I was filling out an ESPN.com bracket and figured that it’s not a big deal to set up a group and invite all the people who had participated in 2006. I’ll let ESPN keep track of everything. If anyone wants to play for prizes, leave me a comment, and I’ll give you more info. If you want to play for fun, you can still join the group; leave a comment, and I’ll give you more info.

Every year, I fill out about a dozen brackets in various contests. It takes away some of the fun in early rounds in that at least a couple of my brackets are bound to be doing very well, and there’s no one to really root for. But when things start to wind down, and most people are out of luck, I’m likely to still have one bracket that has a chance to win, and then things are exciting.

A few years ago, I was in first place out of 100,000 entries in an SI.com pool, after the first and second rounds. But I faded quickly.

From comments I jotted down while watching Roger Clemens on 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace on Sunday night:

I’m watching Clemens with Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes. He’s so fidgety, so defensive..”never happened” is his stock response. I don’t believe him.

I almost posted something when the Mitchell report came out. But I didn’t read it. I jump to judgments a lot (you don’t say!); I didn’t want to do it this time.

Now I’ve watched him. If he’s innocent, he deserves to be pissed. But he doesn’t seem to have an ounce of understanding of why anyone might think he took steroids. He’s too indignant to be be telling the truth. (Yes, I know not all falsely accused people possess humility).

It’s a he-said/he-said with his former trainer McNamee.

“Linocaine and B-12!” Clemens seethes like he had that line rehearsed as if he was ready to say that ever since the Mitchell report came out.

Turning it around to talk about Vioxx and how awful it is that his trainers gave it to him “like Skittles”. (But does Vioxx come in Wild Berry flavor?)

He’s so defensive. Wallace asks how players who took steroids should be punished. Clemens says that people who used steroids…already have had their punishment…

Lie-detector test—ambiguous about it. Claims he doesn’t know if a lie-detector would clear him. Someone who’s truly innocent shouldn’t be hesitant about taking a lie-detector test.

He says he never cared about getting to the Hall of Fame. Good to know in case he doesn’t make it because he was cheater.

Barry Bonds would boycott Cooperstown if the Hall of Fame displays his record-breaking home run ball with an asterisk.
[ http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7400384?MSNHPHMA ]

Absolutely fabulous, I say.

“I won’t go. I won’t be part of it,” Bonds said. “You can call me, but I won’t be there.”

Barry, is that a promise?

The ball Bonds hit for home run No. 756 this season will be branded with an asterisk and sent to the Hall. Fashion designer Marc Ecko bought the ball in an online auction and set up a Web site for fans to vote on its fate. In late September, he announced fans voted to send the ball to Cooperstown with an asterisk.

Bonds has called Ecko “an idiot.”

If Ecko’s branding of a baseball prevents Barry Bonds from ever setting foot in Cooperstown, then Ecko is a genius.

Barry Bonds is such a sad figure. He probably could’ve been considered one of the game’s greatest if he hadn’t resorted to cheating. Bonds is the idiot.

I used to care a lot about baseball. Now, I’m just an casual observer of some of the playoffs, although I’ll generally make an effort to watch what might be the final game of the World Series, which is happening right now. The focus in the baseball world should be on the fact that the Red Sox are about to win the World Series…or at that Colorado Rockies are about to make a respectable comeback in Game 4 to avoid a sweep.

Instead, in the eighth inning, however many millions of fans still watch the World Series were subjected to the “breaking news” that Alex Rodriguez, “A-Rod,” would not be accepting the option on his contract to remain with the New York Yankees and would become a free agent. Yes, A-Rod is the best player in the major leagues today. But A-Rod is NOT in the World Series. The major league baseball season, I hope, should ultimately be more about the TEAM that wins the championship, not one player. But instead of commenting on the two teams vying for the championship, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver and their intrepid dugout reporter were talking about A-Rod.

I’d be disgusted with A-Rod, but it’s clear his super-agent Scott Boras made sure to leak this news while there were millions of people paying attention. The maneuver was a reminder individual athletes, not teams, dominate the headlines in professional sports. Of course, FOX didn’t need to go with the story.

And with that, congratulations to the Boston Red Sox for winning their second World Series in the past four years…

I probably don’t seem like one who cares much about sports, but I like having some NFL action on with the rabbit ears when I’m home on a Sunday afternoon.

As I write this, the New England Patriots are beating the Miami Dolphins 35-7 with 6:26 left in the second quarter.

Tom Brady’s line:

11/11, 220 yards, 4 TD, 158.3 rating

where 158.3 is the maximum possible rating