So a few weeks back before the NCAA tourney started, there was a big question mark over whether Ty Lawson's toe would be healthy enough for him to play.  I'm not going to bother with lots of links, but basically his toe was possibly going to be healed in time for the ACC tourney.  But it wasn't.  Then everyone speculated that it had to be healthy enough for the first game of the NCAA tourney.  But come one day before th tourney started, things were looking bleak and NC Coach Roy Williams said Lawson was still not able to practice and still having swelling issues . . . So I did the "smart thing" and counted on Lawson being sidelined for the rest of his career and unable to compete even in a pickup game ten years from now.  Last minute, I changed my tourney winner from NC to Louisville thinking I would "outsmart" everyone. Well, we all know how that pick worked out and now  Lawson is making all the difference for the NC team. 

In three subsequent games, Lawson has proven just how necessary he is to North Carolina's national championship hopes.  <!-- END google ads --> <!-- END rail --> He dissected LSU in the second round and followed up by earning most outstanding player honors at the South Regional, where the Tar Heels dispatched Gonzaga and Oklahoma to advance to their record 18th Final Four, one better than UCLA.

Now I'm not even in the top 30 on our Tourney Pick 'Em.  So much for my "smart choice."  But it got me thinking as to why I counted Lawson out forever and it was pretty obvious: Pavlov's Dogs.

via www.age-of-the-sage.org

Anyway, here is what Pavlov's Dogs looks like to me most recently:

via cache.daylife.com

That's right.  Larry Davis the former head of the A's Medical staff. . .   Any A's fan will know the drill and know it well over the last several years.  Small injury; day-to-day, turns into season ending or career ending injury.  It happened too many times for me to count:  Mulder's "strain" that would sideline him one start but turned out to be a fracture in his hip that has by all accounts destroyed his career; Hudson's oblique forcing him to walk off the Field in the ALDS against the BoSox; Harden's shoulder time and time again; Bradley's knee; Chavez' back; Chavez shoulder; Duke's elbow.  The list goes on and on, and the common thread among all these injuries was that they were always pronounced as minor day-to-day injuries which would not limit the player for very long.  LIES A's Medical Staff! DAMN LIES!

So you see, I got used to being lied to.  You might as well call me Dmitri or Sergei and tell me to fetch becaue I just got used to it.  So that's why I picked Louisville over NC in the National Title game.  Because of Ty Lawson's big ass toe, the A's doctors, and some russian dogs.

So if you could change just one of your picks, which would it be?

Here are some Cal related links:

Cal swimmer wins nation's top award

Senior swimmer Dana Vollmer, who won a pair of individual NCAA title while leading Cal to the national team championships, has been chosen as the country's top collegiate female athlete in swimming & diving. The honor was based on the results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program, now in its 33rd year.

Ashley Walker named USBWA All-America

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has chosen the recipients of its 2008-09 women's postseason honors, naming Golden Bear senior forward to its 11-member All-American team.

Women's LaCrosse set school goal record in rout of St. Mary's

California scored a school-record 22 goals to rout MPSF foe Saint Mary's, 22-13, on Wednesday at Memorial Stadium.

Cal Baseball gets smacked around by LB State 19 - 7. Ouch!

Tim Floyd to be named U of A BBall Coach

Tim Floyd will be named basketball coach at Arizona, Mark Asher of Sports 620 KTAR, ESPN's radio affiliate in Phoenix, is reporting according to multiple sources.

Honestly, this hire doesn't scare me at all.  To me Floyd is a middle of the Pac coach.  When I heard rumors that Oklahoma's Jeff Caple was in the running, I was worried because I think Caple is on the verge of becoming a great coach.  Tim Floyd . . . not so much.