Being the father of a 2-month old during the college basketball season has proven much more difficult and emotionally challenging than I ever dreamed. There?s burping, crying, screaming, diaper rash—but enough about Karry Ling. The good news is, (knock on wood) I always have peace and quiet for the late games and have had the opportunity to see each of the top 10 teams in action at least once this year, except for Kentucky.

I?m not all that surprised by the amount of early season scares and upsets thus far. The fact that final four caliber teams like Uconn, Arizona, Michigan State, Duke, Gonzaga and Syracuse have already suffered their first losses of the season, should prepare you for a topsy-turvy year in which everyone is beatable on any given night, and any number of teams take their turn holding the number 1 ranking.

Especially Duke. As soon as Purdue beat Seton Hall in the Semifinals of the Great Alaska Shootout, followed by a day off, I was anticipating a tough, physical matchup for a tired Duke team facing their third game in as many days. Including their narrow win over Detroit Mercy at home before departing for the land of glaciers, boozers, and langdons, the Blue Devils have still yet to put two solid halves of basketball together. Their primary rotation only goes seven deep, with sophomores Shavlik Randolph and Sean Dockery coming off the bench, and Dockery has still yet to score on the season. Originally this looked like one of Coach K?s deeper teams with two former McDonald?s All-Americans (Nick Horvath and Michael Thompson) firmly planted to the bench—but after earning only 11 minutes of playing time in four games, two of which were against Canisius and Liberty, Providence Catholic?s Thompson finally had enough and asked for and received a release from his scholarship.

At 6?10″ and 245 lbs., Thompson is a legitimate big man who deserved better than four minutes of tick during his sophomore year following a disappointing freshman season in which he averaged less than two points per contest. Unlike other recent transfers under Coach K (Chris Burgess, Andre Sweet) this departure could come back to haunt. With freshman sensation Luol Deng doing most of his damage from the perimeter, K is left with only Shelden Williams and Shavlik in the front court. And with no incoming big men in next year?s recruiting class, he?d better hope neither advances their games to the point that they?d even consider an early departure to the NBA.

Which is all to say that once again, the next two years will feature up and down performances from the Blue Devils directly related to the percentage of their three-point shooting. If more than one guy is off from beyond the arc (like Deng and Redick in the Purdue loss), another ?L? is likely to follow. Sigh. And I?ve got a feeling I?ll be sighing again after their game with Michigan State on Wednesday.

I agree with Andy that the Illini? have been even better than advertised under Bruce Weber. And like you, I?m growing tired of the sandwich jokes too, but I prefer to pick and choose my battles. Even as a 3.5 point underdog to North Carolina, I like their chances tonight. James Augustine shouldn?t have much problem beating Sean May up the court all night long, and Raymond Felton will have his hands full defensively keeping up with the Illini? perimeter rotation for 40 minutes. The all-important X-factor is up for grabs between Rashad McCants and Roger Powell in this one.

Over on the deuce is another compelling ACC-Big 10 matchup with Gary Williams? young Terps hosting the Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers are a 4.5 point underdog, and if you happen to have a bookie on speed dial—I think I?d go ahead and get locked in. Maryland may be a dangerous team by year?s end—but I don?t think they?re ready just yet to effectively deal with the defending Big 10 champs.

And don?t get too distracted by the hoops action to forget Paris. On Fox, Paris Hilton (and Nicole Ritchie—yawn)?s The Simple Life debuts, and on MTV The Real World puts the final nail in the lifeless coffin of the ho-hum Paris season.

In life off the hardwood and outside the realm of reality television, the Major League Baseball off-season is heating up with the balance of power shifting significantly from the N.L. to the A.L. After watching Curt Schilling bolt for Boston, the Diamondbacks traded a lot of versatility and usable talent (Craig Counsell, Junior Spivey, Lyle Overbay) for approximately 40 home run trots from Richie Sexson. In other words the end is near for the once proud D-backs as their playoff hopes rest even more so than ever on the aging left arm of one unfortunate looking Randy Johnson, and the upstart Brewers are now the place to wheel and deal if you?re in search of a quality middle infielder.

The Yankees have yet to make their splash to offset and outdo the Red Sox Schilling signing, but I won?t be surprised to see them raid the N.L. as well, in the form of Gary Sheffield and possibly Javier Vazquez.

In my backyard, the Royals low-balled their underrated and unappreciated left fielder Raul Ibanez, and are now considering paying similar money to what he signed for in Seattle to any number of 2004 disabled list probabilities; Matt Stairs, Reggie Sanders, Rondell White. There?s also continued rumors regarding a Carlos Beltran trade. This time to the Dodgers after they missed out on acquiring Derek Lee or Sexson. Let?s just hope if they do ship the 5-tool center fielder out, it will be in the form of starting pitching and an immediate fan favorite that looks good in their uni?

Finally, I actually watched more college football between Friday and Saturday than I have during the entire season and have some quick thoughts. Florida absolutely got screwed by the officials repeatedly during their loss to Florida State and had every reason to be upset when the gutless Seminoles started taunting them. Chris Leak is phenomenal and he?s my early pick for next season?s Heisman over K-State?s Darren Sproles. This year?s Heisman simply must go to OU?s Jason White, making him the next in a long line of Heisman quarterbacks that don?t do jack at the next level.

Don?t believe the hype, USC?s potent offense will be no match for OU?s defense, so I?ll be hoping that someway, somehow LSU beats Georgia in the SEC Championship and ends up with enough percentage poitns to nudge the Trojans to #3 in the BCS standings. If only to create a controversy and prove yet again how ridiculous the current BCS format is.

And for kicks, here?s my take on how you easily fix it. First, I recognize that the largest complaints against any kind of playoff system are the tradition of the bowls, which have already been compromised by naming rights and conference affiliation changes, and keeping the number of total games played under 16, which is exactly how many some teams that will play in a conference championship will end up playing this season (K-State?s bowl game will be their 15th game of the season).

I?d utilize the existing bowls and venues for my playoff system, but no team that finished with a .500 record would remain ?bowl-eligible.? This year Georgia Tech, Kansas, Northwestern, UNLV, San Diego State, UCLA, Washington and Nevada would be eliminated from consideration leaving 51 ?bowl-eligible? teams. I realize that this would create future regular season scheduling woes as some teams refused to risk out of conference losses, but I really don?t care. Besides, the BCS standings would serve as the playoff seeding making quality wins and strength of schedule still important.

Also, no more conference championships. Not every conference has them anyway, and the ones that do will receive more revenue from their teams playing in additional games throughout a playoff system anyway.

Of this year?s 51 ?bowl-eligible? teams, 9 would remain on the outside looking in (teams ranked 43-51 in the standings), or on the proverbial bubble. Too bad, so sad. But sometimes the music stops playing and there aren?t enough chairs to sit in.

That leaves 42 teams guaranteed of at least one additional game. I don?t care how the bowls are actually utilized, so they can continue to rotate so multiple venues and sponsors have an opportunity to host the Championship game. 13 of the 28 bowls would host a one and done game for the 26 teams ranked #17 through #42. This year one of those teams would be the undefeated TCU Horned Frogs. Tough break. They would each play their game on national television and go home.

That leaves the top 16 teams in the nation to battle it out in a survive and advance format with two teams finishing the year having played 16 games. That?s only one more than is presently allowable, and if it?s such a huge emotional and physical tax on the players than I?d suggest cuts be made to in-season practices and spring football. Again, the BCS standings would dictate the seeds and we?d have a first round that looked something like this.

Music City Bowl – #1 Oklahoma vs. #16 Washington State
Sun Bowl – #2 USC vs. #15 Kansas State
*Liberty Bowl – #3 LSU vs. #14 Florida
*Independence Bowl – #4Michigan vs. #13 Purdue
*Diamond Walnut San Francisco (wtf?)- #5 Ohio State vs. #12 Iowa
Outback – #6 Texas vs. #11 Miami (OH)
Gator – #7 Georgia vs. #10 Miami
Capital One – #8 Florida State vs. #9 Tennessee

The (*) indicate a need to reseed by one-line as I would attempt to avoid a conference clash in the first round. In this scenario, either Ohio State/Texas or Miami (OH)/Iowa would flip-flp, and you?d have the Liberty and Independence Bowls pitting a Big 10 team vs. an SEC team.

These games would be played the first and second weekends of December. The 8 teams that win would advance to the next round, with the winner of the #1/#16 game playing the winner of the #8/#9 game, and so on. Just like the greatest playoff format in all of sports—the NCAA college basketball tournament.

This year the Elite 8 games would utilize the Rose, Orange, Cotton, Peach and Fiesta Bowls, and be played the third and fourth weeks of December. Finally, in successive weeks you?d have the national semifinals (Fiesta and Humanitarian) and the Championship game (Sugar), which would take place the first and second weeks of January, when college ?student-athletes? are on their semester break anyway.

It?s entirely that simple, don?t think about it anymore—just do it.

You?ll notice that even with only 3 losses, Nebraska would not have qualified for the playoffs, which is reason enough for Solich to have been fired. Let alone the multi-million dollar fundraising effort that?s taking place in order to keep pace with the ridiculous facilities at other programs, namely Texas. Think Mike Stoops wished he?d have held off on taking the Arizona job? The Huskers recruiting has slipped during the post-Osbourne era, and players are no longer excited to run the now antiquated offense in Lincoln. If only there was a coach out there itching to get back in the college game with a large enough ego to come in to Bill Snyder and Bob Stoops? Big 12 and immediately implement an exciting pro-style offense that would attract top offensive talent year in and year out. No, I?m not talking about Bo Pelini, the first year Husker defensive coordinator so upset after the humiliating 38-9 K-State loss he ran across the field to lambast Bill Snyder for leaving his starters in for too long and ?running it up?.

(Note: After years/decades of routinely covering 20 and 30 point spreads, you?re not going to find too many sympathetic ears for such a complaint, especially when it comes at the hands of your first ever home loss to that particular team).

The guy I?m talking about is none other than Steve Spurrier. True, the falls in Lincoln are a little cool for warm-blooded Steve?s liking, but they?re no worse than they are in D.C.

But then again, what do I know? Speaking of warm-blooded? Mmmm, Jillian?