Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.

Read it, don't read it, I don't care...just needed to get some things off my chest.


In no particular order of chronology or importance...


1)  I was WRONG.  I was WAY wrong.  I underestimated the power of the salesman being a Hall of Fame QB.  The Titans bring Peyton closer to his family and roots, and have a great O-line.  The 49ers have weapons, and just need someone to throw and hand off to them.  In my software business, they call that a "plug and play."  Denver?  A  great defense, solid running game, better weather than people think, a flexible coach, and a leader that is SO over Tebowmania and was just playing along.  I still didn't think it was going to happen.  I admit it.  What it does for me is a couple things:


-I am excited.  I will NEVER utter the words "second favorite team," but I think I might actually root for them when it doesn't affect the Steelers.  It is fun just being in a town where the excitement, media circus, and scrutiny are.


-I found out today that my brother is now rooting for the Broncos.  I can't believe I have two people in my family that root for the Broncos.  Seems odd for a family from exit 1 or 2 in Jersey.  Stay STRONG, Dad.


-Trade Tebow.  The movement is over.  You can't have Tebowmania and Manningia in the same town.  I would be surprised if they got a third rounder for him to be honest.  So.  Where should he go?  Well, aside from the obvious musical chair participants left out in the cold, Dolphins or Titans, my buddy and ex-boss Kyle has a plan.  Jacksonville.  That is his old crib (close), they will embrace him, and if Denver is smart, they try to get Blaine Gabbert or Chad Henne in return (won't work, but a hell of a thought).  


-Very cool of 85 year old ex-Bronco Frank Tripucka to lend out his #18 retired jersey.


- They almost HAVE to trade Tim Tebow, don't they?  Can you imagine the wasted time in practice going over Peyton's no-huddle offense and the triple option with Tebow.


-I admit it.  This is the first year in a while that I am worried about the home team.  Peyton changes a lot of things.  


-If they get Mike Wallace, which was a conversation on local radio today, please keep sharp objects away from me.


-I am happy for my friends.  Seriously.  The Broncos have more than a pulse, and they know it.  Damn.     


2)  Random NCAA notes:
-How historic.  A 15-2 upset had occurred 4 times in history and not in the last 11 years.  What do we get?  Two in one day.


-The guy might look goofy, but he has game.  And Duke, after losing to Florida State in the ACC semi's, drops a game to Lehigh on Friday.  Ryan Kelly stretches the defenses with his shot, and gives them more minutes to rest others.  They are very beatable without him in the lineup.  To think they were previously 12-0 in their tourney games in Greensboro makes it more of a surprise...and to my bracket.  I would have had Xavier in a heartbeat had it not been in Greensboro.


-All in all, kind of a quiet four days compared to past years.  The two 15-2 upsets really make it historic, but there was a lacking in crazy finishes overall.  Whether for my bracket or for my knockout pool, I kind of enjoy those semi-heart attacks every few hours.


-I didn't see it.  I just heard about the reffing and saw some replays.  I am talking about the mutterings of rigged games in that first round matchup with UNC-Asheville.  The Cuse win, and then take care of K. State.  Because of the Melo injury and some last second bracket changes, they are amazingly a forgotten #1 seed.  I think they match up well athletically and depth wise with Wisconsin, even though usually outside shooting takes down a zone.  Interesting also that the team that forces the most amount of turnovers going against the team with the least amount of turnovers for the year.  I still like Ohio State to take Syracuse down in their title run.


-VCU had two days of headlines, bringing back headlines from last year.  They then went down to Indiana.  I am all good with all of that-I just wish they wouldn't have taken down Wichita State in the process, one of my sleepers that didn't pan out.  Thanks to you also, Belmont.


-Although going down to Kentucky in the second round, Iowa State became a little more known this year.  Transfer U, as I call them.  Anyway, after watching both games, it makes the basketball fan part of me joyous to know we get to experience Royce White's skills for another year or two.  Call me the closet Iowa State fan.


-Oddly, on Thursday, I saw the largest congregation of South Dakota State fans I could ever imagine outside of wherever their university is.  And it was fun, for the 20 real time minutes they gave Baylor a run.  Good show, though, small school.


-Baylor. Stop with the uniforms already.  It hurts my eyes.


-Thank you Tru TV, TBS, TNT, and CBS for teaming up the last two years.  After watching the first night at a "social place," I realized that watching the games on my couch with a charged remote was MUCH more my style.  I made stereotypical male channel flipping look like a joke. 


-I think it is funny when chicks memorize terms like Elite 8 and Sweet 16 at bars when discussing their infallible brackets in the first two days chosen by the little number in front of the school and occasionally their mascots.


-I may have been a 2 bracket person back in the day, but I firmly am a one bracket person for the remainder of my days.  When I chose two brackets, I only changed one near the end game.  I hate these 5 or 6 plus bracket people.  "That game hurts me in two of my brackets."  Choose a path and take it.  Or as Yogi Berra would say, when you get to the fork in the road, take it.


-Chalk Thursday.  Someone at work bragged on Friday how they had only missed two games.  Ummm.  There were only two upsets, Einstein.


-Charles Barkley doing halftimes at NCAA games is priceless.  Love you, bro.  Don't EVER change.


-Lehigh has the ugliest group of cheerleaders ever.


-Amazingly, Duke was kind of allowed chances at the end of the game by Lehigh.  Amazingly, they couldn't take advantage.  Lehigh, you almost blew it.  Never, EVER celebrate against Duke until the final buzzer.  You can crack on Duke all you want, but it takes an almost flawless performance to beat those kids.  The pass that almost was broken up by Rivers but ended up in McCollum's hands I will self name "the bobble."


-I had to work during the first two days.  Therefore, myself and two other colleagues all within 10 feet were watching our laptops, watching the numbers change.  Painful.  But fun nevertheless.


-Favorite headline from the weekend.  After Duke lost, "Missouri loves company."


-You can look at my bracket.  In the final written draft, I crossed out Ohio going to the Sweet 16 30 minutes before submitting.  I thought having Purdue, Belmont, Wichita State, AND Ohio was a little much at that point.  Damn.


-I give Coach K absolute respect for not making a Ryan Kelly excuse when prompted in post game interviews.  He could have, and would have been right, but he chose the high road.


-Hey Kansas St. big men.  News flash.  The Cuse didn't have Fab Melo.  Then you STILL get smoked?  Can't believe it.  Can't believe it wasn't even close.  Frank Martin.  I love you as a coach.  Watching you truly break down in post game, and knowing that I worry about you beating down one of your kids during the game because of your abrasiveness, makes me really know what kind of coach you are.  Dibs.


-Syracuse bench points? 33.  K. St. bench points? Zero.  That ain't going to get it done, folks.


-Every year, SOMEONE in the country has a perfect bracket going into the Elite 8.  Even with a lot of chalk, not ONE person has one in the popular pools.  Guess even idiots don't pick two #15 seeds to win.


-Leslie Visser looked like she just got back from a drinking/ drug bender when interviewing Calipari this weekend.  


-Do none of these people have any success going on?  They are doing a American Reunion?  Wow.  That is reaching, people.  I haven't looked at the entire cast, but they better have Stiffler's mom in it.


-How can you not make free throws?  OK.  I know you can't make all of them.  Let me rephrase that.  How can you not even have a stroke that LOOKS like it might go in when you practice every day?  I will stick with my usual bet.  I can walk down to the park right now and make 15 out of 20.  Already won bets on this, people.  Not talking shit.


-Down 65-63, Notre Dame got called for a lane violation.  Know your rules, kids.  You could argue that these calls can't be called at this point in the game.  A rule is a rule.


-I like the commercial with the buses behind the chick who just stopped at the dry cleaner...where the buses are different music options.  Some car commercial.  That damn Neon Trees song I was singing all weekend.  And dammit, commercial, you only give me one line.  Guess THAT was irritating to people around me.


-How is MY bracket?  Not good.  But.  Three things.  Winning is cool, but I just like watching the games for the love of the game mostly.  Two.  As long as I am in my knockout pool, I could give a rat's ass about my bracket.  2 out of 3 entries remain for me.  I got greedy with FSU, and should have chosen Xavier or Florida twice.  Three, my winner is still in (Ohio State), and I like the entire right side of the bracket with Melo being out and UNC's Marshall going down.  Go Ohio State.


-Marshall's injury becomes huge.  He might end up playing since it is on his non-shooting hand at some point, but he still won't be the same.  He is a facilitator at its best.  Him not being 100% sure as hell isn't going to help his already marginal shot, his backups won't have the drive and kick potential that he does, and it changes their comfort level.  His backups, Watts or White, are far from Roy Williams run the floor guys also.  I think UNC could have won this thing losing anyone besides the following people.  Barnes and Marshall.  KU's 2nd best player is their PG-Travis Taylor.  It will be a bad matchup at that position.  And I think that Aaron Craft will personally carve them up if they make it that far.


-I said earlier in the year that everyone better beat NC State before the bad ass recruiting class gets there next year.  Scary they are still in it, although they have only beaten a subpar GTown squad and SDSU team.  


-Baylor's Brady Heslip put on a good show with 9 ptrs the other night.  Dude can shoot.  I personally think he would disappear relatively on a college floor that didn't have 3 first round NBA picks, but he is fun nevertheless.


3) NBA trade deadline deals (I won't break down every trade-just a couple):
-Dwight Howard staying and then Deron Williams refusing to opt in is crazy.  We know 40% tops, people.  And that 40% is huge in this case.  In a game of superstars wanting to play WITH each other and not joining other superstars, this is refreshing.  Beat each other and the others with what you have.  Become special with the hand you have been dealt.  It is better.


-I think that the Lakers pull of Ramon Sessions was solid.  Still not writing off that Fisher doesn't make it back to the Lakers, but they got younger, and have Steve Blake to mentor him.


-Poor Nene.  Dude comes from a South American country.  He has a team that seems to love him and believe in him.  Falls in love with a CO woman.  Settles in.  Then, he gets shipped to a horrible DC team that's only upside is John Wall.  John is excited.  He would like those bad commercials to resurface at some point.


4)  Guess Knicks coach Mike Woodson wasn't getting much mic time when D'Antoni was in charge.  The Knicks had won 3 straight at press time, and their defense has found an intensity not present before.  Along with announcing he is sticking with Linsanity and keeping Knicks fans happy, he has integrated to being on the hotseat in the largest media market in the world pretty damn well.


5)  I think I made up a funny line this weekend, as I made it down to watch the St. Patty's day parade this weekend.  
-When I do something spontaneous, I am never sure when I am done.


It is my second favorite made up line from me.  First?  From about 8 years ago, "What are my plans tonight?  Why don't I call you back when my head is foggier and my path is clearer."


6)  Parades are dumb I think.  My only use for them besides the gathering itself is to remind myself how maybe NOT having kids is a good thing.  Parades and festivals at Civic Center Park-yup.  Anyway, the only worthwhile parade I have been to was in New Orleans at Mardi Gras...mutliple times.  It had a purpose.  As a dude, I needed beads for the night festivities.  And buying them is not cool.  It breaks the "code."  At the parade, they threw free beads.  You do the math.  Talk about the last time I had another dude on my shoulders.


I am a small % Irish, but I never get into St. Patty's day.  Can't help they chose the date that always hits the first week of the madness.


7)  Kesolowski wins at Bristol.  My only interest in this is that he is that tweeting guy.  Sure, he wrote some good ones after his victory.  NASCAR news.  Reported.  Check.


8)  The next baseball coming, Nationals Bryce Harper, was sent back down to AAA.  What is up with that?  He must have already done something wrong off the field in spring training, and they are sending him down to keep him off the radar.  That guy is the future face of the franchise.  Someone go Google "strip clubs" and "Viera, Florida" and we might get some clues.  Go to it.


9)  The Nuggets resigned Wilson Chandler after his China adventure. This team is already a playoff team.  Add him to the mix, and not only are they fun to watch, but I wouldn't want to mess with them in the playoffs.


10)  Shhhh.  With the NCAA tourney and Peyton taking the headlines, the Pats quietly signed WR Brandon Lloyd and WR Anthony Gonzalez.  Weapons galore for Mr. Brady.  If that young defense can mature a little more, they sure as hell don't have to worry about putting up numbers.  Hey.  Question.  Do you think the Pats will EVER get a top flight running back?  Not saying they need one to be top tier, just saying that I think it is odd they have pretty much not had one for like 20 years.


11)  Matt Flynn signs with the Seahawks.  Great fit.  Pete Carroll is a QB coach, they are young and on the rise, and he has some weapons. Dome stadium.  Matt.  You are officially on center stage.  Let's see if those crazy stats you put up in your brief starting stint hold up for a season.


12)  PGA golfer Luke Donald is back at #1 in the world.  We need Tiger to be good again, because this dude can't win a major, and I can't stand in tennis or golf when top seeds are traded off every other week by percentage points.  Sorry.  Although I like parity, I dig one person kicking everyone else's ass a lot more.


13)  Alex Smith is in no-man's land.  Through the Peyton sweepstakes, he now knows the 49ers don't want him.  Seattle is now filled, Denver is now filled, and he is left with the team that doesn't want him or a crappy Dolphins team.  This QB game this year is like musical chairs.  Some dude, or some team is going to run out of chairs when the music stops.


14)  Thoughts go out to soccer Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba.  After collapsing during a game this week, they restarted his heart and he is ok.  Odd injury, and glad it is not a dismal story.  Serious enough that I won't even make a soccer/ faking injury joke.  Seriously, glad you are ok, Fabrice.


15)  Flow chart needed.  
-Derek Fisher is traded without telling Kobe beforehand
-Derek Fisher agrees to buyout agreement with Houston
-LeBron says that Fisher might be good fit on Heat
-this story is not done


16)  After signing Randy Moss, the 49ers signed WR Mario Manningham.  Thought this was a sure sign that they would get Peyton.  Now, they have a pissed off starter incumbent, an over the hill Hall of Famer, and no one to throw the ball to them.  


17)  Although I think that the Pens will be the best team in the playoffs if Crosby remains healthy, I found joy in the fact that their streak was stopped by the Flyers Sunday.  


18)  Family Guy classic.  When Peter plays "The Bird is the Word" constantly.  Awesome, and a true test of whether you love or hate Family Guy.


19)  In the musical chairs of NFL QB's, the Cardinals stuck with their new unhappy long term relationship.  Them settling with Kevin Kolb is like an unhappy couple getting married.


20)  Lindsey Vonn won again apparently, and broke some World Cup record in the process.  She is just smoking people.  Damn, I wish I knew more about skiing to talk about this.  I know. I live in Denver, and I don't like skiing.  Actually, let me rephrase that comment.  My KNEES don't like skiing.


21)  The sky is blue, the grass is green, and another big time athlete makes a "comeback" after less than a two year layoff.  Andy Pettite is back.  Does this show more about his lack of retirement conviction, or the Yankees lack of pitching?  Pick a side, and you can make an argument.


22)  The sky is STILL blue, the grass is STILL green, and the agent for Greg Oden says his client is "committed" to an NBA return.  Greg, let's go out for some beers.  I may have not been in the NCAA championship, and I may not have been drafted #1 in the NBA draft, but think of it this way.  WE don't have to talk.  Our KNEES can talk over some beers.  Plus, you and I can chat how I look ten years younger, and you look 10 years older. Shame Nate McMillan took the fall for this wasted pick and Brandon Roy's injury.


23)  I get warm and fuzzy when I watch that Liberty Mutual commercial where everyone does good deeds.  You know.  Someone holds the door for someone, someone sees is, and then does something nice for someone else.  Commercial ends when the initial person has something done nice for then.  I am rarely serious, but I dig it.  Kind of like Pay it Forward in a 30 second commercial without a little kid getting stabbed at the end.


24)  Why am I not letting you all know when I release a rant?  Because if you like it, you will be checking in.  And it is March.  No time.  Barely time to Rant.  Plus, the traction is still there.  Phase 2 of my blow up plan is enacted the second week of April.  That is when I get my game on and send to my compiled email addresses of writers. If you like it, tell your friends.  Sure, I wouldn't mind a break, but I am on pace for 1300 hits this month, and am proud that it is happening the old fashioned way.  2 readers or 1300-it is NOT like I will stop unleashing this shit.


25)  WTF?  Did Clash of the Titans actually pull the masses enough to make a Wrath of the Titans?  Confused.


26)  The Visa Seinfeld was on tonight.  Why is that significant?  My across the hall neighbor, John, was Babu's brother who says "too fruity."  A check for $233 was mailed today to him for that being on the air for his 15 second part.  I have seen the checks.  Crazy.


27)  Talk about an offer he couldn't refuse (Denver and Buffalo both pulled a Godfather this week), Mario Williams oddly signed with the Bills this week.  Wow.  Sometimes it is about the money, and sometimes it is not.  I love Ryan Fitzpatrick, but can't believe Mario left the Texans.  Not sure if there is a mob regional stronghold in Buffalo, but they must have enlisted the Godfather for this contract.


28)  FC stunned the Galaxy.  I am not going to look this up on purpose.  I thought that Donovan and Beckham just won the championship like 2 months ago.  Confused.


29)  I hear the Chiefs picked up Peyton Hillis.  How many freaking running backs do they have at this point?  Do they think they are playing fantasy?  You can't start 3 at one time (well, two and a RB/ WR)...unless YOU guys pick up Tebow.


30)  That is it, people.  I probably will shoot out a rant Wednesday night before week 2 of the madness begins.  Peace.