After a couple weeks without making any picks, the Blogger is fully rested and ready to make things difficult for those who dare challenge him in this week's Beat The Blogger contest. With a nice mixture of NBA, NASCAR, MLB and golf matchups available in this week's contest, it will likely take a well-rounded sports fan to claim the top spot.

For those unfamiliar with the Beat the Blogger contest, the idea is simple: Post your picks to the matchups pasted in the post below, correctly pick more matchups than the Blogger and the rest of the field and win an authentic signed 8-by-10 photo from the prize vault. If there is a tie for the top spot (or if nobody posts a higher total than the Blogger, the prize will double to two photos the following week and everybody will get another chance to take down the Blogger and the field. Good luck and thanks for playing. Make sure you spread the word about how easy it is to win great authentic sports memorabilia playing Beat the Blogger.

Make sure you get your picks in before the start of the first game of the week (Which is 8 a.m. Thursday this week because of The Masters) so you're eligible to win. Good luck and thanks for playing. Also, Question No. 5 will be tossed out because Brandon Webb has been scratched from his scheduled start on Saturday so there will only be 9 matchups this week.

Thursday
1. Will there be a hole in one at this year's Masters? (Yes or No) (Yes)
2. Who will win this year's Masters? (Tiger or the rest of the field) (Tiger)
3. Will the leader after the third round go on to win The Masters? (Yes or No) (No)
Saturday
4. Which team will hit more home runs in Saturday's game? (Milwaukee or Chicago Cubs) (Cubs)
5. Which player will have more strikeouts Saturday? (Joba Chamberlain (NY Yankees vs. KC) or Brandon Webb (Arizona vs. Florida)
6. Will CC Sabathia (NY Yankees) get the win in Sunday's game vs. KC? (Yes or No) (No)
7. Who will finish higher Carl Edwards or Jeff Gordon (NASCAR)? (Gordon)
Sunday
8. How many strikeouts will Johan Santana (NY Mets) have vs. Florida? (5 or fewer or 6 or more) (6 or more)
9. Who will win Dallas vs New Orleans (NBA)? (New Orleans)
10. Who will win Boston or Cleveland (NBA)? (Cleveland)

The March Madness edition of Beat The Blogger is coming down the stretch with several players making a move in first part of the Sweet 16 round. Without taking anything from the drama of it all, I will let you know that three of the 13 players still remaining correctly predicted all four of Thursday's matchups to climb up the leaderboard and none of the three were the leader. Four others picked three of the four winners and three other contestants managed just two correct picks to hurt their chances of advancing. With four more games tonight and then four more throughout the weekend, there is still plenty of time for any of the remaining 13 to rally so stay tuned.

The Top 5 totals of the remaining 13 players (cummulative total including first round, plus ties will then advance to the next round). For the rest of you, thanks for playing and make sure you jump back in to our regular Beat The Blogger contest which will return in on April 8.

Players Advancing to Sweet 16
1. Sunshine (sunshinebald) 28
2. Bobby W. (Bcabbagehead) 27
3. Michael M. (mtmahnke) 27
4. Peter (pduthoy) 26
5. Kenn F. (kenn.fritts) 26
6. Julie (juhagen) 26
7. Pete H. (pfnh8) 26
8. Ripper (rippers) 26
9. Steve (steve) 26
10. Danielle (d_plays_d) 26
11. Sean (seandickerson) 26
12. William (wgareaujr) 26
13. Pamela (spam_freak) 26

Matchups for Sweet 16 (please make sure you make selections for this round and then predict the winners for the next round as well. Make your selections for this round in parenthesis followed by your selections for the next round in separate parenthesis).
Thursday, March 26
Villanova vs. Duke
UConn vs. Purdue
Missouri vs. Memphis
Pittsburgh vs. Xavier
Friday, March 27
Louisville vs. Arizona
Kansas vs. Michigan St.
North Carolina vs. Gonzaga
Syracuse vs. Oklahoma
 
The March Madness Beat the Blogger contest will run for three weeks and the regular weekly Beat The Blogger contest will resume on the week of April 8 so make sure you among the top-scoring teams so you can keep playing each week. The contestants who advance will be posted on March 16, March 24 and April 1 with the grand prize winner announced on April 8. Good luck to everyone and make sure you spread the word about the contest to your friends. There's no easier way to win great, authentic signed sports memorabilia anywhere.

The Madness claimed the brackets of the Blogger and nearly 100 other entrants, but 13 players managed to Beat the Blogger and survive the first cut and advance in the March Madness edition of Beat The Blogger.

The Blogger picked 24 of the 32 matchups correctly but it wasn't enough to hang with the leaders. "Sunshine" leads the way after correctly picking 28 of the 32 first-round matchups, with Bobby W and Michael M. close behind with 27 and 10 others correctly picked 26 of the 32 matchups to remain in the running for the $500 prize package. The matchups for the next round (Sweet 16) will be posted on (Wednesday) March 25 so if you see your name listed in the Top 11 below, congratulations, you're moving on to the next round so make sure you get your picks posted a 1/2 hour before the start of the games on Thursday (March 26) to remain eligible for the $500 prize package. Those advancing should pick the winners of the Sweet 16 matchups and the Elite 8 (Games played on Thursday and Friday and then Saturday and Sunday as well). The Top 5 ( cummulative total including first round, plus ties will then advance to the next round). For the rest of you, thanks for playing and make sure you jump back in to our regular Beat The Blogger contest which will return in on April 8.

Players Advancing to Sweet 16
1. Sunshine (sunshinebald) 28
2. Bobby W. (Bcabbagehead) 27
3. Michael M. (mtmahnke) 27
4. Peter (pduthoy) 26
5. Kenn F. (kenn.fritts) 26
6. Julie (juhagen) 26
7. Pete H. (pfnh8) 26
8. Ripper (rippers) 26
9. Steve (steve) 26
10. Danielle (d_plays_d) 26
11. Sean (seandickerson) 26
12. William (wgareaujr) 26
13. Pamela (spam_freak) 26

Matchups for Sweet 16 (please make sure you make selections for this round and then predict the winners for the next round as well. Make your selections for this round in parenthesis followed by your selections for the next round in separate parenthesis).
Thursday, March 26
Villanova vs. Duke
UConn vs. Purdue
Missouri vs. Memphis
Pittsburgh vs. Xavier
Friday, March 27
Louisville vs. Arizona
Kansas vs. Michigan St.
North Carolina vs. Gonzaga
Syracuse vs. Oklahoma
 
The March Madness Beat the Blogger contest will run for three weeks and the regular weekly Beat The Blogger contest will resume on the week of April 8 so make sure you among the top-scoring teams so you can keep playing each week. The contestants who advance will be posted on March 16, March 24 and April 1 with the grand prize winner announced on April 8. Good luck to everyone and make sure you spread the word about the contest to your friends. There's no easier way to win great, authentic signed sports memorabilia anywhere.

Heard like many others that Curt Schilling was calling it a career and it made me think of a couple of quick questions: What year is this? And didn't he do that like three or four years ago? Then the big one: Is he a Hall of Famer? I guess it depends on who you ask. Some will say you betcha, first-ballot all the way and others will crunch the numbers and compare him to others hurlers from past eras with similar stats and the debate will undoubtedly linger on til about 2012 when the decision will be made officially. Many despised the guy because he spoke his mind and many others loved the fact he wasn't able to shut his trap while virtually everybody else toed the company line and treated a post-game news conference like a cliche-fest. Love him or hate him, he was different and different is usually pretty good in my book.

Schilling is 14th on the all-time strikeout list with more than 3,000 Ks, he won three World Series titles, pitched 83 complete games, made six All-Star appearances and won more than 200 games but I'm not convinced he's a sure-fire HOFer. I guess only time will tell, but I did appreciate his ability to step his game up when it mattered most and despite the fact that I often disagreed with the substance of what he was saying, I also appreciated the way he spoke his mind when few others would. Schilling often came across as a phony to me and I'm one who still believes the whole bloody sock incident was nothing more than a bloody scam that inflated his ego to mythical proportions, I can't dispute the ability he displayed on the mound.

In other news, it appears the Big East Conference is as good as advertised and then some. When the conference garnered seven teams and three top seeds in the tournament many scoffed that the league was overrated, but you'd have a hard time making that debate today after five of the seven teams advanced to the Sweet 16 and appear ready for a Final Four showdown that might end up being referred to as the Big East Tournament on steroids before the Madness comes to an end. Syracuse, UConn and Villanova have yet to really be tested and the early battles Louisville and Pitt have endured will only make them tougher down the stretch.

A decade or so the Big East was known more for its physical style of play and the 3-to-1 chance that a fight would break out at any moment. It didn't always get the top-notch athletes of the SEC or the ACC but was more about the sluggers who would fight you tooth and nail before squeeking out a 48-45 win. Now, things are different, very different. Teams from the Big East can beat you with a wide-open, showtime style of play, they can outhustle you and win in a half-court game, and they can still put on the gloves if needed and win a slugfest. It basically comes down to picking your poison with the end result being death to their opponents no matter how you break it down.

Don't agree? Let me know why. Step up and make a post and let your voice be heard. Click on comments and fire away.