So far the story of the NCAA Tournament remains the continuing validation of the Big East as college basketball's dominant league. 4 Big East teams remain alive as the tourney is down to its Elite Eight. But that 8 also includes Michigan State--wasn't there nail-biter of a victory last night over Kansas riveting stuff?
A key--down by 5, 3:22 to go, MSU not only scored 8 straight points but also grabbed 6 consecutive rebounds.
The Dallas Mavericks lost, though, last night, at home to Denver 103-101--much of it due it would seem to Jason Kidd being out of the lineup, not to mention Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse, etc.
Injuries are a big factor in the NBA this year.
Hmmm. There's a story in today's NY Times on how President Obama made his latest decision concerning U.S. military moves in Afghanistan:
"The debate over the past few weeks offered a glimpse into how Mr. Obama makes decisions. In this case, he chose a compromise between his political and military advisers that some critics say includes some strategic holes, such as a reliance on the same sort of vague guidelines that proved difficult to carry out in Iraq. It also offers insight into the role of Mr. Biden and other members of a foreign policy team that includes many powerful figures vying for Mr. Obama’s attention. In the end the plan is a compromise that reflected all of the strains of the discussion among his advisers..."
That sounds a little too much, to me, like an attempt to pacify his advisers by splitting 50/50 between their disparate advice. One can't make national security decisions like this by making a major goal that of splitting differences between advisers or worrying about political impacts. Ask Lyndon Johnson re: Vietnam.
