By updating RealClearSports I read hundreds of articles every week but sometimes there are particularly passages that need highlighting. And to make these passages more palatable I'm doing them in award form! The awards are completely random and will change weekly.

Jay Bilas has gotten hammered by blogs and the press since he said VCU's inclusion into the NCAA Tournament failed "the laugh test." VCU hung up a banner with Dick Vitale on it that read "Eat Crow Baby!" While the Rams ride to the Final Four has been impressive, it doesn't make those opinions that they shouldn't have been invited to dance less credible. Based on that logic should Louisville have been denied admission? Should they have wound up in the CBI? By the numbers, both Colorado and Alabama deserved bids over Virginia Commonwealth. Those two teams just happened to reach the NIT semifinals with the Crimson Tide pulling it out 62-61. Not that that even matters when determining who should've gotten in.

Getting into the NCAA Tournament is based on regular season resumes and there were a handful of teams that had more impressive resumes than VCU. But the argument is basically irrelevant because these bubble teams never manage to get past the sweet 16...whoops. At least we can all agree that no matter how fair or unfair the selection process is it's a whole lot better than the corrupt BCS. On to the awards!

Worst Song Lyrics
There's not much I hate more from columnists than when they write out a song parody. Mike Lopresti of the USA Today did that with Dylan's "Times They Are-a-Changin":

And so, with apologies to Dylan, an ode to the 2011 Final Four:

"Come gather round people, wherever you roam,

And admit the midmajor programs have grown.

And accept it soon, that a trophy they'll own. ..."

And it goes on like that. Whenever a columnists starts with "with apologies" they should just stop right there.

Best Idea for a Sitcom

Bruce Arthur of the National Post has a fascination with Jose Canseco: I worry that his life will never be made into a sitcom. And no, Celebrity Apprentice doesn't count. It might be funny, but if so, it's sort of sad clown funny.

Thankfully, Jose seems to be working on the sitcom thing for me. He is considerate that way. The allegation that he sent his twin brother Ozzie to pose as him in a celebrity boxing match at a Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood -- where Ozzie demanded the US$5,000 cheque be made out to cash, and was outed by the fact that he does not have a tattoo on his right bicep like Jose -- will make a fine pilot.

The best thing is Canseco is so desperate for money he'd give away his life rights for next to nothing. And now that Charlie Sheen is available this thing has 'hit' written all over it (pardon the pun).

Playing the Odds

Rick Bozich of Fox Sports played the odds and wrote a column about how it was time for the Cinderella teams to move over: This is the weekend when Cinderella burps and the Super Coaches take over.
And trust me, despite all the inspiring stories like VCU, Richmond, those persistent kids from Butler, Jimmer and Marquette with those Technicolor uniforms that stir memories of Al McGuire, the Super Coaches still have both hands firmly wrapped around this tournament.
They're in control, folks. They're always in control in college basketball.

It made sense. Who really expected VCU and Butler to be squaring off in one side of the bracket? He played the odds and he got burned this time.

Flawed Logic

Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated believes fabulous freshman are the reason the tournament is so popular: "I don't think college basketball has benefited from [the rule]," said Krzyzewski.

So then there must be some other reason thousands of fans are flocking this week to the not-exactly-vacation-destination of Newark, N.J., and millions more will be tuning in to Friday night's highly anticipated East Regional games there between Ohio State and Kentucky, and North Carolina and Marquette. It must have nothing to do with the presence of freshman sensations Jared Sullinger (Ohio State), Harrison Barnes (North Carolina) and Terrence Jones and Brandon Knight (Kentucky).

...Novel as it may be, Friday night's matchup between 10th seed Florida State and 11th seed VCU does not figure to draw much of a rating for TBS. As the Final Four draws closer, fans want to see brand names colliding, and two of the biggest -- the Buckeyes and Wildcats -- will do just that on CBS. (Would be even better if players had to stay longer)

His justification for why Duke, Kentucky and Ohio State will get higher ratings has little to do with the fact that they have talented freshmen. If those freshmen were on other teams those huge name schools would still draw big ratings. This is the beauty of the NCAA Tournament. The level of play basically doesn't matter because people have fallen in love with the brackets and the parity. One could argue that these one-and-done freshman bring more parity to college basketball because if players were forced to stay longer it would undoubtedly benefit the bigger schools - but that's not the argument he's trying to make.

Facts Don't Back Up Claim

Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press doesn't believe there's such a thing as a tournament upset anymore: These upsets aren't flukes any longer. ... The favorites are staying home. There isn't one No. 1 seed in the Final Four for only the third time since the NCAA began seeding teams in 1979. Even more revealing is that this will be the first Final Four since then in which the highest remaining seed is a No. 3.

So this is the first time ever that no No. 1 or 2-seed has made the Final Four and THAT signifies there are no longer upsets? I agree upsets are a bit overstated. The difference between a 3-seed and a 10-seed isn't that much but to have an 8 and a 11-seed reach the Final Four is pretty crazy. It definitely seems much more of an abnormality than the normal state of affairs.

Dose of Sanity in Insane World

Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post shares my opinion that this Barry Bonds trial is a huge waste of time and money: Criminal law should be reserved for our very worst offenders, and to use it on anyone else doesn't actually strengthen respect for the law, but weakens it. It's hard to see how the law has been strengthened by the massive, labyrinthine, federal effort against Bonds, which has been an ineffectual joke if "justice" was what we were seeking.

Bonds got away with using steroids and made millions off of it. Unless this trial can cause him to have to give back that money to the federal government than this is a complete waste of time. Bonds' legacy is tarnished and that's punishment enough as far as I'm concerned. MLB is really to blame for not stopping steroids from seeping into the game. What is the point now of sending a (heavily) taxpaying man to jail for a crime he committed years ago? I know he's actually on trial for perjury and not steroids but it's still insane how much manpower is being used to make an example out of him.

Most Divisive Article on Race

Buzz Bissinger of the Daily Beast is at it again. He recently wrote that the NBA isn't very popular because of its lack of white superstars. Now he's arguing Jimmer Fredette is so popular because he's white: Jimmer Fredette is the most popular player in the tournament and perhaps the country. Why is that?
Because he is perceived as the next white hope of the NBA, even though the odds of that are mixed at best.... So why the signs in arenas that say "Fredette about it"? Why all the attention? Is it only because he is an exciting college basketball player?
Remove the blinders now.
It's about race. It always is in America. ... Google the Jimmer's name; the names of the top five players in ESPN's mock draft and the search term "basketball," only Harrison Barnes of the University of North Carolina has more results. The next player with the most hits, Perry Jones of Baylor, has 1.05 million, about 700,000 less than Fredette.

I don't doubt race plays a bit of a factor in Jimmer's popularity but how much more popular is he than Kemba Walker? The argument that the amount of attention college basketball players receive is based on their potential in the NBA is ridiculous. If that were the case than Perry Jones would be at the top of the list. But Baylor finished the season 18-13 and missed the tournament whereas BYU finished 30-4 and ranked in the top 10. Fredette led the nation in scoring and scored 52 of BYU's 87 vs. New Mexico just a few weeks ago. If any player on a top 10 team did what Fredette did this season they would get similar attention.

Most Damning Article Written About Carmelo Yet

Carmelo Anthony's transition with the Knicks has been a bit rocky. The New York media expected instant chemistry and a much improved team but instead have gotten an inconsistent team that at times looks completely lost. The early problems caused Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News to make an unfavorable comparison: Meet Stephon Marbury 2.0, better known as Carmelo Anthony. Yes, he's a software upgrade, bigger and stronger than his predecessor, and slightly more stable (we think) than the last prodigal son the city absolutely had to have.
But as wild as this may sound, a month into his Knick career, Melo has already shown bugs, signs that his story could play out like the mercurial Starbury's fall from grace.

Ouch. Comparing him to Starbury? Let's just hope Carmelo stays away from starting a UStream channel.