Well two final 4 picks correct isn't bad!  OSU should have made it given their easy bracket.  They have nobody to blame but themselves.  Syracuse blew up the other bracket.  I am just glad that M got lucky and made it.  I think you have to get at least one lucky game if you are going to win the tournament.  Now we have to see if Burke is truly the best point guard in the nation as he tries to solve the Syracuse zone.  It would be difficult for McGary to play like he has in these four games but then Hardaway has not been playing like he can.  He will have to because he is the only one other than Burke who can break down defenses and get his own shot.  Given that lucky game against Kansas, I think they can go all the way!

Saw parts of the women's game between Baylor and Louisville.  Even the women's game now has some parity where anyone can win.  Well, I don't think both Baylor and Connecticut will lose so Connecticut is going to win now.  But one thing I notice is that the officiating is much worse in women's basketball.  The game is slower with smaller people so you would think it would be easier to officiate.  So obviously the women don't get the best officials even in the playoffs.

This week mark the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war.  At the same time, Obama is traveling in the middle east.  This reminds us of the problems this area has caused us over the last several decades and the many mistakes we have made over there.  Here are some of my thoughts:

1.  The several thousands U.S. lives and maybe a hundred thousand Iraqi lives lost were terrible price to pay for a war that was wrong.  That was on top of the trillion dollars spent and the lost of focus in finishing the job in Afghanistan.  Never again should we allow crazy politicians lead us into such a war.

2.  One of the reason we are bogged down in this region is because of our dependence on oil.  We propped up despots who are friendly to us so that we can get the oil we need.  We must do everything we can to become energy independent as soon as possible.

3.  We spend a lot of money in the region trying to bring peace but we have not gotten much for it.  About the only thing the Israelis and Palestinians have in common is that they don't agree with what our presidents have propose for each side to do to even start the peace progress.  So lets withhold our financial support unless each side agree with our proposals. 

4.  Support Muslim countries that have been friendly to the U.S.  A country like Jordan must become economically much stronger in order to prevent extremists from taking over from King Hussein.  If populous Muslim countries like Indonesia and Turkey can become more prosperous then it will demonstrate to average Muslims that the U.S. is helping them and is not their enemy.

5.  Don't sweat about Iran and nuclear weapons.  Just like Iraq, Iran will not be dangerous to us.  By constantly worrying and complaining about their nuclear weapons program will only help Muslim extremists recruit terrorists.

On a lighter note the Big Ten did well this weekend.  Four teams made it to the sweet 16.  Minnesota and Illinois won a game and played well against tough opponents in the second game.  Only Wisconsin was disappointing.  As predicted the team that is in Gonzaga's region has the best luck.  That is OSU.  I think they will have a clear path to the final 4 now.

Well, OSU got that prize 2 seed in the region with Gonzaga.  As a result I predict that OSU will make it to the final 4.  M and MSU both got "home" games in Auburn Hill for the first 2 rounds so they should advance to the sweet 16.  If they don't it is their own fault.  I think M has a better draw than MSU.  I think Kansas and Georgetown are easier to beat than Louisville and Duke.  So I have M advancing to the final 4 along with Louisville.  I know that is homer talk and may jinx myself but hey this is one year that 3 or 4 seeds are almost as good as 1 and 2.  I will take Miami over Indiana in the last regional.  I think Miami could well have been a 1 and I think they are better than Kansas.  Plus I can't pick 3 Big Ten teams!

I think Oregon really got screwed.  A 12 seed  after winning the Pac 12 tournament?  I know that the Pac 12 is ranked low and deservedly so in some respects.  But Oregon went into a slump when their point guard went down.  If Trey Burke went down, M would lose a lot more games.  The guy came back and helped Oregon win the finals but the selection committee guy said that they had to look at the whole season, not just the last game.  But then they lowered UCLA to a 6 because they lost one of their starters before the final   They can't argue both ways!

Just finished watching DWTS.  My top 3 picks are Zendya (or whatever her name is), Jacoby Jones and Dorothy Hamil.  Zendya was by far the best but the concern is that nobody my age knows who she is and people at her age is not going to watch the show.  Jacoby Jones has great potential even though his technique was not too good today.  Did you see how out of breath he was? I know he had surgery and so been idled but he had more trouble than anybody I ever seen on the show and he is a young athlete.  Dorothy Hamil is pretty good and will get lot of sympathy votes due to her age and her cancer history.  The country singer Pickler was also impressive.  The gymnast was not as good as I thought she would be but maybe she can improve.  It seems to me Ashley Judd really let herself go!

Rand Paul did the good old fashion filibuster last week.  I don't agree with Rand Paul a lot but I think it is great that he was willing to stand up for hours speaking to a dwindling audience in order to get his point across.  This is a lot better than have the minority party simply say they are going to filibuster and if they got 40 votes then everything comes to a halt.  If you are going to filibuster, you should actually get up and stand there and talk nonstop, the way it was meant to be.

I don't think there is any chance that a president will order drone strike against American citizens unless there is a reason of extreme national security.  I think the debate instead should be setting guidelines internationally of when this type of weapon should be used.  Make no mistake about it, the technology of drones is spreading.  China, for example, has quite a bit capability in this.  If we use it without good reason, then in the future other countries will say that they are only using it the same way the U.S. did.  And what about terrorists acquiring the technology?  These are all more important debate than Rand's rant.

Let March Madness begin!  I am, of course, talking about the election of the new pope.  I think we should start brackets and see who can come up with the right champion.  I am betting on the guy from Brazil.  With Latin America having the most Catholics in the world, it is about time someone from there is elected.  Plus, I always pick Brazil for every World Cup.

Another election I want to mention is for the mayor of LA.  This took place last week and as expected there will be a runoff as no candidate received 50%.  This outcome was obvious since there were 6 candidates and none of them were that well known.  What ticks me off is that they have this election 4 months after the presidential election.  Why don't they have it in November to save some money?  Not only that, only 16% showed up to vote last week.  The electorate is pathetic but I am sure they would have had a much greater number in November.

The only election this month that is a slam dunk is the Chinese presidential election.  So you thought that had already happened last year?  Well, technically the election is now but it was decided behind close doors last November.  So I can predict the Yi Jinping will be the new president!

People may be making fun of Dennis Rodman's travel to North Korea.  But Kim Jung Un is supposedly a big basketball fan and he just maybe trying to open his country via basketball diplomacy.  Since ping pong diplomacy worked so well 40 year or so ago, who knows if this will be a break through?  At the very least Kim figures he would look respectable to the world next to Rodman!  If this works, I think we should send Hulk Hogan or Jesse Ventura to Iran since wrestling is very big in that country.

Who wrote comment #6 on my previous blog?  I can't make out what it is saying except something about expensive hand bags.  No thanks to that, I don't need purses nor can I afford them.