Morning: Round the Way

Two more days until the Dukies take the court, amigos. For now, we're gonna hit the asterisks.

*For those few who haven't seen this story yet, an autistic 17 year-old from Chicago has picked a perfect bracket through two rounds. Thanks to Carrie and Spike for the heads-up.

Unfortunately, he picked Purdue to win the national title. Which means that if this is some kind of once-in-a-lifetime story, or if he has the strange innate ability to pick every game correctly, the Boilermakers will beat us on Friday night. And if we've learned anything from the internet, it's that you shouldn't bet against autistic teenage males when it comes to basketball.

And now Duke fans are in the unenviable position of rooting against the heartwarming story of his perfect bracket. We're like the casino boss trying to put the kibosh on Rain Man. At least we're used to being hated, I guess...might as well pile it on.

(PS just watched that YouTube video again...I dare you to watch the whole thing and not cry. I DARE YOU.)

(PPS just in case you thought I had a heart, I'll go on record as saying that I think we'll find out the perfect bracket is a hoax of some kind.)


*West Virginia's Darryl Bryant broke his foot, and is done for the year. It's not as bad as it could be, since their back-up PG has actually had more playing time recently, but it may throw off their rhythm. And the Mountaineers were not known for excellent point play anyway. Advantage Washington?


*Word from Tampa is that Joba stinks and Hughes is throwing "the best changeups he's ever thrown." The fifth spot in the rotation is down to those two, Sergio Mitrie, and Alfredo Aceves, but it's looking more and more like Hughes is the man. If that's the case, Joba is probably back to his set-up role after spending all of last season being groomed ("Joba Rules") for a starting role. And, since Hughes was mostly a bullpen man and didn't throw anywhere near 150 innings last year, there will certainly be Hughes Rules for 2010. Someday, we'll have a fifth starter who is allowed to pitch more than 3 innings per outing in August and September.


*In important non-sports news, the aforementioned Spike sent me this picture yesterday, with the following disclaimer: "I'm not sure how I feel about this." Me either, except that I find it funny.


I have a feeling that the theme of this post is "things I discovered on the internet that 95% of Americans have already seen." If that's the case, you're welcome, Lithuanian reader.

See you later on.