*Commissioner M. Scott Eiland ascends to the podium*

We are once again approaching that blessed time when millions of people waste tens of millions of hours of productivity in guessing what men's college basketball teams will do in the upcoming event known fondly as March Madness. While many will engage in this activity with some amount of money at stake, we in the Formidable Forvm League will be doing it solely for bragging rights, with the prospect of extreme ridicule should our prognostication be less than stellar--who's up for it? ]:-)

Once again, I am posting a diary to allow the inhabitants here to win bragging rights by making the most correct WAGs about random or almost completely random occurrences associated with today's national event. Without further ado. . .

--who will win the coin flip?

--which team will be penalized first?

--which team will kick a field goal first?*

--will the combined score of the two teams at halftime be an odd or an even number?

--(Tie-breaker) what will be the final score?

*--picking "neither" and being correct counts double!

The vote for the 2010 Baseball Hall of Fame entering class will be announced on January 6th, 2010: the complete list of candidates with lifetime stats can be found here. As I've gone over the credentials of many on the ballot in prior years, I'm going to keep it short this time:

Probably In (and should be):

Andre Dawson
Bert Blyleven
Roberto Alomar

Should Be In, But Probably Won't Be:

Barry Larkin
Tim Raines
Edgar Martinez
Allen Trammell
Lee Smith

The first round of the 2009 MLB playoffs combined two series that surprised few--the Yankees' sweep of the Twins and the Phillies beating the Rockies in four games--and two rather big surprises--with the Dodgers sweeping the Cardinals (after losing five out of seven to them in the regular season) and the Angels sweeping the Red Sox after years of being owned by Boston in the postseason. With the next round of playoffs about to begin, a re-evaluation is in order.

[As I begin this diary, seven out of the eight 2009 MLB playoff positions are set, and the Tigers and Twins are deadlocked 5-5 in the bottom of the 12th inning of the one game playoff to determine the winner of the AL Central, the last playoff position.]

[Strike that--TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN! 6-5 in 12. On with the diary]

.

Division Series (best of five: team with home field advantage listed last):

NL:

St. Louis Cardinals v. Los Angeles Dodgers
Colorado Rockies (wild card) v. Philadelphia Phillies

AL:

Boston Red Sox (wild card) v. Los Angeles Angels*

. . ."If A White Guy Said It He'd Be Toast" sweepstakes, we have Mr. Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star explaining how Serena Williams, winner of 11 Grand Slam titles, is an underachiever with a fat @$$.*

Dude. Serena's father is a racist idiot, but if he slugged Whitlock in the jaw over this article I'd raise my glass to him.

*--Whitlock *is* getting a lot of flak for this piece, but his job is in no danger.

I was under the impression that it was the position of the Obama Administration that it was inappropriate for the US to be seen to be taking sides in the internal politics of a country whose citizenry might have reason to be sensitive regarding past meddling by the United States. Is that policy non-operative when the @$$#ole buddy of Mr. Chavez is involved?

Just wondering.

Because we should have one.

Just because.

Because it's time, darn it.