Eric Kay

Two talking points for Tuesday:

The Dalia Lama hasn't been misquoted this much since Cadyshack. Seriously, China's talking about this guy like we need to fire up the bat sign above Tibet and get the Caped Crusader to stop this evil Olympic-thwarting mastermind.

For whatever reason, I'm not buying into Alex Rios as a blossoming Fantasy star. He's not a power guy, he just happens to hit home runs (and stay at a Holiday Inn Express). I've avoided him all 42 baseball leagues I'm in.

BB's thoughts breaks down the West Region and believe it not, has UCLA losing. I kid. But the blog does have Texas A&M beating BYU. Personally I don't bet against god, or any of her schools. Check out all the blogger's region previews while you're at it.

For an excellent take on the play-in game (read up degenerate gamblers), check out what dbacksfan414 has to say. Also a must-read for Coppin fans looking for a little pat on the back.

I'm a sucker for anything titled "blah, blah, blah. Really?" You throw the word "really" out there, in true Seth Meyers fashion, and I'll click on it. Famous words from an Eagle's fan shares his take on the Eagles' Dan Klecko signing. Really? You're going to put that apostrophe after the "e" on Eagles. Really?

Harst's View on Sports shares Harst's Top 5 NBA Teams of All-Time. There's not much to debate here, but I am curious. Where's the analysis? Insight? Lists are fun and all, but the blog-o-world-dome-land could use a bit more than just bullet points. I mean who spends their time making blogs that are essentially bullet points. Oh, wait. I've made a horrible mistake.

For people who don't use their bathtubs for making gin, I guess soaps tend tend to linger along the lips of the tub? In Love with the Game, Mom's View shares some insight as to why da vee-man put those little cellulose-derived creations out there and asks: how do certain scents effect you? To quote my man Frank Drebin, "raw sewage, I love it!"

(PS: How about an expose on all those worthless pillows da vee-man put on beds only to be taken off before sleep time?)

Why were we so quick to come down on Randy Moss when that whole restraining order business came down before the Super Bowl? A weird and wonderful journey examines why we love to build up, then tear down our celebrities. My take? We're a moody society. Don't catch us on a bad day.

For a Yankees season outlook that reads like an eye exam (how about now? Is it better or worse?), check in on our pal Stu on This. I should say, it's a very thorough eye exam.

OK, I wasn't completely fair. I said I'll click on anything with the word "really" (in true mocking tone) in the subject line. I also click on anything about movies. So The United States of Consciousness gets my click, despite me not tuning in to John Adams or Distburbia. I will recommend what's next in the blog's queue -- Ratatouille. It challenges Nemo for Pixar's top-ever movie status. I did just send back Eastern Promises to our mutual friend, NetFlix. It's classic Cronenberg (Crash, History of Violence...), and if you want to see a Viggo (at times naked) tour de force, or simply like flicks about the Russian mob, check in on it. Really!

It's not unusual to pick a No. 2 seed as a national champion when the brackets are released. Bruce Pearl's Volunteers are a highly attractive No. 2. As are Rick Barnes' Texas Longhorns. But that's like getting behind breast cancer or orphans with diseases.

Me, I'm a silent killer backer. That's why I like Georgetown, the unsexiest of all unesexies, to win this tournament.

Let's start with the bracket variables. UMBC isn't a slouch, but it's a No. 2 seed. It shares a common opponent with the Hoyas, American, who both teams beat. But UMBC lost to West Virginia badly, and Georgetown swept West Virginian 2-0 this season. That's as far as one probably needs to go to defend your national champion pick getting past a 15 seed.

(Looking past matchups other than the first round is a tireless, pointless endeavor. The variables change too often in this tournament to project anything meaningful.)

I also dig how the Hoyas aren't playing in D.C., but they aren't playing that far away from D.C. Raleigh is far enough to avoid distractions, but not far enough where we're talking annoying elements like time zone differences or tempting warm weather. Same applies to Detroit, where the team would move to for the Sweet 16.

But what I like most about the Hoyas is the one thing everybody drops the hammer on them for -- Roy Hibbert. He's Charmin' soft. He's as aggressive as Bob Ley. He's 7-2 but plays 6-2. Those criticisms come from people who don't know Georgetown basketball -- specifically John Thompson III basketball. JT3 could have entered this season, looked at his team sans Jeff Green and said "you know what Wallace, Sapp, Freeman, Summers and Li'l Ewing? We're going to feed Roy until he throws up." But he didn't do that when plenty of lesser coaches would have. He realized, "you know what, I actually have a team seven or eight deep here." He realized feeding one guy the ball only means good things for Hibbert's draft stock, but has little real value to the Hoyas' tourney prospects.

So he forced his team to play like a team. Hibbert won't be the engine. He's a piston. So is Summers, Wallace, Sapp, Freeman and Li'l Ewing. It's the same recipe that's powering the Houston Rockets right now.

Wonder why Houston is still winning without Yao Ming? Simple, they don't have to feed him the ball. There's nothing restricting the team's natural flow. There's no Yao factor, the Rockets just play basketball. "They share," Phil Jackson says.

"They share the ball," said the Lakers coach. "Their defense is solid. I'm sure their three-point shooting hasn't been like that in the past, but Tracy had probably as poor a game as he's probably played and they were still able to win."

Sharing? Good defense? A star on an off night, yet the team still wins? Sounds like the Hoyas' recipe.

Let's start with good defense. Here's what Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said about the Hoyas earlier this season.

"I'd say they're by far the best defensive team we've played all year," Cronin said. "It's very, very hard to get an open shot, and then when we did get some open shots, we didn't even hit the rim a few times. But I think that's a byproduct of how hard you've got to work to get an open shot against their defense."

Let's now talk about sharing.

"Everyone else calls it lucky," said Li'l Ewing to Posty Sally Jenkins. "We're a good team. We're a good team. We do a lot of things that maybe people don't understand how good we are. We do things as a team. If I see a good shot, and I see someone with a better shot, I want to give it up. I want to give up a good shot for a great shot. Coach talks about that a lot."

Star not bring his A-game? Foul trouble limited Hibbert to a stat line with zero points, four turnovers and five fouls last week.

"This is a great start, but we know it's not over," guard Jessie Sapp said. "I think we showed a lot of people what we can do as a team. With the big fella being back next game, it's going to show what we can do on that level."

Defense. Chemistry. Ability to adapt. The Hoyas have all three. Plus, they're under the radar, well, as much as No. 2 seed can be. But they also have experience. Having done the Final Four deed, knowing the proper way to prepare for this tournament's grind is worth more than a few Bear Stearns stocks. 

This team is complete, but not on paper. The stats this team shows the public are deceptive. There's no Stephen Curry. No Tyler Hansbrough. No O.J. Mayo. Superstars don't reside on the Hilltop, which is frustrating to most, because we so desperately want Hibbert to be one.

But he's not. JT3 won't let him. That's what good coaches do. They don't let one person, other than themselves, run the show. And that's why this team can make a run. There's nobody looking to prove anything, there's lowered expectations and there's a relatively tepid path (sorry, I know I don't look past the first game, but I wanted to use the word tepid) to the Final Four ahead of them.

Of course, now that I've posted this blog, Georgetown is destined for an early exit. Sorry.

One thing we don't have here is a good spot for talking TV. Not sports and TV, just TV. Maybe we're not really supposed to, being that we're a sports website.

But it's Lost season.

And if you watched last night's Sun-Jin flashback episode, please share your thoughts. The episode was called "Ji-Yeon" (flower of wisdom) and offered some bombshells.

We get teased in a flashback that's incongruent. We think Jin is running late to his child's birth, only to find out that we're watching newlywed-pre-Oceanic Flight 815-Jin pick up a Panda for his daddy-in-law's shady business associate. In the flip-side-to-the-flashback, it turns out Jin is dead (or is he?) and widow Sun is giving birth to their island-conceived child. Two births for the price of one Jin and two pandas.

We also complete our Oceanic 6: Sun, Kate, Aaron, Jack, Sayid and Hurley.  (Or is Aaron still not one of the six).

Also, we meet ... Kevin Johnson. Otherwise known as Michael, the guy responsible for cleaning up blood splatter on the freighter that's hanging out just a wee bit too close to the island. I have a feeling we'll get to know more about his situation next week.

Oh, and we get confirmation that the wreckage found in the Pacific was staged by Charles Widmore (played by Alan Dade, the ultimate rich jerk).

I can't break down the episode any better than EW's Jeff Jensen, so for in-depth analysis check it out. But if you have some theories, predictions or insight, fire up the message board below.

In the crease, our resident ESPN hater, begins his boycott of the four-letter word. Why? Piss-poor hockey coverage. I wonder, how are we faring in the hockey coverage game?

In what is the hardest thing to do in the greatest-ever conversation, Sportyjr's Rant and Rave blog is trying to put together the Greatest Baseball Team Ever. I hope my man Cal Ripken gets a bench spot at short.

Speaking of Greatest Team Ever, BLOG YOU!! is putting the football version. He needs a punter, and while Ray Guy is the usual answer to this problem, I'm a Reggie Roby person myself. If only for that stopwatch.

I haven't read his technology-Dark Ages thread on the boards, but I like what I read here in Might mean something to you.... Sort-of-point: Technology will fragment society to the point where we'll enter another Dark Ages. Sort-of-counterpoint: A free marketplace coupled with strong public education will always correct technological imbalances among classes.

Our buddy Tab Spangler is asking for everbody to write up MLB preview blogs. Here's a good Tigers one, courtesy of random thoughts of buckeye22.