It's Got to Be the Morning After

-At around 3 o'clock or so on Sunday, Palo Alto gave a huge sigh of relief as the Cardinal made it into the Big Dance, being seeded 11th in the South Regional. Their first game is against the sixth seed, Louisville (23-9). No time has been set, but the game will be on Wednesday.

-The Sharks defeated the Oilers 3-0 last night, their third shutout in four games. The Sharks season has been kind of one of those seasons in which the team always seems perpetually on the verge of putting something together and maybe this is them putting it together. Or maybe it's just Evgeni Nabokov who is putting it together as the Sharks stellar play lately has been mainly at his hands. Or gloves as it were. Or maybe stick.

-That sound of brakes squeeling and something coming to a sudden stop is the Warriors playoff train as the Blazers smoked the Warriors 106-87. Of note is that this was unlike the previous three games, one of their big guys was once again down with an injury, that being Brittle Baron. The Blazers pretty much took control early and never let the Warriors get back into it. It was also the Blazers first win over the Warriors in the past eight games.

-Hey, look, it's "What will the Raiders do on draft day" story, with extra added 49ers goodness thrown in for good measure. We've been missing those stories.

-Barry Z says he won't talk to the press unless they play nice with Barry B.