Sports Notes, 3/25/07

-- Kerry Wood and Mark Prior are already flirting with the disabled list. In other news, the sun rose in the east this morning, this year’s Christmas celebration will be on Dec. 25, and Generalisimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

-- Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but Mike Conley Jr. has been more valuable to Ohio State’s run at the championship than Greg Oden has.

-- Of course, if ANYONE the Buckeyes have played could hit a free throw, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. Who knew you could ride free-throw defense to the Final Four?

-- Here’s a prop bet for the Vegas junkies: Which will end the season higher, the St. Louis Cardinals’ team batting average or their manager’s BAC?

-- Honestly, Tony La Russa, I think I’m more embarrassed for you that you passed out with a BAC of .093 than that you were caught driving drunk. I mean, it wasn’t that long ago that .093 wasn’t even considered drunk.

-- DePaul came within a point of the Final Four in the NIT. I don’t have a funny line here or anything; it’s just that if I didn’t tell you, you wouldn't have known.

-- Speaking of the NIT, former Iowa coach Steve Alford has left the Hawkeyes to coach New Mexico. They should all be very happy together.

-- And speaking of coaching changes, it turns out that wintering in Minnesota is less agonizing than being fired at Kentucky. Who knew?

-- OK, this one’s a little off-topic, but ... I don’t know which is funnier to me: that there’s a learning-disabled chimpanzee running around out there, or that some wiseapple saw fit to name him Knuckles.

-- Lastly … I don’t expect anyone to care, but if Florida and Georgetown win today, I’ll have the whole Final Four correct in my pool for the first time EVER! Go me!!!