And another thing...

Bennett out

So Tony Bennett has told Indiana thanks but no thanks.

No word yet on Rick Pitino, Sean Miller, Mike Montgomery, Thad Matta et all. In the meantime, here's a name I forgot to mention the other day: Gene Keady!

(OK, so I'm just kidding. Actually I just wanted to see how many coronaries I could inspire among the diehard IU faithful).

-- Ben Smith

Name game

CLEVELAND -- I'm up here for Opening Day, and because Opening Day is all about fresh beginnings and clean slates, here's one for you: Jacobs Field is no longer Jacobs Field.

As of today, it's Progressive Field, Progressive having locked up the naming rights for the next 16 years.

So no more fun at The Jake. Now it's, I don't know, The Grez. Or, considering the "Q", aka Quicken Loans Arena, is right next door, maybe the "P."

Which would make for a ridiculous and totally unrepresentative slogan for the city of Cleveland.

"Cleveland: Where People Come To Mind Their Ps and Qs."

You may groan when ready.

-- Ben Smith

Gimme Madness

Had an interesting discussion last night with my colleague LaMond Pope while we were watching the NCAA games. We both agreed that with only a few exceptions, the Madness hasn't been very mad yet.

Maybe today's games will change that, but has there ever been a more lackluster Sweet Sixteen so far? Everything's a blowout; the other night, Memphis was up on Michigan State by 30 at HALFTIME.

Last night's Elite Eight games were no better. UCLA smothered Xavier by 19, leading almost wire-to-wire; North Carolina led by Louisville by a dozen at the half, saw drama briefly sneak into the building when the Cardinals tied it at 59, then drew away to win by 10.

Please, can't we get at least ONE buzzer beater? Or a game that at least remains in doubt into the final minute? If this keeps up, I might have to commit sacrilege and flip over to the NBA game.

Well, OK. So I probably wouldn't. But I have thought about it.

-- Ben Smith 

      

The Streak, extended

Belated kudos to the Komets for breaking Muskegon's 42-year-old record for consecutive games at home, and especially for how they did it. Coming from 3-1 down in the third period to notch win No. 23 -- and then getting No. 24 last night after frittering away a three-goal lead -- indicates that this is a team with grit and will as well as the best talent, coaching and management in the league.

Not good news for the rest of the "I" as the playoffs approach.

-- Ben Smith

Rumors, rumors

Indiana says it wants to have a new coach in the fold before next weekend, and this must be true because the rumor mill has gone into high gear.

Washington State coach Tony Bennett had reportedly been offered the job, at roughly the same time I was hearing he was a finalist for the Cal job. But Bennett says he hasn't even talked to IU.

Meanwhile, Mike Montgomery, the former Stanford coach, has been floated as a candidate. And I've heard a lot of Rick Pitino talk in the last week, although Pitino and IU doesn't seem a good fit to me for some reason (probably because with Pitino, you'd get an NCAA title and the next day you'd be looking for another coach, because he'd cash it in on the Next Big Job).

Sean Miller of Xavier, on the other hand, may not be in the mix anymore. Word has it he has a $2 million buyout, and considering all the ex-coaches Indiana's paying right now, somehow I think that would be a deal-breaker.

And of course, there's always Dick Vitale's guy: Bob Knight. He's tanned, rested, ready and, the last time I saw him, wearing a pink sweater over a brown shirt. Recalling those godawful retina-searing plaid jackets he used to wear, I take that as a sign that, fashion-wise anyway, he's back at the top of his game.

-- Ben Smith

In the pink

OK, I can die now. I have finally seen the one thing I never thought I'd see.

Is that ... is that a PINK SWEATER Bob Knight's wearing?!

Yes, it is. Saw it last night on the ESPN March Madness show. There was Vitale, there was Digger, and there in the middle was the General himself, pretty in pink.

There's an emotional scar that will never come out.

-- Ben Smith

A return to senses?

Blobophiles will remember me whining a couple of weeks ago about the sorry state of the class basketball tourney in Indiana, and wondering why the tournament never played any big venues until the state finals.

The 2A and 3A semistates at Warsaw prompted this. The event drew an overflow crowd and fans actually had to be turned away from the doors, and I figured, if demand was that great, why not play it in Memorial Coliseum, where it easily might have drawn 7,000?

Turns out my whine was before its time.

Talked to Coliseum general manager Randy Brown today about the NCAA hockey regional bid, and I raised this same point with him. When was the last time the Coliseum and the IHSAA talked about maybe putting a semistate back on the big stage?

"Tuesday," Brown said.

Then he told me the IHSAA and Coliseum were having "ongoing" talks, and had been for about three years. It's all very preliminary, he cautioned, but one of the concepts discussed was making the Coliseum the site for a mega-semistate -- i.e., putting more than two semistate games in the building on the same day.

Brown figures it would be a winning deal for all parties, and I concur. Anyone who was at Warsaw could agree.

-- Ben Smith 

    

Survivorman

And now for today's Isiah Thomas' How To Succeed In Business Without Really Being Good At It update:

Knicks owner Jim DoIan is still standing by his man.

Donnie Walsh may be out at Indiana (personally, I think Larry Bird should have gotten the gate) and on his way to the Knicks, but that doesn't necessarily mean Isiah's about to get pink-slipped. Dolan said as much yesterday, which leads me to believe one of several possible scenarios must be in play.

1. Isiah is into the dark arts and has cast some sort of bewitching spell on his boss.

2. He has connections to the Gambino crime family.

3. He has video of Dolan in a compromising position  -- wearing a Reggie Miller jersey, throwing darts at a picture of Walt Frazier, mocking Willis Reed's fabled limp-onto-the-Garden-floor before Game 7 of the NBA finals in 1970 -- and has threatened to release them to the New York media if Dolan messes with him.

It's the only explanation for why the man still has a job.

-- Ben Smith

The look of chumps

Remember what I said yesterday about the Red Sox, one game into the season, looking unbeatable?

Well, forget it. They're done. Today they lost 5-1 to the A's, and were totally suuuh-moked by Rich Harden.

With only 160 more games to play, I don't see how they can possibly recover now.

-- Ben Smith

I shot the sou-chef

You're gonna love this one.

Famed New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme was setting up his cooking tent on the practice range at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans Tuesday morning when a .22-caliber bullet grazed his right arm. Authorities figure the bullet was fired from somewhere within a 1 1/2-mile radius  of the golf course, but no one knows from just where.

I think I do.

I think some photographer finally hit the motor drive in the middle of Tiger's backswing one too many times.

-- Ben Smith