The Post Mortem

Contrary to popular belief, we don�t need Duke in the NCAA tournament. Imagine, if you can, if you are a Long Beach State fan. If you beat Tennessee , does it really matter, at that point if you beat Duke, Tennessee or North Carolina? No. You just want to beat one of the major schools in the tournament. Who cares if that opponent is Duke or any of the number of "big time" programs.

The members of the NCAA selection committee need to realize that Duke isn't the draw that they once were. Duke in the NCAA tournament is akin to Men Without Hats opening the local Food 4 Less. Sure, it might be a draw to some of the mullet-wearing morons, but does it still have the same impact that it did a few years ago?

Drexel, Syracuse or nearly anybody would be a better option. And how and the hell did Duke get a better seed than UNLV and Nevada? A post better than two teams that actually won their division? How is that justified? In the year following George Mason�s run to the Final Four, you would figured that the mid-majors would get a better shake. But you would be wrong.

Oh well, it will be fun to see Duke cry again when they lose.

• Too bad for Syracuse for not making the tournament. That pales in comparison to the screw-jobs that UNLV and Nevada received. How can the No. 10 team in the country receive a No. 7 seed, as well as the No. 10 RPI team. The seeding don�t make any sense. UNLV and Nevada could be Final Four teams. The rankings are a joke. But the bottom line is that you have to beat everybody eventually, so why not get it started sooner?

• Betting against Florida will be tough to do. But UNLV has a great chance of taking down the reigning champions. But no thanks to the seedings.

• The Angels could be heading towards a showdown with Gary Matthews Jr. The club would be better off without him. But you can�t blame Matthews for keeping his mouth shut. He has $50M to lose if he ever admits to using HGH. You or I would keep our mouths shut if we were in his position. But since we are not, we can instead call for his dismissal.

• Are we ready to live in a world where the Dallas Mavericks are the supreme team in basketball? Kind of unsettling, huh?

AND FINALLY

Rudy Guiliani took a tour around the Angels spring trainer center earlier last week.

Rudy was attending an Angels spring training game as a guest of Angels owner Arte Moreno. Manager Mike Scioscia said Giuliani "was really impressed with our club, but he wouldn't put an Angels hat on. I said, 'Mr. Giuliani, just for 30 seconds,' and he said, 'No, because I know you've got a camera somewhere, and that picture is going right to Joe Torre.' "

So Rudy will wear a dress in a video, but wont put on an Angels hat. You have to respect that, right?