I'm off to a roaring start in the tourney, hitting on most of my upset picks with my brackets intact (Mich. State, Villanova, Syracuse, Memphis.)

How are you doing in your March Madness pools?

My picks:

First round winners - L-Ville, Ohio St, Ariz, Wake, Dayton, Kansas, BC, Mich St, UConn, Tex A&M, N. Iowa, Miss St., Utah St, Mizzou, Maryland, Memphis, Okla, Mich, 'Cuse, Ariz St, Gonzaga, Western Ky, LSU, UNC, Duke, Texas, Nova, UCLA, Xavier, FSU, Tenn and Pitt.

My Final 4 - Mich. State, Villanova, Syracuse, Memphis. Memphis beats Syracuse for the championship.

Speaking for me only

Our condolences go out to the family of actress Natasha Richardson who fell during a ski lesson in Canada.

Sources close to the Tony award-winning actress say she is brain dead and being flown back to New York, where she will be taken off life support.

Ms. Richardson initially seemed okay after the fall. So what happened? One doctor calls it "talk and die" syndrome:

I can only speculate, but it sounds like something we call the ‘talk and die’ syndrome,” said Dr. Steven Flanagan, director of Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University’s Langone Medical Center.

What this implies is that someone hits their head and they are seemingly OK initially," he told FOXNews.com. "But then they get a rapid collection of blood — usually called epidural hemorrhage — and that means bleeding between the skull and the brain.”

So sad.

The No. 1 seeds are Louisville (Midwest), Pittsburgh (East), North Carolina (South) and Connecticut (West). The Midwest region winner will play the West region winner and the East region winner will play the South region winner in the Final Four semis.

Talk about it here.

ABC News reports a new survey by Aris shows Americans are becoming less religious:

According to the poll, which came out today, the percentage of Americans who define themselves as Christian has dropped from 86 percent in 1990 to 76 percent in 2008.

In one of the most dramatic shifts, 15 percent of Americans now say they have no religion -- a figure that's almost doubled in 18 years. Americans with no religious preference are now larger than all other major religious groups except Catholics and Baptists.

The number of Atheists is growing and the number of Protestants have fallen: [More...]

Former boxing champion and writer Jose "Chegui" Torres has passed away:

Former light-heavyweight boxing champion Jose Torres died Monday in Ponce, Puerto Rico, of a heart attack, according to the Associated Press. Torres was 72. Born in Ponce, Torres grew up in the United States, winning a silver medal while representing the country at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Guided by trainer Cus D'Amato, he stopped Willie Pastrano in 1965 to win the light-heavyweight title. He defended the 175-pound title three times before losing a pair of decisions to successor Dick Tiger.

I knew Chegui in New York but had not spoken to him in several years. He was a good man and lived a full life. My thoughts are with his family. May he rest in peace.

NYTimes:

A USAirways plane that took off at 3:26 p.m. from La Guardia Airport landed in the Hudson River five minutes later, where it remains mostly submerged. Ferries and other boats converged to help with a rescue effort, as the plane drifted south. There was no immediate information about the 151 people on board.

According to Channel 4 television news, the plane, US Airways flight 1549, took off from LaGuardia Airport at 3:26 p.m. was bound for Charlotte, N.C. and had 146 passengers and 5 crew members. The plane, which made it to a height of 3,600 feet, may have hit a flock of birds, according to the report, and then plummeted. The pilot tried to return to the airport when the plane fell into the Hudson.

Oh Mercy! Percy! And Tebow! And the defense!

Go Gators!

Speaking for me only

Tonight, the Fighting Gators of the University of Florida (UF) meet the Sooners of the University of Oklahoma (OU? Why isn't it UO?) for the BCS college football championship. The winner of this game will be voted number 1 in the Coaches Poll (the coaches of Texas and Utah have stated they will not follow the rules of voting (which they agreed to) and will vote their teams number 1, hopefully this leads to the end of the Coaches Poll, which is a travesty of conflict, even though it will not change the result of the poll) and likely the AP Writers' Poll.

What to expect tonight? If you care about this game, you already know that Oklahoma scored over 700 points this year, averaging 54 points and 540 yards of offense per game. Florida was not shabby on offense, averaging 45 points and 445 yards per game. Florida's defense was much much better than Oklahoma's during the season, both in terms of points and yards allowed. More . .

. . . has not been my fate. I do it for free. On the other hand, Rick Reilly gets paid for it:

Some gifts people give are pointless: Styling mousse to Dick Vitale. An all-you-can-eat card to Kate Moss. The BCS Championship given to Oklahoma or Florida. It means nothing because the BCS has no credibility. Florida? Oklahoma? Who cares? Utah is the national champion. The End. Roll credits.

More . . .

The Sooners bring the smack talk:

Oklahoma sophomore cornerback Dominique Franks said that [Florida QB Tim] Tebow would have been no better than the fourth-best quarterback in the Big 12 this season. [He also said] "[t]he three best receivers in the country came from the Big 12. The three best tight ends came from the Big 12. So we've faced some great offenses, and a lot of people don't understand that other conferences don't have what we face."

While retailers are drowning in their sorrows over disappointing Christmas sales numbers, Amazon is cheering. It had its best season ever.

I've been touting Amazon as having the best prices since November. It's now the first place I go online when looking to buy anything.

TalkLeft readers must be doing the same. This is the first month I've taken in more than $50 in affiliate sales from Amazon. Please keep them coming, and thanks to all of you who bought from Amazon through our links.

I think the best buys are in DVD's, electronics and books.

Where have you found great deals? (Update below)