Just ask Arizona, whose streak of 25 successive appearances was officially snapped today.  Or Kentucky, whose streak of 17 straight appearances ended last season.  Or UCLA, North Carolina, & Indiana – blueblood programs that are making alternate plans this March as their names were not called today either.

Indeed, there are now just six schools with a current appearances streak of at least 12 seasons in the tournament and they may not be the first six that pop into your mind.

The list is as follows:

Kansas – 21
Duke – 15
Michigan State – 13
Gonzaga – 12
Texas – 12
Wisconsin – 12

Make whatever judgments you will about this list – as the first three have won national titles during their streaks and the bottom three have not – but there is no doubt in my mind, at least, that the consistency is as much a tribute to coaching as anything else.

After all, to avoid even one season out of the tournament for anywhere from 12 to 21 years can’t be done through recruiting alone.  That should be obvious with some of the aforementioned programs falling off in recent years, despite a profile that would seem to render it impossible.

So applaud teams like Kentucky and Syracuse, current #1 seeds now working on streaks of one and two seasons, respectively, but let’s not forget each of these six schools who have heard their names called by Greg Gumbel and Jim Nantz for so many seasons that their current recruits can’t remember a time when they weren’t part of March Madness.

And let the games begin.  I’ll be watching all 48 games from Thursday-Sunday this week.  Hard to believe that with all the excitement of the pairings today that we could be less than a week from whittling it down to the Sweet 16.

Those are fantastic numbers by any standards.  And, yet, Garrett Anderson is hardly the first name that comes to mind when discussing the best players in Major League Baseball over the past twenty years.

Garrett Anderson is trying to spend at least one more season in an strange-looking uniform. After 15 seasons with the Angels (and one with the Braves), Anderson is currently in camp with the Dodgers.

Anderson, whose debut came at the end of the 1994 season and whose entire career prior to last season was spent in Anaheim with the California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels, is headed back home to his native California this spring after one season with the Atlanta Braves.  That much is certain.

But, if he is on a major league roster when spring training camp breaks, it will be with the Los Angeles Dodgers now instead of the Angels.

Always one of the classiest guys in the game, his understated style and lack of self-promotion (nickname: G.A.) kept him off many fans’ radar over the years.  And though nothing about Anderson’s status as a non-roster invitee is going to change that, he continues to exude class and grace in the twilight of his career.

Check out this column in today’s Los Angeles Times from T.J. Simers.  Never known for his sentimentality, even Simers can’t help but portray Anderson in a positive light.

The Dodgers should find a way to keep G.A. around this season.  His influence would mean everything to an organization in dire need of as many positive stories as possible, considering the nastiness playing out in the owner’s suite.

And even if Anderson has played his final game, his legacy is complete and requires no apologies.  More proof that the good guys do win sometimes.

The Saints’ victory tonight in Super Bowl XLIV leaves just four teams (out of 32) who have not participated in any of the NFL’s first 44 Super Bowls.

The Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars at least have an excuse as expansion franchises, but long-suffering fans of the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions have to look at the celebration tonight in Miami (and on Bourbon Street) and wonder when – if ever – they will experience the opportunity to erase years of ignominy.

Drew Brees, Super Bowl XLIV MVP

But that’s for another day.  The Saints are the “Aints” no more.  And Mardi Gras might just be only the second-biggest party in Louisiana this February.

Who is Mr. Bell?  Simply put, the man most responsible for introducing Mexican food to most of the country with his semi-authentic Mexican restaurant chain – the one and only Taco Bell.

If you want to dig deeper into his story, check out Taco Titan: The Glen Bell Story for more on the man “whose idea in 1951 to sell crispy-shell tacos from the window of his hamburger stand became the foundation of Taco Bell”, the first of which opened in Torrance, Calif., in 1965.

And for an appreciation (sort of) by Gustavo Arellano (otherwise known as the author of ¡Ask A Mexican!), check out this opinion piece in today’s Los Angeles Times.

Interesting sentiment that “Taco Bell and its spawn became a gateway for Americans to accept Mexicans”.  Actually, it’s not really much of a stretch to make that claim. 

And even though Arellano characterizes the Taco Bell burrito as containing “bland pinto beans, cheese that tasted like chalk, all within a clammy flour tortilla”, he still acknowledges that Taco Bell revolutionized the Mexican food industry and notes its recent push into international markets as an American brand representing U.S. culture.

Personally, I’ve moved away from Taco Bell over the years to appreciate the more genuine article, but if not for the acumen of the “Taco Titan” all those years ago, who knows how many would have been deprived of the opportunity to explore Mexican cuisine – mongrelized or not. 

Glen W. Bell Jr, R.I.P.

Whatever happens, expect to see the Dallas Cowboys continue on to the NFC Championship after handling the Minnesota Vikings.  Find that to be a dubious supposition?  History says otherwise.

Just check out this column from Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News that should give pause to anyone expecting Brett Favre to have a big day on Sunday. 

With a history of failure against the Cowboys and Dallas head coach Wade Phillips, Favre is the wrong quarterback at the wrong time in this particular matchup.

Vikings fans, consider yourselves warned.

OK, I’ll buy that, I guess.  No reason to downplay excitement for the future.  Even if the recent past has not been nearly as bad as many want to paint it to be.

But, regardless – 2010 opens with some great news for fans of the long, lost Soundgarden.

Chris Cornell made the announcement last night on Twitter: The 12 year break is over & school is back in session

Yes, folks, Soundgarden is back and it’s way past time for this reunion to take shape.

Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd, Chris Cornell, & Matt Cameron of Soundgarden

Check out this Billboard feature today which provides as much detail as possible at this early date. 

One interesting note from the article states that reunion plans began to take shape shortly after Cornell’s appearance at an October Pearl Jam show in Los Angeles where he reprised the Temple of the Dog song “Hunger Strike” with Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron (a PJ band member for over a decade) onstage and guitarist Kim Thayil and bassist Ben Shepherd watching backstage.

It’s all rumor and speculation now, but soundgardenworld.com looks like the official spot for all future announcements.  And whatever evolves in the days ahead, we’re all winners as the details emerge.  Especially if we can bury the memories of that last Chris Cornell solo album.  

Stay tuned.

And Happy New Year!

Here are a few select quotes from his discussion with the media following his Magic’s 86-77 loss to the Boston Celtics:

“I actually feel sorry for people who have nothing to do on Christmas Day other than watch an NBA game.”

“I think we get a little carried away with ourselves with sports thinking we’re more important than everything else. But that’s the way it is. There’s nothing more important than the NBA on Christmas Day.”

“Christmas to me, obviously basketball is very important to me, but there are some days of the year where it’s got to take a back seat to something.”

And, my favorite: “If I had my way, we’d take a five-day break at Christmas. I mean it.”

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.  Amen to Van Gundy for speaking his mind on this topic, as he has in the past on so many other relevant issues that cause his coaching brethren to bite their tongues and swallow their words.

The networks and the league offices may conspire to keep holiday games as a standard on the schedule, but it doesn’t make it right.  Van Gundy, on the other hand, is right on. 

Who knew that the spirit of Christmas might ever be best embodied by this guy?

Stan Van Gundy

How he ended up as a free agent in the spring of 2006 with only one offer to play cornerback, from a team and in a city that he wanted nothing to do with at the time – the Green Bay Packers – was a key chapter in this story that is still being written.

Fortunately, meeting expectations is no longer a concern for Woodson or his fans.

Charles Woodson

Jeffri Chadiha of ESPN has a fantastic feature on Woodson today that reveals him to be not only a surefire Hall of Famer with his on-field renaissance during these last 4 seasons, but also a maturing philanthropist who has set up the highly active Charles Woodson Foundation and The Charles Woodson Clinical Research Fund.

There is so much to learn from Chadiha’s piece and it goes along with a recent (and positive) trend of the media dedicating resources to focus on some of the majority of the good guys participating in professional sports.

But, if there was one quote that stood out for me, it was this from his teammate (and future Pro Bowler) Aaron Rodgers, who says about the thirty-three year old Woodson’s effect on his fellow Packers: “Charles has no idea how much these young guys look up to him.”

That’s the way it once was, and if old-school is on its way back through the efforts and influence of high achievers like Woodson, then there is most definitely reason to be optimistic about the future of professional sports.

And Packers fans should be thankful every day that Woodson couldn’t have been more wrong about what a perfect place Green Bay would be to elevate his game, both on and off the field.

His Page 2 columns and podcasts for ESPN (Sports Guy’s World) are a must for every sports fan. 

His executive producer title on ESPN’s excellent 30 for 30 shows that he has a deeper understanding of ESPN’s core audience than his bosses – who have put their network ahead of many of the stories they cover, to the detriment of the games and the athletes themselves.

And his new book, The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy, is a New York Times bestseller.  At 736 pages, you might still be working your way through it at this time next year.

But, truly, this guy was meant to be an NBA General Manager.  Simmons has campaigned publicly (though with tongue-in-cheek) on his blog and through ESPN for years.  Despite his unabashed love of the Celtics, he has an understanding of the game that could clearly and successfully be applied to any NBA team’s front office.

Exhibit A is this gift – today’s column, Page 2’s The VP of Common Sense – that Simmons gives to those who appreciate the NBA game off the floor as much (or in some cases, more) than the game on the floor.

Yes, it’s an intense read, but how can you not appreciate the depth of knowledge that comes through when Simmons gets serious about the game that he so obviously loves? 

Me, I’d take the college game over the professional game anytime.  But, it wasn’t always so and if there were more like Simmons who actually had a say in the state of professional basketball, there’s no reason that the NBA couldn’t find its way once again.

The man has serious comedic chops, which is essential in everything he touches, but maybe it overshadows his basketball expertise. 

Someday, an owner somewhere is going to take Simmons seriously.  And, if nothing else, the book about the experience will be amazing.

Where did the time go?  Dunno.  But I do know that things from this perspective look nothing like they did when the decade began.

And in the gadget world that the ’00s stimulated, nothing can top the iconic iPod as the go-to device that best represents the technological progress of the last ten years.

Or did you already forget that when this decade started, iPods were nothing more than an Apple in Steve Jobs’ eye?

The original, classic iPod - released in October 2001

NPR’s Morning Edition has a great feature today on The IPod: ‘A Quantum Leap In Listening’, which offers up some great perspective on where we were in 2001 when the device was introduced and what it has meant since. 

Steve Jobs himself – in a statement that sounds quaint now - said at the time, “To have your whole music library with you at all times is a quantum leap in listening to music.”

Well, yes, the hardware and software revolution created by the iPod was a quantum leap, indeed.  And 225 million units later, despite bigger, badder, and better models that have pushed the iPod to the side, its impact on the music industry remains virtually unprecedented in modern times.

And with a birthdate in the decade that people love to hate, it’s refreshing to note that there is always some sunshine among the clouds.  Especially for music fans who appreciate having their entire catalog at their fingertips at all times.