Obama puts his money on Spartans
Michigan State is going to win the national championship. So said President Barack Obama.
In what has become an annual tradition as reliable as entering office pools, Obama filled out the 2014 edition of his own NCAA Tournament bracket Wednesday and has the Spartans winning their first title since 2000.
He has Michigan State winning over Louisville in the title game, with Florida and Arizona also reaching the Final Four in Dallas.
“Tom Izzo is a great tournament coach,” Obama said while unveiling his bracket on ESPN. “He knows how to motivate folks, and he knows how to coach.
My pick: Michigan State. Bring it home for me. It’s been awhile since I’ve won my pool.”
According to ESPN.com, Obama’s Final Four was one of the most generic. Of the 6.97 million brackets entered into ESPN.com’s Tournament Challenge, Obama’s Final Four was picked by 9.2 percent, making it the most popular.
The president was aware of his blandness, saying he knows “these are not imaginative picks.” Last year, he ranked 2,080,996 out of 8.15 million entries on ESPN.com.
His pick this year could be bad news for Michigan State.
Only once has Obama picked the correct winner, when he took North Carolina in 2009.
He has no clue
Actor James Van Der Beek admits he knows nothing about college basketball.
One could figure that out by taking a look at his NCAA Tournament bracket.
Van Der Beek and his cast mates on the CBS sitcom Friends with Better Lives was asked by CBS to fill out a bracket and put it online. Van Der Beek obliged and did so with a “code I made up.”
He posted a link to Twitter and offered his followers a “prize” if they can crack his code. It’ll be pretty difficult.
Van Der Beek has No. 10 seed Saint Joseph’s beating No. 5 seed Saint Louis in the title game, with No. 2 seed Kansas and No. 4 San Diego State filling out his Final Four. The former star of TV’s Dawson’s Creek didn’t have any No. 1 seeds getting past the first weekend.
“The reason I know nothing about college bball is two fold,” Van Der Beek tweeted. “A) I suck at hoops, and B) I love NFL & MLB and want to stay married.”
No coming back
The Los Angeles Lakers are 22-44 and in the middle of one of their worst seasons in franchise history, and one competing NBA owner doesn’t think they’ll ever get back to the success of year’s past.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Tuesday that he isn’t sure if the Lakers will ever return to the runs they enjoyed in the 1980s and early-2000s. Mostly, he said, because of the death of former owner Jerry Buss.
“Jerry Buss was the Laker, so I don’t know if the Lakers will ever be the Lakers,” Cuban said. “I don’t think people realize just how good of an owner Jerry was. I looked up to him a lot. Absolutely. So I don’t know if the Lakers will ever be the Lakers.”
Quote of the day
“That’s what you want in midweek games, is to try to jump out on top early, try to get everyone some experience.” Arkansas second baseman Brian Anderson following Wednesday’s 8-0 victory over Grambling State
Sports, Pages 20 on 03/20/2014