I'm not impressed that one half of the Elite Eight is all ACC teams

Half of the remaining NCAA tournament bracket is made up of schools from the same conference:

@AdamHimmelsbach also wild that those four teams are all in the ACC.

— Mark Vandeusen (@LucidSportsFan) March 26, 2016

This is why I'm not impressed:

1. The ACC has 15 teams.
2. It's called the Atlantic Coast Conference.

For the record, here's where Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia and North Carolina are located:

I hear the view of the Atlantic Ocean's coastline is spectacular in South Bend, Indiana.  Since the ACC represents roughly half the country, it's no surprise that it also occupies half of the Elite Eight.

NCAA conferences are such a joke--examples A, B, and C.


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I don't blame LeBron James for wanting to play with his friends

This doesn't bug me at all:

In fact, two years ago I suggested LeBron James should do something like that.  I'll never understand why pro athletes aren't more inclined to take a little less money if it improves other variables relating to their place of employment.  Jon Lester described it perfectly in the summer of 2014, but then his actions failed to live up to his words four months later.


On the other hand, all of these recent LeBron statements (or lack thereof) do irritate me:

LeBron James thinks Northern Iowa players should quit basketball https://t.co/0JsFNdoiCZ pic.twitter.com/tzigPgWxsi

— Campus Rush (@CampusRush) March 23, 2016

LeBron got asked about unfollowing the Cavs and immediately became the most flustered human on the planet pic.twitter.com/FTJB4pJdmW

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) March 22, 2016

In case you didn't understand LeBron's recent tweets, he wants you to know they're "for the educated mind." pic.twitter.com/2mGftjpjbq

— Mark Vandeusen (@LucidSportsFan) March 8, 2016

RELATED: My "All the reasons why I can't stand LeBron" compilation blog


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Apparently DeMar DeRozan is not a fan of Donald Trump?

I tweeted this photo of Amir Johnson chatting with his former teammate DeMar DeRozan after the Celtics-Raptors game Wednesday night:

I was surprised to get several responses from people who were pleased with the Toronto All-Star for showing his opposition to Donald Trump.  Apparently DeRozan had an "F-Trump" hat on his head (notice I didn't say "wearing"):

Here's a more detailed view of what the cap looks like:

In semi-related Celtics news, Jae Crowder was still wearing a walking boot on his sprained right ankle:

I asked Mike Gorman last night when he thought Jae Crowder would be back. He said for Portland, a week from today (3rd game on road trip)

— Mark Vandeusen (@LucidSportsFan) March 24, 2016

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Alex Rodriguez retires 2 years in advance, I figured LeBron James would be the first to do that

In 2013, Mariano Rivera decided to announce his retirement before playing one last season.  Derrick Jeter saw how much fun it was, so he pulled the same stunt in 2014.  Kobe Bryant made a similar decision early on during his 2015-16 campaign, and David Ortiz is hopping on the bandwagon in 2016 as well.

Back when Jeter made this thing a trend, I saw the inevitable future that at some point an athlete would retire two years in advance.  I speculated in would be LeBron James, but another egomaniac has beaten him to the punch:

BREAKING: Alex Rodriguez tells @AndrewMarchand that he will retire after 2017 season when his contract expires. pic.twitter.com/DoaUiGlxrU

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 23, 2016

Following the ARod model, I guarantee we can expect LeBron to announce his retirement roughly 4-5 seasons in advance...

— Mark Vandeusen (@LucidSportsFan) March 23, 2016

RELATED: What's the greatest way for an athlete to retire?


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Fork vs. Spoon: Jordan Spieth's caddy gives him bad advice in SportsCenter ad

Another spectacular SportsCenter commercial:



I have to say, I'm fairly disappointed in Jordan Spieth's caddy's advice.  If there's ever a question between fork and spoon, for my money the answer is always a fork.  You can scoop or stab with it, it fits in your mouth better--not to mention I think people tend to generally look more polite when they eat with a fork rather than a spoon.

Stan Verrett is not going to be pleased with his decision.


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I don't think athletes should ever be expected to talk to the press after heartbreaking losses

If you happened to catch the Northern Iowa postgame press conference yesterday after the Panthers suffered literally the worst collapse in NCAA basketball history, yikes--it was brutal.  The one kid in the middle (pictured above) literally couldn't stop crying, and I don't blame him in the slightest.  I think it's crazy that athletes are asked to speak to the media directly after gut-wrenching losses.  And I don't just mean students, this applies to the pros as well.

I'm not a Cam Newton fan, but I was very sympathetic towards him during his somewhat controversial interaction with the press after the Super Bowl.  Imagine if you'd just undergone one of, if not the most disappointing moment(s) of your life, likely the worst thing that's ever happened in your professional career, and were forced to talk to reporters about it immediately afterwards?  I can't imagine any human being would want to do that, and I doubt very many people are capable of handling it well.

"Hey Jim the investment banker, you blew a multi-million dollar deal this afternoon and are getting transferred to Tulsa tomorrow, how does it feel?"


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So Dwight Howard uses Stickum in NBA games?

This story is just bizarre.  It resembles something you see every once in a while during an MLB game when an umpire finds something weird on the baseball and questions the pitcher.  Pay attention to Paul Milsap's reaction when he get's the ball (which apparently acquired some stickum off of Dwight Howard's hands), and then to the Rockets coach getting rid of the evidence:



Howard's response to being caught using the illegal substance was just as strange:

Howard on his Stickum: "I don’t know why people are making a big deal out of it. I do it every game. It’s not a big deal. I ain’t tripping.”

— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) March 20, 2016

We'll see what happens next...



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