03/17 (Lehigh Wins! Duke Loses!) Quickie

Wow. Wow. Wowowowowowow.

Aside from your own team's greatest moment, the greatest moment of any/every college basketball season is the moment Duke is ousted from the NCAA Tournament. It is the best feeling in the world. They could be good. They could be bad. Overrated, underrated. It doesn't matter.

In this case, that Duke was a 2-seed makes it special -- the best seed Duke has ever had when they have lost in the Round of 64 of the tournament. That they lost to Lehigh is great, but any 15-seed would have been an absurd-sounding team.

Norfolk State beating Missouri was -- at least according to Vegas bookies -- an even bigger upset, but it was entirely reasonable to see Mizzou flaming out early in this tournament (if not THIS early). It was glorious, like the handful of other "15 over 2" games, a defining moment in tournament history... right up until the Duke-Lehigh supernova eclipsed everything.

It's a "national" moment we're having right now, when we can all come together in schadenfreude and celebrate the annual renewal of the best moment of the college basketball season. Your status in the pool seems secondary. The reveal in two weeks of the tournament's champion seems secondary, too.

Let's sit back and enjoy this unprecedented bit of madness.

-- D.S.

03/15 (First Thursday) Quickie

Last chance to join the Quickish readers group of the Tournament Challenge. Do it now!

I've said this for going on 10 years now: The first Thursday (and Friday) of the Tournament are the most sanctified sports days of the year. I call today "First Thursday," and I think everyone should know what I'm talking about: The first Thursday of the Tournament, when 16 games - running from noon until after midnight - keeps you entertained and enthralled. Let's get to it:

Picks in bold.

12:15: (6) Murray State vs. (11) Colorado State (CBS)
12:40: (8) Kansas State vs. (9) Southern Miss (TRU)
1:40: (4) Louisville vs. (13) Davidson (TBS)
2:10: (4) Wisconsin vs. (13) Montana (TNT)

Tastes a bit chalky. Hopefully, that means we'll get upsets.

2:45: (3) Marquette vs. (14) BYU (TBS)
3:10: (1) Syracuse vs. (16) UNC-Asheville (TRU)
4:10: (5) New Mexico vs. (12) Long Beach St (TBS)
4:40: (5) Vanderbilt vs. (12) Harvard (TNT)

The afternoon finishes a bit more interesting: With a game already under its belt, BYU might be confident enough to spring a surprise on Marquette. Meanwhile, let's see how Syracuse responds to not having Fab Melo. And with two 5-12 games, you know something interesting is going to happen.

6:50: (1) Kentucky vs. (16) Western Kentucky (TBS)
7:15: (5) Wichita State vs. (12) VCU (TBS)
7:20 (7) Gonzaga vs. (10) West Virginia (TNT)
7:27 (3) Baylor vs. (14) South Dakota State (TRU)

Wichita State vs. VCU is the best game of the first round. Don't call WVU over Gonzaga an upset; the game is in the Eers' backyard, Pittsburgh. Anyone NOT want to see SoDak State beat Baylor?

9:20 (8) Iowa State vs. (9) UConn (TBS)
9:45 (4) Indiana vs. (13) New Mexico State (CBS)
9:50 (2) Ohio State vs. (15) Loyola (TNT)
9:57 (6) UNLV vs. (11) Colorado (TRU)

Indiana returns to the Tournament in what feels like forever. The defending champs could very well go down. UNLV looks to put the final nail in the worst season ever by a major college conference.

So, if you discount West Virginia as an upset and recognize that picking a 9 over an 8 is not an upset, then I have zero upsets today. It's possible that's how it will play out, but you have to hope for at least a few -- and, in the absence of that, close games with buzzer-beating finishes. Wow: That Wichita-VCU game is just amazing -- it's perhaps the best first-round match-up I can remember. Here's hoping it lives up to the potential.

Oh, and it's the NBA Trading Deadline: Dwight Howard said he was staying, then going, then staying. Let's assume he stays -- if I'm the Nets, I'm trying to trade Deron Williams for whatever I can get, because that guy is as good as gone in July.

Oh, and Peyton Manning is still out there, and apparently the Titans owner not only offered him the starting QB job basically sight unseen, but he gave him a lifetime-contract offer, with a lucrative job in the front office (and maybe a piece of the team?) after his career ends.

Yet another reason I love my wife: On her resume, under "Interests," right at the top... "March Madness."

She finished her bracket last night, as usual relying on "Four Factors" advanced metrics like offensive rebounding percentage. My kids filled out their brackets. I filled out a bracket for our two-week-old baby. I have my bracket ready to go. Add your bracket to the Quickish group.

It feels like a holiday. Maybe that's because it IS a holiday.

-- D.S.

3/14 (Pre-Madness) Quickie

As an unabashed fan of the NCAA Tournament play-in round in Dayton, I was gleeful that last night's "First Four" was an absurd motherlode of unlikely comebacks -- in the first game, Western Kentucky coming back from a gazillion down with 5 minutes to play, in the second game, BYU coming back from 20-something down in a half. If that can't get you in the mood...

Frankly, if that can't get you in the mood, try...

*My annual bracket picks made in the Wall Street Journal.

*My annual analysis of President Obama's bracket picks at The Awl.

*Check out Quickish's incredible stream of NCAA Tournament recommendations.

*Join the Quickish readers group of the ESPN.com Tournament Challenge!

Meanwhile, two nights ago my older kids made their picks. 5-year-old Gabe filled out his own bracket, by hand -- he went entirely with chalk, which means he will absolutely out-perform me. 3-year-old Jonah did his picks based on me telling him each match-up. He ended up with Kentucky winning it all (on his own, I promise), but also with Kansas State and Temple in his Final Four, which -- if true -- means I need to ship him off to Vegas in April. I have to tell you that doing the picks with them this year was, quite possibly, my favorite moment yet as a parent.

More:

*Trade Dwight Howard today, Orlando.
*Trade Carmelo Anthony tomorrow, New York.
*Calvin Johnson is worth every penny.
*I'm all for the Redskins loading up on meh receivers.
*The best thing I read today was SI's Tim Layden on March 14, 1981.

-- D.S.

03/12 (NCAA Picks) Quickie

My annual Wall Street Journal column is live at WSJ.com. Give it a read. Now, let's discuss:

Final Four: Kentucky, Michigan State, Florida State, UNC.
Champ: Kentucky (over UNC).

South: I nearly picked Duke to lose to Xavier in the Round of 32; it doesn't matter -- I picked Duke to lose to UNLV in the Sweet 16.

West: I really respect Mizzou and fully intended to take them far -- maybe even the Final Four. Then they were slated to match up with Florida, a team that has enough guards to match up with the Tigers' four-guard offense. (Bradley Beal at power forward? Yes, please.) Taking Florida to beat Mizzou is bold; picking the Gators to then get past Marquette is dumb. I did both. It is unclear I would be picking either if I wasn't a Gators fan. That's a terrible situation.

East: I'm sick of picking Syracuse to go deep then having them choke. I'm a sucker for Wisconsin in the tournament (even though they might not get past Vandy in the Round of 32). My favorite pick -- which barely rises beyond conventional wisdom, I'm seeing -- is Florida State over Ohio State, a team that can barely function offensively, let alone matched up against college hoops' toughest D.

Midwest: UNC over KU in the regional final is my only chalky 1-2 pairing of the Elite Eight. But the Midwest region also includes my only double-digit seed to make the Sweet 16: 14-seed Belmont, which will finally be the team we all thought they would be a year ago.

In the end, my bracket is boring and safe (although it's not like I went against my judgment simply to be safe -- for example, I was prepared to take Wichita State to the Final Four, as long as they didn't play in Kentucky's region. Whoops.) I have just a handful of upsets, and an entirely conventional Final Four, right down to Kentucky over UNC, which most of the country will be predicting. That means we're either all going to be right -- so the early rounds matter a lot more -- or we're all going to be wrong, and that dude in your pool who picked Anyone But Kentucky is going to clean up.

What did you pick? Any crazy upsets? (If so, why?)

Don't forget to sign up for the Quickish group of ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge.

-- D.S.

03/12 (Bracket Madness) Quickie

Join the Quickish Readers group of the NCAA Tournament Challenge. It's super-easy, and you can join other groups, too. Join up now!

Meanwhile, I have filed my picks for my annual bracket-picking column in the Wall Street Journal. I'll post it here when it is live over there, but let's just say I'm fairly conventional. (Is there anyone who ISN'T picking Kentucky to win it all?)

Let me just say that I am very disappointed that the Selection Committee put Wichita State against VCU on the first Thursday -- and in Kentucky's eighth of the bracket, no less.

Put Wichita in any of the other regional 5-seed slots, and I could see them going to the Final Four (or at least the Elite Eight); put VCU in any of the other regional 12-seed slots, and I could see them in the Sweet 16, at least.

Nevertheless, you deal with the bracket you have, not the bracket you want. And so the fact that I only have three seed upsets out of 32 first-round games? The fact that I have only three teams seeded higher than 5 in the Sweet 16? The fact that if you add up the seeds in my Final Four you get a number barely higher than the bare minimum four?

I'm rolling with it, and while I have at least a few picks that make me queasy and others I am surely going to wish I had the guts to pick when they end up happening, I feel better about this bracket than I have in years.

Obviously, I'm doomed. So, on that note, join me in the Quickish Readers group for three weeks of fun!

03/11 (Selection Sunday) Quickie

It's Selection Sunday! Join in the "Quickish Readers" group of the NCAA Tournament Challenge!

I love Selection Sunday. I love the bracket reveal -- despite the ubiquity of online brackets within 30 seconds of the reveal, I still hand-write my own bracket as Greg Gumbel says the names. And I love the initial "gut-instinct" rush to think through the brackets, before that first (and second and third...) doubt creeps in: "Are you really taking Wichita State to the Final Four?" "Are you really picking against Kentucky?" "Wait, what does KenPom.com say?"

There's sugar-coating it: My brackets have been awful the past few years. I went bold two years ago and finished in the bottom 15 percent. I went safe last year and finished in the bottom 40 percent.

This year will be a mix of the two -- I will almost certainly pick Kentucky to win it all, despite the nagging feeling that in a Final Four slugfest against an athletic and rugged opponent who can shoot, the Wildcats would fold. I don't want to be the 10% of the country picking against the 'Cats. For the sixth year, I will be making my picks for the Wall Street Journal. (See '11 here.)

There are definitely teams I am eyeing for a Sweet 16 run and beyond (with the standard caveat: Depending on the match-ups.) Wichita State, Xavier, VCU, Florida State, Creighton. (Of course, most bracket projections have Wichita and FSU in the 4/5 seed range, which means picking them for the Sweet 16 is hardly a reach.)

But there is something about that empty bracket at 6:30 on Sunday night -- infinite possibilities, and the tantalizing prospect of the weeks ahead.

-- D.S.

PS: I know I missed the Redskins/RG3 frenzy yesterday. Bottom line: Love the bold move for the Redskins -- a lot of that is a function of how much I like Griffin -- and, obviously, it's tremendous for the Rams. My move to DC was fortuitous -- I'm not a Redskins fan, but I can't wait to watch RG3 up close.

03/09 (Northwestern) Quickie

Well, there will be no Northwestern in the NCAA Tournament bracket to trip up your picks. Even so, join the Quickish Readers group of the NCAA Tournament Challenge. Do it now!

So: About Northwestern. I'm trying to decide if I would have rather have had Northwestern not nearly be close to making the Tournament, rather than falling short in the way they did -- basically, by a single game. It didn't have to be yesterday's loss to Minnesota -- there were plenty of close losses against good teams throughout the course of the season. But it was right there: Just beat Minnesota, and NU was as good as in. (I read several bracket experts who said NU also needed to beat Michigan today, but that is a total mis-read of how it would have gone.)

It is epically disappointing. NU has never been this close. In the end, they had their chances. They controlled their own destiny. It was a game they should have won. They -- yes -- choked down the stretch. In the end, I'd rather be achingly close than not close, as painful as this is.

I think the way forward is pretty clear: It's time for Northwestern to fire Bill Carmody -- he has had 12 years to get the program into the NCAA Tournament (let alone turn them into a consistent Tournament team), and he has failed. It's that simple. Going over .500 for four straight years -- going to the NIT consistently -- it's just not enough. This year's team underachieved, and that is on the coach.

My dream would be for the smarties in Evanston to recognize that college basketball coaching salaries are dramatically undervalued -- that the $4 million Tom Izzo makes is a bargain relative to the value he creates.

I would love to see NU offer Butler's Brad Stevens or VCU's Shaka Smart $3 million a year over 10 years -- putting them in the Top 10 coaching salaries in the country, along with guaranteeing stability -- to turn Northwestern into the Duke of the Midwest.

Alas, I don't see NU being willing to pay up to get either of the two best young coaches in college hoops. Beyond that, I don't see Stevens leaving Butler for NU -- at any price, actually -- and I don't see Illinois being out-bid for Smart (even if I could make the case NU is a better job, long-term).

The alternative plan seems pretty obvious: Make an offer to longtime Duke assistant Chris Collins, who is more than ready to take over his own team.

Collins is from the Chicago suburbs, he is young and energetic (particularly in recruiting, where Carmody has been woeful) and he wouldn't cost a fortune. I could also see him being entirely comfortable with NU as a long-term home.

Let me continue fantasizing: He could make an instant splash by selling No. 1 high school prospect Jabari Parker on the idea of spending his one-and-done year in his hometown Chicago as the anchor for Northwestern's breakthrough team.

(Ironically, nearly 20 years ago, Northwestern nearly recruited lead Coach K assistant Tommy Amaker to take the NU job, only to see Amaker walk away when NU refused to allow him to recruit the same risky academic cases he was able to bring into Duke.)

If this season's epic let-down results in a regime change from the underwhelming Carmody era to a fresh start with Collins (or Smart or someone else), maybe some good can come of the bad.

More:

*The Pac-12 deserves a single bid -- to its conference tournament champ. Its "bubble" teams (barely) -- Washington and Oregon -- both lost in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament yesterday, an utter (if predictable) humiliation.

*Big East: The conference-realignment stuff never really bothered me, but as a longtime watcher of the Big East Tournament, I will miss Syracuse's presence.

*Peyton will make up his mind next week: Entirely speculating, I'm going to say it's down to the Dolphins (who will offer the most money) and the Broncos (who would then ship out Tim Tebow to, say, the Jaguars). The Cardinals remain a dark horse.

Selection Sunday is so close. Join in the Tournament Challenge group and pop by Quickish for complete coverage of the bracket reveal and subsequent frenzy.

-- D.S.

03/08 (Peyton and More) Quickie

Join in the annual Quickish Readers group of the NCAA Tournament Challenge bracket-picking game. Click here to join.

(1) Biggest day in the history of Northwestern basketball: A win later today vs. Minnesota in the 1st round of the Big Ten Tournament all but assures NU of its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. A loss? All but assures NU will miss the Dance. As big of a game as there is in college hoops today.

(2) Peyton-Colts Break-Up: Points for emotion, points for sincerity, points for handling it with maturity. You can respect Peyton's career and still recognize two important things:

*The Colts HAD to do this. Not only did it save them a ton of money on a questionable player but Manning -- for all his greatness -- was made obsolete by the chance to draft Andrew Luck to replace Manning immediately.

*I am baffled by the attention Manning is getting from other teams. I wouldn't touch him. He's expensive. He's a stop-gap -- at best. And, most of all, there is absolutely no guarantee that he will be "All-Pro Peyton." Hell, there's no guarantee he would be "Just OK Peyton." And there is no guarantee that even if he regains most/all of his arm strength, he'll even be able to play a full season, once defenses start hitting him.

The only team in a position to benefit from Peyton's upside while mitigating his downside is the Jets, who seem pretty ready to jettison Mark Sanchez after the 2012 season anyway, when Sanchise inevitably fails them. (Why wouldn't the Jets go big for Peyton, then try to trade Sanchez to a QB-starved team like the Redskins?)

(3) Congrats to LIU, Montana and Lehigh.

(4) Wizards inexplicably beat the Lakers: I was at the Wizards' win over the Thunder, and last night's Wiz win over the Lakers was arguably even more improbable (and just as satisfying), given the Wiz were down 20 in the 2nd half. Say this for the Wiz strategy: Good teams tend to get lulled into complacency while playing them.

(5) Two words: Lionel. Messi.

-- D.S.

03/07 (Peyton/Indy Split) Quickie

Peyton a little further below. First this...

(1) Join in the Quickish Readers Tournament Challenge group. Do it now!

(2) This "Cubs win World Series!" ad is the best video you'll watch all spring.

(3) Congrats to Harvard on making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 60+ years. As a b-school alum, I get no claim, but my wife went there for undergrad (and is a huge NCAA Tournament fan anyway), so she is excited.

(4) I love March stories like Western Kentucky. Once 5-14 -- only the 7-seed in their own league tournament -- they stormed their way to the NCAA Tournament with a 15-18 record. It is the absurdity of the conference-tournament system that you can undo a season's worth of work by simply winning a few games in a row at the end, but I love it.

(5) The "apology" by Saints GM Mickey Loomis and coach Sean Payton felt more like "We're sorry we got caught" or "We're sorry you have a problem" than "We're sorry we did this."

(6) File it away: Randy Moss is going to have a great year when he returns to the NFL next fall.

OK, so Peyton splitting from the Colts:

*First, it's not like it's a surprise; we have seen this coming for months -- did Colts fans really think the team would keep Peyton, with all those risks and at that insanely high price and with the best QB prospect in the past 20 years available in the draft?

*Second, it's still entirely unclear Peyton will be able to handle the first time a linebacker rips him down by his neck, let alone the 20th or 30th time that happens.

*Third, teams still seem to be salivating at the prospect of having him, deluding themselves into thinking they'll get MVP-level Peyton, not out-of-football-for-a-year Peyton. Enjoy it, Dolphins/Redskins/Jets/Texans/whoever.

Today's divorce news conference is fascinating because of what Peyton has meant to the Colts franchise -- did the 49ers hold a joint owner-player press conference wishing Joe Montana the best before they jettisoned him for Steve Young? But it's about nostalgia, not what's next.

-- D.S.

The Tradition Continues: Quickie Readers Tournament Challenge Group is Now Open

Click here to join in the Daily Quickie Readers Tournament Challenge group over at ESPN.com.

It's been renamed "Quickish Readers," but remains one of the longest-standing ESPN.com Tourney groups out there. It's always a lot of fun. I'd love to have you join in.

(And, as always, you can join any other groups you want -- just make the Quickish group one of them!)

03/06 (Bounty & Basketball) Quickie

This on-air name-check from "Around the Horn" yesterday nicely sums up my take on the Saints/Bounty scandal:



I'd point you to the Quickish "Saints Bounty" stream for a great collection of takes, but the conventional wisdom is that the Saints are going to get crushed -- and Gregg Williams is going to get REALLY crushed -- even if GM Mickey Loomis astonishingly keeps his job (it is assumed Sean Payton will not be fired, even if he gets suspended for, say, half a season).

The CW is also that the league would prefer to contain and isolate the situation -- the worst thing that can happen is a string of "But it happens everywhere!" comments (and, from players, "We're fine with it!") This is partly why I think they'll obliterate Williams. Again: It's not that I think they'll give him a lifetime ban, explicitly -- I think they will, in addition to levying a suspension, make him unemployable.

The other big point is that this story isn't going away -- we've got weeks until the suspensions are laid down, then months of "how will that impact the team." And that's not even counting any new revelations that pop up, now that reporters know that fans can't get enough of hearing if their team participated in bounties. (Let's remember: What appears to set this Saints/Williams one apart was how institutionalized it was. This isn't a loosey-goosey, everyone-throw-$100-in-a-hat thing; this was part of a coach's strategic plan.)

More:

*VCU is back! No Bubble drama for Shaka Smart and the Rams this year -- they will return to the NCAA Tournament to follow up last year's Final Four run by winning their conference tournament. It is Drexel's turn to sweat it out; I think Drexel is in.

*Loyola (Maryland) is in the Tournament! It's been a long time for the school, which has gone from bottom-feeding to brackets under longtime Maryland assistant Jimmy Patsos, who is as big of a character as you'll find in college basketball.

*Syracuse is in trouble! (Kind of! But not really!) "College athletes smoke pot" has to be one of the flimsiest bits of sensationalism you'll find this year in sportswriting. Pay close attention to Dan Wetzel's column that frames the story by putting the emphasis where it belongs: On the NCAA's broken system.

*Drew Brees is pissed! As if the Saints didn't have enough to think about (although I'm sure they love that there is a football story to talk about, rather than a national scandal). Can't imagine the team doesn't eventually give him a long-term deal.

*Matt Flynn is on the market! The Packers didn't tag him, so any team can sign him without worrying they would need to give Green Bay a high draft pick. The Dolphins are presumptive front-runners for him (although they really want a splashy import like Peyton Manning or RG3). Surprisingly, the Browns were reportedly in the mix to try to make a deal with the Packers for him. If the Browns drop out of the RG3 race -- and with their current mix of picks, they could give Flynn hot new rookie receivers like Justin Blackmon and Alshon Jeffery from Day 1 -- then the Redskins become the clear leader to trade for the rights to draft Griffin.

*The Big East Tournament starts today! The grandaddy of 'em all, so big that the top 4 teams in the league get to sit out TWO rounds before playing, leaving the rest of them in a scrum that starts today. The team to watch, of course, is UConn -- sitting on the right side of the Bubble, but if they lose today, could be out. If they win, their inclusion in the field is mostly presumed, even if they can't get past West Virginia in the league's "pre-quarterfinals" tomorrow. (Yes, it's that big.)

Give Quickish a look today. Great stuff being tipped all day long.

-- D.S.

03/05 (Bounty, Cont'd) Quickie

Let's re-affirm the core issue with the NFL's "bounty" scandal: It is not a sports story; it is a "Today Show" story.

Translated, that means this is one of those issues that goes beyond the interest of hard-core fans -- it is too easy to translate and understand (or, perhaps, misunderstand) to casual or non-fans. "Bounties" seem unfair and against the spirit of competition; that the players impacted by the bounties include the biggest stars in the league -- Brett Favre and Peyton Manning -- only makes them that much more accessible to average folks out there just trying to figure it out: "You mean the coach paid them to intentionally hurt Peyton Manning?"

That makes it even more of a p.r. problem for the NFL than it is a competition problem. Oh, make no mistake: The two are intertwined. Everyone is going to get punished.

But it means that it is in the NFL's best interests to frame the issue around a core bad actor (Gregg Williams), with levels of punishments dished out in concentric circles (suspensions for GM Loomis, coach Payton and players; lost draft picks at the organization level).

I have been saying that I think that Gregg Williams will get a lifetime ban from the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell (whom Williams meets with at NFL HQ today, in a conversation that will likely be frank and brutal -- and better include 100% transparency from Williams).

Let me revise that, slightly: I think Gregg Williams is finished in the NFL. Whether the NFL gives him a lifetime ban (which is as harsh of a punishment as they could deliver) or merely makes him unemployable (via onerous suspension or implied warning to teams that might hire him), his career is over -- it is a de facto lifetime ban.

The many layers of the story -- what will the punishments be? how will they impact the season? will other teams emerge in the story? does it reach to the college and h.s. levels? -- means that Friday was only the kickoff. Today it will get bigger, and when the punishments are levied, it gets even bigger than that. It is the biggest scandal the league has dealt with in a generation (maybe a few generations), and because of the NFL's place in sports, it means it is massive.

Keep up with the Bounty story through Quickish's stream.

More from an absolutely loaded sports weekend:

*NCAA Tournament:

-Northwestern might have moved off its hyper-tenuous spot as "Last Team In" to merely the top of "Last Four In," but their Tournament hopes still depend entirely on a (winnable) first-round Big Ten Tournament win over Minnesota...

-It doesn't seem fair that the loser of the Drexel-VCU CAA title game will get shut out of the NCAA Tournament; the loser deserves an at-large spot. (Should this year's runner-up get credit for last year's run by VCU? Hell yes.)

-Kentucky (which decisively beat Florida to finish 16-0 in the SEC this season) will be the overwhelming favorite to win the national title (as they should be) -- I could see upwards of 80% of people nationally picking UK to win it all. It's hard to look at the landscape and see another team that could knock them off; even if Kentucky's shots aren't falling, its defense is so good that it will stay close enough to muscle its way past anyone. But in dismantling Duke, UNC seemed to showcase the profile to get it done (even if they couldn't on the deck of the aircraft carrier in November).

*Rory is No. 1: You can guarantee that Rory took a special (and immense) amount of pleasure in beating Tiger Woods in as close of a head-to-head match-up at the top of the leaderboard as they have ever had, especially because it vaulted McIlroy to No. 1 in the world, a spot Tiger used to have a lock on.

*NBA: Take your pick of great stories -- Deron Williams scoring 57? Rajon Rondo pulling out one of the most dominant triple-doubles of the past few decades? Kobe leading the resurgent Lakers past the Heat? Sunday was an amazing day in the NBA.

*NFL Offseason: Texans lock up Arian Foster. He is the face of the franchise and one of the most valuable players in the NFL, but that sure defies the trend that overinvesting in a "franchise" running back is an outdated idea.

*MLB: Pirates lock up Andrew McCutcheon. Even the woeful franchises need a centerpiece star, and McCutcheon is one of the best young players in the league. Still buy into a notion popular on Twitter when the deal was announced that it's unlikely he makes it to the end of the deal in a Pirates uniform; he is too valuable and could bring way too much back in return.

Big weekend behind us. Big week ahead. Pop by Quickish to keep up with all of it.

-- D.S.

03/03 (LeBron, Bounties, Peyton, CBB) Quickie

Process > Result.

As 2,200 folks gather at MIT yesterday and today for the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, I think most would agree with that. I think most fans -- regardless of analytical orientation -- would agree with that, for the most part: That the result matters -- OF COURSE -- but how you got there matters more. A fluky result doesn't mean as much as a solid process most likely to yield the result you want over and over and over.

When LeBron -- brilliant throughout the 4th quarter last night -- passes up the final would-be game-winning shot to get a teammate a better shot and that teammate misses the shot, it was the right thing to do, if the wrong result.

Would LeBron have made the shot? Maybe, in a one-time situation. But maybe not. But, inarguably, not at the same rate an open teammate would. His process was absolutely right; the result means that he will take more criticism for shying from the game-ending moment (even if his 4th quarter heroics the previous 11 minutes and 50 seconds had put the Heat in a position to win the game at all).

Should LeBron have taken the shot? Would critics rather have LeBron take the shot and miss -- to show he has the fortitude to take the shot at all, even if isn't as good of a shot? -- than pass to a teammate for a higher percentage chance of making the shot and winning the game?

I suspect that what minimal credit LeBron would get for taking the shot would be drowned out if he missed -- "LeBron can't finish!" "Michael Jordan made the smarter play!" "CHOKER!"

LeBron did the right thing. (PS: I'd differentiate last night's decision from the one he made in the All-Star Game last Sunday night, where there were no stakes and he probably should have just thrown up the shot, even if his basketball IQ insists the smarter play is to find the open teammate).

And as his brilliant season continues -- it is the best season if his career, and if you're not watching him, you're missing an all-time great player at the height of his abilities -- I find myself beginning to root for him to succeed, if only to reward process over result. The result will come eventually. LeBron is just too damn good for it not to.

More:

*Saints/Bounty scandal: As the anecdotes pile up, I can absolutely see Roger Goodell banning Gregg Williams from the league. Not a one-year suspension -- an outright ban.

A few reasons:

(1) This is a particularly nasty scandal, because it is so easy for casual or non-fans to grasp and be horrified about it (particularly as stories come out involving intentions to hurt some of the league's biggest stars, like Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning). Banning someone for life would send the most powerful signal possible.

(2) It is in the league's best interests to pin this on an individual bad actor, rather than a franchise or organization (although make no mistake: the league is going to crush the Saints for this -- the fines are incidental; the lost draft picks could be severe. And if the Saints want to get in front of this, they should fire GM Mickey Loomis, who directly defied an order from owner Tom Benson and allowed the bounties to continue. I don't want to be so proscriptive -- let me be predictive: I think they WILL fire Loomis). It is also easier than trying to punish individual players.

I suspect that the Rams will fire Williams before the league can punish him, and that even if he gets "only" a one-year ban, he will never work in the NFL again. Based on his statement last night, I don't think he understands his new reality. If he wanted to get in front of it, he would quit the Rams and voluntarily ban himself from the league for a year, dedicating his time and energy to traveling around the country talking to youth teams about what a mistake he made. I suspect he won't go this route and the league will hammer him.

*Peyton Manning caught on video at a passing workout at Duke: If Manning's team leaked this, it is a brilliant move, because the grainy YouTube footage sure makes it look like he can still wing the ball -- and that's with a full six months until the season starts. I still wouldn't sign him if I was a team -- there is a big difference between light throwing workouts and getting drilled by Ray Lewis.

*MLB Playoffs format changes: As a big fan of MLB's Wild Card system, I think this new system will work out fine. This initial season will be a clusterf--- because of the compressed schedule to wedge everything in, including the initial one-game Wild Card Wild Card game rolling into the LDS round, which lets the team with the worse record host the first two games of the best-of-5 series. But setting that aside, I think the new one-game playoff round will be enormously popular, and the accompanying chase for those new playoff spots will increase fan interest in September. Will we eventually see a third-place division-finisher win the World Series? Absolutely -- no one but stodgy baseball purists will care. (For reference, see how no one questioned the legitimacy of the Giants winning the Super Bowl, despite having the worst regular-season of any champ in NFL history.) Will we see some 89-win team knock off a 96-win team in a one-game playoff? Absolutely -- again, the response is... "So?" People like playoffs. People like do-or-die playoff games. This is going to be a huge success.

*College Hoops Saturday: Duke-UNC gets all the attention, but I've always thought that while it is a great rivalry, the games themselves are meaningless in the bigger picture. So UNC lost to Duke a few weeks ago -- what were the consequences? That UNC dropped from the 1-seed line to the 2-seed line? Meh. ACC regular-season title implications? Meh. If your aspiration ends at some regional honorarium, that's fine. Last time I checked, UNC and Duke fans enjoyed beating each other a lot, but not as much as they enjoyed winning a national championship (or even just making a Final Four -- a reminder that college hoops is the only sport where being a semifinalist is given as much distinction as winning a championship.) And so it continues tonight: If Duke wins... OK, they lock up a 1-seed. So? If UNC wins, they avenge the loss to Duke, sure, but... anything else? They're still no worse than a 2-seed, win or lose.

Want real stakes today? Northwestern is playing at Iowa with its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid hanging in the balance. If NU loses, they are finished -- bubble burst. If they win, they might very well have played themselves into their first-ever NCAA Tourney. (Other folks think that NU also has to win a first-round Big Ten Tournament game next week, but winning today is an absolute prerequisite.) Meanwhile, Championship Week heats up with small-conference championship games with automatic NCAA invites on the line -- one of the great moments of the sports year.

-- D.S.

Welcome Lucy Shanoff!

Announcing the birth of the delightful Lucy Tabitha Shanoff on March 1 at 4:08 p.m., weighing in at 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches.

She rounds out the Shanoff starting five just in time for March Madness. Mrs. Quickie is doing great -- she was a champ throughout the day.

For those of you who had "L" in the name pool (for "Linsanity") or "T" in the name pool (for "Tebow"), it appears you may claim partial credit.

Lucy shares a birthday, among others, with Justin Bieber, Chris Webber and Harry Caray. And D'backs pitcher Trevor Cahill, who might have to be a late-round fantasy pick-up for me, just because of that.

Today's recommendation: If you like the analytical side of sports, follow the hashtag #ssac to keep up with what's going on at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, which is massive this year -- 2200 attendees (up from 1500 in '11 and 1000 in '10). Sorry to miss it, but it's a great event.

-- D.S.

02/29 (Leap Day) Quickie

Mrs. Quickie and I have had a running joke that we were sure Baby Girl Quickie would be born on Leap Day, not March 1, as planned.

If Leap Day should be considered a bonus day to do something special or different or nothing (relax), it feels appropriate it is an extra day before my family foursome becomes a quintet to appreciate where we've been before surge into where we're going -- life with a newborn is a little easier when you've had kids, just because you've seen it before; then again, it's harder because you're splitting your energy multiple ways. Either way, I think you can be as ready as you can try to be and yet you're still never really ready. You just have to -- forgive the groaner -- leap.

Being a dad is not new. Being a dad to a girl is very new -- after nearly six years with boys, I'm curious to see how this works out. I always had an appreciation for strong, self-sufficient, brilliant women (I married one), and I can't wait to try to raise one. I love that there are so many great role models out there in sports and media -- not enough, of course, but so many to point to.

A quick FAQ: Yes, we have a name picked out. No, it's not "Tebow" or "Linsanity" or "Shurna" (although "Shurna Shanoff" has an interesting ring to it and "TBA Girl's Name Tebow Shanoff" is tremendous). Yes, there are already at least a half-dozen Florida Gators onesies in the drawer, some new some hand-me-downs from her older brothers. And, yes, it is beyond exciting, now that we're inside of 24 hours until go time. I had forgotten how awesome (yet nerve-wracking) this feeling was.

If there is no update Thursday morning, it's because we're in the labor and delivery room hanging out, waiting for go time. When it happens, I'll try to post a pic here (or certainly via @danshanoff on Twitter).

Meanwhile, Quickish has been a little glitchy overnight -- we're working on it. Maybe it's the Leap Day version of Y2K.

-- D.S.

02/28 (Daytona) Quickish

Ironically, NASCAR had a best-case scenario last night: Die-hard racing fans were watching the Daytona 500 anyway.

And -- because of the totally insane fire-on-the-track thing -- plenty of casual (or non-) fans were watching, too. Or following the instant social-media star Brad Keselowski on Twitter, where he posted a photo from his car on the fiery track. Or, this morning, entirely curious about this MASSIVE FIRE ON THE TRACK FEATURING JET FUEL AND TIDE DETERGENT that everyone is talking about this morning.

"Just when you think you've seen it all..." moments are the best in sports. Frankly, THAT is why we watch.

Is it too bad that it took an extreme novelty for the Daytona 500 to gain mainstream traction? For as much as NASCAR wants Daytona to be something everyone watches as a matter of course, not really. It's better than the alternative where folks didn't care.

More:

*NFL Draft: The Rams are ready to deal that No. 2 pick, now that Robert Griffin III has turned into the most sought-after No. 2 pick in recent memory, coveted by enough teams that the Rams should bring in a franchise-changing haul (while giving the team trading for RG3 a shot at a player who could become one of the NFL's Top 5 talents inside of a season or two... and if that sounds like hyperbole, two words: Cam Newton, who is already one of the NFL's Top 5 talents.)

*MLB: Jason Varitek to retire today, which might distract fans from Boston's ludicrous ban on beer in the clubhouse. What a dumb idea. The team didn't choke away the 2011 season because of beer in the clubhouse, and if you can't trust a bunch of professionals not to abuse beer in their clubhouse, you have bigger problems.

*College hoops last night: Good win for Georgetown against Notre Dame. After the flame-outs of the past few seasons, the Hoyas scare the hell out of me with bracket-picking. Are they a totally new team from the chokers of recent Marches? Or are they the same-old same-old? (I'll split the difference: Better than the first-round flame-out but I probably don't have the wherewithal to take them to the Sweet 16.) Meanwhile, Kansas rolls on.

*NBA: Kings staying in Sacramento. What a win for Kings fans, who deserve it. Sorry, Sonics fans: I never thought it was fair that you'd get a new team by stealing one from another city of die-hards, and I can't believe you'd want one that way. Now, the Kings are years away -- if ever -- from being a playoff team, but it beats not having a team at all.

*Pop Culture: Normally, on Dancing With the Stars, my default is that NFL players are the prohibitive favorite to win. But in the case of the new season and Donald Driver, I just don't think he has the overall popularity of a Jerry Rice or Emmitt Smith to get him to the finals. The other big athlete name is Martina Navratilova, and I could see her going far. (Honestly, I don't pay much attention to DWTS, aside from curiosity over the athletes named to each new season and if any of them make it to the finals.)

-- D.S.