I just felt like dropping that headline as an eye-catching way to point out that I really enjoyed Kurt Busch this morning on the KNBR Morning Show with Murph and Mac.

For anyone who has not yet been bitten by the NASCAR bug or who thinks it’s “stupid” or something, take a listen to these drivers. They are the most refreshing group of athletes in America.

We spent about 10 minutes with the driver of the Blue Deuce (thank you PCon) and it was very entertaining. His frank and forthright answers about driver feuds and his details about the rugged schedule were educational.

He ably inserted the plug about the road race at Infineon later this year and chatted about how he always checks to see if he beats his brother after a race.

TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN

No person can be expected to turn down $35 million to do something they love. Nobody.

Memphis basketball coach John Calipari is apparently set to accept a contract with Kentucky that would have him in one of basketball’s hotbeds through the 2016 season.

That’s huge cash to go with huge pressure. And all this from a guy who has not won a National Championship and is best known for a choke-job last year in the NCAA championship game and a near-brawl with John Cheaney of Temple.

Another great weekend of sports and a grim reminder as to why I’m lucky not to be trapped in the vice-grip that is Gambling Addiction.

I’ve been boasting about my picks for the NCAA tournament and it has provided me with some “vested interest” in these games now that my bracket is in shambles.

I haven’t felt the “need” to put actual cash money on the games, instead wagering my “professional stakes” on the outcomes.

Saturday made me feel very good about the non-scrilla approach as I went 0-2 in just about the toughest way possible.

I have been on Mizzou and they were +5.5 according to the line I saw. Trailing by 7 in the closing seconds, they missed an absolutely uncontested lay-up that would have delivered a win.

Had I been “on” it I would have been devastated. Those are the type of losses that haunt a gambler.

TIGER TIGER WOODS

I do believe what I just saw.

All deference to the great Jack Buck, I couldn’t totally channel him after watching Tiger Woods pull out another tournament on the 72nd hole.

The legendary broadcaster couldn’t believe what he saw but watching TW pull it out in the gloaming at Arnie’s tourney is to be expected.

He came back from 5 down and won it with a slippery 16-footer; feats that no mortal golfer could possibly pull off. The fact that is was Tiger lurking makes this incredible performance downright commonplace and predictable.

I predict 12 under at Augusta and a 6 shot win. The guy is just unbelievable.

There’s no sweeter sight than watching your college hoops’ picks come to fruition. Last night, I was 4-for-4 (four!) on my NCAA Sweet 16 selections, making me a genius (at least for one day).

Before I dive into my Friday selections I must write some sort of pre-emptive “this-is-for-recreation-purposes-only” blather and the old don’t expect 100% accuracy drivel so here goes.

I don’t have all the answers, I can’t see the future,  and I don’t recommend illegal sports gambling as a hobby, passion, or trade.

That said, I have created a math-based formula that has proved itself over the last 4 years to be a very accurate tool for picking winners against the spread (ATS).

While I won’t release the exact machinations that go into making my picks i will tell you that I rely heavily on the RPI data available for each team. I also factor in strength of schedule and compare the total number of losses each team has accrued.

The system worked well for the Sweet 16 and I’ll try again tonight in the Terrific 12 (the last stop before the Elite 8).

Yesterday’s performance is the most concrete example of the success I have had this post-season. I don’t mean to brag, I don’t mean to boast but I like hot butter on my breakfast toast.

Enough 70’s rap references, here are tonight’s DIBS formula NCAA Terrific 12 selections. These picks are in order of preference, with the best pick first and the worst pick last.

Louisville -9 vs. Arizona

The numbers indicate a double-digit win for the #1 overall seeded Cardinals and I think the human factors agree. The Pac-10 also-ran Wildcats rely on 3 players too heavily to compete with the deep Cardinals.

Oklahoma -1 vs. Syracuse

Normally I steer clear from these “pick-em” match-ups but I feel pretty good about the Sooners in this one. I think Blake Griffin and the OU defense will do enough to eke out a win over Devendorf and the ‘Cuse

Michigan State -1.5 vs. Kansas

Another tough choice but much like memphis, I think Kansas is overrated and has come as far as they should. The Spartans play the lockdown defense to get this one.

Gonzaga +8.5 vs. North carolina

This is by far the scariest of the picks because the Zags could lose by 20. That said, I think Gonzaga will stage a late rally and only lose by 6 or 7. I’m wary but in the interest of this blog, I had to make a pick.

Good Luck to all.

The NCAA tournament is a month-long smorgasbord of single-elimination juice. 65 teams become 64, then 32, then 16 and so on and so on.

It’s debatable which of the first two weekends is the better theater. Some prefer the full slate of games in rounds 1 and 2 while others opt for the second weekend which determines who goes to the Final Four.

It’s widely-known that I spend the first weekend of the tournament in Las Vegas, enjoying the cornucopia of games in the raucous sports book atmosphere. I love watching all the first and second round games, waiting to see which Cinderella team will emerge and which favorite will spit-the-bit.

That said, the second Thursday-Sunday of the NCAA tournament always presents the better overall product. This year will be no different as many of the nation’s best teams are still alive.

Tonight’s slate of games is impressive. I would not be doing a service to you the reader unless I offered my Gotta Have Picks O’ The Day. Without further ado, here are my four choices for tonight’s NCAA games, with the best pick first and the worst pick last.

Missouri +4.5 vs. Memphis

I love the 40 minutes of hell approach that the Missouri Tigers take. Memphis is not as good as last year’s Final Four team. I like Missouri on the money line.

UCONN -7 vs. Purdue

The numbers indicate the spread is about right but I think the Huskies will roll, buoyed by the recent scandal allegations and the return of coach Jim Calhoun.

Xavier +7 vs. PITT

Xavier will probably not win this game but it should be close. I smell a backdoor cover here for the Muskateers.

Villanova +2 vs. Duke

The Blue Devils are the #1 team in the country according to the RPI numbers but this is the type of game they love to lose.

Everybody loves Raymond and everybody loves the NCAA 65-team College Basketball tournament. It has become a staple of sports bars, office pools, and even grocery store conversation.

Even the traditional NIT is tolerable, based on its’ great history of relevance. That said, I’m certainly not losing my mind over the possibility of local squad St. Mary’s possibly making it to Madison Square Garden for the semifinals.

The problem is the almighty NCAA has bastardized the holy bracket by adding not one but two meaningless tournaments to the fold.

The CBI (College Basketball Invitational) and CollegeInsider.com tournament (had to look that one up) are absolute jokes. There is no real reason for these events to be played.

As Nancy Kerrigan shrieked oh so many years ago, “Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!”.

Stanford will face Oregon State tonight in some round of the CBI; playing each other for the fourth time. Do we really need a 4th game between these two Pac-10 also-rans?

Forget the marquee matchup between coaches Johnny Dawkins and the brother-in-law of Barack Obama, this game has no relevance. Is a potential recruit really going to be excited if his team wins this game? I would hope not.

College basketball is aping college football by allowing nearly half of its’ Division I teams into some sort of the postseason. Terrible.

Instead of  holding these meaningful tourneys, let’s take meaningful action and fix the NCAA bracket.

Expand the play-in game format to include any conference that has gone five straight years without an NCAA victory.

If they did that this year, there would be 5 play-in games instead of just one, thereby allowing all the so-called bubble teams into the main draw.

This would render the NIT as the true destination for also-rans and would create a true Division I championship field.

I’m all for new things and I’m certainly a fan of global sporting events but the World Baseball Classic fell well short of the mark.   It was neither truly World nor a Classic to be sure and because of it’s place on the calendar, barely baseball.

Just because you have a number of countries from North, South and Central America, as well as a handful of countries from Europe and Asia, does not qualify it as a WORLD event.

Where is Africa? Greenland? Iceland and other lands? The Middle East? Too many regions ignored to have the WORLD moniker.

This event is a randomly regional event. Some regions play baseball and some do not. Therefore, it cannot be called WORLD. Soccer (futbol) is a world game.  Basketball is too.   Even tennis and golf for Gods Sake but not baseball.

An event in its’ second incantation cannot be called a CLASSIC.   I’m sorry.  Maybe you can call it a burgeoning classic and you can certainly call the WBC final an INSTANT CLASSIC.

Truthfully, the taut finale between Korea and Japan was a great ballgame but it will have no lasting traction. In three months, virtually no one will remember any details from the WBC, aside from the Netherlands gritty effort.

This event can be best called a jamboree or festival. The competition level was relatively low because most of the players were not playing in peak form.

Pitch counts, injury fear, and off-season malaise plagues the overall level of play.  Japan, Korea and other countries took it seriously but the US and others simply do not have the motivation to send their best players.

When all is said and done, maybe it’s just in need of a name change.

I’ll go with Randomly Regional Offseason Baseball Jamboree (RROBJ)