PRESIDENTIAL FINAL FOUR PICKS

Since publicly airing his distaste for the lack of a BCS playoff system in college football, we've known Obama and sports go together like peanut butter and honey. Jelly, honey, whatever your preference it's all good much like Obama's picks for NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four. The leader of the free world filled out his bracket Tuesday with his picks for who will dance their way to the Final Four and they were anything but "liberal" as the president has been accused of being. In fact they were quite "conservative" with all number 1 seeds except for Memphis, a number 2 seed.

Obama's Final Four Picks

North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Memphis

How's that for presidential?

Tune in to ESPN Wednesday@12 PM EST for an indepth look at Obama's bracket and other tourney analysis.

See related:

OBAMA'S FOOTBALL STIMULUS PLAN

T.O.’s Last Hooray!

Quotable:"If I gave you the answer that you want to hear, you'd already have it. And the fact that you don't should tell you something...I've experienced locker rooms that look dysfunctional on the face of it, OK? And won world championships," Dallas Cowboy owner, Jerry Jones on keeping Terrell Owens on the roster, a week before releasing him.

Yes, you heard it right! The tumultuous love/hate relationship between the Dallas Cowboys and Terell “The Voice” Owens has officially joined the ranks 50% of marriages in this country—in “Splitsville.” Just a week prior, Jerry Jones got his lasso in a bunch just at the mention of T.O. being cut from the roster. Apparently, he used that rope to fashion a noose to hang T.O. out to dry reportedly at the persuading of Cowboys insiders who still lack the ballsiness they so brazenly display behind closed locker room doors to voice their apparent disdain for the Pro-Bowl wide receiver. Sources reveal that Owens is shocked and feels betrayed however, not necessarily by Jerry Jones, despite Jones outright promise that Owens would remain a Dallas Cowboy amidst torrid locker room chemistry.

“It wasn’t just Whitten. He had problems with Tony Romo. He had problems calling out the offensive coordinator during the season, singly him out. He broadened the divide in the locker room so that players like Roy Williams, Patrick Clayton and I was even told Marion Barber , had been effected, negatively from their association with T.O. So I think the Cowboys will have some repairing to do in the locker room as the result of this. There were a lot of players, maybe the majority of players who sided with Terrell Owens against Tony Romo, Jason Whitten and offensive but if the Cowboys were going to solve this problem and address it seriously, I think Terrell Owens had to go and he had to go before they started their off season program at the end of this month.” ESPN analyst, Ed Werder reported.

While we’re speaking on advocates for Terrell Owens, let’s add Cowboys coach Wade Phillips into the mix, who along with Jones rallied behind Owens when he so vehemently shouted to any one that would listen that Romo and Whitten we’re engaged in a conspiracy to keep the ball from him complete with half-time pep sessions and slumber party strategy sessions.

“…You really never know the real reason behind it… cuz it’s a game of football and you just have to move on. Nobody is going to play this game forever…you look at guys like Marvin Harrison, that was released by the Indianapolis Colts, a couple of weeks ago or so. You just look over time. Fred Taylor, Jacksonville Jaguars. I was released by the Dallas Cowboys. I was released by the Carolina Panthers…It’s going to happen. You look at it and you say, you know what ,the next step for him is to find him for a team to play for, for the next couple of years and from that team, that point forward just continue to keep trying to build that legacy you’re trying to lead/live when he leaves the game. ” ESPN analyst, retired NFL player, Keyshawn Johnson commented.

Is it really that simple? Despite lackluster numbers last season ranging in T.O. still produced. Yes, he is one of the most selfish players in the league next to Chad “Ocho” Cinco, next to Randy Moss, next to Plaxico Burress and any other star wide receiver who values his own self-destructive off field run-ins with the law and tabloids over Super bowl and Pro-Bowl appearances however, say it with me now, he still produced. Jones didn’t offer him a new $34 million contract extension with a $12 million signing bonus for nothing. At the end of the day, it boils down to one thing, Owens is ousted not because of his track record of alienating quarterbacks and offensive players in San Francisco, Philadelphia and now Dallas; not for his world famous outspokenness or for his lackluster last season, resulting in his 69 receiving and 10 receiving touchdowns but because Romo finally fell under the weight of Owens outcries about the shoddiness of Garrett’s and Phelps’ offensive plays. What type of club doesn’t appease to its star quarterback?

So where does this leave T.O. in quest for Super bowl contention? Unfortunately for T.O., his track record and his mounting age (Owens will be 36 years old next year) leave his team prospects about as realistic as the Lions’ sloppy seconds leading the Cowboys to Super bowl glory next season. One thing is for certain, in the team’s “best” long-term interests or not, Dallas in the short-term has a lot of holes to fill that will take a whole lot more cement to fill than a few pothole patchups in the guise of acquiring an over hyped Roy Williams, aging Jon Kitna and a washed up Keith Brooking.

Drunken Driving With Antoine Walker

Quotable:"Walker is one of the very best multi-faceted, versatile players in this game...He is able to handle the ball, pass it, make plays, shoot threes and rebound the ball. There isn’t anyone in this league better at doing that." Pat Riley, former Miami Heat coach.


My how the “mighty” have fallen. Former NBA player, Antoine Walker was recently charged with suspicion of drunk driving early Monday morning after get this, getting caught driving around with his headlights off at 5:39 in the morning. This is of course special interest to me due to the fact that the whole reason I indirectly started a brawl at the Palace (yes the infamous Pistons-Pacers brawl took a page out of my handbook) was because of this pseudo savior to Bean-town professional basketball pre-Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen era. An obnoxious Celtics’ fan insisting on being heard cheering for his favorite player over hundreds of Pistons fans is not fight inducing in itself but when you insist on cheering for your favorite player on enemy lines and you LIVE IN the opponent’s city THEN proceed to taunt the opponents’ fans about their weakest link (in our case, the Detroit Lions), “thems fighting words, buddy!”

So how did I put the Walker’s long lost lover in his place? I hit him in the head with chicken sandwich wrapper. Like Walker’s career, it went downhill fast. The whole crowd in section 201 including *gasp my mother began chanting asshole; the bleachers rained popcorn, beer and pennies on the guy and his friend and about seven guys young and old manned up ready to fight the “fake thugs.” By the end of the night, the Walkerettes were lead away by Palace security for failure to keep the peace and fights erupted elsewhere in the venue after the Pistons embarrassingly lost in a down to the wire, last ditch effort by the Celtics’.

Of course, in recent years, nobody with half a brain has been that up in arms to get his or her ass kicked by a crowd full of opposing fans over Antoine Walker. After acquiring him in a three player trade that included Jason Williams, and James Posey, former Heat coach Pat Riley commented that, “Walker is one of the very best multi-faceted, versatile players in this game. I think his numbers have shown throughout his career that he has been consistent year-in and year-out, providing points and rebounds. He is able to handle the ball, pass it, make plays, shoot threes and rebound the ball. There isn’t anyone in this league better at doing that. I believe that he will bring a tremendous, versatile, play-making, scoring, rebounding dimension to our team. He is in his prime and I think he will pair up brilliantly with Shaquille, Dwyane and the rest of the team.” Since winning a championship with Miami in 2006, Walker has been exiled to Minnesota where he struggled in 46 games with the Timberwolves during the 2007-08 season only to have his contract bought out by the Memphis Grizzlies in December, making him a free agent.

The police reported Walker stank of alcohol and looked even more like a sleepy eyed basset hound than usual. Given that this latest charge is added to the fact that Walker hasn't played this season, maybe Walker realizes that his chances to get picked up by a team are about as slim as Lebron singing a rendition of "Hello New York" as an official New York Knick when the Free Agent season rolls around in 2010.

A fat chance in hell!