 Bulls: won 18 straight
The greatest team ever. Given that they won 72 games, it’s hard to believe their longest win streak was “only” 18 games. But they had a 13-game win streak just before the 18-game streak, separated by a 6-point loss at Indiana. If they’d won that Pacers game, their streak would have been 32 games heading into Denver (where the 18-game streak ended). This team obviously won the title.

1999-00 Lakers: won 19 straight
Now we get into the longer streaks. The Kobe/Shaq Lakers came together in the first year of the Phil Jackson era, and just dominated the league. In addition to this 19-game streak in February and March, they also won 16 straight in Dec./Jan. and 11 straight immediately following the 19-game streak. They nearly lost to the Blazers in the conference Finals, but had the huge comeback in Game 7 and went on to win the title.

1970-71 Bucks: won 20 straight
This was the longest win streak in NBA history for a season (breaking the record the ‘69-70 Knicks set a year earlier). A team with Kareem and Oscar? That just doesn’t seem fair. Kareem averaged 31 and 16, while Oscar averaged 19 and 8 assists. In addition to the 20-game streak, they ripped off a 16-gamer right after starting the season 1-1. They went 12-2 in the postseason, including an NBA Finals sweep.

1971-72 Lakers: won 33 straight
This streak is just absurd. The Lakers, who lost to the Bucks in the West Finals the season before, were 6-3 when longtime star Elgin Baylor retired. So how did L.A. respond to the loss of a legend? They won 33 straight games! It’s not like Baylor’s retirement left them short-handed. They still had Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich pouring in the points. They went on to win a then-record 69 games (amazingly, their 33-game streak was their only streak of more than 8 games) and they won the title. Two interesting notes: Bill Sharman was in his first year coaching the team, having come over from the ABA, and future Lakers coach Pat Riley was on the team, providing depth off the bench.

Are this year’s Rockets as good as any of these teams? Probably not. But let’s enjoy this streak while we can.

Buffy: Season 8, Issue #12 Review

Buffy isn’t a lesbian.

Anyone who watched the show for 7 seasons, or has read the first 11 issues of this comic series knows that.

So why would Joss Whedon (and issue writer Drew Goddard, whose work I liked in Season 7 and on “Lost”) spend most of the 1st half of this issue with Buffy naked in bed with Satsu, the slayer whose love she rejected in Issue #11?

I have to believe it’s part of a bigger plan, but right now, in the scope of just this issue, it seemed to serve 2 purposes:

1)establish a new level of absurdity for the wide world of fanfic
2)set up a series of hilarious encounters that would have come across very funny with the various actors involved, but don’t really do anything for me on the comic page

Otherwise, the sexual encounter just seems out of character, though it does serve as the necessary distraction to allow this issue’s group of bad guys to make their move.

As for those bad guys, we can only assume they’re working for/with Twilight, but we get no direct implication of that, since Twilight makes no appearance in this episode. At first, I was a little peeved at this, but then I thought back to Season 5. Part of what made Glory such an interesting villain is how little we knew about her at first. It’s very similar with Twilight. Who is he? How powerful is he? Who’s working for him and who’s he working for (if anyone)?

While none of these questions get answered in this issue, I at least feel we have a general direction, thanks to the theft of the Scythe.

Oh, and as for the appearance of Dracula at the end of the issue, I wasn’t a big fan of his episode on the show, but it looks like we’ll be getting mostly Xander-Dracula interaction, which was the redeeming part of “Buffy vs Dracula” and also made for an interesting issue of “Tales of the Vampires”.

Angel: After the Fall, Issue #4 Review

First things first: Angel is a human.

Sorry if I spoiled that for you, but if you’re this far behind in the series, you deserve to be spoiled (in the bad way, not the good way).

Now, this issue focuses primarily on how things got that way and the answer may surprise you.

Angel doesn’t believe (and it seems neither does Wesley) that his condition is a result of the Shanshu Prophecy. Now, while I don’t believe he could actually sign that away (as he did in the series finale), Angel does. However, his explanation for not being a vampire (“They know right now is when I need it the most”) makes significantly more sense.

Let’s be honest, if Wolfram & Hart can cast L.A. into hell, then they can definitely make Angel into a human in that hell. And more importantly, at least for fans like me, they can make Gunn into a vampire.

As for the non-exposition part of the issue, Angel preps for his fight against the Lords (or their champions), he goes to visit Lorne, who runs something of a safe haven in “Hell.A.” (think Caritas on a larger scale) and Groo shows up looking Pylean and Gunn blows up what’s remaining of the L.A. branch of W&H (which tells us more about his intentions than anything in the previous 3 issues did).

I can’t say I particularly liked the ending of the issue, but I’ll live with it. It just seemed kind of forced, but it doesn’t take away from what otherwise was a very good issue.

Stay tuned...

I know my blogging since I returned from Cleveland hasn’t been prolific (actually, it’s been non-existent), but I’ve got some good reasons for that.

Rather than re-hash those here, I’m going to instead look to the future, because, much like Mark McGwire, I’m not here to talk about the past.

Instead, let’s look at what I’m going to have for you in the next 72 hours:

•Review of “Angel: After the Fall” #4
•Review of “Buffy: Season 8” #12
•Thoughts on the various other comics I’m reading
•Update on LeBron James’ run for MVP
•A look back at my good and bad NBA predictions for this season
•A Buffy Day (March 10th) tribute to my favorite Buffy collectibles
•Thoughts on Season 4 of “Lost”
•The 2nd part of the 2nd round of the 2008 DGOW Tournament (don’t forget to vote!)

That might seem like a lot (especially for someone who only posted one entry in the 1st week of March), but I swear I can get it done. Sleep is overrated.

MVP! MVP! MVP! (Yes, LeBron is that good)

Actual exchange at a store at Tower City after today’s Cavaliers-Bulls game:

Random Shopper: “Who cares about LeBron?”

Salesperson: “Come on. We are all witnesses.”

Random Shopper: “Witness to what?”

Me: “37 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists.”

Random Shopper: “OK, yeah, that’s pretty good.”

Exactly.

That’s why seconds after I took the above picture (the last 2 of LeBron’s 37 points), the “M-V-P” chants were rattling The Q.

And yes, they were louder than the boos Larry Hughes received during introductions (the guy sitting behind me was trying to convince his little kid that the fans were saying “Hughes”, but the kid wasn’t buying it).

Honestly, the two games I got to see this weekend couldn’t have gone better. The Cavs won both of them, LeBron played great in both of them, and I got to chant “M-V-P” at both of them. Good times.

Honestly, I do think LeBron is playing at an MVP level, but if the Lakers win the West and the Cavs don’t get out of 4th in the East, it’d be hard to give him the award over Kobe Bryant. But if the Lakers finish 3rd or lower in the West and the Cavs get to 3rd in the East, then give the MVP to LeBron and get out of his way in the playoffs.

And given that LeBron’s career averages are better than 27-6-6, it shouldn’t be surprising when he goes for 35-6-6 or better, but it’s still pretty awesome. He’s now got 37 games of 35-6-6 in his career (including Sunday), 2nd-most among active players behind Tracy McGrady (38) and ahead of Kobe Bryant (36), though Kobe’s working on another one as we speak, and T-Mac could do it tonight.

Basically what that means is it’s a good time to be an NBA fan.