Crank it up

Baseball Crank offers a lengthy discussion of the issues on same-sex marriage.
He saves tradition for last, but it turns out to be best.
Tradition alone is an insufficient basis, of course, to sustain invidious forms of discrimination such as slavery. But as to the pragmatic question of what works for society, ignoring tradition is both anti-empirical and anti-democratic: anti-empirical because it turns a blind eye to the actual, practical experience of a much larger sample size of people than any social science study can measure, and anti-democratic because common experience is the very reason why we have government by and of the people in the first place rather than rule by self-appointed experts.

Hey Google

I guess Google couldn't find a decent picture for Easter.
Too bad I did in a few seconds.
Either the first or second O in Google could feature this.

Mr. Hockey at 85

Gordie Howe turns 85 Sunday. Hard to believe it's been 33 years since he last played in the NHL.

Happy Easter

To prepare for services this morning, here's Keith Green's Easter Song.

Oh deer

The Washington Post displays the wailing of environmentalists against reducing the large deer population in D.C.'s Rock Creek Park.
“It shows so little respect for the community to do this during Passover and Easter weekend, when everyone in Washington is leaving town,” said Carol Grunewald, a Chevy Chase resident who was the lead plaintiff in a U.S. District Court case. In a March 14 ruling, the judge reaffirmed the Park Service’s authority to kill the deer if it is in the park’s best interest.
Isn't it safer to shoot deer when fewer people are in town?

Summing up any argument

Over at Ace, there's a pearl of wisdom to remember when you have a disagreement with someone.
"you can't reason a person out of a position that they weren't reasoned into in the first place." 

More bang for your buck

The Big Bang Theory will continue into a seventh-season this fall, after a May episode featuring Bob Newhart.
More Kaley for your Thursdays.

Yankees in the playoffs? Not likely

MLB.com gets 20 of its experts to pick the 2013 postseason.
The group offers four different picks to win the AL East - everyone except the Yankees.
Three of them do think the Yankees can win a wild-card, but don't say how far they will go.
The Tigers and Nationals are the trendy picks to meet in the World Series.
We'll see in late October.

Facebook quote of the week

I admit I've been having more fun with the reading glasses than I'm probably supposed to

Saturday song

It's almost baseball time. The regular season starts Sunday with the American League West matchup between the Rangers and Astros. Teams change leagues, but the greats still claim our memories.

Parenting 101

The White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday will feature cooking demonstrations on eating healthy.
What do real parents think of that?
As I write this, I’m at Chick-fil-A, because it’s spring break over here and I didn’t have a sitter today and my kids were bouncing off the walls. They ate their chicken nuggets, some waffle fries, and small milkshakes. Yes, fries and shakes! They are currently wearing themselves out in the play structure while I tap away on my keyboard, glancing up occasionally to make sure they’re not crying or bleeding.
I didn’t have to sit down and explain calories or making healthy decisions or anything to them. I just provided them with the opportunity to have fun. I gave them their chicken first so they wouldn’t fill up on fries. I sent them off to play. Done.

Mama Grizzly's here to stay

The Other McCain notes another whiny political consultant complaining about Sarah Palin.
However she spends her money, she knows how to pick winners.
That's the major part of the game.

Name the party

I heard a Nevada legislator got kicked out of the body and then got arrested in California.
Which political party does he belong to?
Ed Driscoll found it - after reading 17 paragraphs into the story.
Democrat.
Figures.

Weekend watchdog

Did you pick Florida Gulf Coast to make the Sweet Sixteen?
You also "buy low and sell high" all the time, don't you?
The 15th-seeded Eagles try to keep their Cinderella run alive Friday at 10 p.m., playing cross-state rival Florida on TBS. The winner will play either top-seeded Kansas or Michigan - who play at 7:30 - for the South Region championship at Cowboys' Stadium Friday.
Friday on CBS, it's Louisville facing Oregon in one Midwest Regional semifinal at 7 p.m. Michigan State meets Duke in the nightcap.
The first two berths in the Final Four will be earned Saturday on CBS, starting at 4:15 p.m. Ohio State takes on Wichita State out west, while Big East foes Marquette and Syracuse battle at the Verizon Center.
The second pair headed to Atlanta will claim their berths Sunday beginning at 2:30 p.m.
The women's tournament starts its Sweet Sixteen Saturday at noon with Delaware facing Kentucky in Bridgeport on ESPN. Connecticut battles Maryland at 2:30 p.m. before the action shifts to Spokane - Stanford against Georgia at 9 p.m. and LSU-California at 11:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
Kansas meets Notre Dame in Norfolk Sunday at noon on ESPN before Duke takes on Nebraska on ESPN2. The final berth will be decided in Oklahoma City, with Tennessee-Oklahoma at 4:30 p.m. and Baylor meeting Louisville at 7 p.m.
The Wizards take on the Magic Friday at 7 p.m. on Comcast.
The 2013 Major League Baseball season - the first with interleague games throughout the year - starts Sunday with new American League member Houston hosting Texas at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
The Nationals close out spring training by hosting the Yankees at Nationals Park on MASN Friday at 2 p.m.
On the college diamond, Miami takes on Virginia Saturday at 1 p.m. on Comcast.
Comcast has an NHL doubleheader Saturday, with the Capitals going to Buffalo Saturday at 7:30 p.m. before Phoenix goes to San Jose. The Capitals head to Philadelphia Sunday at 6 p.m.
NBC Sports network brings the Bruins and Sabres Sunday at 7:30 p.m. after NBC shows Chicago at Detroit at 12:30 p.m.
The PGA tour gets ready for the Masters with the Texas Open on NBC Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m.
The Red Bulls take on Philadelphia Saturday at 3 p.m. on NBC Sports network.
The road to the Kentucky Derby continues on NBC Sports network with the Florida Derby and Louisiana Derby Saturday at 6 p.m.
ESPN2 offers the men's semifinals of Sony Open tennis Friday at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Harvard battles Duke in college lacrosse Saturday at 7 p.m. on NBC Sports network.

Meanwhile on Mars

The Rover Curiosity continues snapping pictures as it explores Mars.
Keep up the good work.

I believe what donors tell me

With all the politicians coming out for same-sex marriage, you have to wonder.
If their donors weren't for this, would they have changed their minds?
Follow the money.

Farewell, Tim

Tim McCarver plans to close his broadcasting career after the current baseball season.
I once shared an elevator with him at Camden Yards.
I was going to the upper deck before a 1992 game, and he wanted to go down to the broadcast booth. My claiming the elevator first made him wait a few extra seconds - not enough to bother the broadcast.

Can you tolerate tradition?

Don Surber highlighted John Kass' column - wondering if believers in traditional marriage will be tolerated.
And while I hear the new moral arguments, about equal rights and equal protection, I've read little about the religious freedom aspects and what the Supreme Court's ruling might mean for houses of traditional worship.
All I'm asking is that in the rush to establish new rights, that tolerance for religious freedom be considered as well.
The federal government has already told religious institutions that run hospitals that they must provide contraceptives to their employees, even if it runs counter to their beliefs. So now, if the government ultimately compels us to describe same-sex unions as marriage, what's next?
What's next?

Better wed than dead

Whatever the Supreme Court decides, there's still fights ahead over same-sex marriage.
“It seemed to me the height of disingenuousness, absurdity, and indeed disrespect to tell someone it is okay to ‘be’ gay, but not necessarily okay to engage in gay sex. What do they think being gay means?” she writes in her Becket paper. “I have the same reaction to courts and legislatures that blithely assume a religious person can easily disengage her religious belief and self-identity from her religious practice and religious behavior. What do they think being religious means?”

Need a reboot

Michael Barone received a comment from an IT professional - focusing on the many problems with setting up the Obamcare state exchanges.
To complicate matters, the convoluted federal procurement rules for hardware and software have to be adhered to, which require mixing different hardware brands, software packages and service providers. Add to this compliance analysis to validate and revalidate trusted sources of data. All legal requirements at the local, state, and federal level have to be met by the design.
Obamacare might work - if government rules weren't involved.
We had to pass the bill to find out the disaster.

Ready to chill

It's been a cold and snowy March in Fishersville.
And the northeast.
And Germany.
Globally, temperature extremes balance each other most of the times, but in recent weeks one has to look very closely in order to identify particularly warm climes in our latitudes. Japan, for example, reports a relatively early onset of spring. On the other hand, the north-eastern United States suffered from snow chaos, in New York, many flights had to be cancelled too in mid-March because of almost half a meter of fresh snow. In the European part of northern Russia has been particularly cold; rarely has the weather map been as deep dark blue over such large areas.
What about global warming?
I miss it.

Driver's Ed helper

When taking the oldest out to practice his driving, it sure is nice for someone to crash into another car outside Staunton.
Look at the emergency vehicles ahead.
Please yield to the police car coming toward the accident.
There's the two cars. How did this happen?
How do you make sure it doesn't happen to you?

Checking on checks

Moe Lane looks at the likely trouble to any background check plan - anybody will be able to check out the information.
I am telling you; this will be abused. And if the feds decide to compensate by making the rules more difficult for everybody then reputable firearms dealers will rightly freak out, because they didn’t do anything wrong. And when they do freak out they’ll find plenty of people on Capitol Hill who will be happy to back them up. Fair warning.

Today's Tied with me

Technorati has this blog tied in politics with Maverick Philosopher, who looks at liberal hatred of Fox News.

Jim Carrey on guns

Do you trust Jim Carrey's opinions on guns?
All he learned came from "The Mask."

Tebowing at the tourney

ESPN tells how Tim Tebow asked to speak to Wichita State's team after they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.
"Some of you might go play in the NBA or you might have great lives. But this is the time you will remember," Tebow said. "All of you all together, ballin' out there together, training together, putting in the heart and sweat, everything, caring about each other. You'll never forget it, guys, this is what it's made of and these are the special times in your life, regardless of what you do in the future."
Sweet.

Gunning for your deposits

DaTech Guy brings together two interesting facts about Cyprus.

• Strict gun control
• A government agreeing to take money from depositors.

Cause and effect or coincidence, you decide.

Score one for Gutfeld

Greg Gutfeld gets CBS to offer a grudging apology for the Amazing Race using a downed B-52 as a prop.
Now more people know about the mistake than when the episode first aired.

Crushing the whale depositors

Zero Hedge tries to make sense of the latest Cyprus bank deal.
"Deposits below the EU deposit-guarantee ceiling of 100,000 euros will be protected, and a loss of no more than 40 percent will be imposed on uninsured depositors at the Bank of Cyprus, two EU officials said. Uninsured depositors at Cyprus Popular would largely be wiped out, two other officials said."
How will the big depositors take this news? That's the story of this week.
UPDATE: Part of Pat's Monday roundup.

Down the slippery slope

Thanks to the Unitarian Universalists for making some of the points against same-sex marriage - where does it end?
Let those who support polyamory speak.
You know we'll hear from them if same-sex marriage gets more approval.

Don't pass over this post

Legal Insurrection gets ready for Passover with a link to an old post describing Jewish holidays.
"They tried to kill us; we won; let’s eat."

Clash of the seasons

The local ice cream stand has opened for the season - with a big pile of snow still sitting at the edge of its parking lot.
The baseball fields of Fishersville were active Saturday - and now snow-covered Sunday.
I want to put away my boots and winter gear.
When?

Did you remember Earth Hour?

Over at Ace, there's a reminder that Earth Hour was earlier Saturday.
I was too busy watching basketball.
How about the traditional Earth Hour song? Go ahead, Trace.

Fond farewell

Pat in Shreveport shares the news of the passing of her mother this week.
Condolences to her and her family.

Brackets and budgets

How does your bracket look going into the round of 32?
Are all your Final Four picks still alive?
If not, you might think you still have a chance to win your pool. If this game goes your way, you can climb back.
Instead, you'll spend the weekend watching other choices falter. In a world with millions of brackets selected, somebody will have better luck.
When talking about our deficit woes, some look at a certain part and think a little tweak can save the day. Raise the social security threshold for withholding a bit and you'll have enough money to keep the program solvent.
But hiking those taxes makes impacts elsewhere in the economy. Plug one hole and another develops.
President Obama may think his bracket still can win - even with 12 losing picks in the first 32.
Like his budgets, it's fatally wounded.

Facebook quote of the week

My brackets are getting busted - which is why I like March Madness. Any given day a small school can play the big guys and sometimes win.

Saturday song

How does he sing like that? Leo Sayer feels like dancing.

You call that a bracket?

How did President Obama do in the first two days of the NCAA tournament?
Twenty right, 12 wrong.
Wonder if Mitt Romney had better luck?

End of the Euro

Time to learn more about Cyprus.
Megan McArdle tries to make sense of the small nation's big banking problems.
The Cypriot parliament may have thought they were giving the government more leverage to get a better deal. Or they may have thought that giving depositors a haircut in order to keep Russian money from fleeing the banks was likely to bring down their government. And in that latter supposition, they may have been right; they certainly know more about Cypriot politics than I do. Are Cypriot small depositors really supposed to lose their hard earned life savings--which they were promised had deposit insurance!--because a bunch of German politicians demanded it?  
We might be entering an era of investor haircuts of their holdings.
Somebody's got to pay, and somebody's going to be angry with what happens.

Find another city, NBC

The past few years, the NFL has had the Super Bowl champion open at home before the first Sunday.
The Ravens won't get the chance this year.
The Orioles already claimed Sept. 5 as a home game on their schedule.
Some other lucky city will get the opening game celebration on NBC.
Hope the Orioles aren't out of playoff contention by then.

Obamacare at 3

A look at some of the things in Obamacare after Democrats shoved it through Congress.
Doctor, doctor, gimme the news.
Exacerbate doctor shortages. Last summer, a study by the Association of American Medical Colleges found that the country will have 62,900 fewer doctors than its needs by 2015, thanks in large part to ObamaCare. At the same time, a survey of 13,000 doctors by the Physicians Foundation found that almost 60% of doctors say ObamaCare has made them less optimistic about the future of health care and they would retire today if they could.
You can keep the coverage  you now have - if you can find your doctor.

Weekend watchdog

Look at your bracket this morning.
It was well thought out and clean 24 hours ago.
You had such high hopes.
Until Thursday evening. You picked Harvard, right?
The second day of action starts on CBS Friday at noon, with Duke playing Albany. Mississippi takes on Wisconsin on TruTV at 12:30 p.m., and  there's more ACC - at 1:30 p.m. on TBS with N.C. State facing Temple, and at 2 p.m. Miami-Pacific on TNT. James Madison's contest with Indiana will be on TBS Friday afternoon.
The round of 32 starts Saturday on CBS at noon with VCU-Michigan, followed by Michigan State against Memphis. CBS heads to Lexington next, with Louisville playing Colorado State before closing the night with  Butler-Marquette. TNT starts its coverage at 6 p.m. with 14th-seed Harvard against Arizona, while the doubleheader on TBS begins at 7 p.m. with Oregon-St. Louis.
CBS has three games Sunday starting at noon, with two games on TNT at 6 p.m. and two more on TBS at 7 p.m. TruTV has another game at 7:30 p.m.
Then we will be down to Sweet Sixteen.
The second round of the NIT continues Friday on ESPN2 with Baylor-Arizona State at 8 p.m. Alabama hosts Stanford Saturday at noon, and Virginia battles St. John's Sunday at 11 a.m.
ESPN2 carries the first round of the NCAA women's tournament, starting Saturday at 11 a.m. Sunday's action begins at noon, with top seeds Notre Dame, Baylor and Stanford playing in the evening contests.
The Wizards have a West Coast swing this weekend, meeting the Lakers Friday at 10:30 p.m.on Comcast before playing the Warriors Saturday at 10:30 p.m.
The Capitals head to Winnipeg for a pair of games Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m. on Comcast. They head to New York to meet the Rangers Sunday at 7 p.m.
NBC Sports network offers the Flyers and Penguins Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
The Hockey East semifinals are on NBC Sports network Friday at 5 and 8 p.m. The finals are Saturday at 7 p.m.
NASCAR goes west again this weekend, with the Sprint Cup race from California Sunday at 3 p.m. The Nationwide drivers go Saturday at 5 p.m. on ESPN.
The Formula One Grand Prix of Malaysia will be Sunday at 4 a.m. on NBC Sports network. The IndyCar season starts at St. Petersburg Sunday at noon.
The Nationals face the Tigers Friday at 1 p.m. on MASN before taking on the Braves Sunday at 1 p.m. The Orioles meet the Phillies Saturday at 1 p.m.
Comcast offers SEC baseball between Alabama and Georgia Saturday at 4 p.m.
NBC goes to Bay Hill for the Arnold Palmer Invitational Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
The United States soccer team continues its quest for the 2014 World Cup Friday, playing Costa Rica at 10 p.m. on ESPN. Spain faces Finland on ESPN2 Friday at 3:55 p.m.
D.C. United hosts Columbus Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on NBC Sports network.
There's SEC softball Saturday at 2 p.m. matching Auburn and Alabama on Comcast.
The X Games head to France this weekend, with coverage from Tignes Friday at 1 p.m. on ESPN. ABC has the action Saturday at 2 p.m.
The NCAA wrestling championships are Saturday at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

Losing liberal ideas

Powerline notes the liberal angst at their powerlessness on guns and Keystone.
Winning an election doesn't always mean getting your way.
The fundamental problem, of course, is that while the Democratic Party remains capable of winning elections, America still does not want much of what the Left wants to force upon the rest of us. Watch for frustration to grow as liberals continue to realize how limited their mandate actually is.

Fixing our exit

With an exit off I-64, Fishersville became the perfect spot to build a combined hospital for Augusta County.
Now the exit needs work to deal with all the traffic for the hospital.
If you build it, they will come.
And need a better interchange.

How's your bracket?

One game done in the NCAA tournament.
In a toss-up year, I made my final four picks with a simple criteria - teams that lost to Virginia during the regular season.
My final four is Wisconsin, North Carolina, Duke and N.C. State.
Let's see how I do.

Miss Bush yet?

Is the United States more popular in Arab lands now than when George W. Bush left office?
Not quite.
Obama's not making much of an impact on the region.
Less than he thought he would.

More snow

There's a trace of snow on the ground and cars this morning in Fishersville.
There's a chance of icy weather Sunday night into Monday.
Where's my global warming?
I want warm spring weather.
It's time.

Ready for the tourney

Miami's cheerleaders celebrated the ACC championship on Sunday.
They hope to see more celebrations over the next few weeks.

Brackets before budgets

Ken Cuccinelli is sponsoring a Baskets before Brackets event for this campaign.
President Obama thinks differently.
He goes for Brackets before Budgets.
At the rate Obama's deficit grows, we'll all need food assistance soon.

Working in the countermyth mines

Ace brings together two stories about modern family life - and maybe we had it better than men worked and women took care of the household.
Think about it when you're rushing around to different appointments, or struggling with who's going to stay home with the sick kid.

Ban? We don't need no stinkin' ban

Dianne Feinstein's assault weapons ban idea won't make it to the Senate floor.
So much talk, and nothing done.
A sixth-grader could have seen this coming.

Help, then hoops

Thinking about the NCAA tournament?
Ken Cuccinelli wants you to think about the needy first with his Baskets before Brackets program.
Time to fill up baskets for kids

Today's Tied with me

Technorati has this blog tied with Kissing Suzy Kolber today. That blog has a big scoop - Jay Glazer with Guy Fieri.

After Cyprus, what's next?

Ed Driscoll looks at the bad things that could happen after Cyprus slapped a major tax on bank deposits.
Banks are fiduciary institutions. The rely on trust; and, if there is a breach of trust, they are cooked. Individuals deposit money in banks instead of stuffing it in their mattresses because they believe that it will be safe there. Once they realize or even suspect that the money they put in the bank is anything but safe, they will take what is left of their money and run — and the bank will collapse. And Cyprus is not Las Vegas. What happens in Cyprus cannot possibly stay in Cyprus.
Think there are any good things that can happen from this?

Risky business

Megan McArdle has the bad news - there's no way to take risk away from retirement.
You're just moving the risk around.
We shouldn't have been surprised--however much financial planners may boast of reducing risk, it is rare for financial risk to actually disappear. What we do is move it around, maybe transform it a bit. But the risk always remains. Unfortunately, the transformation is often good enough for us to believe--temporarily--that the risk has gone away. That is the recurring theme in the history of retirement planning--and, I'm afraid, this article.
Keep healthy, and think about working for a while.
Lest you run out of money before running out of life.

Can we have spring now?

Another small snow storm before the official start of spring this week.
Hope you'd had your fill snow lovers.
It's time for warmer weather.

Sequester his picks

Do you think President Obama will spend more time the next few days on his NCAA tournament bracket or the budget situation?
I'm betting on the bracket.
Forget about going after his golf outings. If there's no solution to the budget by next weekend, he can't attend the regional games at Verizon Center.
That might get his attention.

One shining moment

Before the 2013 NCAA tournament begins, time for a look back at the close to last year's CBS coverage.

Cruzin on a Saturday afternoon

Senator Ted Cruz brought down the house with the final speech of CPAC Saturday.
While he didn't spark the same level of enthusiasm as Sarah Palin, who spoke earlier Saturday and elicited perhaps the strongest crowd response of the conference, Cruz did have the crowd on their feet by the end of his speech.
"On guns, do we surrender or do we stand up now? On drones, do we surrender or do we stand up now? On spending, do we surrender or do we stand up now? On debt, do we surrender or do we stand up now? And on the Constitution, do we surrender or do we stand up now?" he said, as the crowd rose for an extended standing ovation.
Time to stand up.

Play ball and eat up

It's only a few weeks until baseball season begins.
Wyblog is thinking about making a road trip to West Michigan and try the Bacon-shell taco.
The team asked fans to vote on new additions to the ballpark menu. Four of the top 10 featured bacon in the ingredients.
Those foods will have to wait until next year.

Back in the NIIT

For Virginia men's basketball fans, there's still a chance at an NCAA tournament berth.
But it's slim to none, and slim just left town.
Virginia had some nice wins this year.
And some bad early losses.
Enjoy the NIT. You might be able to play more than one game there.

Facebook quote of the week

Just once, I want to go to a game and see Enrique Pallazzo singing the national anthem.

Saturday song

Billy Joel was young when he sang this song.

Does "extremist" always go with "Cuccinelli?"

It seems like every mention of Ken Cuccinelli on Blue Virginia has to use the word "extremist" either before or after his name.
And probably several more times in the post.
Does this play to Cuccinelli's strength?
You keep calling him an "extremist" and when you hear Cuccinelli, he's not that bad.
Nobody could be as bad as Blue Virginia makes Cuccinelli out to be.
Keep calling Cuccinelli an "extremist" and you make it more likely he'll be governor next year.

Friends of T-Mac

Watchdog looks at the connections between Terry McAuliffe and the doctor in the middle of the Senator Menendez trouble.
In his failed bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2009, McAuliffe received two $5,000 donations from Melgen’s company, Vitreo-Retinal.
Follow the money. There's sure to be plenty of shady stuff amongst McAuliffe's friends.

Bring on spring football

The Clemson Tiger dance team performed during this week's ACC basketball tournament.
Soon they will be on the sidelines at the football stadium as the team touch Howard's Rock and stream onto the field.

Weekend watchdog

One more weekend talking about bubble teams. Time to find who's going to battle for the NCAA tournament championship.
The field of 68 will be released on CBS Sunday at 6 p.m. after a weekend of conference tournaments and jockeying for March Madness position.
The ACC tournament continues Friday at noon on the ACC network as top-seeded Miami plays Boston College. N.C. State battles Virginia at 2:30 p.m., and the evening session has Duke and North Carolina making their tournament debuts - the Blue Devils against Maryland and Tar Heels meeting Florida State.
The semifinals are Saturday at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., with the final Sunday at 1 p.m.
CBS starts Saturday with the Conference USA title game at 11:30 p.m. The semifinals of the Big Ten tournament are 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., followed by the Mountain West championship at 6 p.m.
The Atlantic 10 crowns its champion Sunday at 1 p.m., then the Big Ten decides its automatic berth at 3:30 p.m.
ESPN has the semifinals of the Big East tournament Friday at 7 and 9:30 p.m. and championship Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Saturday also features the championships of the Big 12 at 6 p.m. and Pac-12 at 11 p.m.
The first two Big Ten quarterfinals are on ESPN Friday at noon and 2:30 p.m.
ESPN2 has five championship games on Saturday. Albany and Vermont meet in the America East title game at 11:30 a.m. It's off to the SWAC at 4:30 p.m., followed by the Mid-American Conference and Southland Conference. The night concludes at 10:30 p.m. with the Big West championship.
The Atlantic 10 moves to Comcast Friday, with St. Louis playing at noon before LaSalle starts its run at 2:30 p.m. MASN offers the Big 12 semifinals Friday at 7:30 and 10 p.m.
The CAA women's tournament goes Saturday with semifinals at 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Comcast. The finals are Sunday at 2 p.m.
Comcast shows the Wizards against Hornets Friday at 7 p.m. and Suns Saturday at 7 p.m.
The Capitals visit the Bruins Saturday at 1 p.m. on Comcast and before returning home to face the Sabres Sunday at 7 p.m. NBC Sports network will cover the game nationally.
NBC features the Penguins and Bruins Sunday at 12:30 p.m., after the Sharks take on the Kings Saturday at 10:30 p.m. on Comcast.
Vermont visits Boston College in the Hockey East tournament on NBC Sports network Friday at 7 p.m.
The PGA tour goes to Tampa Bay this weekend, with coverage on NBC Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m.
NASCAR heads to Thunder Valley this weekend, with the Sprint Cup race Sunday at noon on FOX. The Nationwide racers go Saturday on ESPN2 at 2 p.m.
Stay up late for the Australian Grand Prix Sunday at 2 a.m. on NBC Sports network.
The Orioles face the Twins in spring training action Sunday at 1 p.m. on MASN, while the Nationals take on the Astros Saturday at 6 p.m.
D.C. United battles on the Red Bulls Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on NBC. There's a pair of games on NBC Sports network Saturday, with the Fire against Kansas City at 3 p.m. and Portland-Seattle at 8 p.m. ESPN2 offers Dallas against Houston Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Panibas Open tennis championship matches will be on ESPN2 Sunday at 3 p.m.

Soda ban goes flat

Rich Lowry adds a super-sized smackdown on Mayor Bloomberg's big grab against Big Gulps - except Big Gulps weren't covered in the soda ban.
Bloomberg managed to craft a measure with the least possible bang for the diktat. It forbids drinks over 16 ounces at restaurants and delis, movie theaters and food carts. It doesn’t ban them at supermarkets or convenience stores, where people buy some 80 percent of their soda. It leaves 7-Eleven and its signature, unapologetically gut-busting drink, the Big Gulp, unmolested.
In other words, the soda ban is like prohibiting cigarette advertising — except for Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man. Or like forcing top-shelf New York restaurants such as Per Se and La Grenouille to no longer serve bottles of wine as a way to fight alcoholism.
Drink up to the judge who stopped the soda grab.

Where's the "fiscal reality-based community?"

Legal Insurrection awaits the looming Democratic battle - coming to grips with fiscal reality.
The left-wing of the Democratic Party loves to refer to itself as the “reality-based community.” In fact, it is the fantasy-based community, living in a fiscal la la land.
La la land is about to meet Fiscal Reality. If Obama and Democratic leaders give in to reality, it will demoralize and infuriate the Democratic Party base even more than the Obama tax increase of 2012-2103 did the same to Republicans.

CPAC's leadoff hitter

Ken Cuccinelli got his invite to CPAC - and spoke Thursday morning.
Throughout his speech, he touched upon five elements: tax reform, simplifying regulations, balance budget, education, and fixing corrections system.
Good to bring some plain talk to CPAC.

New Viral Read

The Other McCain has a new gig - editor in chief of a new site called Viralread.
A new site to check on.

The Democrats' Mitt Romney

Reading about Terry McAuliffe's weaknesses - what are the cabinet offices? - I see him stressing his business experience.
McAuliffe says his career of "taking over struggling companies, learning them, fixing them up" is an asset he would bring to the office:
"As it relates to running the government and working with it: I've done it. I've managed many different operations. And I will be up to that."
I remember Mitt Romney talking about that kind of experience.
Experience that could help our struggling economy.
Wonder if McAuliffe sees his business experience as Romney saw his?

Nerd at a party

Politico's story on Republicans and taxes contains this nugget about President Obama.
House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the third-ranking House Republican, told us about an exchange he had with Obama at Saturday night’s white-tie Gridiron dinner. During a break in the program, McCarthy saw an empty chair next to Obama and decided to seize the chance. Surprised Obama wasn’t working the room, and thinking the president really is a loner, McCarthy walked up to the head table. He found the president was reading his BlackBerry.
It's a party. Get your nose out of your electronic toys and talk to somebody - anybody.
The blackberry can wait for the ride home.
You'll learn more from real people.

Make a product; jump through hoops

Through Facebook, I found a former co-worker has started a business in Crozet.
It's a home recipe with a dash of government help - and hoops to jump through.
Peg’s Salt is classified as dry goods but before she could start packing up jars there were zoning issues and health department requirements to satisfy. “If you’re doing something in the kitchen, the health department has to come approve it and the zoning has to be approved. It’s neither fast, easy or inexpensive. You can’t just start to throw your food together willy-nilly. I really appreciate all this, but organizing my production around all that was really nuts."
Best of luck with the new business.

Today's Tied with me

Technorati has this blog tied with Call to the Pen, which looks forward to the Orioles' 2013 campaign.

Adding to the cost of eating out

Sister Toldjah highlights a North Carolina franchisee of Five Guys - worried about the impact of Obamacare on his business.
And it isn't peanuts - $60,000 added for his eight restaurants.

For the coffee addicts

I'll drink to this

A New York state judge poured out Mayor Bloomberg's soda ban Monday.
Drink it - with a Big Gulp or two-liter from Dominos.

Where'd we bury the Benghazi survivors?

The old joke goes "A plane crashes on a border. Where do you bury the survivors?"
You don't bury survivors.
Except if it's about Benghazi.
Where are the survivors?

New York wake-up call

President Obama's approval ratings have dropped in New York.
Glad to see you guys catching up with us.

Settle your imagination act

A salute to Maryland state senator J.B. Jennings, who wants to curtail educator panic when a student makes something that might look like a gun.
No worries about lethal pop tarts.
Drawings don't hurt people, jumping to bad conclusions hurts people.

Watch out for TurboTax

Minnesota has found some problems with TurboTax in the state.
It's still five weeks until April 15.
Plenty of time for a private company to make sure their product works.
It's not the last minute yet.

Sequester this

How is the White House saving money after the sequester?
White House Dossier has found some of the top secret cuts.

The B I B L E, yes, that's the show for me

Ed Driscoll checks the ratings - and the History Channel drew 14.3 million viewers for the opening two hours of The Bible.
Fortunately, there's more women in churches than middle aged liberal women in the media.

Spring forward to annoyance

Are you enjoying the shortest weekend of the year?
Don't forget to spring back - although Dustbury finds someone annoyed enough to petition the White House to end the annual time change madness.
The real issue, however is not the later hours or extra sunlight. Studies have shown that changing the clocks is responsible for health problems (including increased heart attack and vehicular accident risks) and leads to hundreds of thousands of hours of lost productivity in workplaces across the country. Also: It's really annoying.
As someone who remembers the annoyance of DST not starting until the end of April, I welcome this weekend's change.
It means spring is coming.

Facebook quote of the week

Well interesting morning, saw a manatee floating behind my house and it didn't move at all for ages so thought it was dead, so phoned the police, which is what u do in Florida, and as I was showing the officer, the manatee took a breath!! Apparently they can sunbath or sleep for 20 minutes or more without moving...who knew??

Saturday song

How deep is our debt?
Why not ask how deep is your love?

Idol chatter

American Idol continues to struggle this season.
Has Idol's time passed?
The formula worked for a while, but are there enough singers in the United States to excite viewers? We've seen the different types of performers that can be found.
It's hard to get excited about different faces with stories we've heard before.

It's melting, it's melting

The most glorious sound - snowmelt rushing off the roof and down the downspout.
Bring on spring.

Weekend watchdog

Who's going to the NCAA tournament? The first tickets get punched this weekend.
The Atlantic Sun tournament goes Saturday at noon on ESPN2, and the top teams in the Ohio Valley battle at 7 p.m. The Big South crowns its champion Sunday at noon.
CBS has the Missouri Valley Conference's "Arch Madness" final Sunday at 2 p.m.
The ACC regular season closes on the ACC network with Virginia Tech against Wake Forest Sunday at 2 p.m. Georgia Tech travels to Boston College Saturday at noon and Clemson battles Miami at 2:30 p.m.
CBS gets ready for the tournament with three games Saturday. The day begins at noon with Florida-Kentucky, then UCLA faces Washington at 2 p.m. Notre Dame takes on Louisville at 4 p.m. (will they go five overtimes again?) Sunday, VCU plays Temple at noon and Indiana battles Michigan at 4 p.m.
A pair of Big East games start Saturday on ESPN - Syracuse against Georgetown at noon before Marquette faces St. John's. The SEC tilt between Missouri and Tennessee follows at 4 p.m. and Kansas plays Baylor at 6 p.m. The GameDay crew catches Duke-North Carolina at 9 p.m.
Illinois meets Ohio State Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
Kent State takes on Akron Friday on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. and North Carolina State faces Florida State at 2 p.m. Saturday. There's the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament at 9 and 11 p.m.
Rutgers faces Seton Hall Friday at 7 p.m. on MASN2. There's two more Big East games Saturday on MASN, with Pittsburgh meeting DePaul at 2 p.m. followed by South Florida-Cincinnati. MASN2 has Iowa State at West Virginia Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
The CAA tournament starts Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on Comcast. Two more games are on Comcast-plus at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
The Big East women's tournament continues on MASN Saturday with a second-round game at noon. There's two more contests at 6 and 8 p.m.
Comcast covers the ACC women's tournament quarterfinals Friday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., with two more games on Comcast-plus at 6 and 8 p.m. The semifinals are on Comcast-plus Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.
ESPN2 has four women's conference championship games Sunday. The ACC starts the day at 2 p.m., followed by the Big Ten at 4 p.m. and SEC at 6 p.m. The PAC-12 crowns its champions at 8 p.m.
NASCAR stays out west, driving at Las Vegas. The Sprint Cup race goes Sunday at 3 p.m. on Fox, after the Nationwide racers hit the track Saturday at 4:15 p.m. on ESPN2.
ESPN's Friday doubleheader starts at 8 p.m. with the Hawks against Celtics. The Rockets take on the Warriors at 10:30 p.m.
The Wizards travel to Brooklyn Friday at 7:30 p.m. on Comcast.
ABC features the Celtics at Thunder Sunday at 1 p.m., followed by the Bulls facing the Lakers.
Drive on down to Doral for the PGA tour's WGC Cadillac Championship Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. on NBC.
The Capitals visit the Islanders on Comcast Saturday at 1 p.m. Sunday, they face the Rangers on NBC at 12:30 p.m.
Maine meets New Hampshire Friday at 7:30 p.m. on NBC Sports network.
The Nationals face the Cardinals in a spring training game on MASN Friday at 1 p.m.
The World Baseball Classic continues on ESPN Sunday at 7:30 p.m., with the Dominican Republic taking on Puerto Rico.
In soccer, San Jose faces the Red Bulls Sunday at 10 p.m. on ESPN2.
College lacrosse fills the slate Sunday on Comcast. Syracuse faces St. John's at noon, followed by Villanova-Penn and Lehigh against Penn State.

Big Bang before hoops

The Big Bang Theory had the ladies visit Disneyland this week.
In a few weeks, they won't be in the usual Thursday slot - NCAA basketball takes their place.
Kaley and Melissa have to get ready for the May sweeps.

Taxing Flacco

Americans for Tax Reform look at Joe Flacco's new contract - and see plenty going to the tax man.
By choosing to remain a Raven, Flacco is now set to pay a combined marginal income tax rate of 51.98 percent. This overwhelming tax rate is composed of the federal, Maryland, and Baltimore County income tax rate, as well as the Medicare tax. And that’s excluding his “jock tax” liability for away games – play the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, pay Massachusetts income tax on earnings for that game - and other taxes levied against him such as Maryland’s property tax.Can his completion percent be above 51.98 percent every game?

Who wants to buy my house?

The Atlantic looks at the trouble of buying a big house as an investment - you need a buyer to sell to in the future.
In the coming years, baby boomers will be moving on (inching further through the python, if you will). “They will want to sell their homes, and they’re hoping there are people behind them to buy their homes,” says Nelson, director of the Metropolitan Research Center at the University of Utah. He expects that in growing metros like Atlanta and Dallas, those buyers will be waiting. But elsewhere, in shrinking and stagnant cities across the country, the story will be quite different. Nelson calls what’s coming the “great senior sell-off.” It’ll start sometime later this decade (Nelson is defining baby boomers as those people born between 1946 and 1964). And he predicts that it could cause our next real housing crisis.
“Ok, if there’s 1.5 to 2 million homes coming on the market every year at the end of this decade from senior households selling off,” Nelson asks, “who’s behind them to buy? My guess is not enough.”

What will the filibuster bring?

Rand Paul gave up the floor after midnight.
He's shown he can talk 13 hours about drones.
What will be the White House response?

On and on

Rand Paul's filibuster has hit seven hours.
Grab a seat. He's going to speak for a while.

Surprised? We aren't

Jonah Goldberg lists some of the problems with Obamacare that conservatives saw coming in 2009 and 2010.
It turns out that Obamacare actually makes self-insurance less of a gamble because you can always throw workers on public exchanges without penalty. Naturally, the administration’s response is to look for ways to tighten the ratchet and make self-insurance harder. It’s a typical response. The shortcomings of a wildly ambitious law only justify more regulatory strong-arming.
Are twisted arms covered under Obamacare?

Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop

SWACgirl continues to be excited about snow.
What's going on in Charlottesville?
NBC29 is off the air.
Guess I'll watch Harrisonburg TV people stand on the street, telling us to stay home.

Today's Tied with me

Technorati has this blog tied with Arkansas GOP wing - which checks on the Calvin Coolidge biography by Amity Shlaes.
Coolidge, no Keynesian, proved himself admirably thrifty. His much greater claim to greatness was in awakening Enterprise. Notwithstanding his taciturn public persona, Coolidge, as compellingly narrated by Shlaes, enacted, and effectively, some very good — happiness-inducing — policy, to wit: raising tax revenue by lowering tax rates.
Lessons for today - if you look at them.

Scenes before the storm

Driving home after work, I saw a soccer team practicing for the season.
Walking through Target, there was the smell of grass seed and fertilizer.
Spring is coming, right after this storm.

Fundraising for the TSA

With the news on the TV this morning, the youngest asked what TSA stands for.
He said his school has a TSA and they sell lollipops.
Maybe selling lollipops could help the airport screeners get through the sequester.

Gearing up for the Big Dance

It's less than two weeks until the NCAA tournament field is set.
CNNSi looks at the usual problems - where to put the First Four winners and what to make of the Mountain West.
How can it be in the NCAA tournament with no sub-regional in North Carolina?

Warning signs for Democrats

Jay Cost looks at the troubles facing Democrats as they attempt to build their power base.
Can the Democrats keep these groups happy and grow the economy? The evidence to date suggests the answer is no. Witness the Democratic opposition to opening up domestic energy production, which would have been a no-brainer 50 years ago. Witness the party’s stimulus bill of 2009, which focused more on political patronage than economic growth. Witness the party’s continued efforts to push for a cap and trade system, which would kneecap economic growth. And above all, witness Obamacare, a vast regulatory system that saddles businesses with even more burdens. The Democrats have proposed all of these things since 2009, when they were voted into office to jump-start the economy.

Water is wet. So is the EPA.

Ken Cuccinelli earned a nice victory for Fairfax County and Virginia - the EPA has declined to continue fighting for their "water is pollution" regulation.
The fight mentioned one watershed in one part of the county.
A win there and the EPA would be eyeing areas all across the country.
Multiple governments would have spent tons of money to attempt to meet new EPA rules.
The effect of this ruling and the decision by the EPA to halt their pursuit of this burdensome regulation could save taxpayers in Fairfax County nearly $300 million in unnecessary costs.
Cuccinelli put the EPA back in its place.
Protect the environment, not the bureaucracy.

Priorities

Ace links a thoughtful piece on why Republicans didn't cave to prevent defense cuts in the sequester.
Why?
Cutting defense spending isn't the only danger we face.
Whether or not President Obama and the Democratic Party are actually trying to alter the relationship between the government and the governed while increasing the scope of the welfare-state, a broad cross-section of voting Americans believe they are--and this group tends to vote for the modern Republican Party. They have sent a group of legislators to Washington to represent their interests, and at a high level of abstraction, these people have told their legislators the following: "The present state of our economy and the trajectory we are on with respect to government spending but especially entitlement spending, represents the most important threat to our long-term national security. We understand the requirements of citizenship and that taxes are the price we pay for a civil society, but we are increasingly uncomfortable with the growth of what government does and provides with the money we give it. We are the Party of a strong and rational national defense, and to that end, we have prioritized the threat. The threat is fiscal insolvency, and it must be addressed. We must retain a strong military, but not at the cost of a weakened country."

Can we have a sunset?

George Will questions the continuation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, based on the statistics of 2013.
Today Mississippi has more black elected officials — not more per capita, more — than any other state. Yet defenders of the continuing necessity of Section 5 merely shrug about the fact that race is no longer a barrier to either the nation’s highest office or to state and local offices in what once was the state most emblematic of resistance to racial equality.
Times change. The federal government doesn't have to make local governments ask "mother, may I?" for events a half-century ago.

God outside the box

DaTech Guy notes the quiet passing of the National Council of Churches from the New York scene.
Juicy Ecumenism has the messy details.
The once prestigious and now nearly bankrupt National Council of Churches is quitting its famous New York headquarters built with largesse from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and whose cornerstone was laid by President Dwight Eisenhower. Down to a handful of staffers, the NCC will consolidate into the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
Two generations ago, this group was on top of the religious world. Now?
But as generations passed a funny thing happened. As people of faith continued to be “fruitful and multiply” and as the public school continued to fail their students and people sent their children to religious schools where they were taught an orthodox faith. Denominations without faith started to die, and Catholic splinter groups and liberal organizations like the LCWR found themselves marginalized as young people of faith found nothing in them to inspire them to join until finally they fell under the scrutiny of a Vatican no longer ignoring those who decided to stray.
You'll hear peeps from protesting liberal theologians once in a while. But their power is gone because the people have gone elsewhere - to real faith experiences.

Picking the Sweet Sistine

Religion News Service gives readers a chance to pick the next pope.
First-round voting ended Friday, so we see the popular choices emerging soon.

Mess in Maryland

A Legal Insurrection contributor details the current mess of Maryland.
Remember to get your gas before crossing the Potomac River.

Reduce, reuse, recheck inventory

For one Seattle store, a ban on plastic bags has meant more groceries leaving the store without payment.
Mike Duke, who operates the Lake City Grocery Outlet with his wife, said that since the plastic-bag ban started last July, he's lost at least $5,000 in produce and between $3,000 and $4,000 in frozen food.
Bring your own bag and sneak something out. Or take something meant to be reused and find it trashed.
The Lake City Grocery Outlet also saw a dramatic increase in the number of hand baskets stolen after Seattle's plastic bag ban was initiated.
Shoplifters would fill up their baskets – some with purchased items and others with stolen groceries – and walk out of the store at 3020 N.E. 127th St. Duke would see the hand baskets discarded around Lake City and said the losses from the baskets and merchandise are in the thousands of dollars.
So last fall, the store did away with the remaining hand baskets to try and curb theft. But that frustrated some customers, and hasn't substantially stopped losses.
Need to recheck the policy.

Watch it, he's got a Pop Tart

Wyblog highlight more school silliness - a boy suspended for shaping his Pop Tart into the shape of a gun.
Give the teacher an A for imagination.

Swish

My college closes its current basketball arena today.
My time there included a game between the college newspaper and college radio station in 1983.
My newspaper team won 62-26, and I scored the last two points with a shot just from the left of the free throw line.
I scored, so I was ready to go to the sideline. Then I saw the clock that the game was almost over.
Farewell, Towson Center. Where I shot and scored on a college court.

Saturday song

Why did Billy Joel have a lousy barbecue?
We didn't start the fire.

Facebook quote of the week

Being a depressive pessimist means you are right more often than not.

Keystone coming through

Breitbart sorts through the Friday document dump to find this gem - a draft environmental assessment on the Keystone pipeline.
The assessment concluded that blocking the pipeline would have little impact on stemming climate change nor curtailing the development of Canada's oil-sand fields. In other words, the State Department has concluded building the pipeline will have little impact on the environment.
If you build it, fuel will flow.

Live long and whatever

Nice of President Obama to putter around with sci-fi terms.
Star Wars
Star Trek
Obama is a Star Bore.

Headed to Mars

Will a comet strike Mars next year?
What's bad news for Mars would be good news for Earth-bound scientists.
Observing such an impact, which might leave a crater hundreds of kilometres across, would be a huge scientific boon. Of the geological processes which shape the surfaces of planets, impacts are the ones that humans have had the least opportunity to observe up close. The faces of the moon, of Mars and of Mercury show the aftereffects of such impacts, but the processes by which they hollow out their craters and raise their rims and central peaks have only been witnessed in miniature.

For your car

Virginia Right has some bumper stickers. Maybe they will help Bill Bolling make up his mind about running as an independent.

Weekend watchdog

It's March. Spring is just around the corner.
While the baseball teams tune up in Florida and Arizona, the Major League soccer season kicks off Saturday at 8 p.m. when D.C. United visits Houston on NBC Sports network.
ESPN2 starts its schedule Sunday at 7:30 p.m. with Portland against the Red Bulls.
Virginia continues its quest for the NCAA tournament Sunday at 4 p.m. on the ACC network, facing Boston College. Maryland visits Wake Forest Saturday at noon.
Comcast offers Virginia Tech hosting Clemson Saturday at 8 p.m.
ESPN has a top-five ACC battle Saturday at 6 p.m., when Duke takes on Miami. The day starts at noon with Alabama-Florida, followed by Notre Dame against Marquette at 2 p.m. and Texas-Oklahoma State. The GameDay crew catches Arizona playing UCLA at 9 p.m.
Purdue meets Wisconsin Sunday at 1 p.m.
Iona meets Loyola of Maryland Friday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. Saturday's slate starts at noon with VCU against Butler, then Wichita State faces Creighton. At 7 p.m., Kansas State faces Baylor followed by Vanderbilt-Auburn.
CBS gears up for March Madness with three games Saturday. Louisville travels to Syracuse at noon, followed by West Virginia-Kansas and Kentucky against Arkansas.
Sunday at 2 p.m., Florida State goes to North Carolina then Michigan State plays Michigan.
MASN shows a pair of games from the CIAA tournament Friday starting at 7 p.m.
There's two Big East games Saturday and two more on Sunday. Saturday at 2 p.m., Connecticut clashes Cincinnati and it's St. John'-Providence at 8 p.m. Sunday starts at noon with Villanova against Pittsburgh, followed by DePaul-South Florida. New Mexico State takes on Denver Saturday at 6 p.m.
Drexel takes on Old Dominion Thursday at 7 p.m. on NBC Sports network. There's three games Saturday, starting in the CAA with George Mason-Delaware at 2 p.m. UNLV takes on Nevada at 4 p.m., followed by Harvard against Pennsylvania.
The CAA gets coverage on Comcast Saturday, with Old Dominion-Northeastern at noon and James Madison going to William & Mary at 6 p.m. St. Louis faces George Washington Sunday at 8:30 p.m.
The Grizzlies head to Miami Friday on ESPN at 8 p.m., and the nightcap brings together the Thunder and Nuggets. Sunday at 8 p.m., the Bulls face the Pacers.
The Wizards host the Knicks on Comcast Friday at 7 p.m., then play the Sixers Sunday at 6 p.m.
ABC's Sunday starts with the Heat taking on the Knicks at 1 p.m. The Thunder face the Clippers at 3:30 p.m.
ESPN2 has a pair of women's basketball games Sunday - St. Joseph's at Dayton at 2 p.m. followed by North Carolina against Duke. Notre Dame plays Providence on MASN Saturday at 4 p.m.
On Comcast, Florida State battles Virginia Sunday at 1 p.m. followed by Drexel-Delaware at 3:30 p.m.
NASCAR heads west this weekend, going to Phoenix Sunday at 3 p.m. The Nationwide racers start their action Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN2.
Will the Chicago Blackhawks lose a game this shortened season? They face the Red Wings Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on NBC. The Canadians take on the Bruins Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on NBC Sports network. The Capitals head north Saturday, meeting the Jets at 3 p.m. on Comcast. Later Saturday, Nashville heads to San Jose at 10:30 p.m.
NBC Sports network offers college ice hockey between Wisconsin and Nebraska-Omaha Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The PGA tour arrives in Florida for the Honda Classic. NBC has coverage Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m.
NBC Sports network shows the USA Indoor Track championships Sunday at 4 p.m.