CBS' "60 Minutes" will send Lesley Stahl out to discover what makes Bob and Mike Bryan tick as the world's top-ranked men's doubles team out of Camarillo will get some Sunday prime-time coverage (7 p.m.) after the NCAA basketball tournament winds down this weekend.

What's the secret to their success?

"We're never going to give up on each other," says Bob in the piece. "Other teams are worried if they play a bad match, 'Is the guy...going to leave me on the street?' But we're never going to do that."

Stahl asks the probing question: "Are you the best doubles players in the world?"

"We like to think we are," answers Mike. Or Bob. We're not sure.

"We compliment each other well," Bob, or Mike, adds later. "But us together, and we're one really good complete player."

Here's a clip:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

After Vin Scully was released from the West Hills Hospital and Medical Center today at about 11 a.m., the Dodgers' Hall of Fame broadcaster issued the following statement:

"Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers and I apologize for any concern that I caused. Most importantly, I'm looking forward to Sunday's game, my first of the spring. Thank you and see you at the stadium."

Scully plans to fly to Glendale, Ariz., on Saturday and do the Dodgers-Cleveland telecast from the Dodgers' spring training site on Sunday for Prime Ticket. He also will do the Dodgers' game from Glendale on Saturday, March 28.

More background on the story that broke late last night on KNBC-Channel 4 (lnked here).

Left out of today's media column about the MLB Network's "30 Clubs / 30 Days" series -- remember, the Dodgers debuts today, and the Angels replays several times -- (linked here) -- there are still some things left in the rosin bag:

== Whether the Dodgers or Angels have a shot, or care about, adding 42-year-old former Cy Young Award-winning pitcher John Smoltz somewhere down the line may depend on how much he enjoys working as a game analyst for three different bosses this summer. The MLB Network, TBS and the Braves' Peachtree TV announced they'd signed on with Smoltz, who'll start by working the Opening Day studio shift for MLB Net, then do the Yankees-Red Sox game with Bob Costas on April 6. "From early in his career with the Braves, I always felt that John Smoltz had the potential to be an excellent broadcaster when his playing days were over," said Costas. "Now that that career has placed him on a path to the Hall of Fame, I'm glad MLB Network will be part of the next chapter of his baseball life. John Smoltz has always been a thoughtful observer of the game." Smoltz says he'll continue to stay in shape in hopes of pitching again, as he did a year ago when he was added to the St. Louis Cardinals' roster near season's end for the playoffs. TBS announced that, in place of the fired Chip Caray, it will use Ernie Johnson, Dick Stockton and Brian Anderson as its play-by-play men on its Sunday morning national games starting April 11, and have Smoltz, Ron Darling and Buck Martinez as the analysts.

== Bill Macdonald will sub in for Spero Dedes on the Lakers' radio play-by-play for tonight's game at Staples Center against Minnesota. As you may have picked up watching Thursday's NCAA tournament games, Dedes is in San Jose doing the first two rounds, so after he does his second game on Saturday, he'll be able to return to the Lakers for their Sunday night contest against Washington, also at Staples Center. John Ireland filled in for Dedes on the Lakers-Sacramento game on Tuesday as Dedes prepped for his Thursday opener.

== Angela Ruggiero, the four-time Olympic medalist for the U.S. women's hockey team from Simi Valley, will do the analysis for CBS College Sports' coverage of the NCAA women's hockey championship (Sunday, 10 a.m.). The two semifinal games between Cornell-Mercyhurst and Minnesota-Minnesota Duluth will stream on NCAA.com on Friday.

== The ESPN family coverage of the NCAA men's hockey tournament starts with the tournament selection show on Sunday (8:30 a.m., ESPN2). John Buccigross will host with analysts Barry Melrose and former University of Michigan hockey standout Sean Ritchlin. The show plans to include Enrico Blasi, coach of Miami of Ohio, whose team dedicated this season to the late Brendan Burke, the former team manager and son of Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke who was killed in a car accident in February. Brendan Burke also was openly gay and considered a pioneer in young athletes coming out. Buccigross recently received the GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism Article for a piece he did on Brendan Burke.

== Westlake Village-based Universal Sports will air 16 hours of live coverage from the World Figure Skating Championships in Torino, Italy, starting Tuesday. Almost every top skater from the recent Vancouver Olympics will be competing again. Andrea Joyce, Peter Carruthers, Michael Weiss, Tara Lipinski and Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto will provide commentary. David Michaels produces it. The entire schedule, which begins at 4 a.m. Tuesday with the compulsory dance, is at UniversalSports.com/tvschedule.

== The noise this week surrounding Augusta National -- not from Tiger Woods' announced appearance but for 3D coverage -- is more an experiment than actually providing a service to viewers. Saying this will be the "first major live sports event to be produced in the enhanced format specifically for in-home consumption" is a long way of saying not many will see it, but we'll do it anyway. Comcast will distribute it starting with two hours of the Par 3 tournament on April 7. If your computer is 3D-enabled (and how would you know?) you can watch it online at Masters.com. Otherwise, Comcast customers who have the 3D-enabled TV sets can see it on its service, separate from the 2D production on ESPN and CBS. TV sets in the U.S. with 3D capacity have only been available for sale in the last couple of weeks.

== New Chivas USA coach Martín Vásquez joins "Fox Football Fone-In" co-hosts Nick Webster and Eric Wynalda on Monday's Fox Soccer Channel two-hour live call-in show (4 to 6 p.m., repeated at 8 p.m.). One thing to ask: Will there be a season this season? Fox Soccer Channel has a MLS doubleheader set for Saturday, March 27 if the current labor issue is settled.

AND FINALLY:

== ESPN says it received almost 5.4 million brackets for the ESPN.com Men's Tournament Challenge, passing last year's mark of 5.0 million.

The consensus Final Four: Kansas-Syracuse and Kentucky-Duke.

Don't go out on a limb there.

Among the analysis gleaned from all those entries, says the press release:

0.06% of entries picked "Leigh" to defeat top-seeded Kansas.

Or Lehigh, depending on how much you want to trash the little school from Kansas.

You gotta start somewhere.

The winner is determined by a point system that rewards the best guesser with $10,000. The loser must recite the top 10 Vivian Leigh movies of all time. It'll be a breeze.

And Glendale, Tempe, Scottsdale, Mesa, Peoria, Goodyear, Tuscon and -- no surprise here -- Surprise.

The MLB Network, baseball's self-supported cable channel,has turned the corner on its "30 Clubs in 30 Days" hour-long specials, and the Dodgers and Angels are the first two stops in Arizona for network correspondents Matt Vasgersian , Trenni Kusnierek and Hazel Mae to seek out and discuss.

Peter Gammons has also made the trip west from New Jersey (and Florida) to take in the Phoenix flavor.

We're here, too, scooting up and down Interstate 10, catching a few games, watching how this MLB thing works. We'll focus on it in Friday's media column, as we just finished hanging out with Vasgersian as he talked to Jered Weaver during his stop at Tempe Diablo Stadium (below) and with Kusnierek as she talked to several Dodgers on her trip to Glendale.

Meanwhile, see the video log of material that MLB.com has with previous "30 in 30" shows (linked here).

And if you're still interested in the hour-long specials, here's how it has aired:

The Florida loop:
Detroit Tigers March 3rd
New York Yankees March 4th
Philadelphia Phillies March 5th
Toronto Blue Jays March 6th
Pittsburgh Pirates March 7th
Baltimore Orioles March 8th
Tampa Bay Rays March 9th
Minnesota Twins March 10th
Boston Red Sox March 11th
Florida Marlins March 12th
St. Louis Cardinals March 13th
New York Mets March 14th
Houston Astros March 15th
Washington Nationals March 16th
Atlanta Braves March 17th

The Arizona swing:
Angels March 18th
Dodgers March 19th
Milwaukee Brewers March 20th
San Francisco Giants March 21st
Oakland Athletics March 22nd
Cincinnati Reds March 23rd
Cleveland Indians March 24th
Texas Rangers March 25th
Colorado Rockies March 26th
Arizona Diamondbacks March 27th
Kansas City Royals March 28th
Seattle Mariners March 29th
Chicago Cubs March 30th
Chicago White Sox March 31st
San Diego Padres April 1st

And now the Rangers got some explaining to do ...

The things you discover while standing around at Tempe Diablo Stadium hours before the Angels take the field:

An cool eye-drop solution by a Japanese manufacturer has quickly endeared Hideki Matsui with his new Angels teammates.

Matsui, last fall's World Series MVP for the New York Yankees before coming to Anaheim in a one-year, $6 million free-agent deal to DH and perhaps play some outfield, has been using an eye drop that is said to sting a little more but quickly has a more cooling effect than most of the stuff you can pick up at the local pharmacy.

The name of the secret stuff -- is it on the MLB's list of banned substances? -- is made by Rohto, which we've found on Amazon.com (linked here) but isn't always available. Some have said it can be occasionally found at CVS and Drugstore.com (linked here), where it goes for as much as $8.99 for a .4-oz bottle. It was shown to us by a Japanese reporter who is among the dozens following Matsui's every move.

Catcher Mike Napoli and second baseman Howie Kendrick are two of the Angels who say they've pestered Matsui enough about the product so that he's asked the makers of the eye drops ship him two cases so far this spring to Tempe. Outfielder Juan Riviera even said, perhaps jokingly, that after using these eye drops, the baseballs look like beach balls when they come to the plate.

True or not, Rivera hit his first home run of the spring over the left-field wall in the fifth inning during the Angels' 7-6 loss to Arizona on Wednesday afternoon. Kendrick had a run-scoring double and an RBI single as well.

Matsui started as the DH Wednesday and went 0-for-3.

It happens every spring.

St. Patrick's Day lands in Florida and Arizona in the form of a Halloween-type party. How much can a team sell that's green?

For the Oakland A's, no problem.

For the Dodgers or Angels, eh ... Something you fork out the dough for, wear it one day, toss it in the closet, forget it's there, buy again next year.

At the MLB.com store (linked here), there's a whole selection of green stuff to buy to celebrate the occasion. Don't underestimate baseball's ability to cash in some green for itself on this annual occurance.

The Boston Red Sox have the most items available for St. Pat's shoppers -- 30, including this T-shirt which probably goes over well at an Irish pub and share 'em with Celtics fans.

The Dodgers have only four items, including this women's T-shirt that isn't made by Alyssa Milano. It's called "Distressed Cap Logo Missy T-shirt by Soft as a Grape." Item No: 3950480. Just $19.99.

Order it today and it'll ship in 1-2 business days. Just in time for April I Feel Like A Fool Day.

The Angels have just -- just one lousy green hat. So people will think you're cheering for the Oakland A's.

See how that works?

Now go buy the kids a round of Shamrock Shakes...

When the Cleveland Cavs played a game on March 5, it convinced enough of their fans help establish a new Guinness World Record -- the sellout crowd all wore a fleece blanket at the same time at Quicken Loans Arena.

That's 20,562 according to a Guinness adjudicator. See how happy they all are with themselves? They all got a commemorative magnet certifying their participation at the record-breaking event.

Said Cavaliers President Len Komorosk (linked here): "Our fans were an integral part of the success to give Cleveland the bragging rights of a Guinness World Record."

Not so fast, my King James arena hogs. The Angels can't leave well enough alone.

The team announced Tuesday that on April 6 -- the Tuesday after the season opener -- when the play Minnesota at Angels Stadium, that fleece record will go down like a smelly towel.

All fans in attendance will be given a free Hideki Matsui blankie. At some point during the contest, everyone in the stands -- the team anticipates a crowd in excess of 40,000 -- will be asked to wear their blankie for five minutes. At that point, a Guinness World Record adjudicator will certify the record and hold a ceremony to announce the achievement.

Just as long as they get more than, say, 20,000. According to the Angels' press release on this, the Cavs' record stands at 17,758. The story we found above clearly states about 3,000 more than that.

The Angels say this is the first franchise attempt at setting a record. The Dodgers are alreadyin the Guinness World Record book for attracting the most fans in the history of sports (if you add up the tickets bought season after season ... it adds up fast).

But if the Dodgers really wanted to burst the Angels' record bubble on this one, it could try to top it on May 4. That's the day they're giving out a fleece "This is my Town" blanket to the first 50,000 fans.

Dodger Stadium holds more than Angels Stadium. About 15,000 more. It's just a matter of size.

And it could give USC or UCLA an idea once football season starts this fall .... in other words, this could never end.

Death by fleece.

Say, one more question? Do dogs count in the record? If so, the next time this is broken could at the Westminster Kennel Club event.

Karch Kiraly is bringing back the Corona Light Wide Open, one of the nation's leading grassroots beach volleyball tours.

The tour will make nine stops, beginning at South Beach Park in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on May 15-16.

It is the official qualifying tour for the 2010 US Open of Beach Volleyball, a USA Volleyball-sanctioned national championship that will be played Sept. 17-19 in Manhattan Beach.

The other stops:

== Galveston, Texas, May 22-23
== Siesta Key, Fla., June 19-20
== Huntington Beach, June 26-27
== Santa Cruz,, July 10-11
== Chicago, July 31-Aug. 1
== Long Island, N.Y., Aug. 7-8
== Breckenridge, Colo., Aug. 14-15
== Point Pleasant, N.J., Aug. 21-22

"The Corona Light Wide Open is one of the few beach volleyball events in the world that
captures the true essence and vibe of the beach," said Kiraly, the winningest player in
beach volleyball history out of UCLA. "It's all about playing the sport and living the lifestyle.

"Last year we quickly saw how people wanted a top-shelf, competitive beach volleyball tournament and a package of activities on the beach that allowed them not only to compete for a spot in the US Open, but have some fun and really let loose. This year,
we are taking the Wide Open experience to a much higher level."

The inaugural tour drew more than 3,500 players competing in up to 16 different
divisions.

Kiraly, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, co-founded the tour last year and will be
the chief volleyball officer this year. He will oversee the tournament structure and
rules development, conduct clinics and participate in exhibition matches in select
markets.

Meanwhile, the AVP announced Tuesday that it would bring back and expanded version of its Junior Camps, held in conjunction with eight AVP pro beach volleyball tour events.

"Being on site, the kids will not only be taught the classic beach fundamentals, but they will have an opportunity to experience the soul of the game and a sense of the possibilities," said AVP commissioner Mike Dodd. "Teaching young people to appreciate and enjoy our game is a responsibility the AVP accepts with pride."

Current and former AVP players, along with experienced coaches, will teach girls and boys ages 8-18 training techniques to improve their sand and indoor games with skills demonstrations, drills and workouts designed specifically for their skill and age level. Small courts, lower nets and lighter balls will be used for campers age 12 and below.

Just in time with the NCAA approving sand volleyball as a sanctioned sport, teams can sign up as well. Groups of 10 or more get a $50 discount. More info: www.avp.com/Play-Beach/Camps.aspx.

The schedule (with some dates on Saturday/Sunday and others on Tuesday-Thursday before the AVP tournament):

== Fort Lauderdale, Fla. April 17-18
== Santa Barbara, May 1-2
== Huntington Beach, June 5-6
== Virginia Beach, Va., June 19-20
== Belmar, N.J., June 26-27
== Malibu July 20-22
== Manhattan Beach, Aug. 17-19
== Chicago, Ill., Aug. 28-29

Unless you've taken a really long bathroom break at work, you can't help but know already that Tiger Woods is coming back, at the Masters, in April ... now get on with your day of paper shuffling.

Unless you're ESPN, televising the first two rounds of the Masters for the first time, just giddy that this has landed in its electronic lap.

How will ESPN deal with this? If you've been watching this morning's "SportsCenter," you already know.

It's the Hindenburg of sport stories.

And ESPN just issued this release:

March 16, 2010

ESPN Statement on Tiger Woods' decision to return to competitive golf

"Tiger's return to competitive golf at this year's Masters Tournament will surely be one of the biggest stories the sporting world has seen. We will cover the Masters Tournament and Tiger's return across a variety of ESPN platforms, both domestically and internationally." -- John Wildhack, ESPN Executive Vice President, Programming & Acquisitions


Note: ESPN will have First and Second Round coverage of The Masters (April 8-9), as well as live coverage of the Par 3 Contest (Apr. 7).

-- 30 --

Again, we're not worthy .... but how soon we can't forget:

That's "Big Game" James Worthy with a couple of ladies apparently on their break from the Foot Locker, and their escort, helping to promote 1800 Tequila's new sponorship of the Lakers with a special edition bottle of their premium silver tequila -- purple and gold labels, as per Jerry Buss' instructions.

The bottles go for $24.99 at your favorite liquor retail outlet this week. Supposedly, they will be filled with the stuff that can make you silly.

According to the 1800 Tequila press release:

"This is the first time that a spirits company has signed an exclusive tequila deal with the NBA Champion Lakers. Based in Los Angeles, CA, the Lakers play their home games at the Staples Center. Holding records for the most wins, the LA Lakers have the longest consecutive winning streak, the highest winning percentage, the most NBA Finals appearances and the second-most NBA championships. 1800 Tequila is thrilled to make their foray into the professional sports arena with the support of such a celebrated team."

For real? Thanks for that update, stupid PR person.

The Lakers' response from chief marking officer Tim Harris, which may be used in a court of law when trying to talk your way out of that DUI after the next Laker game: "Our goal is to ensure that Lakers games are the most enjoyable and exciting games to watch. Through this groundbreaking partnership, 1800 will provide Lakers fans with the familiar flavor of the super-premium spirit and a variety of beverage choices to enjoy while celebrating courtside, while ensuring that we communicate responsible drinking."

Damn, they had to add those last three words to the statement ...

As for why Worthy was picked to help promote this ... we can only guess he was the first to volunteer, since Norm Nixon heard about it too late. But then again, according to stuff we're reading (linked here), Worthy may be leaving Lakerland (and his Channel 2 gig?) to join former teammate Michael Jordan in the Charlotte Bobcats' front office.

That could be a deadly combo.... Like the time when Worthy was picked up almost 20 years ago for ... what was it again (linked here)?

Or as Worthy's ex-wife Angela once said (linked here) in a "48 Hours" story after her 12-year marriage to James ended: "That feeling of entitlement, that whatever I want, I can have, and that feeling of invincibility. It's a lethal cocktail."

Mixed, today, with 1800 Tequila. Shaken, not stirred up.

Do not ponder lightly the clip above -- that's Tracy Morgan, as Brian Fellow in "Safari Planet" -- as you read the following press release that fell into our in basket this morning:

Building on the success of the network's rebrand and content transformation, Animal Planet has announced a new show with Mike Tyson, currently known as TAKING ON TYSON, where the former heavyweight champion of the world will take audiences inside the intensely competitive and bizarrely fascinating world of pigeon racing.

Slated to film this spring in New York City and debut in early 2011, the show will give audiences an insider's look at pigeon rearing and racing, a sport that is far from the mainstream.

The novice pigeon racer Tyson goes toe-to-toe against several individuals in hopes of being crowned a champ all over again.

Tyson has a deep passion for the birds and raised pigeons all his life. In fact his first-ever fight as a child was in defense of his birds. But this show will follow his first foray into racing them competitively. So for the first time in years, Tyson enters a sport as an underdog.

"Tyson's passion for his pigeons takes my breath away," marvels Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet Media. "For years, he has been inspired by these birds that he feels have the 'biggest heart' in the animal kingdom."

"I'm honored to be a part of this monumental show on Animal Planet," said Tyson. "I feel a great pride acting as an official representative for all the pigeon fancier's out there. I want people to see why we love these birds. It feels good returning to the rooftops of the city where it all started for me - New York."

So, is Mike Tyson an accredited zoologist? Anything above a sixth-grade education? Got any red-tailed pigeons? Didn't think so.

How CBS' times and talent match up for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, slotting the Jim Nantz/Clark Kellogg team first off in Jacksonville, Fla., so they can see Duke, Louisville, Cal and Wisconsin ... CBS will soon release what their lineup will be for KCBS-Channel 2 -- most likely focusing on a) the Pac-10, b) San Diego State and c) the best game ... Or you can sign up for DirecTV's Mega March Madness ($69, linked here) and get every contest ... As well as sign up for the NCAA's March Madness on Demand (linked here) for online viewing:

THURSDAY:

==9:20 a.m. in Oklahoma City: Florida vs. BYU (with Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner)
==9:25 a.m. in New Orleans: Notre Dame vs. Old Dominion (with Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas)
==9:30 a.m. in Providence: Villanova vs. Robert Morris (with Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery)
==11:30 a.m. in San Jose: Vanderbilt vs. Murray State (with Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel)
==Approx. noon in Oklahoma City: Kansas State vs. North Texas (with Harlan/Bonner)
==Approx. 12:10 p.m. in New Orleans: Baylor vs. Sam Houston (with Enberg/Bilas)
==Approx. 12:20 p.m. in Providence: Richmond vs. St. Mary's (with Lundquist/Raftery)
==Approx. 2 p.m. in San Jose: Butler vs. UTEP (with Dedes/Wenzel)
==4:10 p.m. in Oklahoma City: UNLV vs. University of North Iowa (with Harlan/Bonner)
==4:15 p.m. in New Orleans: Kentucky vs. East Tennessee State (with Enberg/Bilas)
==4:20 p.m. in San Jose: Marquette vs. Washington (with Dedes/Wenzel)
==4:25 p.m. in Providence: Georgetown vs. Ohio (with Lundquist/Raftery)
==Approx. 6:30 p.m in Oklahoma City: Kansas vs. Lehigh (with Harlan/Bonner)
==Approx. 6:35 p.m. in New Orleans: Texas vs. Wake Forest (with Enberg/Bilas)
==Approx. 6:40 p.m. in San Jose: New Mexico vs. Montana (with Dedes/Wenzel)
==Approx. 6:45 p.m. in Providence: Tennessee vs. San Diego State (with Lundquist/Raftery)

FRIDAY:

== 9:15 a.m. in Buffalo: West Virginia vs. Morgan State (with Gus Johnson and Len Elmore)
== 9:25 a.m. in Milwaukee: Xavier vs. Minnesota (with Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel)
== 9:30 a.m. in Jacksonville: Temple vs. Cornell (with Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg)
== 11:30 a.m. in Spokane: Purdue vs. Siena (with Tim Brando and Mike Gminski)
== Approx. noon in Buffalo: Clemson vs. Missouri (with Johnson/Elmore)
== Approx. 12:10 p.m. in Milwaukee: Pittsburgh vs. Oakland (with Eagle/Spanarkel)
== Approx. 12:15 p.m. in Jacksonville: Wisconsin vs. Wofford (with Nantz/Kellogg)
== Approx. 2 p.m. in Spokane: Texas A&M vs. Utah State (with Brando/Gminski)
== 4:10 p.m. in Buffalo: Gonzaga vs. Florida State (with Johnson/Elmore)
== 4:15 p.m. in Milwaukee: Oklahoma State vs. Georgia Tech (with Eagle/Spanarkel)
== 4:20 p.m. in Spokane: Michigan State vs. New Mexico State (with Brando/Gminski)
== 4:25 p.m. in Jacksonville: Duke vs. Arkansas Pine Bluff/Winthrop (with Nantz/Kellogg)
== Approx. 6:30 p.m. in Buffalo: Syracuse vs. Vermont (with Johnson/Elmore)
== Approx. 6:35 p.m. in Milwaukee: Ohio State vs. UC Santa Barbara (with Eagle/Spanarkel)
== Approx. 6:40 p.m. in Spokane: Maryland vs. Houston (with Brando/Gminski)
== Approx. 6:45 p.m. in Jacksonville: California vs. Louisville (with Nantz/Kellogg)

Highlights of the week ahead in sports, both here and afar:

MONDAY

NBA: Lakers at Golden State, 7:30 p.m., Ch. 9, ESPN:

As for bewaring those ides of March . . . Don't blink. A sweet 16 games left in the regular season -- the part L.A. fans must refer to as "pre-post-season" -- and 10 of them, including the next two, are on foreign soil (although the finale against the Clippers is technically a road game). Shannon Brown stepped up for the injured Kobe Bryant during their last meeting against the Warriors and scored 27 in a 104-94 win. The Lakers have averaged nearly 120 points in three previous games against Golden State, or about 18 over their average.

College basketball: NCAA women's basketball tournament selection, ESPN, 4 p.m.:

A mere 64 teams (not 65) get in, and three will probably be from the Pac-10 (Stanford, UCLA and USC, with ASU and Cal waiting nearby). None will beat UConn, riding a win streak that's just ridiculous. (Although our sources tell us that Nebraska is also undefeated). The games start Saturday. And, yes, ESPN has its own women's bracket bracketologist, named Charlie Creme (linked here).

TUESDAY

NBA: Lakers at Sacramento, Channel 9, 7 p.m.:

These Kings may be some 25 games behind the Lakers in the Pacific Division, and third from the bottom in the Western Conference, but they're .500 at home (16-16) going into Sunday night's game against miserable Minnesota.

College basketball: NCAA men's basketball play-in game, ESPN, 4:30 p.m.:

Pardon the interruption, but it's Arkansas Pine-Bluff trying to bluff its way past Winthrop in Dayton, Ohio for the right to get dumped Friday by Duke. And you still want 96 teams? ESPN2 counter programs against this with a first-round game from the NIT. Flip a coin.

WEDNESDAY

NBA: Clippers vs. Milwaukee, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., Prime Ticket, ESPN:

ESPN decided it was interested in this game enough to add it to its schedule just last week. As to why we like the Bucks to make the playoffs: Defeated (LeBron-less and Shaq-less) Cleveland on March 6, 92-85. Defeated Boston three nights later, 86-84. Defeated Utah on Friday, 95-87 to win their fifth in a row and 11th in the last 12. Milwaukee has moved from ninth to fifth in the Eastern Conference standings and is 20-2 when it holds an opponent under 90 points. As to why the Clippers won't make the playoffs: Teams like Milwaukee on their schedule.

THURSDAY

College basketball: NCAA men's basketball tournament, first round, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., Channel 2:

Grab a cup 'o joe, a few Red Bulls and a scraggly bear claw at the local Dunkin Donuts, then head to Providence's Dunkin Donuts Center to watch the annual event start with Richmond stunning St. Mary's. Other Round One wins we're banking on for Day 1: Washington washes out Marquette in San Jose; Florida buries BYU in Oklahoma City and Notre Dame looks like its old self against Old Dominion in New Orleans. And did you know: On this day 57 years ago, Indiana won the 15th NCAA men's basketball title, knocking off Kansas 69-68. And where is Indiana in today's launch of the annual tournament? Crying in its coffee cup.

NHL: Kings vs. Chicago, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

If all goes well, Bob Miller returns after his shin-dig with shingles. And so does Jonathan Quick, with a new kid.

FRIDAY

College basketball: NCAA men's tournament, first round, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., Channel 2:

Round One one-and-doners, con't: Cal waits out Louisville in Jacksonville, Fla.; Ohio State destroys UCSB in Milwaukee, Utah State (one of the 10 mid-major at large teams) staves off Texas A&M (one of the 24 power conference at large teams), and over in Buffalo - you read it here first - No. 16 seed Vermont sucker punches No. 1 West seed Syracuse, the team that the Catamounts threw under its bus back in '05 during their last appearance. Something says this will be the year a 16 finally beats a 1.

NBA: Lakers vs. Minnesota, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

Welcome back Kurt Rambis and the T'wolves, otherwise known as the New Jersey Nets of the Western Conference.

SATURDAY

NHL: Kings vs. N.Y. Islanders, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

Last time they played: A shootout in Long Island in Feb., 2009, on Jack Johnson's game-winner.

College basketball: NCAA men's tournament first round, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Channel 2:

Back to New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Providence and San Jose for round two.

SUNDAY

Running: Los Angeles Marathon, 7 a.m., Channel 5:

Year 25 of the Great Angeleno Footrace now starts in the Dodger Stadium parking lot, makes a loop around the facility, veers down to City Hall, goes up Sunset to Hollywood and Vine, hits Rodeo Drive, winds through Century City, under the 405 in Westwood, and a sprint to the Santa Monica pier. The Stadium to the Sea course has drawn a lot more interest than before, and perhaps there'll be no more talk of holding in May. There are just more than 200 legacy runners -- those who've run in the previous 24 events -- and in excess of 1 million spectators will be along the route to hand out coffee and donuts to the participants.

College basketball: NCAA men's tournament first round, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Channel 2:

Gotta wrap this thing up and figure out the Sweet 16 travel plans before "60 Minutes," except on the West Coast.

Exhibition baseball: Dodgers vs. Cleveland in Glendale, Ariz., 1 p.m., Ch. 9:

Vin Scully makes his 2010 exhibition debut in the booth, and we hope he makes note of the fact that on this day in 1934, Babe Didrikson, less than two years after she won the javelin, set a world record in the 80-meter hurdles and had to accept the silver medal in the high jump during the '32 Olympics at the L.A. Coliseum, pitched an inning for the Philadelphia Athletics in an exhibition game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. She walked the first batter, hit the second and got the third to hit into a triple play. She poses here with former A's great Jimmie Foxx.

NBA: Clippers vs. Sacramento, Staples Center, 12:30 p.m., Prime Ticket; Lakers vs. Washington, Staples Center, 6:30 p.m., FSW:

Another two-games-in-one place deal, but considering the participants, there's not a lot of incentive to make it a double-header day at the downtown office supply store.

Extracting sports from non-traditional sports sources, so you don't have to:

== From the April issue of Men's Journal, a piece by Matt Taibbi called "8 Ways to Save Baseball," which include ideas about adding a salary cap, expanding rosters and use instant replay and time controls:

"Save the Whales: Now that the steroid era is supposedly over and second basemen no longer have to look like Siberian cage fighters, can we please bring back really gross fat guys with bad facial hair? The best we've got now are Prince Fielder, Boof Bonser and maybe Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton (whose biggest competitive advantage is that he looks like he's carrying a humongous dump in his pants). . . . That's why blossoming fan favorite Pablo Sandoval is so important to the sport - not only is he the only hitter on the Giants who can reach the warning track, but he might be the only guy left in the league who's at risk of having a meatball fall out of his glove during play."

== From the April issue of Penthouse, a piece by Ed Condran called "Glory Days?" which, in addition to examining nicknames, style and money, wonders if baseball was better with drugs back in the day or not:

Yesteryear: Amphetamines and cocaine were the drugs of choice in the dugouts during the 70s and 80s. . . . Even the Pirate Parrot mascot, for crying out loud, was implicated for buying cocaine and introducing the players to the drug dealer. Who says mascots are no fun?
Today: It's well documented that 'roids were the rage during the '90s and early aughts. . . . The upshot is that an entire era's statistics and Hall of Fame credentials have been thrown into doubt.
Advantage: Yesteryear. Not to promote or glamorize amphetamines or cocaine, but, hey, steroids diminish ability in the bedroom. Penthouse could never be onboard with something like that.

More, in Sunday's newspaper edition... (linked here)

Technical difficulties, or whatever they're calling it, resulted in today's sports media column not making it onto the website. More efforting today didn't produce any positive results.
So here it is:

With a boogle of TV networks and cable partners trying to weasel their way into the mix, the NCAA's recent trial balloon on how to expand the men's basketball tournament to as many as 96 participants as early as next year has definitely added some fever to the usual frenzy leading into Sunday's annual selection show.

Ripples of angst began last December when the Sports Business Journal revealed that the NCAA was trying to decide on opting out of its current 11-year, $6 billion deal with CBS this summer and rework the parameters to where it could ad more teams - as few as three or as many as 31 more. The current CBS-NCAA back-loaded deal has three years and $2.131 billion left on it, so there's a lot still at stake in messing around with the magic.

Last month, SBJ obtained a proposal that the NCAA sent to potential broadcast rights bidders, pushing an "over-the-air" network to partner with a cable channel to package the bloated bracket, with more than half of the games going to cable.

A logical assumption would be that CBS -- which has been doing this since 1982 when it wrestled it away from NBC after its 13-year run -- retain the rights and add TBS/TNT in a joint bid. It also has CBS College Sports as a cable partner in 38 million homes that it uses most effectively this time of year.

However, those at ESPN/ABC, which just did a lucrative deal with the NCAA that moves most of the major bowl games to cable, and at Fox/FSN are very much alive in the live auction, depending on the new dynamics.

Once that information trickled out, a swell of backlash came from wave upon wave of media members who felt they had to preserve whatever integrity was left on an event that was once thrived with a modest 32-team dance card.

Dan LeBatard, aka Flounder, writes in a recent Miami Herald column (linked here) that today's sports journalism does, sadly, need quotes around it.

"Sports journalism" ... Can't live with it, can't get used to it...

Writes Dan, with more not-so-air quotes:

" 'Evolution' and 'progress' are not always synonyms. The electric toothbrush is an example of that. So, too, our ability to now get dinner at the gas station. But because survival is the strongest instinct, in humans and in business, sports journalism is being forced to evolve into selling its principles and fairness (its soul, in other words) in exchange for clicks and cash, a trafficking not that far removed from porn.

(Porn is more honorable, actually. At least there, the participants agree to the transaction and get paid.)"

It goes on:

"There's also an interesting generation gap growing between old media, which is either aging or dying, and new media, which gets stronger by the day. Today's kids -- and kids are what make everything popular -- don't seem to be as judgmental as their parents. They want to see Portland center Greg Oden naked and the drunk photos of Texas center fielder Josh Hamilton just for the voyeuristic pleasure in it, not necessarily to judge it. And old media can't keep ignoring those kind of desires, not if it wants to survive. It is hard not to notice that newspapers keep going out of business while TMZ Sports is scheduled to open this year."

Unfortunately, one of the comments left at the bottom of this column is:

"I'd say that this recycled column indicates you've run out of things to talk about, but that would imply you once had something to say. (YAWN)"

That said, Jayson Frye's writingon the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center site (linked here) takes the new media approach into another direction:

News has never spread more quickly or in so many different ways. But the ability to break news so quickly has robbed that news of much of its competitive value. Scoops were once jealously guarded with an eye on tomorrow's newsstand - the goal was a day on which you had a story your competitors didn't, and a second day on which your competitors had to acknowledge through gritted teeth that you'd had it first. But that game is disappearing because of the Web. Web publishing reduced the life expectancy of most scoops to hours. Twitter has now reduced it to minutes . ...

Like a lot of digital developments, this sounds awful at first - another cherished journalistic tradition tossed on the ash heap. But while we'll be nostalgic about the era of routine scoops and exclusives, I don't think readers will miss it all that much - because breaking news will become the short-lived raw material from which sportswriters are free to craft more interesting and memorable things.

Thus, the more logical conclusion: No matter how much it seems TMZ will zap us of "journalism," the nature of the new-media beast is that there will remain a need -- even greater -- for more indepth coverage.

Coverage that, by nature as well, will clean up the mess that other fast typers have created.

Other stuff to wrap your mind around from this week's stuff:

== New Angels TV man Victor Rojas explains in depth why he left the MLB Network for this gig (linked here).

== ESPN ombudsman Don Ohlmeyer explains it all (linked here), including why taped Olympics are cool.

== ESPN exec on Olbermann v. Simmons: "We have moved on from the KO Era. His colleagues at MSNBC no doubt appreciate Keith's management talent ." But he doesn't deny, Olbermann points out, that Simmons is a word-salad tosser (linked here)

== Does Stephen A. Smith have reason to fear showing up in a Philly 76ers locker room? (linked here) Or could he just pull a Mariotti and just no-show?

== Dick Enberg, on his 50th season of covering the NCAA tournament (linked here) and (linked here).

== Enberg, on the passing of Merlin Olsen (linked here)

== And Enberg-Bilas win our CBS tournament bracket (linked here)

== Billy Packer knows why expanding the NCAA dance card to 96 makes sense to some (linked here).

== Don't go away mad from radio Chris Myers ... just go away (linked here)

== The upcoming NCAA title game, in 3D, at a theatre probably not near you (linked here).

== "One Shining Moment," version Hudson.0 (linked here) .. and it's pretty dang good (and the guy who wrote it definitely is on board, linked here):

== ESPN likes Bobby D. as Vince Lombardi ... and perhaps Ringo Starr as Bart Starr (linked here)

== Doc'd up to more "30 in 30" info (linked here)

== Kiana Tom's made-for-TV MILF search (linked here)

== Spike TV's "Pros Vs. Joes" was never this cheezy when Petros Papadakis was on board (linked here).

== Someone in Chicago suggests Steve Lavin give up his cushy TV college hoop job on ESPN (even if they are cutting him back) and hook up with DePaul (linked here).

== What Bostonians think of Nomaaaaar quitting with a one-day Red Sox contract, then ripping it up to join ESPN (linked here)

== The media can't get into to cover the Paralympics? (linked here)

== Thanks in part to Chris Berman, Nutrisystem is sinking fast (linked here) ... so how's Appleby's holding up?

AND FINALLY:

== Aside from this great tribute on NFL.com (linked here), one more clip of the late Merlin Olsen, and Curt Gowdy says it here: He was a can't-miss broadcaster: