(Also called "I almost wrote a whole post without talking about Pronger!")

1. Battle of California gets challenged.

Hoo boy, I may have gone and screwed us over in a bit of a blog bet. Six sports blogs will each be submitting an NCAA college basketball bracket into a machine, and whoever wins will get authorship of all the losers' blogs for a 24-hour stretch.

Here's the problem: I know almost nothing about college basketball; I pride myself in that ignorance. Other than hockey, the only sport I marginally follow is Ninja Warrior, and I'm pretty shaky there. As such, I managed to talk it down from 5 brackets per blog to just one bracket per blog, figuring that would increase our chance of an upset and hoping that one of our merry cast of writers had some clue towards bracket-busting. Still, we're going to get creamed. Here's the opposition BoC is up against, and my one-minute-glance summary of why they'll beat us. Where appropriate, I linked to their pre-gloat post of how excited they are to murder us BoCers (in most cases, not very).

The Play in California (multi-author, multi-sport) -- These guys started up this contest, and they're sure to beat us. Plus, any blog that claims to be "weak on hockey" has to be super-strong on college basketball. We're toast.

Gossip on Sports (single author, multi-sport)--I knew we lost this one just looking at the categories. Jodie's written about every sport, including cricket and cycling! Damn! There's bound to be a lot of bracket-savvy there.

The Sports Lounge (single author, multi-sport)--Hoo boy, this guy has written more about this bracket than I have ever written about basketball. This guy could probably beat me straight up with half of his picks blank.

Bears Necessity (single author, single sport)--A college football blog, from the looks of things, and doesn't seem too concerned about the hoops side of things, but you can never be too careful with these collegiate sports: they're always talking. We're doomed.

Apples and Moustaches (multi-author, multi-sport)--I say "multi-sport" very loosely. I caught a football and a baseball reference, but really this blog's charm can be found in its subtitle: "Because nothing says 'What the fuck' like an apple with a moustache." With cockiness like that, we're ruined.

So essentially, I am playing Maggie the Monkey to the cast of experts, and hoping that my Monkey-like ignorance can help me cruise to a stunning victory. I've filled out a bracket with all favorites, and it's up to commenters to help rig it into something presentable. Feel free to throw any upset tips you like, please, and maybe we'll luck our way into fifth place. Lookin' forward to my day off.

2. Battle of California gets recognized.

"Dear Earl, our editors recently reviewed your blog and have given it an 8.5 score (out of 10) in the Sports/Hockey category of Blogged.com. This is quite an achievement!"

Well, if you say so. First way you can spot that this formula-driven list is bogus, though: we're one spot up on Mirtle (even if it is alphabetical at that point). There's voting buttons available, so it's probably the last time you'll see that.

3. New blog alerts.

Being such a "great" blog, I'm always happy to link to some new golden-state-devoted hockey blogs (and actually, if there's any I'm missing in the sidebar, I'm all ears). Two that have caught my eye lately are MaverikHockey and We Bleed Teal.

MaverikHockey is a Ducks-based blog that's been around all season, but I'm sort of internet-blind and didn't discover it until recently. Maverik has a lot of good material and a nice chat feature that we enjoyed after losing a shootout to Phoenix. Sorry I'm delinquent in linking, but welcome aboard.

We Bleed Teal is a new entrant for the Sharks, from BoC commenter Mr. Plank who just couldn't sit around while Rudy and Earl cross-posted the Sharks into afterthought status. I'd worry about that blog title, though. Blood isn't naturally teal, you know, and you may have just made Chris Pronger curious. Speaking of which...

4. Oh yeah, and Pronger.

One of my Canuck buddies, who went with me to G1 of the VAN series, sent me a link to an entirely new angle, likely taken from a fan's camera. I think it's definitely worth a look:


I'm expecting a re-ruling by Colin Campbell any day now.