Tournament Time. Get your Brackets Ready

A wise coach once said "You don't win on game day, you win during practice." The same holds true for your NCAA Bracket Pool. If you are a casual fan, don't wait until March to start watching college basketball, if you want to have a real shot, you need to start watching now. (It's not too late)

Yes, there will be the woman who thinks red uniforms are nicer than popsicle orange uniforms who will do well. The other woman in your department who finished better than you last year because she knew in real life in a fight that a Wildcat would beat a Bulldog and a Badger will still do well. Take your pool back! Start now.

College football will be over in a week. The NFL season is winding down. It's not too late to start tuning into college basketball games. Just over half a season remains. That's perfect. Plenty of time to see who's the real deal and who's a joke. Who started out playing over their heads and have come back down to earth? Who started off slow and have now started picking it up? Who had a key player injured that will come back for the tournament? Who gets on fire and is playing unbelievably well heading into the tournament? Start watching just a few games a week and you'll learn enough to make some quality educated guesses.

Don't just throw your money in the pool and circle random teams. Do your homework and try to win. That's the great thing about sports. You play to win the game. I don't think I'm getting my point across. Herm, think you can take this one for me?

What Happens to Cheerleaders After Graduation?

Everyone knows that most ball players have one common dream, make it to the big show. Correction, most ball players have two common dreams. 1)win an NCAA Championship. 2)make it to the big show. Some of them even hope to get their degrees.

What drives cheerleaders and dance squads? Are they highly touted out of high school? Do they dream of becoming a Laker Girl, Knicks City Dancer or Orlando Magic Dancer? There's no draft that I know of for them. Why not? ESPN loves airing cheerleader competitions and drafts. It would be a dream come true for ESPN. Not to mention the young guys and dirty old men that would watch it.
Those girls (and boys) work hard. They hit the gym, practice, put on their game face and perform every night. They are athletes too. Do they just do it for the love of the game? Let's show them some love and get an NBA Dance Squad Draft in 2010.

Stomp, Stomp, Clap, Clap, Whoosh, UCF!

In November the big story in College Basketball, at least in Central Florida was Marcus Jordan and his shoes. UCF had a six year/ $3 Million contract with Adidas. All their athletes wore Adidas shoes and apparel. When Marcus was recruited, he was told he could wear his Dad's Nike Jordans. Fast forward to the week before the season, Adidas said if Marcus wore the Nike shoes it wold be breach of contract.

Well Marcus wore the shoes. The deal with Adidas that had another year on it is done. Was it worth it? How is Marcus' game paying off for UCF? It's too soon to tell, but let's compare his first year stats thus far to his father's first year at North Carolina. Just for kicks, I'll add his brother's stats too.

Marcus Jordan

2009-10 STATS
PPG	APG	3P%	RPG	BPG	SPG
4.8	1.8	.348	3	0.5	1.1

Michael Jordan

1981-82 STATS
PPG	APG	3P%	RPG	BPG	SPG
13.5	1.8	.	4.4	0.2	1.2

Jeff Jordan

2007-08 STATS
PPG	APG	3P%	RPG	BPG	SPG
1	0.3	.333	0.5	.	0.2

Micheal has the best numbers, but Marcus has better numbers than his brother. Call me crazy, but I don't see Marcus hitting the game winning shot to win the NCAA Championship game next season. Are the Nike shoe helping Marcus' game that much? Would he not be able to average his whooping 4.8 PPG in the Adidas shoe?

Time will tell whether it was a good move or not. Personally, if I was Marcus, I would have worn the Adidas shoe. Basketball is a team sport. Be part of the team. Wear what the team wears. Not to mention, I would have taken the chance that I was good enough to go pro and become the face of Adidas when I get there.

If Jeff turns pro, he can become the face of Reebok. Then no matter what brand of shoe is purchased the Jordan family would get money. The first family of sneakers...What? It could happen! It's all about the shoes. Is it the shoes? It's the shoes right? Money it's gotta be the shoes!