As usual, brackets get fouled up
NCAA bracketology may be an inexact science, but the math is pretty straightforward.
After analyzing the 3.3 million-plus entries in its Men's Tournament Challenge through the first two rounds, ESPN.com released the following data:
* Duke leaves a mark: No doubt because of Duke's first-round loss to Virginia Commonwealth, not one entry had every game picked correctly.
* Few Durant doubters: Only 45 entries correctly picked all 16 remaining teams, including the one that prematurely ended Kevin Durant's college career, USC.
* Easier to be wrong than right: A total of 5,404 entries picked none of the 16 remaining teams.
* Football taught them nothing: Arkansas' football defeat by USC last season was expected, but 980,253 contestants expected the basketball Razorbacks to beat the Trojans.
* What the heck, it's free: Among those willing to risk nothing on a lark, 211 entries picked Belmont to win the national championship, 312 picked Weber State to win the title and 6,356 had Butler or Southern Illinois winning it all.
Trivia time
Which school has won the most NCAA tournament games without winning the national title?
Phoning it in
For college basketball fans who spend so much time talking on their cellphones that they forget what team they're rooting for, downloading the wallpaper and ring tone of their favorite schools is now an option.
Thumbplay.com, which provides such a service, reports that "students at UCLA are kicking Pittsburgh's [behind] in ring tone and wallpaper downloads for their schools" by a margin of 85% to 15%.
This proves that either UCLA fans have more school spirit than Pittsburgh fans or, more likely, UCLA fans have more cellphones than Pittsburgh fans.
(For those wondering: North Carolina leads USC, 80% to 20%.)
Landlord, fill the flowing bowl
More shenanigans in the cricket world.
Kevin Shine and Jeremy Snape, assistant coaches for England, have been fined for their involvement in a late-night drinking session with players.
Shine and Snape were "invited to make a donation" to a cricket charity, the same punishment meted out to six players who partied into the early morning after a six-wicket loss to New Zealand in their World Cup opener.
And Andrew Flintoff was stripped of the vice captaincy after newspapers reported he'd fallen off a pedal boat at 4 a.m.
