Stay classy Mark Prior...

I promise I won’t complain about the Bears in this issue of random thoughts….

COLLEGE BASKETBALL
1---While it sounds kind of strange, I like Illinois’ number six seed in the Big 10 Tournament. They get to play a horrible team (Penn State) in round one, which hopefully will boost their confidence. Then, if the Illini win (which they better), they get a rivalry game with Indiana, a team they should have swept this season and will have a good shot against in Chicago. That means another two wins for the resume, which should hopefully push the Illini from the bubble to the tournament. After that, the I-Double L would most likely face Wisconsin, a good test that will be good preparation for the NCAA’s.

2---Elsewhere in the country, the conference tournament’s I’m most excited to see are the Big 12’s and the ACC’s. The Big 12 has two strong contenders for a number one seed in Texas A&M and Kansas, plus the nations most exciting player (Kevin Durant) and most well-known coach (Bob Knight). It should be interesting to see how KD (He really needs a better nickname) responds after twisting his ankle last Saturday, considering when he is 100%, he is unstoppable. Also there are a couple of bids on the line, as Texas Tech, Kansas State and Oklahoma State are all on the bubble heading into this weekend. In ACC country, I want to see if North Carolina can play three strong games in a row to win the conference crown, I want to see if Maryland continues to play fantastic basketball and I want to see if Duke will be out to prove that they shouldn’t be considered a one-and-done team next weekend.

3---If the All-American first team isn’t Kevin Durant, Acie Law IV, Aaron Afflalo, Alando Tucker and Tyler Hansbrough, then something is wrong. If the coach of the year isn’t Washington State’s Tony Bennett, then something horribly wrong. And if the national player of the year and the national freshmen of the year isn’t Mr. Durant, then they shouldn’t even hand out awards.

4---My favorite part of championship week isn’t the big-time conference tournaments or the games starting at 11 AM, thought they are both fun. What I really like are the small conference tournament’s that are held at the site of one of the teams playing in the title game. Seeing the fans at schools like Wright State, North Texas and Virginia Commonwealth go crazy when their team makes the big dance is such a great example of why college sports are so important. School spirit gets taken to the next level when 2,500 students are rushing the court, celebrating their team’s opportunity to be a number 15 seed that will be smashed by a big time school in a week.

NFL (I promise, no Bears)
5---Can somebody from the Houston Texans please admit that they messed up in drafting Mario Williams instead of Reggie Bush or Vince Young? First the rumors come out that the Texans are not happy with both quarterback David Carr and running back Domminick Davis and are looking to replace both of them. Then the team signs former Packers running back Ahman Green for four years, $23 million, a sign that they are willing to spend some serious cash for a new rusher. Too bad for them and their fans that they were one year too late in realizing that they needed new players at these positions. They had the number one pick in the draft and a choice between the best RB prospect in at least ten years and the national champion QB who hailed from H-Town. These are why some franchises never win.

6---People go so crazy for these NFL Mock Drafts, and I don’t understand why. Instead of seeing who some random guy thinks will go to the Carolina Panthers with the 14th pick, look at who the scouts think will be the best NFL players. (As I explained in the last thought, the best players aren’t necessarily drafted before the crappy ones) And this year, there is no better NFL prospect then Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson. This man dominated secondary’s for three years with a crappy quarterback throwing him the ball. (That QB, Reggie Ball, is trying out for the league as running back.) He ran the fastest time at the combine for receivers in the 40-yard dash (4.35 seconds), is 6-5 and about 240 pounds. Johnson may not go first overall on April 28, but in 20 years, he will be remembered as the best player from the draft class of 2007.

7---It’s become obvious to me that the NFL season never really ends. Every single day on SportsCenter, PTI, Cold Pizza and other sports shows, there is always an NFL story in the first 15 minutes of the show. There is always a big time football story on the front page of SI.COM or ESPN.COM. Now I expect 24/7/365 pigskin from the NFL Network, but I guess I didn’t realize until this year how much the sport dominated every other sports related outlet. It’s no wonder people like Dr.Z are always so crabby, because there job never has any sort of break.

MLB
8---There have been a lot of reports that many players have arrived at spring training this season bigger then ever before, even more proof that Major League Baseball’s drug policy is a complete joke. Until the league begins testing for Human Growth Hormones, players are going to continue to cheat by popping these pills. I mean, is anybody really surprised that Garry Matthews Jr, a man who played for eight teams between 1999 and 2005 and is a lifetime .263 hitter (Including the .313 he put up last season) is linked to a doctor who sells HGH over the internet? What are they going to find out next, that Brady Anderson was on the juice in 1996 when he hit 50 home runs even though he had only hit 69 in his previous eight Major League seasons? If Bud Selig really wants to save baseball, he needs to put in HGH testing immediately.

9---I’ve learned over the years watching the Cubs to not get too caught up in what happens during spring training because its usually a bunch of stuff that ends up not having an impact on the regular season. So when I read yesterday in the paper that the highest Marc Prior got on the radar gun during his start on Tuesday was 86 miles per hour, I calmly brushed it aside as a meaningless stat. But I won’t be brushing anything aside if that number doesn’t go up by at least five MPH by the time Prior makes his next start. Back in 2003, Prior could get by on pitching in the high 80’s because he had pinpoint accuracy and the ability to throw his of-speed pitches for strikes. But those days are far behind him. If Sweet Lou Piniella is going to be counting on #22 this season, Prior needs to show him during the spring that he will be able to pitch well.

10---There really is no favorite in the National League. The team with the best record a year ago, the New York Mets, has a great lineup but absolutely no dependable pitching. Their three best starters, Pedro Martinez (36 years old, Tom Glavine (41 at the end of March) and Orlando Hernandez (37) would have been un-stoppable in 1997, but is not going to cut a decade later. The defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals only won 83 games last season and lost some of their top pitchers over the off-season. So I’m not really sure who I will pick to represent the senior circuit when my baseball preview comes out in a few weeks. All I know is that I’m glad the Cubs are in the NL