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DON'T STOP HERE  The Buckeyes at home before a packed house of earnest fans |
Blazing basketball action;
Cool tennis and Hot ladies
of TheColumnists.com
Here’s a winning
combination: the Ohio State Buckeyes.
They’re a lock for the college basketball title.
Forget Florida, which will pull an Arkansas ’95 and fail
to repeat in the April 2 title game.
Don’t bother with Carolina and UCLA. They don’t have
Greg Oden. When GO stops stuffing atop his 7 feet, OSU will spell
court champion for the first time since John Havlicek and Bobby
Knight played there in 1960.
So Ohio State avenges its loss to Florida in January’s football
final. It’s the most solid pick since everyone knew UCLA’s
Walton Gang would romp in 1973.
As for real competion:
Tennis pros are swinging through Palm Springs these days. Indian
Wells, to be exact, home to Southern California’s biggest
tourney.
Is tennis dead, as Sports Illustrated once headlined?
No. Not if you join the fans packing the place. They’re
live and loud--between points, natch.
In this post-Agassi era, they’re into Rafael Nadal. He draws
big crowds for his muscular, fist-pumping act. In his sleeveless
regalia, this is the most sizzling Spaniard since Antonio Banderas.
Speaking of Spain, look out for Fernando Verdasco. If he keeps
bashing the ball the way he did while rousting Italy’s Andreas
Seppi the day I watched, he’ll push Nadal for the stud title.
Other men you’ve never heard of who
played cool tennis in Palm Springs’ furnace:
Colombia’s Alejandro
Falla, who showed why Germany’s Benjamin
Becker is no Boris.
Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic, who made Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan look
like he parties too much in Bangkok.
Jan Hernych, a Czech who helped British oldie Tim Henman check
out.
Speaking of heat: Indian Wells’ desert is cooking at 90-plus.
Which means you see two things: fans waving fans; hot women players.
Here are four who radiate against Maria Sharapova, the pimply,
fingernail-biting chick who brainwashed Nike into its nutty “I
Feel Pretty” ad last year.
Alicia Molik. Striking. That’s just how she looks. If the
Aussie's play looked that good, she’d trump Anna Kournikova.
Tatiana Golovin. The way she sweat through her Frenchy dress had gawking teen dudes steaming.
Ana Ivanovic. Legs longer than her forehand, which the Serb swung to crown California’s own Vania King 6-0 in the second set.
Sania Mirza. She skipped Indian Wells because of what she called
a bad knee. Too bad. Her dark glamour is exactly why there’s
India Sania Mania.
©2007 by Bucky Fox.
This column first posted March 19, 2007.
You can visit Bucky Fox's
website at www.BuckyFox.com
You can comment
on this column online. Please address your message to either
"The Editors" or Bucky Fox. To send an email, click
here and don't forget to mention Bucky's name: talkback@thecolumnists.com
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