...the wife-and-kids are hanging-with-the-in-laws, March Madness, help-Matt-with-his Fantasy-Baseball-Draft, Flames-game Live Blog! Of course, said wife and children will be returning at about the 1st intermission, so there will definitely be longer gaps than last time, but let's give 'er anyway.

9:23PM: I'm extremely stupid, and picked the Indiana Hoosiers to win the NCAA tournament last season. As I recall, Gonzaga beat them in Rd1. I'm quite happy to see the Hoosiers getting my revenge at the moment. If you haven't heard Bobby Knight's rant about going 8-10 in the Big Ten (linked over and over on this site), you're missing out. Also, the Todd Leary game in the 1992 Final Four is one of my favourites ever. Go Hoosiers.

9:10PM - Hi everybody! I don't know what the papers will say tomorrow about that game, or what the significance of the result is, but it sure as hell looked to me like the Flames were the better team. I actually feel slightly bad for Detroit at the moment... I'm quite sure that they're going to win the conference, and I'm quite sure that the Flames will be the best team in the bottom half of the bracket... and boy does it look now like Calgary is going to finish 8th. Sorry Wings.

7:44PM - family's home, I may be awhile. Go... Flames.

7:38PM - so long Doook. Can't say as I like the chances of VCU next round much either -- how do you give up an uncontested layup to tie with 15 seconds left? But nice jumper to recover. Also, Lombardi!!!! Stars 2-1.

7:35PM - I actually like the Flames chances to come back in this game. They seriously need to get the PK working, but they looked like the much better team otherwise in the 1st. I don't think the Stars had a scoring chance except on the PP. To coin a phrase, Go Flames.

7:32PM - if Duke wins this game, they're toast in Rd2. Parrish has put the Wild ahead of the Oil, 1-0.

7:27PM - fill in the blank: "Daisuke Matsuzaka's 2007 stats will be most similar to the 2006 stats of BLANK BLANKETY".

7:26PM - Mark Lamb - worst interview ever. Duke/VCU tied.

7:18PM - Flames head to the dressing room down 2-0, Duke just scored to go up by 1. And, not only are the Oilers playing out their season, but apparently RSN will continue to televise it (Gene Principe just shared that Robert Nilsson is known as "Mini-Magic Man" -- can I get a shheeeah right?) Funny how things work out; again I'm cheering for the opposite team as Pleasure Motors. Goilers.

7:06PM - Utter bullshit call on the Stars to give the Flames their first PP, but definitely fair in the grand scheme. Score, please. Dook up by 4 with 6:54 remaining.

7:01PM - hey, more Dallas PPs! 2-0 Stars. [deep inhale] I agree with Millions. Terrible reffing so far. Terrible. Flames need to kill off this 4th one to have a chance in the final 53 minutes.

6:55PM - What to do against a team that can't score 5-on-5? Take weak minor penalties, apparently. Modano rifles one in as DAL's PP expires, 1-0 Stars. Boo.

6:46PM - DAL is T-28th in the NHL in 5-on-5 GF. Major line blender tonight, from the get-go: looks like we have Iggy-Langkow-Friesen, Tanguay-Lombardi-Moss, and Huselius-Primeau-Amonte. Hey, better now than 7 minutes into the first period, if you ask me... changes sans the whiff of desperation are preferable.

6:43PM - Noodles in net tonight, an obvious good call by Playfair. Yeah they need these 2 points, but not as much they need Kipper to have some energy from April 12th onward. Plus, he's actually played well his last few starts. First Dallas PP killed off successfully, that's excellent since they can't score 5-on-5.

6:36PM - looks like the Duke/VCU game is the only one in this set that will be remotely close. Hey, Adam Dunn (Reds LF) is only 27, but he appears to be getting worse. Is there any reason for me to assume he's getting better, or will ever get back to his 2004 numbers (or cut down on the windmill action)?

6:33PM - Roger Millions & Charlie Simmer, everybody. I'm going to try to avoid mentioning host Mark Stiles. The Flames PPV broadcasts have the same problem as everyone else's: the "bonus coverage" where commercials would normally be is worse than commercials, and I say that as someone who would shiv the Panago hard-hat guy if I walked past him on the sidewalk.

6:17PM - I also need a catcher. Mauer, VJMartinez, and Brian McCann were the only keepers, so I'm looking at Posada, Ramon Hernandez, Piazza, Russ Martin, Mike Barrett, and Kenji (in no particular order of course, my competition reads this site... and writes for it). Is Posada ready to fall off a cliff (i.e. get old)? How about Piazza - he'll mostly be DH-ing this season, and obviously he's easier to replace in that role, with no defensive considerations? Russ Martin looks excellent, but he's also the only one of this bunch that looks like he has a backup that would be ready to step in everyday (Mike Lieberthal). Little help? Also, looks like The Ohio State University will cruise through this 1st round... and PS, I completely agree with Bill Simmons that Gus Johnson is awesome. He's seriously not one of CBS's top 4 for next weekend? Get the hell outta here...

6:08PM - VCU has just tied Duke (Dook is Dook... they're on TV.. more than Leave it to Beaver... reruns...), while UCLA is pulling away from Weber State, both very late in the 1st half. More importantly, which of these first basemen would be wisest for me to draft? (Note: this is a 12-team 6-keeper leadleague; assume that players not mentioned are already on a roster.)

• Todd Helton, Paul Konerko, Jason Giambi, Carlos Delgado, No-mah, Adrian Gonzalez, Lyle Overbay

Appreciate your input.