Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

With the official start of spring just hours away, let’s grab a broom, dust off the cobwebs and clean up a mind more cluttered than the field of 5th Congressional District candidates:

If I get to play Theo Epstein for a day, I offer the National Wily Mo Pena and Manny Delcarmen for Chad Cordero. If the ‘Nats ask for Craig Hansen instead, I’ll stomp my feet and shake my head “NO” for 15-seconds before “grudgingly” accepting.

With Manny and J.D. Drew in the corners, Wily Mo isn’t going to find regular playing time. Cordero is already what we hope either Delcarmen or Hansen becomes. Hurry up and do something Theo, before someone realizes they’re better arsonists than firemen.

5 Hockey East teams made the field of 16 for the NCAA Tournament. UMass-Amherst is one of them. To celebrate, Stephen Tocco suggests eliminating UMass-Lowell’s baseball, soccer, and intramural chess programs. He also wants ROTC to raise the “level of excellence” or risk a transfer to Baghdad.

You probably missed it in all the St. Patrick’s Day and March Madness excitement, but a streak of futility ended Saturday. No, not a politician actually coming up with an original punch line at one of those annual holiday breakfasts, but the Celtics defeating the Spurs for the first time since the Tim Duncan ping-pong balls didn’t bounce the Leprechaun’s way in 1997.

For those keeping score at home, the stunning upset ended an 0-for-18 skid and marked Boston’s first victory at the Alamo since Valentine’s Day 1990. Maybe there’s something about special occasions. Or maybe this team, which nearly took down the league-leading Mavericks one night earlier, is closer to turning it around than people think.

Did you hear Danny Ainge got fined $30,000 for excessive contact with Kevin Durant’s mother? Seems Danny Boy “happened” to be sitting right next to the Texas Freshman’s family during a Longhorns’ conference tournament game in Oklahoma City two weekends ago. A couple of thoughts:

1)Durant doesn’t need the C’s boss to confirm he’d be the first or second pick in the draft. College degrees aren’t necessary for such intelligent reasoning. 2)Remember the days when excessive contact with one’s mother used to result in a beating instead of a fine?

According to the “experts,” the lack of upsets during March Madness shows the selection committee got it right. Hogwash! There weren’t many surprise results because the 10-12 seeds were littered with undeserving power conference schools like Arkansas, Illinois, Texas Tech, Stanford and Georgia Tech.

In years past, Southern Illinois and Butler filled those spots. Now, they’re 4 and 5 seeds, precisely because being given the occasional opportunity allowed them to build programs on, or near, equal footing as the big boys. Perhaps that’s why there were less at large bids handed out to the mid-majors in ’07. We wouldn’t want Billy Packer’s cronies to be lose out on another payday, would we?

Speaking of the NCAA Hoops Tournament, here’s how the top of our SunBlog Madness standings look heading into the Sweet-16:

1. (tie)Paul Todis, Tyngsboro
(tie)Tim Smulligan, Pepperell
3. Anthony Caron, Groton

The points awarded go up with each passing round, so anything can happen. Well, anything except your friendly neighborhood blogger winning! Yup, despite having my entire Final Four and 7-of the Elite Eight still going strong, the best I can do is finish second. L-O-S-E-R!

Oh well, at least one 0-for streak survived the weekend!