Does the best team win the NCAA tournament?

As a sports fan, you have to love upsets. This year's edition of the NCAA tournament has offered more upsets than our brackets can handle. But these upsets have got me thinking, does the best team really win the NCAA tournament?

Entering the tourny, Kentucky, Syracuse, Duke, and Kansas were regional number 1 seeds. Kentucky got beat by West Virginia in the Elite 8, Syracuse was ousted by Butler in the Sweet 16, and Kansas lost to Northern Iowa in the round of 32.

Does this sound like a tournament where the best team wins? Not necessarily, but some top teams are still surviving. West Virgina won the Big East title, Duke is still alive, and Butler looks like a legitimate contender.

How does this happen? Well, it is a single loss elimination tournament, the games are short, injuries can happen, fouls can happen, and upsets are inevitable.

Part of the confusion however, comes from the inability to accurately rank teams prior to the tournament. West Virgina won the Big East tournament, not Syracuse, yet Syracuse still entered the tournament with the number 1 seed while West Virginia was pegged as a number 2 seed.

As well, it is truly difficult to calculate who actually plays a more difficult schedule. Overall record has a large impact on rankings, but strength of schedule is also weighed in. Mistakes are bound to happen.

Will the best team in NCAA basketball win the NCAA tournament? Probably not, but that does not diminish how outstanding this tournament has been. Cinderella stories have been popping up from every corner of the country and top teams have been slayed by tiny schools from unknown conferences.

For the record, my official pick to win the tournament has been and remains the West Virginia Mountaineers, but I won't be surprised if they don't pull it off.

Will the best team win the NCAA tournament? Likely not. Has the best team already been eliminated? Probably. Will the most deserving team win? Definitely.

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The time is right to move the Phoenix Coyotes

After years and years of turmoil in sunny Phoenix, it seems like the chips are finally falling into place to move the Phoenix Coyotes back to Winnipeg.

Yes, I've looked at the standings and I'm well aware that the Phoenix Coyotes are near the top of the Western Conference. That is why this is the perfect time to move them. Before, the NHL could blame poor performance on the ice, for poor performance in the stands. That is not the case now.

Now, a perspective city, Winnipeg to be exact, would not be getting a terrible hockey team, they would actually be getting a winning club.

One thing that needs to be said is, this shows 100% that Gary Bettman was out to beat down Jim Balsille for personal reasons alone. Or at the very least, a mix of personal hate and a little protection for the Toronto Maple Leafs' pockets.

Giving a club back to Winnipeg can't be detrimental to the NHL. For one, a new owner (possibly Canadian billionaire David Thomson) would have to pay a hefty relocation fee. That's free money for the rest of the NHL. Second, even if Winnipeg didn't sell out every game, they would undoubtedly house more paying fans per game than Phoenix.

In fact, Winnipeg would only have to fill the 15,000 MTS Centre to 75% capacity to show an increase in attendance. Phoenix is sitting dead last in NHL attendance averaging just over 11,000 fans per game.

The time is right for this move to happen. The people in Winnipeg want their team back, the people in Phoenix obviously don't care, the Coyotes on ice package is the best it's been in years, and a building, and ownership are in place (although the NHL would likely request a renovation to increase seating capacity to 17,000).

The Hockey News recently reported that if the Phoenix Coyotes can't find suitable ownership, and/or reach a new deal with the City of Glendale, that a deal is in place in principle with David Thomson to purchase the Coyotes and move them to Winnipeg.

If the Coyotes do in fact move back to Canada, it would be great news for Quebec City, who is looking to build a new arena and lure an NHL team back. Other cities in the running for a relocated team include Kansas City and Seattle, but they likely won't be in the market for the Coyotes.

The chips are in place for this to happen. Here's hoping by the time we drop the puck next season, the Winnipeg Jets will have made their return to the NHL.

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Basking in our disconnected social power

After reading the recent hate spread across the web about NHL player Matt Cooke, it caused me to take a step back while looking at social media.

People, we'll loosely call "fans" seem to use sites such as Twitter and Facebook as a form of catharsis, and places to spread hate. I thought these sites were designed to be social?

Instead, people forget that what they write is being read by hundreds, thousands, even millions of people. On my evening Twitter visit, I came across several Matt Cooke related posts while his name was trending.

After concussing Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins with a dirty hit, Cooke and the Pittsburgh Penguins faced the Bruins only a week later. Cooke was forced to fight in the game, but fans wanted it to go a step further and voiced their ideas.

These posts said things like, "I want to see Matt Cooke get paralyzed by the end of the night," and "Matt Cooke can suck it, I hope that felt nice fa&&ot," and "F#$@ U Matt Cooke." I've used symbols to attempt to clean up the comments.

Even more of you are calling Cooke "gutless." You know who is gutless? Anyone making that comment, sitting behind their computer screen, making idle threats to impress their Twitter followers. Guess what? It's not impressing anyone. And if you did end up facing Matt Cooke in a fight, I'd bet my last dollar that he would beat the tar out of you...cleanly.

Here's a thought people, of the three quotes I showed, I checked out the peoples profiles, all of these individuals used a real name and location, and if you followed the links that they posted, it gave even more personal information.

Why would people connect themselves to such ridiculous, hateful, and inappropriate comments? Don't get me wrong, I'm no saint, and I've seen and heard it all. You're reading an article from someone who played 7 years of Junior hockey in Canada with and against several current NHLers.

Get over yourselves people. Respectfully give your opinions, blog about it, comment on a story, and then get over it. All of this Matt Cooke hate mail, and the Matt Cooke death threats, and racial, or sexist comments, it just makes you look like an idiot.

Cooke will wake up tomorrow in a comfortable hotel room, he'll have a big breakfast, read the paper, go for a morning skate, and play again. He'll go home happy because he's doing what he loves and he makes more money doing it than most of us will see in a lifetime.

Nothing we as fans, or as virtual bullies on Facebook or Twitter will ever change the way Cooke plays and our messages will never reach anyone that can change the NHL. All they do is make you look silly and put your future in jeopardy.

In all likelihood, no one important will ever read your Twitter posts or blog. The day they do, it will be a potential boss explaining to you that you are not a fitting candidate because your social actions they read on Twitter, do not represent the ideals of their business.

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Obama's bracket is boring

I've looked at the President's bracket, and I have to say...booorrring. It does seem like several teams have fairly straight forward routes to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 this year, but come on people, the President needs to be a risk taker...at least when constructing an NCAA bracket.

As a re-cap, Obama has Kansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Georgetown, Kansas State, Syracuse, Duke, and Villanova in the Elite 8. That group includes each and every 1 seed, and every 2 seed, with the exception of Ohio State which President Obama has getting "upset" by Georgetown.

If the tight conference championships were any indication, I think we can expect a little more Madness this March.

One team that has been getting a lot of press, and I happen to agree with, is Wisconsin. As a 4 seed, Wisconsin would not be a monumental longshot, but other than number 5 Temple, they have a relatively straight route and I think they'll upset someone in this tournament.

I do however, agree with President Obama that Georgetown is a threat. They have been playing great lately and could go even farther than Obama predicted.

One team I really like to make the Final Four and potentially squeak into the big dance, is West Virginia. West Virginia won the Big East title over Georgetown and seem to be carrying momentum. The Big East is a tough conference to win, especially this year with number 1 Syracuse and number 2 Villanova playing like contenders.

As for President Obama's NCAA tournament winner Kansas, he might be right there. I'm going to go with either West Virginia or Duke. Either way you look at it, March Madness is here and it's going to be an amazing ride. Still Mr. Obama, make it exciting for us. We're tired of the economy and health care, this was your chance to show some personality. Instead, you played it safe.

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Lance Mackey is the king of the Iditarod

Just as Lance Armstrong's name is attached to Tour de France domination, Lance Mackey is becoming synonymous with winning the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.

For many, completing the Iditarod is an amazing accomplishment, because numerous competitors are forced to drop out each year, but for Lance Mackey, anything less than victory is a dissapointment.

Mackey is considered one of the best musher's in the business. Crossing the finish line in Nome, Mackey has solidified his place in Iditarod history, capturing a record setting, 4th straight Iditarod championship.

More than just dominating their sport and sharing their given name, Mackey holds more in common with Lance Armstrong than many know. In 2001, Mackey beat throat cancer.

Although Mackey will never reach the rockstar status that Lance Armstrong carries across the globe, his accomplishments are no less impressive.

Congratulations to Lance Mackey and his team of sled dogs on winning The Last Great Race on Earth for the 4th straight year.

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After Olympic shun, McKeever wins gold

Winning a gold medal in the Paralympics 20-km cross country event must be a bitter sweet moment for Brian McKeever. As a visually impaired athlete, McKeever was only hours away from skiing for his country in the Olympic Games, when he was told by his coach he would not be competing.

Less than a month later, McKeever stands atop the world at the Paralympics after winning Canada's first ever Paralympic gold medal on home soil.

It isn't all smiles and congratulations for McKeever, he still has a foul taste in his mouth from the Vancouver Winter Olympics and a goal in his mind for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

What is sad about this, is the media coverage surrounding McKeever is not for his amazing accomplishment in the Paralympics, it is because he was shunned at the Olympic Games.

McKeever is the kind of athlete children should be looking up to. He aspires to be the best, and in fact, is the best in his sport. Brian McKeever's gold medal at the 2010 Paralympics shouldn't be thought of as second rate; his first Paralympic gold on home soil is every bit as important as the Olympic Gold won by Alexandre Bilodeau.

I wouldn't count McKeever out just yet. If you know anything about the Paralympics, you'll understand that overcoming odds is just a part of the business. For McKeever, despite his visual impairment, the 2014 Olympic Games are still very much in sight.

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Alex Ovechkin threw a CLEAN hit

It seems like people want to find something wrong with the NHL these days. It's almost like hockey became too popular during the Olympic Games to be healthy. Now all anyone can talk about is dirty hits.

Here's a news flash people, the Alexandre Ovechkin hit on Brian Campbell was clean. At worst, it was wreckless, not malicious. Just as his hit in the Olympic Games that concussed Jaromir Jagr was clean. That hit was highlighted across the world as a positive.

The difference between what Ovechkin did and the hit by Matt Cooke on Boston Bruins Marc Savard is huge. Ovechkin throws hits to the body. Yes, they might injure the opposing player's head, as was the case with Jagr, but the hit is to the body.

Watching Matt Cooke's brutal hit over and over this week, he hit only Savard's head. Not only that, but he extended his arm to assure he made contact with Savard.

The NHL GMs have been doggedly working on a new rule to curb hits to the head over the last week. I think what needs to be done is obvious. If a player is injured from a hit that connects to the body AND head, it is clean. If the player mainly makes contact with the head without making significant connection to the body, then it is a suspendable hit.

Think about it, if you make significant contact with your "targets" body, it likely will not be a blindside hit. It is easy however, to reach out, or blindside an opponent and only make contact with the head. Yes, that would put Cooke in this category, along with the Mike Richards hit on David Booth earlier this season, but it would save hard, agressive plays like Alex Ovechkins.

Taking the edge out of hockey would be catastrophic, but allowing blatent hits to the head to continue would also have damaging affects on the game of hockey.

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