Professional Tailgating: A night at the A-10 semifinals

For Friday night of Championship Week, I spent the night at Boardwalk Hall for the A-10 semifinals. The building actually looked like a basketball arena. The only time that I have ever been there was for two different WWF events. St. Joe's battled Xavier and Temple battled Charlotte in the two games.

The building actually looked like a championship venue including bunting.

Move over Cameron Crazies, the St. Joe's students do not stop all game singing and dancing.

The Hawk never dies

The very underrated Charlotte 49er mascot

Nothing says a conference tournament like inflatable jerseys and student shooting contest.

Fun, Fun, Fun from all over

Friday night of Championship might be one of the best days on the sports calendar and this year was no different. There was action all over the country from buzzer beating upsets in the Big Ten to game being canceled in the SEC because of a storm that almost destroyed the Georgia Dome, to an all Philly Final in the A-10, to a team a team getting their first ever NCAA bid.

Here is how some of the news papers covered the fun from all over the country:

The Washington Post tells the story of how American University has qualified for their first ever NCAA Tournament. Somewhere Brian Prince is smiling.

The Atlantic City Press celebrates an All Big Five final in the A-10.

Athens Banner-Herald reviews the SEC mess that has developed.

Lexington Herald Leaders looks at what happened last night in the Georgia Dome.

The Charlotte Observer continues the ACC Tournament coverage.

The Winston Salem Journal covers all of the action from the bes conference tournament in all of the land: the ACC.

The Bloomington Herald Times covers Indiana shocking loss to Minnesota in the Big Ten Quarters.

Snoop Doggie Sven

Sven turns into Snoop Dog and David from Los Angeles talks about the how big Lake Michigan is. It's never dull on the Special Ones show.

I want to move to Bracketville

Eight years ago Nike introduced one of the best ad campaigns ever "Bracketville."

It was only around for one year and boy do I wish that they would bring it back. The Bracketville town was based on the teams that were in the NCAA tournament. The residents of the towns were all mascots and the mayor was a former NCAA champions. Nothing could be better then watching mascots do normal day stuff like cook and go shopping.

"Bracketville is a basketball-obsessed town, where a basketball net proudly swings from the town flagpole and college basketball brackets are painted on the streets,'' according to one advertising Web site.

The slogan for the town was "stay as long as you can" and that year North Carolina did not stay that long going out to Penn State in the second round of the South Regional. So as all of the mascots get ready for the dance can Nike please allow them to move back into Bracketville.

Could Torres be the Player of the Year in England?

I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest Liverpool fan, but one thing is becoming evident Ferrando Torres might be the best player in the EPL. Few people come into the league and dominate the way that he has this year after his 20 million pound move from Atletico Madrid in summer. Usually players take some time to settle in, but there has been no waiting around for Torres. So far this season he has scored 26 goals in all competitions, including the one which clinched a spot in the last eight for Liverpool in the Champions League today.

Ronaldo has been terrific but take a look what he has around him, Nani, Rooney, Tevez, Giggs, and Scholes. If you took Ronaldo away from United it would not be as bad as it would be if you took Torres from Liverpool.

Look at the support that Torres has up front, players like Dirk Kuyt and Voronin. Not exactly Nani and Rooney is it. So for those reason I can not help but think that Torres should be near the top of the EPL Player of the year race.

We all love Anderson

At the start of the year, it look like Anderson might take some time to settle in at Manchester United. But things have really changed over the last couple of months, as Anderson and Paul Scholes continue to battle for playing time.

With his performance over the last couple of months Anderson has become a favorite of Red Devil fans.

“Ander son son son, he’s better than Kleberson,
Ander son son son, he’s our midfield magician,
To the left, to the right, to the samba beat tonight,
With the brass he is class
And he shits on Fabregas”

Thanks to the United fan site Republic of Mancunia for this one.

Kentucky, Baylor, and Arizona are all rooting for Butler

While some people view the first four days of the NCAA Tournament as the best time of he college basketball season, but for me that is not the case. The best time in the season started Saturday when Atlantic Sun and Ohio Valley conference crowned their champion and automatic bid to the tournament.

Championship Week, as ESPN dubbed it 15 years, makes strange bedfellows. How many times has the two time defending champion Florida Gators been concerned about what Butler did in the their conference or even Kentucky, home of so many legends, care what happens with the West Coast Conference Tournament. Fans all week will have sites like Basketball State and ESPN open at work trying to see what is going on with all of the conference tournaments.

Fans love seeing Brice Drew's Valpo beat Mississippi in Oklahoma City a bunch years ago in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but the real magic of the season starts during this week when someones dreams of representing Belmont or even a school like Rider in the NCAA could come true.