Sports Ramblings from the Weekend (sport, gambling, rambling)

March Madness is in full swing, but we'll get to that.

First, Tiger Woods is the number 1 golfer in the world again. How is this not bigger news? This is already his 3rd win of the year, matching his 2012 total. Is the old Tiger back? Or is he even better? At this stage of his career, he will only be judged by how many more majors he wins. Even so, it's refreshing to see a top player return to dominant form in his sport without any steroid overhang.

The next biggest thing in sports that caught my eye was that Ed Reed will no longer be a Baltimore Raven. He was also super classy about it, putting out a full-page salute to Ravens fans in the Baltimore Sun. So after winning the Superbowl, the Ravens have managed to completely dismantle their championship team while grossly overpaying Joe Flacco. They were lucky Dumervil fell into their lap or else it would've been a complete disaster. I certainly don't foresee another deep playoff run, and I'm beginning to wonder how competitive they will actually be. Then again, Baltimore fans aren't allowed to complain, according to Bill Simmons who once wrote that teams should get a five-year grace period after winning a championship.

But the real big sporting event of the weekend was the start of the NCAAB tournament. History was made as Florida Gulf Coast University became the first 15th seed to make it into the Sweet Sixteen, playing their entertaining, carefree, high-flying style of basketball. Another historic moment came when my alma mater, Harvard, had their first tournament win ever. Go Crimson! There were in total quite a few big upsets this opening round, and I'm glad that I got to cheer them on without worrying that they were going to bust my bracket. I get that for most people, the March Madness bracket and fantasy sports are ways that they can gamble a little on sports without feeling guilty. But for those who actually enjoy basketball and gamble on sports with any regular frequency, I wonder if filling out brackets would actually detract from enjoying the tournament.