-What I wouldn’t give to relive the WWE WrestleMania 19  era. I was 19 years old and making insane money delivering pizza for just 25 hours a week. Seriously, the tips I made were great, given I live in the midst of middle class suburbia. I had few bills, not a care in the world, free from the restraints of school, yada yada. The only thing missing was a quality WWE product. At this point, you had a better chance of getting chlamydia from Paula Deen than getting three straight good weeks of Monday Night Raw.

-Speaking  of the promotion, it was March 30, 2003, and we go way out to the land of Wozniak, Seattle, WA, in the confines of Safeco Field. This is the first time that we have two commentary teams covering WrestleMania, with Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler handling Raw duties, and Michael Cole and Tazz overseeing the Smackdown side of things. Would you believe that in 2002 and 2003, the voters for the annual RSPW Awards declared Cole to be a better play by play man than JR? I swear this happened. Of course, JR was a bitter shell at this point, taking pot shots at heels he didn’t care about, and was generally miserable after the talent relations job he held was usurpsed by Johnny Ace. If you wanna see how bad JR could get, just wait until later in this show.

-Ashanti performs America the Beautiful, and we never heard from her again. Also, on the pre-show, Rob Van Dam and Kane failed to win the World Tag Team Titles from Chief Morley and some guy whose name escapes me. If he was important, I’m sure I’d remember it.

-Quick note: for this show, my brother Josh invited over some kid he worked with who may or may not have been homeless. It bears no relevance otherwise, but it’s my rant, so there you go.

-By the way, I can stop typing WWF now. This should get the pandas off my lawn.

-To kick things off, Matt Hardy Version 1.0 defends the WWE Cruiserweight Title against Rey Mysterio. Mysterio’s superhero motif du jour: Daredevil. How it reminds me of 2003. How it reminds of Ben Affleck. How it reminds me of Gigli. Damn it, Rey.

-Mysterio lands a nice twisting plancha to take out both Matt and Shannon Moore. Always good to see the Filthy Animals and 3 Count go at it. It’s like the Hatfields and McCoys for the twelve people that watched WCW at the end.

-Moore’s sycophantic interference was hilarious. Hell, Matt’s entire V1 shtick was amazing before he became a deranged self parody and gained 50 pounds after Lita cheated on him. Hey, Matt: you had six or seven years to put a ring on her finger. You didn’t do it. Besides, given that her sexual history could fill the book of Genesis, consider yourself a survivor.

-It’s funny: at this point, I really liked both performers. Though when one becomes a deluded emo crybaby, and the other endlessly promotes his dead friend for sympathy, that tends to come to a screeching halt.

-Rey hits the 619 and tries to drop the dime, but misses. A victory roll attempt by the challenger leads to a Matt drop down and rope pull for the cheap win. Way too short, but fun while it lasted. The two would have a much better match two months later on Smackdown where Rey finally got the belt. Anyone else miss Smackdown in the era when the great workers got time to work, and the whacky characters got equal time to balance the card? I know I do.

-And now for a handicap match, since those never get old. Undertaker puts his streak on the line against Big Show and A-Train, or as I call them: “Fat Albert”. This was supposed to be a tag team match with Taker teaming with Australian muscleman Nathan Jones, but Jones was unable to wrestle. Actually, that WAS the reason he was pulled: because he couldn’t wrestle. The man had the coordination skills of Stephen Hawking doing a downhill slalom.

-Limp Bizkit performs “Rollin” to bring Taker out. Taker even hugs Fred Durst. When would THAT ever happen if neither man was famous? Can you imagine Johnny Cash posing for a picture with the Icy Hot Stuntaz?

-Here’s food for thought: given all of the start-stop pushes that Show and Train have had over the years, especially in this time period, wouldn’t we be more apt to take them seriously if they dominated Taker? I mean, two big men beating up Undertaker doesn’t hurt anyone, and all three men get some measure of cred from it. So, of course, Taker dominates from the outset. So much for taking their pushes seriously.

-Taker with a fujiwara armbar for Show and another armbar for Train. This is like a production of Hamlet being performed by the special needs class. Show and Train are just stumbling around for Taker, who had lost his mystique by reverting to his biker gimmick. So it’s no fun for anyone.

-After ten minutes of boring tripe, Nathan Jones hits the ring and knocks Show out with a spinning heel kick in the aisle. Then he gets Train with a running foot inside the ring, which sets up the Dead Man’s Tombstone, pushing the streak to 11-0. Bad match, but thankfully the worst we’ll see tonight. You know, if WWE was so serious about getting Show or Train to main event status, why not have one of them pin Taker and wreck the streak? They’d be a heel for life, and always have something to hang their hat on. Alas.

-Stacy Keibler, Torrie Wilson, and the Miller Lite catfight girls have a pow-wow. If you can name both of those latter ladies without consulting Wikipedia, then you’re probably not welcome near school bus stops.

-Up next, the WWE Women’s Title is up for grabs, as Victoria defends the gold against Trish Stratus and Jazz. This match is an upgrade over last year in terms of placement, workmanship (Trish was much improved), and participants. I’ll take Victoria over Lita any day. Man I miss that TATU music and crazy titan tron. Hey Vince, Victoria’s now 39 years old and is still one of the hottest women in wrestling. I don’t care about Kelly Kelly, give me crazy Victoria please. Oh, wait, TNA has her. Well, that’s one area that the Orlandophiles win at.

-I miss Jazz too. She was like Stone Cold. Except black. And female. Ok, so she was the female Bad News Brown. She just wails away on everyone in sight, which is more fun than “faces don’t attack other faces”. I remember when Victoria turned face over a year after this and she saved Stacy from elimination during the Taboo Tuesday battle royal. Disgusting.

-Jazz putting Trish into an STF = hot. I need to stop watching prison movies.

-Trish cradles Victoria and pulls down the back of her tights, exposing her crack to the world. Let’s hear it for DVD freeze frame! Speaking of pervy, I think we can all agree that the only reason Jazz ever did that double chicken wing move to Trish was to make her chest stick out and the fans could pop. Classy.

-With Jazz out on the floor, Trish avoids interference from Steven Richards (Victoria’s henchman/boyfriend/pet) and knocks out Victoria with the Chick Kick to win the title. Good, compressed match that livened things up after the hossfest bored everyone. It takes a lot to cheer people from Seattle up, so good on the ladies. Though if Seattle was rooting for Victoria, we’d have to hear years and years of complaining about the officiating. Damn Seahawks fans.

-Rock is backstage with Coachman, and Mr. Dwayne Johnson is so disillusioned with the fans these days that he can’t even properly abuse Coach like he used to. Way to drain the life from my hero, guys. But he WILL beat Stone Cold tonight. We’re all rooting for ya, Rock! Especially Debra.

-And now WWE will let some of the tag teams get air time, as The World’s Greatest Tag Team defends the WWE Tag Team Titles against Los Guerreros and Murder Horn (Chris Benoit and Rhyno). If TNA sticks six men with talent all in the same match, they get lambasted for squandering good wrestlers. Just saying.

-Benoit blisters Eddie with chops. In 2003, they met in a meaningless undercard showcase. In 2004, they ended the show with a surreal celebration. In 2008, neither of them was there because they were both dead. Sigh.

-The main issue I have with this match is that….there IS no issue. Haas and Benjamin were largely goons for Kurt Angle who became tag champs due to crowd heat osmosis, and they have no real character qualities except for “We do Kurt Angle’s bidding”. The Guerreros are known for being chronic cheaters with a penchant for partying, but you don’t see that. Benoit and Rhyno are intense competitors and it makes sense for them to stick to the wrestling, but what was their beef with TWGTT, other than Benoit hating Haas and Benjamin through Angle? Sometimes, you need to expand the story a bit.

-That’s not to say that the wrestling sucks, because it’s solid, but look who’s involved.

-A fast tag frenzy near the end and Rhyno gores Chavo, but Eddie pulls Rhyno to the floor and Shelton steals the pin on Chavo to retain the gold. Match was good, but largely forgotten in the backdrop of the marquee matches that were ahead. It didn’t give Haas and Benjamin much traction, but at least it was fun to watch.

-The four aforementioned useless hot women argue over who made WrestleMania: Vince McMahon or Hulk Hogan. My answer: Howard Finkel. Did I mention that the Fink is here tonight? #19!

-Video package for the Shawn-Michaels-Chris Jericho feud. You know, the first one. This was Shawn’s in-ring WrestleMania return and, although I was a huge childhood fan, I was pulling for Jericho here. Shawn had a total of 4 or 5 matches since his return seven months before, and I felt that for Jericho to lose would be a BS political move. In other words, I was a smark, but I was also a mark.

-On the way to the ring, Shawn fires off some confetti guns for some reason. A number of them don’t work, and won’t shoot at all. Kevin Nash used to have that problem, but they began making pills for that.

-Extended stalemate sequence opens the match, and after thinking Shawn wouldn’t be able to keep up, I was surprised that he did. Remember, seven years ago, we thought Shawn was only capable of like one match every two months and, even then, it wasn’t always guaranteed to be a classic. This is where Jesus walks in and kicks me in the balls for being Agnostic. Thank you, Jeeze.

-Shawn slaps on a figure four and begins to work Jericho’s leg. I remember once watching Raw with my friend Dave (fan of Bret Hart, hater of Shawn) when Michaels was facing Trevor Murdoch. Shawn grabbed the legs to apply his modified figure four and Dave thought he was attempting the Sharpshooter. Dave began to swear at the TV and then stopped when he realized that he wasn’t mocking Bret. It’s these little things that make us fans.

-The fight spills outside, and Jericho snares Michaels in the Walls of Jericho in the aisleway. Jericho releases after a certain amount of punishment, and then runs back in to break the count. Jericho continues to assault the back, break the count, and repeat. Jericho’s such a tremendous jerk of a heel. He’s like Tully Blanchard, except he doesn’t hide behind religion to cover his past.

-After Jericho hits the Shawn forearm inside, he kips up and does the slant-leg pose to mock HBK, but then Michaels kips up behind him. It’s these little things that keep TNA from becoming a true break-out promotion: you need moments that make the fans smile without resorting to inside jokes or overkill. Shawn’s such an established character, that the fans get it when Jericho rips off part of his shtick, and then they love it when Shawn makes them cheer with the counter-act.

-Jericho continues the acidic ‘tribute’ by landing Shawn’s elbow smash, stomping the foot to tune up Fozzy, and then hits Sweet, eh? Chin Music for 2. Good psychological stuff.

-Shawn mounts the comeback and tries for his SCM, but Jericho ducks the leg and gets the Walls. After Shawn fights it for an eternity, he finally makes the ropes. After Jericho nearly comes to tears in protest, he walks right into Shawn’s Chin Music, but the slow cover can only get 2. Great match.

-Finally, after Jericho jars the spine with a forearm, he tries a back suplex, which Shawn turns into a backroll press for the win. Afterward, Jericho tries to man up and embrace Shawn with a hug, but changes his mind and kicks Shawn low. It’s ok, Chris, you still have your rocker hair until you get with the times and cut it in 2006. Tremendous match with a real big time feel.

-Sylvain Grenier, then an evil referee, goes into Vince’s locker room. He must be mistaken. Pat Patterson’s green room is a few doors—oh, don’t give me that look. I haven’t made a Patterson joke in at LEAST three or four rants!

-Miller Lite Catfight crap. Coach loses his pants. Limp Bizkit performs “Crack Addict”. I’m intoxicated by Turkey Hill iced tea. So all is good.

-Triple H and Booker T for the World Heavyweight Title is next. The storyline here is that Triple H made a few racially charged remarks to the Bookerman, which you’d think would lead to Book shutting him up and winning the title. You’d think that, wouldn’t you, Senor Ignorencia?

-You know, this match kind of annoys me, since it was Hunter slowing things down to a crawl, just to do some make-believe Ric Flair heel champion routine, and it stunted Booker’s momentum as a performer. Let’s just say Hunter works the knee, Booker fails to make enough of a comeback, and Hunter sends him spiraling back to the midcard with the Pedigree. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on to two more interesting points.

-First, Jerry Lawler spent the match hamming up Triple H’s rhetoric about Booker being a lifelong criminal. It’s one thing to make a joke or two, as the heel announcer, but it’s another to keep on keeping on, which is what Lawler did. Jim Ross gets so sick and tired of Lawler’s spiel that he openly responds with hostile verbiage, and Lawler actually seems taken aback. It’s way more interesting than the match. What I also love is at Bad Blood a few months later when Lawler tries to bury Booker again with the prison jokes, and JR makes a comment along the lines of “You know, I wonder how different things would be if some OTHER people had been convicted of certain crimes”. And Lawler NEVER made fun of Booker’s criminal record again. Great stuff.

-The other thing: I will defend Hunter winning here. As much as I loved Booker, imagine this: if Hunter never drops the belt to Goldberg in September, then he holds the belt for over a year, right? Sure, it infuriates us, but, as the smarks are huge Benoit fans, what would it mean to us if Chris Benoit took out Triple H to win the title after Hunter spent 15 months as champion? It’d mean a LOT. I can defend Hunter as a heel dominating, because it means just that much more when he loses. Ask Batista.

-Moving on to something else that’s criminal. Criminally fun, that is. Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon will do battle in a street fight that was twenty years in the making. That’s AMAZING. I never knew Vince was clamoring for this fight when Hulk was champion and Vince was skinny, Reagan-esque commentator. And I thought I knew everything.

-Typical geriatric Vince brawling, complete with funny faces and comical selling. I never get enough of watching Vince wrestle. He could have a match with a dead ferret and I’d be entertained.

-Vince realizes his dream of dominating a test of strength. Hulk realizes his dream of bashing Vince with a chair and busting him open. So everyone’s happy.

-Just to show that he’s more hardcore than the useless wusses that he employs, Vince dives off the ladder with a legdrop through Hogan and the Smackdown commentary table. Then to top THAT, after rolling Hogan in, Vince pulls a lead pipe from under the ring and slowly raises his face over the apron with a crazed expression that I still laugh at to this day. Dixie, you’re no Vince. There I said it.

-After both men are down, Rowdy Roddy Piper hits the ring and is apparently doing the Adrian Adonis tribute diet. He spits on both men, but then hits Hogan with a pipe before dropping a couple F-bombs on camera. Just when you think you have all the answers, Roddy forgets the questions and then relapses.

-Long story short: Sylvain Grenier tries to do some shady run-in refereeing, gets taken out, and Hulk drops three legs on Vince for the win. It’s longer than I made it seem, but it’s fun the entire way. Seriously, just watch it. You won’t regret it.

-And now, for something bittersweet. The Rock takes on Stone Cold Steve Austin in….well, if you don’t know, I’ll get to it at the end of the match.

-Rock was full blown Hollywood villain, and Austin is still Stone Cold, albeit with a neck worn down to nothing, and a lack of the same crowd energy that made him Stone Cold in the first place. I’m going to get very sad watching this.

-Tribute is paid to their X7 match as Austin attacks with a flurry and the fight spills outside. Austin is just hammering Rock all over ringside. This is like Rick Fox getting those garbage points in game five of the 2004 NBA finals, in case it was the end for him.

-Rock shifts the tide by working the knee, and the crowd seems reluctant to boo him. Hey, he was such a fun character with this pro-Hollywood slant. My biggest regret is not seeing it last longer. But hey, the movies were calling his name.

-Just for a goof, Rock puts on Austin’s leather vest and continues the fight, and the slugfest continues. Then Austin runs through the classics. There’s the Thesz press. There’s the middle finger elbow. There’s the mudhole stomping. HE’S WALKING IT DRY! That’s it Steve, round the bases one last time. Crap, I think I’m actually getting misty.

-Then we get another staple of their classics: the dueling finishers. Rock gets a stunner. Austin gets Rock Bottom. Neither one finishes the other. Good stuff.

-Then comes the heart-wrenching finish: Rock lands a spinebuster and People’s Elbow for 2. Then Rock lands one Rock Bottom. Austin kicks out on 2. Rock attempts a second one, but Austin desperately tries to elbow his way free. Rock hangs on and spikes him for a second one. Austin writhes on the mat in a fashion that is truly harrowing, but he kicks out on 2. For the third attempt, Austin doesn’t even fight it, and he eats a final Rock Bottom to give The Rock his much-deserved clean win over Stone Cold.

-Afterward, Rock breaks character and sits next to Austin, telling him he loves him as Austin lays hurt on the mat. Only four moments in wrestling get me choked up: Savage and Liz reuniting, Shawn winning his first World Title, Benoit making HHH tap, and this: The Rock throwing his character aside to make sure his real life friend was ok and to express his support. After Rock celebrates with his family at ringside, he leaves so that Austin can do the final walkaway, as his in ring career ended after one hell of a fourteen year journey. There will never be another Stone Cold Steve Austin. Much like Shawn and Taker should have ended XXV, THIS should have ended XIX. Austin and Rock, the two men who carried the Attitude era, in their final chapter. I love it.

-Still one match to go, and it’s going to take a lot to top this. Don’t worry, what’s on tap has a chance.

-If you thought Austin’s neck was bad, Kurt Angle’s was just as horrid, as he prepared to defend the WWE Championship against Brock Lesnar. Angle was in dire need of surgery on his spine, but chose to go through with this match. This wouldn’t be the last time we worried about Angle’s health or sanity.

-The two men begin with a feeling out process, as both men are among the most accomplished amateur wrestlers-turned-pro in the world. At first, I thought that it would just remain at this pace due to Angle’s bad neck, but hey, I was wrong again. Did I mention I was fairly dumb at 19? I’d just met Eric Gargiulo months before this show and I think I was I was still in a mental haze. It’s like a fifteen year old girl meeting Miley Cyrus. Eric’s just that special.

-Angle lands a German suplex and Lesnar soon nails him with a clothesline. If this was Kurt’s last match for a while, he was damn sure going to kill himself doing it.

-Angle then sends Lesnar hard into the buckles with a German suplex. Here Brock, share some of my pain, you musclehead.

-Angle wears Lesnar down further, taking the time to get his bearings, which is the smart thing to do. Then he hits an overhead belly to belly on a 300 pound man, then does four rolling Germans on Lesnar just for fun. When Kurt Angle lives to be 400 years old and is a cyborg, no one better be surprised, you hear me? NO ONE.

-Here’s a good sequence for you: Angle tries for the Angle Slam, Lesnar counters with an F5 attempt, which Angle rolls into the ankle lock. After Lesnar gets free, Angle gets the release throwing German suplex for 2. Jaw. Dropped.

-Through the remainder of the match, Lesnar manages to drop Angle with a pair of F5s and Angle really should be dead by now. I mean, come on, he was facing surgery that was due to keep him out for a YEAR and he’s going full gore with the future UFC Champion. Angle is crazy, ya’ll.

-Speaking of crazy, here comes some Mania lore: Lesnar tries for a shooting star press, but lands on his head and nearly breaks his neck in the process. After improvising a pin for 2, Angle tries for an Angle Slam, but Brock finishes with the F5 for his second WWE Title. They do the respect hug afterward. Tremendous match that made me cringe every time Angle did something the least bit physical. With Austin retiring due to his spinal damage, I certainly didn’t want to see Kurt end up a crippled vegetable. I loved the match, but it’s like a car wreck: hard to watch, but hard to turn away.

-Limp Bizkit plays us out. Speaking of played out, Limp Bizkit, folks!

-CYNIC SAYS: At the time, I wasn’t sure what to think. WWE was in a major rut creatively, and couldn’t please anyone. Yet time has been kind to this show, as everything seemed to set up a future development. Hunter stayed strong to make his losses mean more. Shawn stayed strong to begin his full time comeback. Lesnar went over to become the future (sort of). And Austin went out with a great final performance.

WrestleMania XIX is a blossoming flower in a turd garden that is 2003 WWE. But you won’t regret having sat through all four hours of this tremendous show.

When he isn’t watching WWE, TNA, or his beloved Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies, Justin Henry can be found writing. It is his passion as well as his goal in life to become a well-regarded (as well as well-paid) columnist or author. Subscribe to The Cynical Examination, his wrestling blog, at http://www.facebook.com.

Check out the WWE WrestleMania – The Complete Anthology, Vol. 3 – 1995-1999 (WrestleMania XI-XV)

WWE WrestleMania – The Complete Anthology, Vol. 4 – 2000-2004 (WrestleMania XVI-XX)

Read WWE WrestleMania : The Official Insider’s Story

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As we grow closer and closer to April 4, I ask the all important question… What on Earth is happening to the National League East Division?

It seems as if they have broken away from the pack, and are their own super league. Like how everyone watches the American League East for the on going battle against the Yanks and Bo Sox, these five teams are going to slug it out into the last week of the season (yes, even the Nationals).

There are no weak links in the division, and they all beefed up in someway or another. Let’s take a look these squads to see just who has a chance at October.

Philadelphia Phillies

The back-to-back National League Champions are only better than they were last season when they went to the World Series. Their offense focused around extreme power has seen few speed bumps in their road to the playoffs and they finally have the front line pitcher to keep them ahead in the race.

New in town: Unless you’ve been on the moon, deep in a crater, with your eyes closed and your ears plugged you’re aware that Roy Halladay is in the city of Brotherly Love. The Former Cy Young winner is entering the National League for the first time, and coming off a very successful season despite not knowing who was going to play for in 2010. Placido Polanco, is returning to Philadelphia after four outstanding seasons in Detroit including winning his second gold glove this past year. The boys in Red also picked up an extra rotation candidate in Jose Contreres.

He’s Outta Here: Bringing in Roy Halladay would have been nightmare for the rest of the division last July. That was mainly in part to their acquisition of 2008 Cy Young winner Cliff Lee around that time. However, unless your team’s city starts with “New” or “Bos-” it is tough to carry two ace pitcher’s salaries on your back, and Lee was shipped out. The Phils also lost Pedro Feliz, a solid infielder who works well as a spot starter but was used more as an everyday third baseman.

2010 Impact: Are they better than they were in 09? Yes. Much better? No. Halladay is an upgrade over Lee, but not as drastic one. He is an inning eater, and as durable as they come, but relies on a bit more on power pitching than Lee, and Citizen Bank Park is a launch pad for home runs. Expect a higher ERA from him this season. Polanco is a great player in both the field and dugout. He brings a lot of intensity and knows how to lead, but his bat is drifting as he gets older. Contreres is not a serious answer to a big question in the fifth start spot.

Look for big seasons from pitcher Cole Hamels, outfielder Jayson Werth, and a healthy Chase Utley. However, the team overall didn’t improve as much as others in the division and will not waltz back into the playoffs without a fight.

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The Montreal Canadiens and the New York Rangers are two teams in search of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The sports betting world remembers these two teams at the beginning of the season when both were having a difficult time winning games. With all of the March Madness odds going on, the fact that both teams are now looking towards the playoffs can sometimes be lost. The sportsbook reviews for this upcoming Canadiens at Rangers game are much different than they were at the beginning of the season.

Goaltending
When you bet March madness you look for a team that plays solid defense and can keep the other team off the scoreboard. The same is true when betting on a hockey game and in hockey the most important defenseman on the ice is the goaltender.

Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist has won his last two games in impressive fashion by allowing only three goals in those two games. The early struggles of the Rangers were mirrored in Lundqvist’s shaky start. But he has started to string together a good season with a respectable .919% save percentage and a 2.45 goals against average for the season.

The shaky start for the Canadiens can be directly traced back to their goaltending problems. Carey Price was supposed to be the next Patrick Roy. The Canadiens gave him the reigns this season and he has struggled terribly. As the season progressed the Canadiens had seen enough and put Jaroslav Halak in goal to save the season, and save the season he did. Halak is red-hot winning his last five games including one with as shut-out. He is one of the main reasons the Canadiens have bolted from near the basement into seventh place in the conference.

Offense
The Canadiens have always had offense. This year they have nine players with double-digits in goals and three players with 30 or more points. Tomas Plekanec is the team’s leading scorer with 68 points and he has a goal in three of the last five games.

The Rangers have eight players with double-digits in goals, but when you get past leading scorer Marian Gaborik the production really drops off. This is another reason for the Rangers’ early troubles; they cannot put the puck in the net.

Defense
Both teams have more goals against than they do goals for, and the numbers are pretty similar. The Rangers are -7 in the difference between goals for and goals against, and the Canadiens are -3. Much of what the Canadiens have done to close that gap has happened in the last 15 to 20 games with Halak in goal.

Bottom Line
The Canadiens are on fire with a goalie that is on a hot streak. By all accounts this should be a game where the Canadiens roll over the Rangers. The fact that the game is being played in Madison Square Garden may help the Rangers a little, but with the Canadiens riding a huge wave of momentum it will be very difficult for the Rangers to make any progress in their hunt for a playoff spot in this game. Right now the Rangers are in ninth place and the Canadiens are in seventh with the Rangers one point out of a playoff spot. This game does not appear to be the game that will change that for the Rangers.

Pick: Montreal Canadiens 5-2

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To be dead honest with you guys, it’s been hard for me to remember what happened this past week for WWE television. After giving it some thought, the only thing I enjoyed was the whole Mr McMahon versus John Cena match from last week.

Why would I like the match where McMahon didn’t do much and had several superstars come in and beat up Cena, just for McMahon can pick up an easy victory? I’ve always been a fan of seeing McMahon get in the ring and having a match. Yes, granted his matches aren’t the best, but how many bosses do you know who’ll do what his/her employees do on a nightly bases?

Other than that, I don’t think last week in the WWE was worthwhile to note. Like said, I don’t think there was nothing special from last week.

Then on Smackdown this past week when Chris Jericho brought back the Highlight Reel on Smackdown, he had Edge on as a guest. This made me smile.

Jericho is one of the best talkers, ever, and Edge is pretty good on the mic himself. Edge brought up that he’s going to spear Jericho at WrestleMania and win the World Heavyweight Championship. When it came down to it, at the end of the night, Jericho had the last laugh. When Edge went for a spear, Jericho hit him with the World Heavyweight Championship, grabbed a mic, and started to chant “spear!”

Check out the Highlight Reel. A really good segment.

But all-in-all, I thought this week was kind of boring. If it wasn’t for the McMahon/Cena match, and the Highlight real from this past week, I probably wouldn’t have done a week in review article. This is Eric Darsie from Minnesota, goodbye!

Check out more of Eric’s blogs at http://jericholic2009.blogspot.com.

Check out WWE – Edge: A Decade of Decadence

WWE WrestleMania – The Complete Anthology, Vol. 2 – 1990-1994 (WrestleMania VI-X)

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Ah, March! As reliable as lights and decorations at Christmas or costumes on Halloween, it is NCAA March Madness time again. Attention all bosses or managers etc., let’s not give Bill from accounting a hard time today, he has brackets to fill out, like just about every other red-blooded American does this time of year. 65 college hoops teams have come forward once again to take over our lives, for a few weeks anyway.

Okay ladies and gentleman, grab your pens, your papers, your notes and get ready. I will give you some “Yes” and some “No” ideas for your bracket and will also break down each region to share some possible upsets, big boys and some Cinderellas for you to consider on your way to a championship. We all know there is all sorts of players who step up to the plate and fill out their tourney wish list. From the die hard sports guy who watches every game, to the “eh why not” guy who just wants to join in. To the hot girl in the office who flirts with all the guys to learn the difference between a 1 seed and a 16 seed, to the guy who will crunch numbers to give everyone his law of averages as to who to pick. March makes the best of friends and the worst of enemies out of “Bracketologist” everywhere! So let’s take a look at my notes, despite the fact that I dropped out of “Bracketology” and do not have a degree on my wall.

Here are some Yes and No bracket fill out ideas:
Yes: Pick at least one number 12 seed to advance. A 12 seed has beaten a 5 seed at least once in the tournament all but twice since 1980. If you search hard enough you can find a decent match-up worth trying. The 4 to choose from this year:
Michigan State vs New Mexico State
Butler vs Texas El-Paso
Temple vs Cornell
Texas A&M vs Utah State.
The betting man would say Texas-El Paso over Butler.

No: Do not pick a team to pull off a series of big upsets just because it has in the past. Don’t get all geeked out over a team like Siena or Murray State because of things they did 4 or 5 years ago. Stay within your means and know the opponents they are about to face.

Yes: Let some history repeat itself. Do not be afraid to advance some teams further then expected with good March history. Michigan State may not be the best team on paper but they usually have a good March run in them. Also despite how bad Villanova has looked, they have been decent the last few Marchs.

No: Do not try and be the office hero by picking a bunch of upsets just to be the guy that says “Yeah I had that”. Yes it would be sweet to predict that 14 seed Ohio could upset Georgetown, but it does not mean you have to pick all 13′s and 14′s just for one “I told you so”.

Yes: Make sure you get a number 1 into your Final Four. Okay so your work colleagues or friends may call you a “Homer”, but isn’t this about winning?

No: Do not put a team ranked higher then 9th in your Final Four. It simply does not happen. In fact the highest seed to ever win an NCAA Tourney was an 8 seed.

Yes: Like some of the new big boys from the big conferences with high seeds. West Virginia as a 2 and Ohio State also as a 2 come from big time conferences and have good squads. Don’t be shy of them because they have not been highly touted by the media.

No: Do not fall in love with success stories from schools who have never been seeded so high. 3 seed Baylor is kind of a miracle to me. Also New Mexico as a 3 and Vanderbilt as a 4 worry me very much. These are some high seed teams just begging to be upset.

Some teams that may find that late season magic to not ignore:
8 seed Texas, who spent time at number 1 this season.
11 seed Washington who can very easily (in my opinion) upset 6 seed Marquette, take down a 3 seed like New Mexico and give a 2 seed like West Virginia all it can handle. This is a decent club when on, but a disaster when off.
10 seed Florida. Billy Donovans team is not like his championship teams of the past, but they are a Billy Donovan team. If they get past BYU, Donovan may be able to out-think a newer powerhouse like 2 seed Kansas State and make it interesting.

Now we break down the regions:

East region:
Top 4 seeds: Kentucky, West Virginia, New Mexico, Wisconsin

It looks as if the powers-to-be in the tournament committee want to see big things out of John Calipari and Kentucky. The other top seeds do not seem to be nearly as talented or be as storied as Kentucky. In the middle, teams like Temple, Marquette and Texas are all good names but not big time opponents. However a second round match up with Calipari’s Kentucky team vs Rick Barnes’ guys from Texas would make for an interesting match-up. The Cinderella of this bunch is Washington. Over the past few years the Huskies have had decent clubs and usually show up for a game or 2 come March. When this team gets hot it can be dangerous. The highest seed expected to exit quickly is New Mexico. Not a great track record coming in and after a 3 vs 14 showdown with Montana they would have to face 2 bigger conference opponents from the winner of the Clemson vs Missouri game, both of which can handle what New Mexico brings.

Predicted Winner: Kentucky

South region:
Top seeded teams: Duke, Villanova, Baylor, Purdue

Is Duke back to its prime time form? “Coach K” is bringing in a better, more relaxed team in this years tourney, but it won’t be total smooth sailing. 2 seed Villanova has struggled of late but still has a stellar team. Middle seeds like Texas A&M and Notre Dame have been bracket busters in the past, plus Duke could be in for a tough second round game facing the winner of Cal and Louisville. Could be interesting to see Pitino vs Coach K. As for Cinderellas, most experts will tell you that Siena is a tough team to face, but for me Lousiville as a 9 seed can wreak havoc. Yes they would have to play Duke if they win, but knocking down giants is what being a Cinderella team is all about. The highest seed expected to exit early would be Baylor. As much as I love seeing new teams go far for a change I just do not feel this is the team. The first round game does not look so tough, but possible 2 round opponent Notre Dame could be a killer. Being a Philly guy id love to pick with my heart, but feel Villanova just does not have it in them to make a big run.

Predicted Winner: Duke

Midwest Region:
Top seeds: Kansas, Ohio State, Georgetown, Maryland

Some good programs lead the way here in the Midwest. A lot of experts call Kansas the best team in college hoops, but there is a fine line between great and cocky. Kansas at times looked shaky in conference tourney play while Big 10 Champ Ohio State looked brilliant in pounding Minnesota in the title game. Plus when it’s March, you never count out the Hoyas of Georgetown. The middle seeds are a real tough bunch, with March dandy Tom Izzo’s Michigan State team, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, and the reborn UNLV Runnin Rebels. Survival will take perfect outings from any one of these top 8 seeds here. Cinderella has its work cut out for themselves here, but Georgia Tech is a team that merits paying attention too. Playing in the ACC means they know how to handle big time teams, and they can beat up a few along the way. The highest seed expected to exit early would be Maryland. The Terrapins are usually an enigma come March, and despite a good season, I think there is too many question marks to expect big things here. This region is filled with tough clubs and I feel we will lose our first 1 seed come Final Four time.

Predicted Winner: Georgetown

West Region:
Top seeds: Syracuse, Kansas State, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt

Very strange region, perhaps the most interesting region ever assembled. A lot of teams here are fan favorites and tourney reachers, with Syracuse leading the way as a tough to choose 1 seed. Kansas State has looked great at times as has Pitt and a quietly climbing Vanderbilt team. The middle seeds are tourney staples, but also-rans such as Xavier, BYU, Gonzaga and everyone’s chic’ spoiler choice Butler. Cinderella is a tough customer in the form of Florida. Billy Donovan always gets his teams ready for March and a win over 7 seed BYU can set up a tough match up for the 2 seed Kansas State. Florida is looking like the toughest double digit seed in the tournament. The highest seed expected to exit early is Vanderbilt. Many, like myself, feel that Murray State has an upset in it, and they will be the ones to end Vandy’s run early. Number 1 may have another tough road here and a possible Big East clash should spell the end of Syracuse’s run at the Final Four. The winner here could be quite a surprise to some.

Predicted Winner: Pittsburgh

Yes, so here is my very rough Final Four. We all know how quickly this can change,and most likely will between today and Thursday when this all gets rolling. As of now my Final Four of Kentucky, Duke, Georgetown and Pittsburgh is even drawing my own personal criticisms, but hey, that’s why they play the games. Good luck Bracketologist, this season you’re going to need it!

If you’d like to hear anything else from me on topics or ideas I can be reached at phillyphan1971@yahoo.com.

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