Yours truly finished near the bottom, which will happen when you buy into misguided Big East hype and subsequently lose two of your Final Four teams in the second round.

But what a finish last night, no? How Memphis forgets to foul in that situation is beyond me, but it certainly made for great drama. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a title game quite like that before — in any sport.

– Speaking of prizes, some of you may be wondering what became of the Featured Comments Feature. It’ll be back either later today or tomorrow, but with different rules. I really like the idea of featuring comments because it highlights the strength of our growing community. I thought a small, token prize would be a nice gesture from me to you. I was sort of surprised when I got negative feedback on that notion, and then I was downright bothered when the prize started showing up as an object of ridicule in the comments themselves.

So, I ditched it.

From now on I’ll feature comments on a quasi-weekly basis for no reason other than to bring the best aspects of the discussions up to the front. That, I believe, is still very much worth doing.

– Lost in all of the Opening Day/5-game winning streak hype is the fact that our area has no fewer than three teams currently gearing up for a playoff push.

The Baltimore Blast open up their playoff series on Thursday at 1st Mariner Arena against the hated New Jersey Ironmen. The Washington Captials open up against the doubly hated Philadelphia Phlyers at home on Friday night. And, eventually, the Washington Wizards will themselves embark on a title quest.

All in all it’s a pretty exciting time, especially if your scope isn’t limited to just the Orioles and Ravens. And, really, it shouldn’t be.

– Finally, have you all heard about Muxtape yet? It’s so rad, especially for anyone who grew up actually making mix tapes. The only problem is it’ll probably get shut down in about ten minutes. In the meantime, though, head on over and have a listen to a few of my selections. Feel free to make your own and post links in the comments.