The Big Three: 2.28

Wednesday's Big Stories, :

Gator Bait: Florida's grip on a #1 seed is getting greased pig slippery after dropping their third game in four outings, this time to Tennessee in Knoxville, 86-76. Fair to say the skid has added some tarnish to the 17 game win streak the defending national champs enjoyed earlier this year (No doubt Stetson U. is asking themselves, "How the hell did we lose to those guys?"). In fairness, it was hard to tell if Billy Donovan's squad was spooked by UT's Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith (21 and 16 points respectively), or the sight of legendary Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt in cheerleader gear and a feather hat. The evidence suggests the latter at least played a part. With Tennessee up three at the 15:29 mark of the first half, Summitt emerged from a pack of (actual) cheerleaders, sang "Rocky Top" at mid-court, then topped a mini-human pyramid. By the end of the half, the Vols had a 19 point lead. You do the math. Florida closed to within nine late in the second half, but a UT run, presumably sparked by coach Bruce Pearl's threat to bring Summitt back on the floor, closed the door on the Gators.

The Mavs Never, Ever Lose: And if they do, it's only with the purpose of starting 13 game win streaks. Their 91-65 beatdown of the Wolves in Minneapolis (somewhere, Prince is crying) gave Dallas their second such victory run of the season, and their third of 10 games or more. That Dirk Nowitzki went off for 24/13/3, Josh Howard had 17 and Jason Terry 18 (along with seven dimes) is all well and good, but it's more fun to look at the absolutely goofy numbers the Mavs are posting these days. They've put the NBA on tilt. Dallas is now 11-0 on the back end of back-to-backs. They didn't lose in February. Yes, it's a short month, but still, that's good. And in the category of "Things That Just Didn't Happen Under Nellie," they held Minnesota to a franchise low 65 points, on a franchise low 29.6% from the floor. Even the Celtics look at 65 points and say, "Wow, that sucks."

People You Won't See On Television Changing Addresses: Surely you've read about this sport called "hockey," since you're likely not seeing it on TV. But when the dust settled on the NHL's trade deadline, some pretty big names were in need of U-Haul vans. Bill Guerin does indeed know the way to San Jose, heading out west from St. Louis to the Sharks in exchange for draft picks and the Earl Boykins of college hockey. The Oilers reached into the chests of their fans and ripped out their hearts, like that wierd guy in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, trading Brad Smyth to the Islanders, where no doubt the FA-to-be will look for one of them Rick DiPietro deals in exchange for playing for those goofy ass owners. The Red Wings picked up an injured Todd Bertuzzi, while Dallas snagged defenseman Mattias Nordstrom, the hockey equivalent of the Volvos of his homeland.

And One to Grow On: Yes, Pacman Jones has had some trouble of late, but thankfully, people have his back. Awesome.