It seems like the winter wasteland that blankets the top half of this country is so intense that few things can bring a solid group of sports fans together. There is the Super Bowl, which is on February 1st this year, but little else seems to excite a nation that lives to love sports.

It confounds me as a basketball fan that I often hear more about pitchers and catchers reporting for spring training than this lovely little game developed back in 1891. The very concept of this sport was developed by Dr. James Naismith to combat the urge to gorge oneself on hot, fattening potato-based food and hibernate for half the day (the other half is spent at work or in traffic trying to get to work).

The conference schedules have already begun in men’s college hoops. I am sure Dick Vitale (the ACC Whore) loves that Wake Forest, Duke, and UNC are in the top five in the AP poll and the top 10 in the ESPN poll. The top 25 in most polls is littered with familiar names from huge conferences, along with the obligatory Gonzaga appearance.

There are some surprise mid-major and truly small school names in the mix too. Butler is coming close to Gonzaga status in the polls after a couple of very strong years, but ESPN has a school by the name of St. Mary’s at Number 22. I did not know anything about these either, but apparently they play in the WCC and are led by an Australian guard by the name of Patrick Mills.

If you want to have any idea who to pick in your office’s March Madness brackets, now is the time to start setting aside your Saturday afternoon and Wednesday nights to catch some top-25 college action and find out who these players are on the court that could be earning you bragging rights and a trip to Outback Steakhouse.

Over in the NBA recent woes have dropped the Boston Celtics from the best record in the league to the third best in the Eastern Conference. Yes, now the Orlando Magic have the best record and the Cleveland Cavaliers have the second best record thanks to the best player in the league, LeBron James.

If you missed highlights from the Cavs-Lakers game on Monday, LeBron and Kobe went head to head. The Lakers ended up winning, but everybody won when it came to a highlight reel that featured James looking like a half man/half beast capable of swatting shots and smoothly dunking the ball after taking off ten feet from the rim in traffic. Bryant was hindered by an ailing team and a dislocated finger, but managed to hit jaw-dropping jump shots while falling out of bounds and seemingly spinning out of control.

This winter while you stay inside and avoid getting together with the guys to celebrate beer and men who are simply taller, stronger, and quicker than, avoid fixing the house and doing anything productive by watching some hoops and daydream that you were once that good at putting an orange leather ball into an metal hoop.

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