Random thoughts

The US rolls into the gold-medal game.
Anticlimactic. The Finns looked completely overmatched ... you'd never guess that these were the top two teams remaining in the draw. (Yes, in case you've not been paying attention, #2 Sweden and #3 Russia are out. It's #6 Canada and #7 Slovakia to decide who will face the Americans Sunday.)

And despite all that, Gary Bettman is still too stupid to realize how valuable this is for the sport. Maybe it's because he's afraid that people will actually like hockey if they watch it; that would explain the contract with Vs. (And with NBC, the least-competent sports network in history. Why Bettman thought it was a good idea to pay NBC to show NHL games, I'll never know.) Obviously the NHL needs to stop for the 2014 Olympics in Russia, which means Bettman will probably be "negotiating" this until 2013. I hope he retires before he completely destroys the NHL.

Jim Bunning is a stupid prick.
Sorry, there's no other way to put it. It will be a boost for the Republicans when this jackass is out of office. (It'll be a boost for America too; I would guess there is at least one rational Republican in Kentucky. Whether or not he or she runs for the Senate is anyone's guess.)

Purdue's dream is over.
There are a lot of ways to look at this (I recommend the link that shows what to look for when someone goes down with a knee injury), but it boils down to this: prior to the injury, Purdue's ceiling was a national championship, and their floor was probably an Elite Eight appearance. Now, the ceiling is probably a Final Four appearance, and the floor is a second-round NCAA loss. Even if Keaton Grant continues to play solid basketball, that leaves Purdue with three productive players and a lot of smaller parts, and if they face a team that can limit at least two of the productive players, it'll be very difficult for the Boilers to win.

Watch how Purdue handles their next two big games, at home against Michigan State and then their Saturday game in the Big Ten tournament ... those are the most favorable matchups against good teams Purdue is likely to have. If the Boilers look bad in either or both games, or if they lose any others (the conference wrapups against Indiana and Penn State or the Friday tournament game), sell your Final Four tickets.

The Free Press is full of lying liars and doesn't care if you know or not.
Michigan is not going to be crushed under the NCAA's thumb. Rich Rodriguez is not Satan. Mistakes were made, perhaps some bad decisions were made, but it is not what the Freep would have you believe, not that this bothers them in the slightest.

The Freep is out to get Rodriguez and Michigan, much as the Indianapolis Star likes to crap on Purdue at every opportunity, although in this particular instance the Freep has crossed into territory not even Bob Kravitz will occupy.

Follow the link above and read some other mgoblog posts about the situation. You'll see what I mean.

How can I be so confident? Even OSU blogs agree with mgoblog. Basically, sane people believe that a) Michigan is getting screwed by this coverage while b) USC is getting away with pretty much everything. An OSU blog (and coach, by the way) supporting UM? Dogs and cats, living together. Yep, it's the apocalypse.