Apologies and Brackets

First off, let me apologize to my faithful readers...ok reader...for not updating this blog as often as I should. I am hoping that I can be forgiven, or at the very least pardoned for my transgressions. I am trying to straighten my halo back. ;-)

Second, onto one of the single biggest days in sports right now. March Madness begins in earnest today. College basketball. The last bastion of true competition. Sport being played because of the love of the game. Sure, some of the athletes know they are going onto the NBA but most of the kids on these 65 teams are in it just to play in this tourny. Yes, I will admit to having a bracket or two. Yes, I will admit to holding out a wish for my alma mater. No, no money will be changing hands in the brackets I participate in. My picks are strictly for fun. I no longer pour over the "experts" picks in hopes of getting my sawbuck back in two weeks. All of this plus the baseball congressional hearings on steroids. Ugh, what a mess. Current and former players going to D.C. to submit to questions (yeah right) about what they took, who they knew took it, and when it was taken. Does anyone out there realize that they cancelled the ENTIRE professional Hockey season this year?????? Anyway, questions will be avoided and everyone will try to make baseball look like a fair sport again.

As another aside, I am from Cincinnati, Ohio, so I know a bit about cheating in baseball. And yes, I did at one time support Pete and still think he should be in the Hall. Of course, that is a whole other topic. Hell, that has even been the subject of many books.

Baseball. This was my sport growing up. Before soccer invaded our children's lives. Before the days of every kid needing his or her own PDA and administrative assistant just to keep up with thier schedule. Before the car window stickers. Baseball in the summer and football in the fall. If you were quick enough, basketball in the winter. That was it. My oldest lives for his baseball season. It starts in January and runs through September if he finds a fall team to play with. For me to think that he would juice up to get that scout to notice him or so he can lift that extra 50 on the bench scares me. I am not naive, I know there are high school kids out there who will get there hands on steroids and will take them and make the playing fields just a bit unfair but I hope I can instill something better into my kids while they are growing up. I hope.

I will keep tabs on my brackets, my teams. I will scan the headlines for any blockbuster comments out of our nations capital. And I will get up tomorrow and goto work just like every other day.