Time to lose the black uniforms

Florida basketball's loss to LSU wasn't surprising, but it was another missed opportunity in a season with far too many of them. Tennessee in Gainesville Sunday now becomes a virtual must win. The Vols are disjointed away from Knoxville, humiliated UF the last time out so motivation shouldn't be an issue, and their own coach says they don't play unselfishly or compete well. If you're a tournament team, you beat Tennessee in your building. Florida could still get to the NCAAs without beating UT, but I think they have to treat it as if they wouldn't and play accordingly. I had ESPN bracketology guru Joe Lunardi on my Columbia program yesterday - for whatever it's worth he does believe the SEC will get all five teams currently projected into the field in when it counts.

I enjoyed the Celtics winning the title last season, but they apparently want to make it a little harder to do this year. Stephon Marbury is evidently on his way to Boston. This move puts a guy who was too selfish to deal with the fact Kevin Garnett was a biger star than him back in Minnesota in the same locker room with KG again. It rewards a guy whose conduct toward women was documented in court to be despicable. Yet again, Marbury's talent outweighs the fact he has been a cancer in the locker room with every team he's ever played for. The guy does have skill on the court, but that's just not enough to justify what comes with it. If he poisons the team in Boston, they'll have gotten what they deserved for being stupid enough to sign him in the first place.

Those of you who used to listen to Conference Call and/or Southern Sports Tonight on 900/1230 in Gainesville or elsewhere likely remember Scott McKinney. He was co-host with Max Howell for a while, and by the time the program finally went off the air a few years ago he was down to a series of random co-hosts from night to night. The show was a really good concept done incredibly poorly - way too focused on the Mississippi schools and Arkansas rather than the programs in places that actually had big fanbases advertisers wanted to reach. It also didn't help that none of the hosts actually knew what they were talking about. Scott was a BS artist who always referred to every guest as his "good friend" and seemed stunned by any information that wasn't at least 36 hours old. While I wasn't a fan, I didn't think the guy was a criminal. He'll be spending the next five years in jail for ripping off investors in his "network". There's way too many sleazy guys like that floating around the fringes of my business - it makes my skin crawl when I see them "covering" an event.

Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has a curious new scheme to try and squeeze money out of his disastrous Six Flags investment. He's creating a series of high end haircut places for kids, Six Flags Rollercoaster Cuts. I can see how the concept of a kid targeted barber shop might have appeal, but having them watch a video of a "virtual roller coaster" while they're in the chair seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Haircuts and rollercoasters - such a natural pairing!

Barenaked Ladies had fallen off from their heyday pretty badly before yesterday's announcement that lead singer Steven Page was leaving the group. They say they'll continue, but I don't see how that's feasible. It's too bad - they were a lot of fun when I saw them live and they wrote some really good songs before "One Week" made them borderline one hit wonders. If you've never heard "What a Good Boy" or "The Old Apartment", you should.