North Carolina knocks out Tennessee in the women's NCAAs, so now only two of my Final Four are still in it. Those two being Duke, who just barely got by U-Conn in overtime and LSU who edged Stanford. My pick to win the women's tourney is Duke.

In the men's NIT, Michigan advances to the finals with a win over Old Dominion. They will play South Carolina tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden. South Carolina beat Louisville and their mercenary coach Rick Pitino, which pleases me to no end. Pitino is one of those reprehensible coaches who is always moving from one job to another in search of greener grass. Larry Brown and Bill Parcells being two similar jackasses.

Whew...almost a week since I posted here...just been very busy as life sometimes can be.

My original picks in the men's NCAA basketball tournament got totally blown to shreds as both Duke and Gonzaga lost. So none of my final four remain in the actual final four. I am pulling for George Mason at this point, after that Anyone But UCLA, who most certainly did NOT deserve to beat Gonzaga but were handed that game by the officiating crew.

Three of my final four in the women's tournament remain, with only defending champ Baylor having bowed out at this juncture. All of the Big Ten teams are OUT, OUT, OUT!!!!! Wonderful as far as I am concerned, as a long suffering Michigan fan I just could not stomach any of Michigan's conference rivals doing too well.

Finally, to turn away from sports for a minute. Lots of talk of late about the immigration issue, as US congress votes on bills that would either make US immigration policy more or less punitive to the immigrants. I, as a Green Socialist Progressive, am in favor of less punitive and more helpful policy. Yet, I see immigration as merely a symptom of a more root problem, and that is the question of why people feel the need to immigrate to the US? In many cases I argue that it is because (at least in part) the US government/business/military establishment has played a role in making immigrants' home countries unlivable by supporting corrupt and oppressive governments in those countries, and also by sabotaging efforts by the people of those countries to make things better. This is seen very clearly in the Latin America and Caribbean areas, in nations such as Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti, El Salvador, Chile, and the list could go on to include just about every country in the Latin America and Caribbean regions.

So, while we as progressives push for more lenient treatment of immigrants, we also need to link the immigration issue to issues of United States involvement with "the Third World" and how US foreign policy helps to create the miseries that, in an ironic twist, force people into fleeing their homelands for the same country that contributed to the fascism, poverty, and corruption in the first place.

Found another choice bit of Dadaist Gibberish on the Flint Journal building today..."ALL THE TOP SECRET 800 COVER UPS ON EARTH BOYS!"

So, apparently there are exactly 800 of them?

Also noticed once again the grim, forlorn hulk of Genesee Towers, a very large and very decrepit and vacant parking garage with an office building on top of it in Downtown Flint. I have no idea what may end up happening to this sorry looking building or when, but at this point it looks quite unsafe and foreboding.

On Saginaw Street the signage for "Blackstones" remains on a building where the actual Blackstones (I assume it was a store of some kind) has long since ceased to exist. More Postmodern Pastiche in these Late Capitalist Times of Ours.

He stands in front of the by now typical backdrop emblazoned with ridiculous patriotic sound bites, in this case "PLAN FOR VICTORY!" If he was an official enemy du jour, it would all be so obvious and he would be ridiculed. And in most of the rest of the world, he is ridiculed.

I am speaking of course of Gee Dumbya Bush, the Dictator of Amerikkka. The image I refer to is on the net right now, and to me it looks just like any Stalinist, Fascist, or, yes, Nazi image of "Our Noble Leader" preaching to the multitudes of sheep.

Bush tells us that US soldiers will be in Iraq for years to come. Just like Vietnam! Only of course he does not mention that past Amerikan military misadventure.

He claims "success" in Afghanistan, never mind that that country remains an Islamo-fascist hellhole.

And once again with the hypocritical demand that Iran not build any o'them "nucular" weapons. Because only Uncle Sam and his bestest friends like the Israelis are allowed to do that!

One half of my men's NCAA bracket is totally toast thanks to North Chokealina and The Chokehio State University losing. All I have left to hope for there is for U-Conn and Villanova to win their next games.

In the Atlanta part of the bracket, on the other hand, I am almost perfect with my picks, missing only on Iowa in the first round.

In the Oakland bracket I messed up by picking both Kent State (what the hell was I thinking?) and Marquette to advance two rounds. At least Memphis and Gonzaga are still in.

I ended up getting 24 of 32 in the first round and 10 of 16 in the second, going with my original picks.

In the women's tourney I correctly called 21 of 32 first round games. The second round concludes today. At this point all four of my Final Four women's teams are still in (Tennessee, Baylor, Duke, LSU).

My biggest goofs so far in the women's bracket are Temple, Louisiana Tech, and to a lesser extent Tulsa and Bowling Green.

The Michigan men beat Notre Dame in the NIT and play Miami of Florida next.

I found these Bits O'Nonsensical Gibberish on the walls of Beautiful Downtown Flint today, and more importantly may have learned the identity of Flint's Resident Dadaist Graffiti Artist!

First, for the new Poems on the Aboveground Walls:
"HAS NOT HEALING HEALERS IN AREA ON AREAS?"

"42100%" (yes, just the number and the percent sign...as always your guess is as good as mine)

"ALL SAFETY TOPICS?"

So, basically two unanswerable and nonsensical questions and a strange looking percent.

I also found two identical business cards on the sidewalk of Saginaw Street, with the following wording that seems very much like that which gets magic markered onto the walls of Downtown Flint's many Potemkin Village-esque vacant buildings:

"OUR CONSTANT PSYCHE CONDITIONS EACHLY! ALSO OUR ACTUAL CREATORS CONDITIONS INDIVIDUALLY TOO!"

OK, whatever!

Then we get something that actually makes some sense..."THE CONDITIONS: "ALWAYS LEARNING AND TEACHING CONSTANTLY"

Then we get the phrase "MY KNOWLEDGE" and the name "Milton Frank Harding."

So I am thinking that Milton Frank Harding might be the name of the person who is magic markering these bizarre screeds on the buildings (and in at least one instance, a sidewalk).

Then comes the apparent initialism "SYWYK" which I have observed in several of this person's graffiti rantings. Still no clue as to what if anything this might mean or stand for.

This is followed by "LOCAL 395." So "SYWYK" (whatever that is) has locals?????

As they used to say on the "X Files"...The Truth Is Out There.

Villanova hangs on for the win over Arizona, so one more win for the Gonzo Journalist.

My bracket for the men's NCAA is getting more and more messed up, as two of my picks for the Final Four go down in round two. Those being North CHOKEolina and CHOKEhio State (oops, make that THE Chokehio State University!).

Thanks a lot, Tar Heels and Buckeyes! You both suck!

Arizona-Villanova is the only second round game remaining...I picked Villanova and at this point they are ahead.

Tennessee drubs Army 102-54 in NCAA women's tournament action, and the Volunteers' Candace Parker becomes the first woman college player to dunk twice in the same game. Good for her, and more proof that women athletes are capable of anything they want to do!

Hartford upsets Temple in the first round, which sucks for me because I had Temple advancing three rounds. Temple, you suck, and I will never pick you to win anything again, not even a CYO tournament.

St. John's beats California in another of the hard to call 7 vs. 10 seed matchups. The only thing harder to call is the 8 vs. 9 seeds. I picked California, so another "L" for the old Gonzo Journalist.

Purdue beats Missouri State, so at least I got a win there. I have Bowling Green knocking out Purdue next, right after they take down UCLA. Am I out of my mind? We will see what we will see...

In first round women's NCAA action, I got North Carolina over UC Riverside (like there was any doubt about that one) but missed on the always tough 8 vs. 9 seed game where I picked Louisville but Vanderbilt won.

I was right on all four games played yesterday in the Albuquerque bracket: Utah over Middle Tennessee, Arizona State over Stephen Austin, New Mexico in the upset over Florida, and Baylor over Northern Arizona.

I got both games right in the Bridgeport, Conn. bracket: Kentucky over Chattanooga and Michigan State over Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

In the San Antonio bracket, all of the first round games have been played. I called LSU over Florida Atlantic, Tulsa in the upset over North Carolina State, DePaul over Liberty, Stanford over SE Missouri, and Oklahoma over Pepperdine. I missed on Minnesota over Washington (Washington won), Iowa over Brigham Young (Iowa choked), and in the biggest hit of all, Louisiana Tech choked against Florida State. I had La. Tech advancing THREE ROUNDS! Thanks for nothing, Techsters!

Duke finishes off George Washington, and becomes the first team in the men's tourney to advance past the second round.

Utah barely beats Middle Tennessee in the women's NCAA. Whew...that was a close one. I picked Utah so it looks like win number two for me!

And make it win number three as Oklahoma holds off a second half rally by Pepperdine.

Another women's final as Washington beats Minnesota. I picked Minny, so that's a big fat "L" for me as well as for them.

And now for some early results from the women's NCAA's.

Michigan State led Wisconsin-Milwaukee by a mere one point at the half, but pulled away to win 65-46. I basically expected as much or worse for Wisco-Milw, but Kentucky is going to take the Spartans out in the second round.

Several other women's games in progress at the moment...I'll report back when they go final.

Just under four minutes to go till the half and Duke is almost doubling up Geo Washington at 36-20 in second round men's NCAA action. Could soon be lights out for Geo Washington.

Lots of upsets and near upsets on the second day of the first round of the men's NCAA's. And here's how I did with my picks...

I was right on West Virginia over Southern Illinois, NC State over Cal-Berkeley, and Texas over Penn. Texas had a harder time with Penn than expected, winning by only eight.

Iowa let me down in a big way by losing to Northwestern State, the state in this case being Louisiana. The Hawkeyes suck! If not for them I would have gotten all the first round games right in the Atlanta bracket.

Memphis stomped Oral Roberts (who stinks) which was pretty much expected by all except the most deluded Oral Roberts backers. Bucknell did it again, another first round win and I called it! I also correctly called another first round choke job by Kansas as they lost to Bradley. Maybe they should change their cheer to "Rock! Choke! Jayhawk!" I was not so lucky with my foolish pick of Kent State over Pitt, as Pitt prevailed.

Connecticut had all kinds of trouble with U of Albany, who very nearly became the first 16 seed to knock off a 1 seed. But it was not to be as U-Conn won and fulfilled my prediction.

I also got North Carolina over Murray State correct, although the Tar Heels (like U-Conn) also had a very tough time in this game and only won by four points.

George Mason beat Michigan State! I repeat, GEORGE MASON BEAT MICHIGAN STATE!!! I knew this would happen, and predicted as much. And so the Spartans head back to East Lansing to get drunk, riot, and do whatever else they like doing there at Moo U.

I was wrong about UAB beating Kentucky, but Kentucky's five point margin of victory does not bode well for them lasting much longer. U-Conn will take them out in the next game.

Monmouth did a good job on defense and held Villanova to just 58 points. That being the good news for Monmouth. The bad news being that Villanova did even better on defense and held Monmouth to a paucity of 45 points. By the way, I picked Villanova.

I also correctly called Georgetown over Northern Iowa and Ohio State over Davidson. In the latter game, Davidson played very well, actually leading the heavily favored Buckeyes at halftime and losing by only eight in the end.

I was wrong on Wisconsin over Arizona, as the Badgers got beat badly. That's OK, because 'Zona is going down to 'Nova anyway.

More to come...

One day of March Madness (for the men, anyway) is in the books and here's how I did with my picks...

In the Atlanta regional I scored a perfect four of four, with Duke, Geo Washington, LSU and Texas A&M all winning. That last one being particularly satisfying for me, as the whiney jackass also known as Jimmy Boeheim gets to slither back to Sorrycuse whining all the way! See ya, Jimmy Boy!

Over to the Oakland regional where I did not do quite as well. I had Marquette advancing two rounds, that isn't going to happen since they choked in the opening game against Alabama. Thanks a lot, guys! I also had San Diego State winning but Indiana spoiled that one.

A very close call for Gonzaga had me once again questioning my sanity in picking the Zags to go all the way...but they managed to survive.

UCLA over Belmont was basically a no-brainer.

On to Washington DC and another perfect score for the Gonzo Journalist...Washington, Illinois, Wichita State and Tennessee all won although the Vols just barely escaped being eliminated by 15 seed Winthrop.

Finally, the Minneapolis regional. Like Marquette, I had Oklahoma advancing two rounds. And like Marquette, the Sooners lived up to their nickname and exited the tourney sooner rather than later as Wisconsin-Milwaukee pulled off the upset. All I can say to Oklahoma is "you guys suck!"

I also missed on Nevada over Montana, but that's OK because I had Boston College taking them down in the second round anyway.

I did get Boston College and Florida right.

Much more of this to come from both the women's and men's tourneys.

And in the men's NIT, Michigan advances with a win over UTEP and plays Notre Lame next. No, that was not a typo...I really meant "Notre LAME."

Monmouth pounded Hampton 71-49 in the "play-in" game of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, therefore earning the right to more than likely be drubbed by Villanova in the actual first round game. A #16 seed (that's Monmouth, folks) has never ever beaten a #1 seed (that would be Villanova). Good luck to Monmouth, they will need it.

Meanwhile, Michigan hosts UTEP tomorrow night in the Wolverines' NIT opener. If not for a late season fade out, Michigan could have made the Big Dance. Now they will have to settle for an attempt at another NIT title.

Terrell Owens is finally released by the Philadelphia Eagles. He is a very talented player, but also has a ton of personal baggage and so who knows which team if any will want to take a chance on him?

In other NFL news, Daunte Culpepper goes from Minnesota to Miami for a second round draft pick. We will see how this works out for both teams. Miami seems to have not had much stability at QB since Dan Marino retired. As for the Vikings, perhaps they are just feeling a need to retool after many years of coming close but never quite getting it done.

And now for my first round picks in the women's NCAA tournament:

In the Cleveland regional, North Carolina will have no problem with UC Riverside.

Louisville in a mild upset over Vanderbilt.

Bowling Green in a somewhat bigger upset over UCLA.

Purdue over Missouri State.

Texas A&M over TCU.

Rutgers will have no problem with Dartmouth.

Old Dominion over George Washington.

And finally, Tennessee will lay a huge drubbing on Army.

Over to the Albuquerque regional...
THE Ohio State pounds Oakland, Boston College beats Notre Dame in the Catholic League championship game.

Utah eliminates Middle Tennessee, and Arizona State takes care of Stephen F. Austin.

New Mexico upsets Florida, and defending national champion Baylor beats Northern Arizona.

California-Berkeley over St. John's of New York, and Maryland easily over Sacred Heart.

Now for Bridgeport, Connecticut...
Duke stomps Southern (again, as in the men's tourney, I ask...Southern WHAT?)
South Florida beats Southern California. Lots of Southern teams of various kinds in this part of the bracket.
Kentucky takes out Chattanooga, and Michigan State beats Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Temple defeats Hartford, Georgia does the same to Marist (that almost looked like "Marxist" in the fine print of the bracket I printed!!!)
Missouri over Virginia Tech, and, not surprisingly, Connecticut over Coppin State (like you think I would really pick Coppin State???).

The fourth and final part of the women's bracket is the San Antonio regional...
LSU mercilessly drubs Florida Atlantic, and Minnesota beats Washington.
Tulsa in the upset over North Carolina State, and DePaul over Liberty.
Louisiana Tech trips up Florida State, and Stanford routs Southeast Missouri State.
Iowa dismisses Brigham Young, and Oklahoma takes down Pepperdine. And what the hell is a Pepperdine anyway???

Stay tuned for second round picks.

Ok, here we go with some first round picks for the men's NCAA b-ball tourney:

Villanova will mercilessly drub Monmouth. Or they will mercilessly drub Hampton, depending on whether Monmouth or Hampton wins the farce known as the "play in game."

Wisconsin will beat slightly higher seeded Arizona.

Nevada over Montana, and Boston College over Pacific.

Oklahoma will prove to be too much for Wisconsin-Milwaukee to handle, as will Florida be too much for South Alabama.

In another hard to call matchup between a 7 and a 10 seed, Georgetown will beat Northern Iowa.

Oh how I hate Ohio State...but I just don't honestly see them losing to the likes of Davidson.

On to the Washington DC regional...U-Conn will pound Albany, take that to the bank.

UAB will knock off Kentucky.

Washington over Utah State, and Illinois over Air Force.

George Mason (who is he and why did they name a college after him?) will upset Michigan State...you heard it here first! Tom Izzo will whine all the way back to East Lansing.

North Carolina will have no problem with Murray State.

Wichita State sends Seton Hall packing, and Tennesee deep sixes Winthrop (what the hell is a Winthrop anyway, and who did they bribe to get into the Big Dance?)

Over to the Oakland regional. Top seed Memphis will lay a whopping drubbing on Oral Roberts. By the way, just for the record, Oral Roberts stinks!

Bucknell will do what they did last year and pull off a first round upset, this time over Arkansas.

In two of my most Out of My Mind picks, I have 12 seed Kent State ousting Pitt and 13 seed Bradley dismissing Kansas. We will see what we will see, ho ho!

I have not been too impressed with Indiana, so I think San Diego State takes them down.

Gonzaga over Xavier, on the way to an eventual national championship for the 'Zags!

Marquette over Alabama and UCLA over Belmont (another one of those teams I never knew existed).

Finally, the Atlanta regional...

Duke easily thumps Southern. Southern WHAT, exactly???

George Washington over N.C. Wilmington.

Texas A&M eliminates Sorrycuse and their jackass coach Jimmy Boeheim. Bye bye, Jimmy, you jackass!

LSU beats Iona without much trouble.

West Virginia over Southern Illinois.

Iowa beats Northwestern State (which state, I wonder???).

North Carolina State defeats California-Berkeley. I like Berkeley but NC State has a better team.

And finally, Texas will have no problemo with Pennsylvania.

That's all...Good Night and Good Luck.

This Gonzo Journalist went to a peace rally in Detroit last night. In these times of impending Republicrat/Demublican/Corporate Consensus Fascism, it was good to touch base with some other Greens, Socialists, and others who are fighting the status quo. It was also nice to see some friends who I had not seen in a while, and to make some new friends.

And so the struggle for a better world continues....

The Madness of March is upon us once again, with the women's and men's college basketball conference tournaments being played as this is written. I will have more to say after the brackets are set, but for right now I will say this much...Gonzaga will win the men's national championship, and Duke will win the women's national championship.

I picked 'Zaga to win the men's tournament last season, how did that one work out? Not too damned well, thank you very much! But I have a good feeling about them this time around.

As for the women's tourney, I (as a long suffering fan of the Michigan team) have already made up my mind that I want all the other Big Ten teams to get beat early and badly. So that leaves all of them out of my championship consideration. North Carolina is the current number one in both polls, but I like Duke to win the tournament.

More to come on all this.

And now, Today's Poems on the Aboveground Walls* of Flint, Michigan...

I went for a stroll in the not-quite-Spring but still fairly pleasant weather today and found the walls of downtown Flint Chock Full O'Bizarre, Dadaist Gibberish, some examples of which follow.

On the wall of the former Detroit and Northern Savings Bank which is now part of the Flint Journal's physical plant, we have "NOT THE ACTUAL SIZES OF WHAT POLICER?" I would answer that question if only I knew what the hell it was supposed to mean. Also there is still "WE ARE ALL MOVERS!" which I reported on in a previous post.

Nearby is a Flint Journal newspaper vending box with another well-nigh unanswerable question..."HOTTEST NEWS FLASHES DALEY?" Not sure if "Daley" was supposed to be "daily" or is in fact supposed to be a reference to a former or current Chicago politician. Also this gem on the newspaper vending box: "ALL THE DAILY ALUMINUM, IRON, METAL, STEEL, BUILDING AND UNBUILDING TASKS OBSTACLES POLICERS SYWYKS" with the final nonsensical word circled.

On the Capitol Theatre building..."I NOT HAS ALL AREAS AREA THEMES STRAYERS!"

And also, "A LYNN BLISS STARTS ON PLANETS TOOLS."

And finally, "ALL DUES? DO TALK UP ALL OUR ACTUAL CREATORS ACTUAL ABILITIES POWERS RIGHTS ISSUES TODAYZ!"

On the cement base of an electrical box, corner of S. Saginaw and Second Streets: "LOCAL 25 NAVIGATION DEVICES SUPPLIES WHERE?"

On the boards surrounding the currently vacant building at 625 S. Saginaw Street, we have "TODAY NAVIGATION OBSTACLES STRAYERS! MFH SYWYKS STATS!"

Finally, our Dadaist Graffitist has now branched out from buildings to sidewalks! In front of another of Flint's many vacant buildings (this one is at 649 S. Saginaw) is this Scrap O'Nonsense: " A DOCSTATS! WHAT ACTS? YOUR? HELP 800! ALL THE TOP IT GOD POLICERS BROWN THINGS ON IN IT!"

I have seen "SYWYKS" several times in this person's screeds but have no idea what it might mean. "Policers" or "Policer" also seem to occur often as does "navigation."

Your guess is as good as mine as to what all this means.

*-This being a reference to the Simon and Garfunkel song "A Poem on the Underground Wall" in which "underground" refers to the New York City subways. We do not have subways here in Flint, so therefore the change to "aboveground."

My book about the Detroit Shock is at last published and available, at:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookSearch/isbnInquiry.asp?r=1&isbn=1598002767

If you are a fan of the Shock, the WNBA, women's basketball in general, or just like a good story about people succeeding in spite of the odds against them...then this book is just for you!

More hypocritical bullshit from the United States Government, as Condoleezza Rice sternly dictates to the Iranians that "thou shalt not be enriching any nucular (as her boss the Moron in Chief would pronounce it) fuel!!!" Yes, indeed, we are the Cops of the World, as Phil Ochs memorably put it in one of his Protest Songs from back in the day. And very hypocritical cops, as the United States has more nuclear and other Weapons of Mass Destruction than any other country. I have an idea! How about Uncle Sam dismantling some of his nukes for a change? Instead the USA plays the ridiculous game of Do As I Say, Not As I Do and wonders why "they hate us."

Well, ahem, it has been a few days since I had anything to say here, so how about a quick update on Michigan Wolverines women's sports?

The nightmare has at last ended for the Michigan women's basketball team, with a loss to Indiana in the Big Ten tournament. Michigan ends the season 6-23 overall and 0-16 in the Big Ten regular season. Given the lack of depth and experience on this season's team, it is probably not too surprising that they had such a tough time of it. Also not helping matters were injuries to three veteran players. The good news is that everyone will be back next season, along with a new class of promising frosh. So the future looks good, even if the recent past has been a disaster.

Women's gymnastics is 11-1-1 on the season so far, with their next meet against current #1 and defending national champion Georgia.

Water Polo swept six games in the CWPA tournament to run their record to 15-7.

Tennis edged UNLV to go to 4-3 on the season.

Last but certainly not least, we have the Defending National Champion Wolverine Softball Team. They won the Sunshine State Tournament at Tallahassee, Florida and are now 11-5. Pitcher Jennie Ritter was especially impressive in the tournament final against Florida State, as she struck out 16 of 24 Seminole batters and only allowed two hits in a 5-0 Michigan win. Next up for the Wolverine softballers is a rematch of last year's national championship final against UCLA.

Three dozen people protested the anti-gay bigotry of Penn State women's basketball coach Rene "Dick Nixon" Portland at the Penn State-Ohio State game Sunday. This is great to hear, and I hope many more people hound Portland's every move until she is forced to resign in disgrace, just like Tricky Dicky.

Nixon said "I am not a crook!" but indeed he was a crook.

Queen Rene says "I am not a bigot!" But she is, and her bigotry must not be tolerated.