AD NAUSEUM by ST

It's been talked to death. Last night's Natty just plain sucked. I like a defensive battle as much as the next guy, but this was misery. I'll offer up something I bet you haven't heard anywhere from anyone else. When Butler's Andrew Smith blew a layup with about 11 minutes left and the Bulldogs down 9 I switched channels. To baseball? No! Good movie? No! I wanted to go the completely opposite so it was a rerun of "Sex and the City" on my Comcast channel 70. Not even in high def as I was in my office. I did not tune back in until there were about 5 minutes left or 15 minutes of actual time later. Did you hear about the latest and final coaches poll of the season? UConn received all but one of the first place votes. What? Ohio State received the other. Team gets knocked out in the Sweet 16, doesn't even come close to living up to massive expectations, yet some yo yo pulls that. And talk about gutless, all season long the vote is public, until this one. Back to work for the Trailblazers this evening with Golden State in town. Gotta like their chances as the Warriors are a whopping 9 & 30 on the road. I made up a list of the teams they've taken down at their place. Toronto, New York, Minnesota, Sacremento, Charlotte, New Orleans, Utah, Washington, and Cleveland. Oddsmakers like Portland by 10 1/2. One team the Blazers are locked in a battle for playoff position with, Memphis, has a home game against the Clippers. The other LA is 8 & 29 outside Staples. Likely not a night to make up ground for either club. Game of the night is Oklahoma City at Denver. Thunder with the 3 game lead in the division. Win this and it's pretty much a lock.