SportsPants

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Read more of Brad Seal at the original "SportsPants" blog.

Remember all the talk about Ricky Williams and his pot smoking problems? The talented back out of Texas failed numerous drug tests and ended up prematurely retiring from football after testing positive for marijuana yet again.

Turns out he was just ahead of his time.

Williams had his issues ... LOTS of them. But his big problem was that the NFL lorded over his lifestyle and wouldn't let him do anything even in the confines of his own home. After all, Williams was never arrested for battery or lewd behavior or carrying an illegal weapon. He wasn't on trial for being a part of 2 a.m. brawl outside of a nightclub where some guy was killed. He didn't drive his car into a house because he was hammered. Basically, he operated within the confines of the law ... sort of. But the NFL wouldn't leave him alone and so he left (until he found out he had to pay back millions of dollars to the Dolphins. That brought him back pretty quickly.)

Today, NFL executives admit that tons of kids coming into the draft have marijuana use in their history. It's to the point where some teams are even relaxing some of the team standards when it comes to drafting. It has become more important to get the talent rather than cross players off if there is any history of pot. It's just too rampant in college these days.

But it's still against the law and the incoming players need to be aware that there is a big difference between smoking a joint at home and driving around in public doing bong hits. Players also need to be aware that pot is part of the drug test criteria the NFL hands out. Smoking may not affect their performance, but getting suspended will.

For fans, the decision seems easy. Get paid tons of money to play football = stop smoking reefer. But these are 20-something-year-olds that have just been given a ton of money. They can buy more marijuana than they've ever dreamed of and they probably have friends that remind them of such. Lots of social pressure there.

I personally don't care if a player smokes pot as long as it doesn't affect his performance on the field. I'd rather have a happy-go-lucky pot guy like Ricky Williams than some 'roided out beast that might kill someone at Arby's because they forgot to put lettuce on his chicken club sandwich.

I do care, however, if a player I like fails drug tests and these incoming draftees need to be aware that just because teams are drafting them more often, it doesn't give them free reign to go apenuts on the pot. Many jobs drug test and I'm pretty sure pot isn't an accepted thing to test positive for. You can argue with the law, but until it changes that's reality.

So smoke all you want ... until you get caught. Then it's time to realize that you get to play a game for a living and maybe pot doesn't have place in your schedule anymore.

Read more of Brad Seal at the original "SportsPants" blog.

I thought CBS was the place for drama with the NCIS shows and stuff about jilted wives. Apparently the drama side of CBS hasn't spoken with the sports side because CBS is totally butchering the viewer enjoyment of the March Madness drama.

The great thing about this tournament is the amount of games going on at once. While Kentucky is beating a team by 20, you can check out the game that's tied with three minutes to go. At least, that's the theory.

Unfortunately, CBS doesn't actually let me see the close game until there are only 30 seconds left or so. Meanwhile, I'm stuck watching a game that's a 30 point blowout with the drama of a free-agency bidding war between the Oakland A's and New York Yankees.

I've managed to miss the majority of the great Kansas meltdown, the near comeback of Maryland over Michigan State, and tonight is the ultimate letdown. Instead of watching a nail-biter between Tennessee and Ohio State in the final few minutes, I got to see Baylor start the second half leading St. Mary's 63-33. Wow, I was on the edge of my seat with that one.

Look, I know I live in Texas, which means Baylor country during this Sweet 16. But I'm going to bet that Baylor fans would be okay missing two minutes of their blowout win in order to see the exciting finish between two teams that might be a future Baylor opponent.

We watch tournament for the drama, whether it's seeing the great upset win, or watching the future of our brackets come down to a last second shot by a heavily favored team in the fight of their life. It's not about regional coverage, it's about the drama. CBS sports needs to watch some other CBS shows to figure this out.

Read more of Brad Seal at the original "SportsPants" blog.

So your brackets are bleeding after the Kansas debacle, the Villanova shakedown and the general blood-letting of the three and four seeds (there is only one team left of each seed and that would be Baylor and Purdue ... not exactly a murderer's row). But you're still holding out that just MAYBE you'll still win your pool. A few upsets here, your darkhorse here ...

Here's some more sobering news for you: Michigan State and West Virginia just lost their engines for the rest of the tournament.

The Spartens are lead by Kalin Lucas and with him they destroyed Maryland in round two. Then he got hurt and Maryland nearly pulled off a miracle comeback. Cool game? Yes. But it should serve as a giant warning flag to those men who wear green and those who have those men wearing green sneaking up towards the Final Four.

Michigan State was a fun darkhorse pick this year because it had the look of a late-season attacker. They made the final game last year. They had a rough patch of season this year, which dropped the seed down, but they still had Tom Izzo coaching and Kalin Lucas running the show. Oops.

It doesn't stop there though. West Virginia was also a major player in the Final Four hunt. In fact, I had them knocking off Kentucky in my personal bracket.

Can I have a mulligan? There's no worse position to lose on the court than the point guard during tournament time. That guy generally determines the pace, controls the ball, and keeps the offense moving. Without the regular point guard, an offense can turn into one giant fire drill.

I know, anything can happen in the tournament, but maybe you should just accept the destruction of your bracket and root for a historic run by an underdog ... unless the guy next to picked Northern Iowa to beat St. Mary's in the final.

Read more of Brad Seal at the original "SportsPants" blog.

Bleeding brackets, snowy Dallas, respect the underdog, and why the Texas Rangers shouldn't play with first or third base lines this year.

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Read more of Brad Seal at the original "SportsPants" blog.

March Madness fun with names, NFL notes, Joe's brush with death, and Jason's obsession with the term "sting ring." So stupid it's brilliant.

CLICK HERE TO BE WHISKED AWAY TO SILLYVILLE

Wow. Talk about the rich getting richer.

Basketball power and noted snotty white kid haven, Duke University, got an early Easter present on Sunday when the selection committee nearly gave them a ticket to the Final Four. Seriously, what the hell, NCAA? Duke isn't even the No. 1 overall seed, yet gets a joke of a bracket to work with. I know, I know, there are all sorts of ups and downs in the NCAA tournament and any team can get hot and upset another (for the most part). Yet, Duke couldn't have asked for any better road this year.

Let's take a look at who's in the Duke Bracket: 9th seed Louisville? Maybe last year, but not in 2010. 4th seed Purdue? Crushed by the injury bug. 13th seed Siena has hot shooting, but it can't match up, though I hope to Jeebus they do. How about 6th seed Notre Dame? It's got several scoring options, but the Irish are just not athletic. 3rd seed Baylor is a great story after all the turbulence that program has been through and my emotional favorite, but the Bears just don't attract All-America talent like Duke. How about 2nd seed Villanova? They're from the rugged Big East and have Scottie Reynolds who seems like he's been playing college basketball for 14 years, but the team has lost five of six games and may not even survive to play Duke.

Meanwhile, No. 1 overall seed Kansas gets Big 10 champ Ohio State, the always dangerous Michigan State, plus hot Georgetown that nearly won the Big East tournament. Oh, and don't forget Maryland or Tennessee both who could upset if the Jayhawks have an off game.

Kentucky won the SEC tournament and was the top-ranked team for much of the year. What do the Wildcats get for their achievements? They get a possible early game with Texas who can physically match-up with anyone, Wisconsin who will slow the game down to a crawl in order to keep things close, a dangerous Marquette team, and the Big East champ West Virginia. I'm not a Kentucky fan and would love to see John Calipari fall early, but c'mon! The Wildcats deserve more than this.

And then there is Syracuse. The NCAA stuck the Orange in the West bracket, so lots of fun traveling for them. Plus 'Cuse gets to deal with giant killer Gonzaga, Big 12 runner up Kansas State and Big East foe Pittsburgh.

And Duke just sits there laughing. Nice job, NCAA. Next time make sure you don't have Coach K helping you with the drawings.

Read more of Brad Seal at the original "SportsPants" blog.

Let's see ... there was color television. Then remote controls. Then cable. Then VCRs. Then satellite. Then surround sound and home theaters. Then DVRs. Then high def and plasma.

Now it seems we're hitting the next level of staying home and watching the game with 3-D televisions. Right now the TVs are in the infancy and I can tell you from experience, the Dallas Cowboys' experiment with the 3-D super screen was an unmitigated disaster.

Apparently though, these new televisions will be the wave of the future. You just come home, flip on your theater system, put on some glasses and gaze at the greatness. It's like looking through a window according to people who've used it.

Is there a point in the near future where people will just stop going to games? I know you can never quite make up the game atmosphere at your home, but if you have a 3-D giant television and kick-ass surround sound, do you want to fight the traffic and pay $8 for a beer every week? What if you can bring you friends over and be guaranteed that none of them will spend the game loudly giving their retarded opinion of every play or spilling beer down your back?

Sounds kind of cool. Maybe teams will even be forced to lower ticket prices in order to compete.

Then we'll get some funky technology that lets you act like your in the movie Tron and get literally sucked into your television to participate in the game yourself. But that's at least two or three down the road. I wouldn't expect that too soon.

So get ready for some 3-D TV. But relax with the porn, it may be 3-D, but it's still only television. Don't be the creepy guy.

Read more of Brad Seal at the original "SportsPants" blog.

Oscar talk, NFL free-agency, NBA notes, one member who is sick and another has been displaced.

Click here to go to the happy fun good site.

Read more of Brad Seal at the original "SportsPants" blog.

Hey, funky title! Get it? It's the Chicago Bears and it's a bull and bear market. Plus, there is a Chicago Bulls team as well! Brilliant! It works on so many angles and ... aww forget it.

The Chicago Bears are all over the NFL free agency this year. They signed Chester Taylor away from division rival Minnesota, they got stud blocking TE Brandon Manumaleuna (sounds like a Cajun dish) from the Chargers. And the jewel of their free-agent class is sackmaster Julius Peppers from Carolina.

Yep, the Bears dumped all sorts of money in free agency. Will it work?

Ask the Washington Redskins. They dump truckloads of money around this time every single year. I don't recall too many playoff appearances for them.

The problem with the approach the Skins have taken and the Bears are taking is that the team signs a bunch of ill-fitting parts. The names are big, but they don't have specific roles.

Peppers should be a good pass-rusher, Taylor a talented back, but what about all the other holes on the Bears? The team traded for big armed quarterback Jay Cutler and hired pass-happy Mike Martz as offensive coordinator. Yet the Bears didn't help the offensive line or top receivers. The best receiver the Bears have on the team is tight end Greg Olsen and Martz is well known for shunning the tight end in his passing game.

So to summarize, the Bears have a gunslinger quarterback and a passing coordinator, but the team signs a blocking tight end and a running back in free-agency. Meanwhile, stud receiver Anquan Boldin goes to Baltimore and pass blocking tackle Chad Clifton doesn't seem to be in the Bears plans.

I have no doubt the players whom the Bears signed are good, but aside from Peppers, none were big needs.

The Redskins can tell you that method doesn't often work.

Final Olympic talk, NFL scouting combine and rumors, plus an unfortunate affliction for someone's pet.

Clickith hereth to listen to it. You won't hate yourself. Much.

Read more of Brad Seal at the original "SportsPants" blog.

Well done, Canada. You got the gold. Now go clean your shorts.

I honestly didn't think the U.S. had a chance as I saw Canada destroy Russia in the early rounds of the Olympic tournament. That was supposed to be a gold medal type match and Canada wiped the floor with those Russian types.

The U.S. beat the Canucks early in the tournament and people like myself thought that loss simply woke the Canadians up. They'd come into the gold medal game with something to prove and would therefore crush the upstart Americans with a team that reads like an NHL All-Star roster.

And yet there the Americans were, pushing the Canadians into overtime before falling in the final game of the Olympics.

So why did the Americans look so glum afterward? Sure, they lost. Losing sucks. But c'mon, man! The U.S. was one of the youngest teams in the tournament! This is a team that was hoping to make some strides during this Olympics. They were playing for 2014, but there they were, pushing the heavily favored Canadians to the brink.

I know America didn't win the gold. The Canadians deserve the praise they get. And so do the Americans.

It would have been nice to see some love given by the winners to a team that beat them once and then nearly beat them a second time despite the Canadians having every motivation to win big. The only tip of the cap I heard to the U.S. players was a big ovation for goaltender Ryan Miller during the medal ceremony.

Miller deserved it for sure; he was a beast. Don't think though that he was the only reason the U.S. was in the gold medal game. That's selling this team short. The Americans went toe to toe with the best in the world and absolutely held their own. Guys like Zach Parise, Patrick Kane and Brian Rafalski proved that they could be on any Olympic team. Yes, even a Canadian one.

So I applaud the Canadians for a gold medal they deserve, but as I say that, I can tell you without a doubt that I am proud to be a U.S. hockey fan today.

America! F--k Yeah!

Read more of Brad Seal at the original "SportsPants" blog.