A number of people

.... have inquired about my baseball betting contest over the last few days. If you want to be in it please let me know by Friday, April 3rd. I've had a few other people say they would like to be in the contest but don't want to go head-to-head against Bennett. Very understandable. When you face off with a legend, you might get embarrassed. All I can say is you have to suck it up and just do your best. (Although there is literally no chance that it will be enough so you might as well just take your ball and go home before it gets ugly.) I also had one person tell me he wanted to be in the contest but wouldn't be able to go to Florida to start his blog in time. I have no idea what that means.

Here are some baseball thoughts from me, a guy who knows nothing about the sport:

* The mocks are flying now that Justin Douche looks like he will be starting the season on the DL. Can anyone name a trendy team from last year whose #1 starter began the season on the DL? They did pretty well.

* The more I read about the Matt Wieters situation, the less I understand it. He's the consensus #1 prospect in baseball and he is the property of an Orioles franchise that hasn't seen the post season in a decade. They must be thrilled and eager to debut their new star, right? Actually, no, they are going to ship him down to Triple-A Norfolk for the start of the season. Apparently if Wieters spends a few weeks in the minors this year, he won't become a free agent until 2015, whereas he would become a free agent in 2014 if he started the season with the big club. So, the Orioles have decided they would prefer an extra year of Wieters in 6 years than an extra couple months of him now?

It seems logical enough when you put it like that but what are the chances that current Orioles Manager Dave Trembley and General Manager Andy MacPhail will still be with the team in 2015? Is it even 50%? I say no. I guess I always thought the point of scouting and drafting and the whole minor league system was to put together the best possible club at the major league level. And now this team is willingly leaving one of its best players in the minor leagues so that they could conceivably be better 6 years from now? Shouldn't the Orioles at least be trying to compete this season? I think one Baltimore Sun writer put it best when he asked why doesn't the whole team just stay down in spring training until Wieters is eligible to play.

* Japan beat South Korea the other night to win their second consecutive WBC. They might not have as any Major Leaguers as the USA, DR, and a few other nations but perhaps these Asian nations are just ridiculously good at baseball, anyways. Obviously, the Japanese and Korean leagues are much better than most people thought. Through the first two WBC's Japan is the only champion and Korea has only lost to one team: Japan.

* I'm feeling confident about the fantasy baseball team Austin and I will be putting out there this summer. Although, I did find it odd that the guy who finished last in the football league was questioning some of my picks. I'm also a little annoyed with Ed and Chris for not telling me it was a keeper league. Should be a fun season.

And now some basketball thoughts:

* Either North Carolina -6.5 vs. Oklahoma is the biggest handout in sports betting history, or the books know something I don't. Let's assume it's the latter seeing as how it always is. I don't know what the Sooners proved by beating Michigan (A bubble team all year that finished 8th in the Big 10) and Syracuse (Who finished 6th in the Big East and was projected as a 5 or 6 seed until their Big East Tournament run) but clearly the oddsmakers are very impressed. And seeing as how I'd play UNC -6.5 until the end of time, Oklahoma has to be a human lock. My one concern for the Sooners is that the refs will call Blake Griffin for breathing near Tyler Hansbrough and stick him on the bench so that the Tar Heels can move on to the Final Four. Not that Carolina ever gets every call or anything....

* No conference had ever put 5 teams into the Sweet Sixteen until the Big East did it this year. No conference had ever put 4 teams into the Elite Eight until the Big East did it this year. Unfortunately, the Big East can't set records for most teams in the Final Four or the national championship game. The 1985 Big East already put 3 teams into the Final Four and produced a Georgetown-Villanova title game. But I can see why Ed and his people think the ACC is the best conference. 1 out of 8 ain't bad.

* There's a phrase that Chris and the rest of MENSA use to describe running bad. They call it negative variance instead of bad luck. It means literally the exact same thing but smart people think it makes them sound like they aren't bitching if they call it negative variance. Well, I've had some negative variance lately and last night was a prime example. I had action on 2 of the regional semifinal games and was feeling very confident. I booked Chad's bet in one of the early games and a I pickrode Billy in a late game. Fading Chad and copying Billy? That's got to be a recipe for a 2-0 night. Worst case scenario there's a fluke loss and you go 1-1, right? Wrong. Chad won and Billy lost and I went 0-2 and lost money for the millionth day in a row.

If that isn't a sign I should stop gambling, I don't know what is.


Get at me about the baseball contest.

Enjoy the Elite Eight.