Hail to the Hawk.

[Cerebus]

Having seen all of one St. Joe's game this year -- yup, the one earlier tonight -- my deep appreciation to them for providing some wonderful entertainment against a locked and loaded Stanford club. 9 seed, my ass; if they had gotten a little less hate from the refs, this game could have definitely gone the other way, and being tied with a minute to play should do their recruting good. Assuming no one gets silly and goes pro or transfers, they should be in the Top 10 next year. (I'm now rooting for Stanford to go all the way, and for them not to even have a close game, to further emphasize just how good the Hawks were.)

All of which should not be construed to think that anyone should give a damn about college basketball for anything but the tournament, if simply for the reprehensible economics of it all. It's a guilty pleasure, and not even a good one: after all, Duke wins far too often, and while upsets rule early, you rarely if ever see the Gonzagas of the world get past the Sweet 16. But when the game is good, you can forget everything else, and that's true no matter what the sport, or the participants.