GOOD LUCK, CAL

It's a program whose alumni and fanbase have eaten alive competent coaches like Tubby Smith (now with Minnesota) and Billy Gillispie (now unemployed).

Am I really supposed to believe the same won't happen to John Calipari?

The Memphis coach has reportedly decided to leave the school to become the next coach at Kentucky, replacing the fired Gillispie. He apparently wasn't a nice-enough guy, though something tells me that if he had won 60 games over two years instead of 47, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Frankly, "not a nice-enough guy" is a pretty poor excuse for firing a coach who hasn't had much of a chance to coach his own recruits. But it's not my buyout money, so I don't care what Kentucky thinks they have to do.

But what happens when they have to buy out Calipari for not being nice enough, or not winning enough, or not recruiting enough blue-chippers?

Reality is that I respect Calipari a great deal. I think he's a good coach, and I think he's generally a pretty decent fellow as far as college coaches go. He reminded me of a snake-oil salesman at Massachusetts, but he seems much more genuine to me now. That's a trait that Kentucky fans will find endearing, because it doesn't sound like they felt that way about Gillispie.

The criticism of Calipari (besides his ridiculous salary) is that he has never won in a big conference. However, that's not terribly important. If he can get the kind of recruits at Kentucky that he got at Massachusetts and Memphis, there's no reason to think he won't be highly successful.

It's also worth noting that he hasn't just won in big conferences. He's thoroughly dominated.

If he doesn't get eaten live by the fans, Calipari will put Kentucky back into national championship contention. From there, let's hope those fans understand that college basketball isn't what it used to be, and sometimes it really has to be good enough to make the Elite Eight.

SHARP SIGNS WITH ANAHEIM

Now, for the good news.

Minnesota Duluth senior center MacGregor Sharp signed a free-agent contract Monday with the NHL's Anaheim Ducks and will be assigned to the Iowa Chops of the American Hockey League in DesMoines. He's expected to be in uniform Tuesday.

"Every kid who ever puts up a pair of skates has a dream of playing professional hockey and that's my dream," Sharp said Monday before leaving for Des Moines. "The way our season ended was a little disappointing, but we had a great year and these were the best four years of my life."

You can't help but feel the same mixed emotions. It was a great run. It sucked how it ended, but this is a tremendous opportunity for Sharp. Couldn't happen to a nicer kid, and as much as I've always disliked the Ducks, it's going to be harder now that they have Sharp signed, and they have the draft rights to one of my favorite non-UMD college players (Nick Bonino of Boston U.). If only we could get them to trade Pronger.

There's a real college flavor on the Iowa Chops right now. Sharp should be familiar with guys like Stu Bickel (Minnesota), Andrew Thomas (Denver), Ryan Dingle (Denver), and Charlie Kronschnabel (Alaska-Anchorage).

I'm sure all UMD fans join me in wishing him the best of luck, and thanking him for the role he played in leading UMD to the NCAA Tournament.

WHO CAN BE THIS YEAR'S RAYS?

I was thumbing through some baseball previews over the weekend, and a thought popped into my head.

Tons of people are picking the Tampa Bay Rays to do what they did last year, which was win the AL East. Most have them at least in the top three, and easily finishing with a winning record.

This makes sense, since I doubt half the youngsters on the Rays roster are suddenly going to forget how to play baseball.

The next thing people are going to wonder is obvious: Who is going to pull this year what the Rays did last year?

Most of us aren't dumb enough to think baseball is suddenly going to be like the NFL, where teams can come from literally nowhere to play for a world championship. However, it doesn't stop us from dreaming of the next Cinderella story.

With that in mind, I figured I'd take a look at who may have a shot of coming from the depths of baseball sucktitude.

First off, it makes sense to define some rules. That will allow us to eliminate teams from being considered. A good place to start is to take out the teams that made the playoffs last year. After all, you're not coming out of nowhere to make the playoffs if you made them just one year ago.

This takes out eight teams: Tampa Bay (duh), Boston, the White Sox, and the Angels in the American League; Philadelphia, the Dodgers, Milwaukee, and the Cubs in the National League.

Next, any team that won 80 or more games in 2008 has to be eliminated. Bid farewell to the Yankees, Toronto, Minnesota, and Cleveland in the American League; the Mets, Florida, Houston, St. Louis, and Arizona in the National League.

Tampa Bay hadn't made the playoffs in franchise history before 2008. So being bad for just a year or two isn't going to cut it. Therefore, we'll eliminate any remaining teams that have made the playoffs since 2003. That means it's time for a goodbye for Detroit and Oakland in the American League; Atlanta, Colorado, San Francisco, and San Diego in the National League.

Well, we've taken out a lot of teams. In fact, we only have Seattle, Baltimore, Kansas City, and Texas left in the American League. In the National League, we're left with Washington, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh.

I'll arbitrarily remove Texas (79 wins last year, no pitching whatsoever) and Cincinnati (74 wins, never as historically bad as the others on this list) from consideration. Good for them if they win, but we're looking for the odds on a real shocker happening.

In alphabetical order, here is a quick glance at each team:

Baltimore -- Great young catcher in Matt Wieters, but when will the Orioles have the smarts to call him up? I like some of their young arms, but they're a year or two away from doing what Tampa did, I think.

Kansas City -- They have some guys who can throw. As stupid as the Gil Meche signing looked, he's not a bad lead for the rotation. Greinke, Davies, and Hochevar are nice. They have a good lineup, and they're worth a second look here, I think. No, really. They could be vastly improved.

Pittsburgh -- After all these years, you'd think they could put together one decent season. It still hasn't happened, and I'm not betting on it now. That said, I think they're the second-best pick on this list. They have some young pitchers with experience, and Nate McLouth is a good table-setter at the top of the order.

Seattle -- They stole the Brewers' scouting ace as their new GM, but it's clear this is a rebuilding effort and not a quick-fix job. Not this year.

Washington -- Made a big splash by trying to sign Mark Teixiera and actually signing Adam Dunn, but they still have major problems. Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman can't drive in all the runs by themselves, and they can't drive in runners that aren't on base. Until that changes, it doesn't matter how promising their pitching is.

I'm not saying it's going to happen, but if there is to be a Tampa Bay-like turnaround by someone in the 2009 season, bet on it happening in Kansas City. The Royals have drafted well, and GM Dayton Moore has worked to rebuild the reputation of his organization. Getting Coco Crisp and Mike Jacobs to help solidify the lineup was huge for them, and they didn't have to sell off the farm system to do it. Throw in young stars like David DeJesus, Mike Aviles, Billy Butler, and Alex Gordon, and you have a lineup that should produce runs. I already talked about their rotation, and closer Joakim Soria was just sick last year (42 saves, 1.60 ERA, 39 hits and 19 walks in 67 1/3 innings).

The American League Central is in a bit of flux right now. Detroit had a horrible year last year, Cleveland has been making a habit out of being inconsistent, and the White Sox are a shell of the team that lucked into a division title last year.

A two-team race between Minnesota and Kansas City? I'd pay to see that happen.

NOTHING ELSE TO SAY

Besides "Thank you," but that seems obvious.

But, thank you. You have given those who will return a hell of a lot to live up to.

LET'S GO, BULLDOGS!

STILL IN A FOG

But really, really happy.

So it's a good kind of fog.

ALL-WCHA 'BALLOT'

For some reason, I didn't get a vote this year.

Odd.

Anyway, here's how I would have voted. Since that matters.

FORWARDS
First team
Ryan Stoa, Minnesota
Jordan Schroeder, Minnesota
Ryan Lasch, St. Cloud State

Second team
Justin Fontaine, UMD
MacGregor Sharp, UMD
Garrett Roe, St. Cloud State

Third team
Kael Mouillierat, Minnesota State
Anthony Maiani, Denver
Ryan Duncan, North Dakota

Apologies to
Rhett Rakhshani, Denver; Jay Barriball, Minnesota; Paul Crowder, Alaska-Anchorage; Kevin Clark, Alaska-Anchorage; Rylan Galiardi, Minnesota State

DEFENSEMEN
First team
Cade Fairchild, Minnesota
Patrick Wiercioch, Denver

Second team
Jamie McBain, Wisconsin
Chay Genoway, North Dakota

Third team
Kurt Davis, Minnesota State
Brad Miller, North Dakota

Apologies to
Josh Meyers, UMD; Evan Oberg, UMD; Garrett Raboin, St. Cloud State; Brendan Smith, Wisconsin; Geoff Kinrade, Michigan Tech

GOALIES
First team
Alex Stalock, UMD

Second team
Brad Eidsness, North Dakota

Third team
Marc Cheverie, Denver

Apologies to
Shane Connelly, Wisconsin; Jase Weslosky, St. Cloud State

ALL-ROOKIE
Forwards
Jordan Schroeder, Minnesota
Mike Connolly, UMD
Jack Connolly, UMD

Defensemen
Patrick Wiercioch, Denver
Curtis Leinweber, Alaska-Anchorage

Goalie
Brad Eidsness, North Dakota

PLAYER OF THE YEAR - Alex Stalock, G, UMD
Apologies to: Jordan Schroeder, Ryan Stoa

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Jordan Schroeder, F, Minnesota
Apologies to: Brad Eidsness

COACH OF THE YEAR - Dave Hakstol, North Dakota
Apologies to: George Gwozdecky, Don Lucia

JIM MALOSKY: DISTINGUISHED MINNESOTAN

Pretty cool honor for longtime UMD football coach Jim Malosky. This information provided by UMD's athletic department.

Legendary University of Minnesota Duluth football coach Jim Malosky will be presented with the 2009 Distinguished Minnesotan Award by the Minnesota Chapter of the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame at its annual awards dinner on April 19 in St. Paul, Minn. The Distinguished Minnesotan Award honors an individual who has made a lifelong contribution to football in the state of Minnesota.

Malosky, a native of Crosby, Minn., retired from the UMD head coaching ranks in February 1998 after a memorable and prosperous 40-year run. At the time, he was the winningest head coach in NCAA Division II history and held down the No. 11 spot on college football's all-time coaching win list, amassing a 255-125-13 overall record -- for a .665 winning percentage. Malosky, who finished with a sub-.500 record just twice during his final 28 seasons on the sidelines, guided the Bulldogs to three Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles (1960, 1961, and 1973) and six Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championships (1979, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995 and 1996). In addition, no less than 20 of his players attained various All-American honors during his tenure and five went on t play in the National Football League. Chosen the Coach of the Year by the MIAC, the NSIC, and NAA District 13 on 10 occasions during his four decades of service, Malosky is a member of the UMD Athletic Hall of Fame (1999), the University of Minnesota Hall of Fame (1996) and the Minnesota High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame (1994). The Bulldogs' recently-renovated home football facility now bears his name -- James S. Malosky Stadium.

I can think of no more fitting or deserving recipient. Congratulations, Coach Malosky!

THE CHANGING WORLD WE LIVE IN

In many ways, this is a sad time for me.

Growing up, one of the daily rituals was grabbing the Superior Evening Telegram (as it was then called) and trying to learn a bit about the world.

Because there was a time where the Brewers games weren't on the radio here, it gave me a chance to follow their progress, or lack thereof. I read the newspaper because my dad did. We took turns, and then he took out the page that had the daily crossword puzzle on it, and he set it aside to work on whenever.

Since the Telegram didn't publish on Sundays, we read the Duluth News Tribune. I got to keep updated on all the baseball stats, other sports stuff that interested me, and we all got our fingers a bit dirty with newspaper ink.

Kids growing up these days don't do this. Actually, not many adults are, either.

Newspaper circulation is down everywhere. Worse yet, the old Evening (now Daily) Telegram is internet-only, save for two publications per week (for now). The Duluth News Tribune is laying off people left and right, and choosing to cover a Division I hockey playoff series from the newspaper office, while doing the same with a Division I national women's hockey quarterfinal.

The Rocky Mountain News shut down after 150 years, leaving its former employees trying to launch a website. Meanwhile, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer publishes for the last time Tuesday, reverting after that to an online-only publication.

At least they're leaning in the right direction. A big part of the death of the newspaper business has been its inability to adapt to the move toward the internet. Certainly, the current state of the economy has played a role, and Rush Limbaugh blames the liberals, so there's that, too.

No matter what, newspapers will continue to shrivel away until someone does something to fix their presence on the internet. It's not that newspapers aren't a presence there. It's that they haven't figured out how to make money with it. Paid subscriptions aren't really an option, because there are too many free sources of news on the internet. If the DNT, for example, starts charging for its stories, people will still be able to get the big news from places like Yahoo!, Google, Drudge, Breitbart, etc. Why would they pay the DNT for similar content?

Advertising is the way to go, and it's up to these companies to find ways to make it happen.

Here's hoping they do. When I would travel with UMD, I enjoyed getting the daily newspaper in whatever town we were visiting. Sure, I could read it for free on the internet, but I had read a physical copy of the newspaper ever since I was young, and part of me just isn't ready for the change, no matter how I may say I understand and accept that it is here.

JON STEWART PANTSES JIM CRAMER

Oh, not really.

This particular video is not of the sports realm. Instead, it shows why the news media is so frowned-upon in this country.

After all, it takes a satirical program to do what a real news program should have been doing all along. Too bad that Jessica Simpson's "sudden weight gain" was more important.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Pt. 2

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