Friday Fumblings

Okay, let's take a quick spin around the FitzFacts' realm to see what's happening today.

American Idol
I don't like watching the results shows because all I care about are the actual results, not all the other fluff they cram in there. I hate the annoying dramatic lighting and music almost as much as I hate Ryan Seacrest, although I do think he has a difficult task. I don't want to watch any of the performances, neither the former Idol stars nor the rejects' reprises. I mean, if the song was bad enough to get them voted off, why do I want to hear it again? Besides, GW was playing Charlotte on ESPN2, so switched over during timeouts and got updates from the rest of the family, who were watching AI upstairs.

I had A.J., Nick and Phil as endangered, and the first two went. Obviously, Antonella's nudoriety kept her alive, but no surprise that Alaina took the hook. Slight upset that Haley stayed over Leslie, but it's not like she should start looking for an apartment in Los Angeles. I wrote yesterday about the "don't sing Whitney" admonishment from the judges, but I think it's even more clear that you should never sing Feelin' Good because it took down both Leslie and A.J. I did see just enough of Kellie Pickler's appearance to note that she certainly has enhanced her profile, at least from the neck down. And that's more than enough Idol for me for the next several days.

GW
Carl Elliott did it to Charlotte again. His fadeaway jumper with 18 seconds on the clock gave GW the winning 62-60 margin last night.The Colonials charged back from a 10-point deficit in the first half to take a 13-point lead of their own, only to have Charlotte heat up again and make for a dramatic finish. The Colonials are now 19-8 and wrap up the regular season tomorrow at home against Duquesne. They lost to the league leaders, UMass and Xavier, but it's not out of the question for them to make a run at the A-10 title next weekend. If not, they are looking at an NIT bid. That would be a step down from the last two years (GW has never made the NCAA three years in a row), but I have always felt that winning a few games in the NIT is an excellent building opportunity for a team. And, before I forget, a quick shoutout to Mike Hall, who signed a 10-day contract with the Wizards this week. Two GW players in the NBA at the same time hasn't happened probably since Corky Devlin and Joe Holup. How long ago was that? Holup was taken three picks after Bill Russell and one before Tom Heinsohn.

Maryland
Watching a team exert its will on an opponent is one of the most enjoyable aspects of sports for me. The Terps have grown into a defensive monster in the second half of the season and they absolutely throttled Duke and UNC. They still don't shoot the ball very well, but they put tremendous pressure on their opponents and force them to maintain a high level of concentration and execution if they want to be successful. When Maryland was winning early, I saw Final Four capabilities, and while that would be a surprise, I still see it as a possibility, given how they have dominated their recent opponents. But don't give me this garbage about the ACC getting seven or eight bids. No, no, no. I'll give you UNC, UVA, Virginia Tech, BC, Maryland and Duke and that's it, send a nice NIT invite to Georgia Tech, Clemson and Florida State. I know the Yellowjackets beat UNC last night, but if you can't do better than .500 in your league, you have to have an incredible out of conference record to get in. And with all these conferences that have 12 or more teams, the league schedules are unbalanced, so one team's 9-7 is the same as another's 11-5. Give me the second best team in the Mountain West, the CAA, and the Missouri Valley before the seventh-best in the ACC or Big East.

Cowherd
For those of you who are not regular readers of the Baltimore Sun, my man Kevin Cowherd skewered a water-tasting contest in his column yesterday. Tasty, with a nice bite in the finish.

Movies
Black Snake Moan? Who comes up with these titles? I predict it will be the second-best movie starring Samuel L. Jackson that has the word snake or snakes in the title.

Zodiac? David Fincher, the director of the very creepy and gruesome Se7en bring us a new film about a serial killer. What a refreshing change for him. In between these two, he directed noted chucklefests The Game, Fight Club and Panic Room. Somebody needs a hug.

Wild Hogs? Man, I hope they paid William H. Macy a lot of money to be in this one.

The Beer Launching Fridge
Well, if you made it this far, you might as well take a look at the beer launching fridge. So many questions about this one.

Enjoy your weekend.