welcome_back

Welcome back, folks, to our 10th annual NCAA basketball pool. Despite my attempts at pool population control, we exceeded the, ahem, �150 entrant maximum� with a total of 166 participants. At $5 per head, the total pot is $830. Like we do every year, payouts will be made on the following basis:

1st place               $480       (60%)
2nd place              $240       (30%)
3rd place               $80         (10%)
Last place             $5
Best 1st Rd           $25

Please have no concerns about the money. We have asked the Red Cross to assist in the distribution of funds and as a further safeguard we have hired Arthur Andersen to oversee the process. So we should be just fine. Yup, just fine.

As a reminder, the tiebreaker for best first round will be whoever called the biggest upset of that round and starting this year we have also moved to a tiebreaker format for first place overall which will be total points scored in the championship game. Please note that that is for first place only. Also, in the interests of full disclosure, kindly be advised that for the record, Commissioner Dennehy hereby wishes to declare the following selections:

                                 The Commissioner                           Mrs Commissioner
Final Four �          Oklahoma over Duke                          Oklahoma over Duke
                                Maryland over Oregon                        Maryland over Florida
Champion �         Oklahoma over Maryland                   Maryland over Oklahoma
(needless to say � an Oklahoma vs Maryland final should make for a real �tension convention� at the Dennehy household)

Also, my first round upset picks are as follows:

Valparaiso (13) over Kentucky (4)
Missouri (12) over Miami (5)
Hawaii (10) over Xavier (7)
Pepperdine (10) over Wake Forest (7)

(Editors Note - Please hold all mocking type laughter until the end of the tournament, or at least until my teams are eliminated. And might I remind everyone of the fact that had Arizona brought any semblance of a shooting game to their championship showdown vs. Duke last year, I�d be the defending champion. But, of course � they didn�t, and thus I � am not. Alas I digress.)

As for my Oklahoma pick? Hey look, it�s like this. Each and every year just about EVERYONE picks Duke, okay? But for me though, Duke always has been, and always will be �The Evil Empire.� And the bottom line for me is that there is no way, no how, I am picking Mike Krzyzewski (pictured, with former prot�g� Bobby Hurley) and his evil Blue Devil toadies to win this pool. Matter of fact, if I were George W. Bush, I�d expand that whole �Axis of Evil� thing to include Duke and just be done with them once and for all. Er, that�s after we take care of Canada first of course. I�ve personally had about enough of those Canadians with their Celine Dion, and their hockey gold medal, and well � you get the picture. Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Canada, and then Duke. In that order. Well, maybe Canada ahead of North Korea. But Canada and Duke both definitely deserve a spot on the list. Oh and �The Backstreet Boys� too. Almost forgot about them.

Ok, back to basketball.

Now, as for potential champions, don�t even try and mention Kansas to me. Forget the fact that their stock dropped faster than Enron after MY Oklahoma squad (note the nice transition there?) fetched a beating on them in the Big 12 tourney last weekend. Just how many times have we seen them self-destruct in this thing? Too many times for me to take a flyer on �em, that�s how many. Maryland? But similar to Kansas, I got spooked by that loss to NC State in the ACC tournament. Now that didn�t stop me from picking them for the finals, but hey � I never claimed to be logical did I? Alabama? Heh, good one. UConn? They would have to pry the pen from my cold dead fingers before I�d write the name UConn into that spot labeled �National Champion.� Arizona? A solid pick. But they�ve got to play Gonzaga somewhere along the way and I like most people just enjoy saying �Gonzaga,� so you�ve got to pick them, right? Well, actually, um, no. I�ve got Arizona beating them (see logic comment above). Long story short is I�m counting heavily on the Big 12 doing well (with the exception of Kansas), and the SEC and the Big 10 putting up about as good a fight as the Taliban.

By the way, for those who are curious, an unofficial tally of the sheets that were submitted shows the following breakdown of selections:

49           - Duke (*yawn*)
44           - Kansas (ditto)
35           - Maryland
12           - Oklahoma (Now you�re talkin�!)
8              - UConn
7              - Cincinnati
3              - Oregon
3              - Arizona
2              - Illinois
1              - Miami
1              - Gonzaga
1              - Winthrop (more on that tomorrow)

And hey, a special welcome this year to our pool�s first ever celebrity entrant, er, that�s if you don�t count OCG�s Jim Kelly who once sat next to Tim Russert on a park bench at Cape Cod. This year, we�re honored (?) to have none other than famed radio personality Sebastian (pictured, presumably at one of his parole hearings no doubt). Yes, the very same Sebastian heard Monday through Friday from 3:00 pm � 6:00 pm on �The Zone� AM 640 in Springfield. Sebastian, a two-time winner of The Hartford Advocate Readers Poll as Favorite Personality of the Year, brings to the table an infinite amount of basketball knowledge (or so he says) as witnessed by his fairly impressive track record at sports prognosticating. Please be sure to check out his website at http://www.sebastiansports.com for his valuable insights and tune in to his radio show each and every weekday afternoon (How was that Mr. S, ok?). For the record, Sebastian is going with Kansas over Duke (bo-ring!). We also welcome his on air sidekicks, longtime local sports announcer Pete Lamoureaux and the show�s Gene Simmons look-alike producer, the man known only as �Ugly Mike.�