March Madness really starts today as the Big Ten Tournament begins. A number of teams have clinched spots in the NCAA Tournament with wins in their conference tournaments this week. None of them really have any chance of winning the gold ball or even going deep in the tournament...but for some Big Ten teams (I'm looking at you Illinois) the only way into the Big Dance is winning the conference tournament. Wisconsin will play the Illini Friday afternoon at 2pm CST. The first round games today are Michigan-Iowa, Northwestern-Indiana and Minnesota-Penn State.

The Brewers probable Opening Day starter Yovanni Gallardo struggled yesterday giving up 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in 3 innings of work. No worries yet...let's see how he rebounds in his next start. The Brewers play split squad action today against Oakland and Cincy.

One of the best players in the late 90's & early 2000's retired yesterday. Nomar Garciaparra played 14 years, eight in Boston and along with Derek Jeter was one of the premier shortstops in the game. Wrist injuries derailed a probable Hall-of-Fame career. He was a six-time all-star and hit .313 with 229 homers, and 936 RBI's

The high school girls basketball tournament continues tonight in Divisions 2,3 & 4. Area games include Waupaca at New London, Mosinee at Medford, Lakeland at Witt/Birn, Nekoosa at Westfield, Auburndale at Marathon, Amherst at Edgar, Menominee Indian at Gillet, Weyawega-Fremont at Markesan, Colby at fall Crek, Spencer at Neillsville, Phelps at Wausau Newman, Gresham at Wabeno, Tigerton at Rapids Assumption, Rosholt at Almond-Bancroft,Rib Lake at Prentice, Gilman at Butternut, Loyal at Owen-Withee and Greenwood at MArshfield Columbus.

Songs of the Day  (from my-ipod)

The Elements-Tom Lehrer (1959) The master parodist enumerates the periodic table sung to the tune of The Major General's Song from "The Pirates of Penzance" . His stuff was a subversive antidote to the stifiling Eisenhower years.

Electric Blue-Icehouse (1987) a synth-pop hit co-written by John Oates. In fact, if this Aussie band wouldn't have recorded it, Hall & Oates would have. Nice mullet!