Mark_Concannon's Blog

*****IT'S A GIRL.. NO, STRIKE THAT-Were the parents of Stanford's Lopez twins expecting girls and already had names picked and when their boys were born still named them Brook and Robin?

*****GO DOWN SWINGING-Kudos to Mount St. Mary's who stayed true to themselves and did not try to slow the game down against mighty North Carolina. The Mounties lost by a ton but they were courageous just the same.

*****WHAT WOULD DEAN DO?-Shame on UNC coach Roy Williams with his team leading Arkansas by 28 in the closing seconds not pulling the ball back and dribbling out the clock. A Tarheel sub hit a gratuitous three pointer to rub salt in the already deep wound.

*****CHANGE THE MENU-I applaud Applebee's for committing millions to buy air time during the NCAA tournament, but you'd think they'd have shot more than just one commercial. The same spot keeps running over and over. How expensive would it have been to shoot at least one more ad?(Nike, AT&T and Miller are running at least 3 different spots) Does is really cost that much to shoot closeups of potato skins?

*****ANOTHER OPENING...-The American Basketball association awarded an expansion franchise to Hollywood, California to begin play next season. The team nickname? The "Showstoppers."

*****WARMUP ACT- The AHL Suspended Lake Erie defenseman Dale Purinton for one game for his actions during pre-game warm-ups prior to a March 15 game at Grand Rapids.

*****HANGING ON-Former Brewers Keith Ginter and Mike De Jean are still in the game. Ginter was reassigned to the Red Sox minor league camp. De Jean was sent down by the Astros.

*****MAKE IT SNAPPY- As part of the fight against global warming, Japanese professional baseball officials said Tuesday they plan to shorten games by 12 minutes to reduce carbon dioxide emissions at stadiums. Under the plan, teams will be required to spend no more than 2 minutes and 15 seconds when they change from fielding to batting. Pitchers will be asked to throw within 15 seconds of receiving the ball from the catcher when no runners are on base.

*****SOUNDS LIKE A CLOSER-The independent minor league New Jersey Jackals signed a pitcher named Juan Done.

*****SHE'S BETTER THAN SHE SOUNDS-The WNBA Minnesota Lynx just signed a forward named Ashlee Awkward

*****HOW ABOUT "THE LATTES?"-The new Major League Soccer team in Seattle will let fans vote on three possible names. The team will announce the choices on Tuesday.

We choose to take next Monday off. More musings on Monday, April 7th.