Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for March 13, 2012 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
- The NCAA tournament gets underway with two games tonight, Western Kentucky vs. Mississippi Valley State and Iona vs. BYU.
- Peyton Manning reportedly met with Miami Dolphins personnel yesterday, and will visit the Tennessee Titans this week. He already met with Denver and Arizona.
- 35-year old wide receiver Randy Moss, out of football for a year, signs with the San Francisco 49ers.
- Bobby Valentine, for the first time as manager of the Red Sox, will face the Yankees tonight in Tampa. He'll say something juicy for sure.
2. The Polls Are Closing
Today's the last day to enter the Top 5 NCAA basketball contest. (See below.) Your picks are interesting. Kentucky and Syracuse are neck and neck, they received half of all the votes. North Carolina came in third. Of the 68 teams in the tournament, maybe 20 of them got picked to win it all, including Lehigh who will play Duke on Friday. Good luck with that.
3. The Polls Are Closed
In Denver they've got a billboard that asked Broncos fans to vote for which quarterback they want, Tim Tebow or Peyton Manning. Lets see, a good religious quarterback or four-time MVP? It's a landslide. 59-41 percent. Tebow rules!
4. Assume the Position
I'll trade you six punters and kickers for one quarterback. The numbers are fascinating. Quarterbacks are the highest paid players in the NFL, of course. The top five average nearly $14.5 million a year. Contrast that with kickers in the $2.6 million range. But quick, which position is the second highest? Running back? Wide receiver? Buzz. It's defensive end. So to sum up, the people who make the most are quarterbacks. The runner-ups are the guys who try to kill them.
5. Dress Code
They're enforcing a new dress code in women's chess at the European Women's Championships taking place in Turkey. No more cleavage or short skirts. I thought perhaps the reason was not to distract your opponent, but apparently some men in the audience were making comments. Imagine that, male sports fans acting like louts. Anyway, one chess official said that some of the women competitors came to the matches as if they were dressed for the beach. (Is that soft core pawn?) Actually, maybe they should be. If the chess women dressed more like beach volleyball players chess might be become an Olympic sport too.
Happy Birthday: Mets pitcher Johan Santana. 33.
Bonus Birthday: Neil Breaking Up Is Hard to Do Sedaka. 73.
Today in Sports: Brooklyn Dodgers manager Wilbert Robertson tried to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane in Daytona, Florida. The pilot substituted a grapefruit. Splat! 1915.
Bonus Event: They discovered the planet Pluto. 1930.
To enter the Top 5 Men's NCAA Basketball contest, click here.
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