In response to a message I got from my newly-married friend L-Mo, yes, the episode of My Life on the D-List where Kathy’s dad cry did make me tear up. That episode was genuinely touching and emotional. Be sure to check this blog for future episodes of me emasculating myself.

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No, seriously…

A former Marine took down and lectured a bank robber as he waited for the police to arrive.

An 87-year-old Utah man disappeared from his home and turned up 48 hours later — in Pennsylvania.

An enlisted Bronx man and his wife allegedly hired a hitman to shoot the man in the leg so he wouldn’t have to go back to Iraq.

A man burst into a BBQ near the Capitol in Washington, D.C. and tried to rob everyone. He ended up staying and having a lovely evening.

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The second half of the Fanhouse’s ranking of the best quarterbacks in the SEC.

Could smarmy Dan Patrick be replaced on ESPN radio by the even smarmier Keith Olbermann?

A Milwaukee TV station is reporting that the Packers are reportedly interested in a deal for disgruntled Chiefs running back (and fantasy football God) Larry Johnson. By the way, this is the stupidest name for a sports blog that I’ve ever seen. Only in broadcast…

NFL.com’s Vic Carruci looks at the players most in need of a comeback in ‘07.

New York Magazine’s look at minor league baseball in the area. I’ve always believed minor league baseball games were much more fun than a game in a Major League stadium — not to mention less expensive. One of my favorite ballparks ever is Victory Field in downtown Indianapolis. It’s a quaint, clean stadium set against the skyline of downtown Indy. Great place to watch a night ballgame.

It’s going to cost Pitt $100,000 to rip up a custom made tile of its old logo in the Petersen Events Center. Someone in the athletic department is OCD.

The Indianapolis Star’s Bob Kravitz takes a parting shot at F-1, who announced it would no longer host its U.S. Grand Prix at the Indy Motor Speedway. Having lived in Indiana and in the Indianapolis area for more than half of my life, the F-1 race always finished third, to the Brickyard and the 500, in its relevance and importance to Indianapolis. Indy will be fine without F-1.

The Colts have de-activated Corey Simon, putting him on the PUP list — and he’s not even sure why.

The State (Columbia, S.C.) takes a look at the best and worst things that could happen to Clemson coach Tommy Bowden in ‘07.

There’s some static between Kevin Durant and his agent over Durant’s shoe deal.

Mark Cuban has applied with Major League Baseball to purchase the Chicago Cubs. This is great for the Cubs but I would love to see Cuban take off a slumping franchise, say the Pirates, and turn them into a winner.

Great New York Times story about the cross earing worn by Barry Bonds.

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Well-rounded news…

Valleywag’s Nick Denton on why Facebook isn’t the new Google.

LA Weekly’s Nikki Finke takes on Hollywood PR maven Mike Sitrick’s promotion of the new torture flick ‘Captivity’.

Thunderstorms and iPods are apparently not a great combination.

Apparently the CEO of Whole Foods Market has bigger problems than using an alias to pimp his stock on a messge board.

Florida Gov. (and Republican) Charlie Crist said the state will lower its CO2 emissions and make use of alternative energy sources.

Pop Candy’s favorite things this week include Bottom Line favorite Top Chef.

The Bottom Line is going into the prognostication business with a mini mock draft. This is how I think the first 5 picks of tonight’s draft will shake out. Feel free to comment with your own top 5.

1. Greg Oden - C - Ohio State

2. Kevin Durant - F - Texas

3. Al Horford - F - Florida

4. Corey Brewer - F- Florida

5. Mike Conley Jr. - Ohio State - G

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No, seriously…

Squirrels burned down the home of an Illinois man… twice.

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Good article today in the Washington Post by Les Carpenter on the fight over the NFLPA’s pension and disability plan. The way I feel about this is that the union and the NFL should make sure that, medically, players are taken care of after they leave the game because of how brutal a sport football is. Former players, however, are not entitled to dig into the pockets of current formers, despite their claims that they are. I’m working at a newspaper today and I certainly respect and admire those that came before me in this business but those people have no right to what I’m making today. And neither do the former players, many of whom resent what the kind of money today’s players are making.

Kevin Durant will be on the cover of EA Sports’ March Madness ‘08.

Penn State took action against 10 football players that took part in an off-campus fight that put one man in the hospital last year. Conveniently, none of them will be ineligible for the fall. Two of the players still face felony criminal charges.

Jay Mariotti says the Bears should have parted ways with Tank Johnson long ago.

Whoever is checking Andy Katz’s home for radon leaks may also want to fly to Detroit to inspect Jon Kitna’s crib. The quarterback told a Detroit radio station that the Lions are going to get at least 10 wins this year. I think that can happen.. oh wait.. 10 or more wins? Nevermind.

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the Magic are interested in acquiring free agent Rashard Lewis, the 6-10 forward averaged a career high 22.4 points last season. With a frontcourt of Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard, the Magic become a very serious threat in the Eastern Conference. Think Billy Donovan is having second thoughts?

The SEC is cracking down on class attendance. Following a policy set forth by the University of Georgia where the athletic department fined and suspended its athletes for missing classes and academic appointments, the conference is requiring all of its member schools to have some sort of attendance policy in place.

The Denver Post’s Woody Paige is suggesting John Elway help mentor Jay Cutler.

With March Madness tipping off Thursday (sorry play-in game participants).. everyone in your office or class becomes Andy Katz or Digger Phelps. But I guess that’s what makes this event great, right?

After looking at the brackets, there are certainly some interesting match-up possibilities. Of course, those matchups could be completely torched by upsets (i.e. last year) but here’s a couple as my bracket predicts.

Midwest Regional: Oregon/Wisconsin - Drinking the Pac-10 Kool-Aid is something I vowed never to do again but I’m awfully impressed by this Oregon team. The chance to see the Ducks, who handled any and all comers in the Pac-10 tournament, square off against the Badgers (see: POY-candidate Alando Tucker) is a game I’d pay to see. Oregon/Florida - Every one of the Worldwide Leader’s talking heads are picking the Gators to return to the Final Four but I’m not sold. The SEC fielded an unspeakably weak field this year and I’m not sure the Gators have what it takes to beat Arizona, Maryland and Oregon but this game could potentially be a classic. Taj Porter, Aaron Brooks and Bryce Taylor vs. Joke-kim, Brewer and Horford.

West Regional: Of the four regionals (go Hoosiers) this is probably the weakest and least exciting (go Hoosiers). The only potentially exciting matchup would be the elite 8 showdown between Kansas and UCLA. Though I have Kansas in the Final Four, I think they’re the most enigmatic. Bill Self’s resumé in Lawrence has been far from excellent and but I think the Jayhawks will have a relatively easy time disposing of everyone in their half of the bracket. The possible Pitt/UCLA storyline has people excited but I think Saturday night Pitt showed that if they don’t get good looks from the perimeter and Aaron Gray is defended well in the post, they’re easily beatable.

East regional: Hands-down the most exciting bracket in the tournament. Anyone of these match-ups will be worth watching: Texas/USC, Texas/UNC, BC/Georgetown, Washington St./Georgetown, Georgetown/UNC. If this weekend proved anything, it was that Georgetown is the real deal. The low-post combination of Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert might be the best in the country. I’m picking Georgetown to emerge from this impressive pack but I wouldn’t be at all surprised I were wrong.

South regional: O-H-I-O. That’s really all you need to say about this bracket. Memphis is the hottest team in the country, Texas A&M and Acie Law could be a tough out but the Buckeyes will be Georgia-bound when it’s all said and done. This is the bracket with the least amount of intriguing potential match-ups. Ohio State’s biggest challenge will be its own youth and inexperience and even though they’re awfully young — they’re awfully good.

My final four picks:

THIS IS TOTALLY GOING ON MY FACEBOOK!