Same Ol' Story
Posted March 29, 2009, 9:36 PM ET

The sports world looked remarkably familiar this past weekend.

In fact, no matter what channel I was watching, it felt like I had seen the outcome before. It didn't matter if it was the NCAA Tourney, NASCAR or golf. It was the same old dog and pony show.

Let's first address the Final Four.

I was in great shape with my brackets, heading into the weekend. I had correctly picked 7 of the 8 teams in the Elite 8. Syracuse's lame effort against Oklahoma was my only downfall. But boy, did that all change this weekend. A pair of #1 seeds from the Big East were defeated (Louisville and Pitt) and my picks took a major hit.

Even with the surprises by Michigan State and 'Nova, I limped into the Final Four with UConn and UNC still alive and kicking. Look at the bright news: President Obama is sucking worse than I am, since he only has the Heels left in his bracket. Perhaps the most powerful man in the world should concentrate more on his anemic bowling skills and leave the basketball forecasting to somebody else. Surely Reggie Love can do better....of course, he probably had Duke winning it all?

As far as the Heels are concerned, they make their 18th Final Four appearance, and are the highest seeded team left in the tournament. For Roy Williams, he now takes his 7th team to the big show. The Heels are doing their best to carry the ACC in the post-season. Without the boys from Chapel Hill, this post-season has been a disaster for the conference.

Perhaps the most impressive team performance is Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans. The comeback win against the defending champion Kansas Jayhawks, coupled with the outstanding effort against Louisville, were impressive. Izzo will be going to the Final Four for the 5th time in the past 11 years. That's more than anybody else at one school during that span....pretty impressive. Recently, I mentioned on my radio show that Izzo was one of the five best coaches in America, and I was harassed by co-host John Kilgo and multiple callers/e-mailers. I rest my case about Tom Izzo. He's a great coach and runs a first-rate program.

In addition to that stat, the Spartans will garner a huge home court advantage by playing at nearby Ford Field. Officials are expecting nearly 75,000 fans to pack the dome, and most of them will be wearing green. The last time a team played the Final Four in their home state was back in 1994 when Duke played in Charlotte. It should be pointed out that the Blue Devils lost in the finals to Arkansas.

Last week, I broke down the ACC's inability to compete against the other power leagues since UNC's national title in 2005. Now that we have the Final Four set in stone, here are the numbers for the past four years:

Conference	Sweet 16's	Elite 8's	Final Fours	Titles
Big East	15	8	3
Pac 10	9	4	3
Big XII	7	6	1	1
SEC	6	3	3	2
ACC	6	3	2
Big Ten	5	2	2
CUSA	4	3	1
MVC	3	0	0
A-10	2	1	0
West Coast	2	0	0
Colonial	1	1	1
SoCon	1	1	0
Sunbelt	1	0	0
MWC	1	0	0
Horizon	1	0	0

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I mentioned how it was a déjà vu sports weekend. In addition to the Final Four, how about the return of Tiger Woods?

He is simply amazing.

Tiger, making only his third start since last summer's knee surgery, rallied from five shots back on Sunday and won again at Bay Hill. His birdie putt on the final hole of Arnie's tournament was magical. In the twilight, Tiger drilled a 15-footer for the win. It's the 6th time he's won this tournament and the third time he did so by making birdie on the 72nd hole.

It was awesome. There isn't a more dynamic athlete in sport than Tiger Woods. Don't even start with the "golfers aren't athletes" debate. The guy is out of this world.

While Tiger was winning again, so was Jimmie Johnson...this time in Martinsville.

The three-time defending champ won for the fifth time in his last 6 starts at Martinsville. It appears that Hendrick Motorsports owns Victory Lane in the tiny Virginia town. Johnson's victory gives Team Hendrick 18 wins at the track.

And for good measure, the Carolina Hurricanes won again...their sixth consecutive victory as they continue to solidify their position in the Eastern Conference. The Canes have won 9 consecutive home games at the RBC. They haven't lost at home since February 17th.

The schedule looks promising, too...the next four games are in Raleigh, and the Canes appear to be in great shape for the NHL Playoffs. I have vowed to make it to Raleigh for a Canes game....it appears that a trip to Raleigh is in the works in the upcoming weeks.

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Finally, I have joined the "Twitter World". I've had too many people ask me about it, so what the hell...you can check out what's going on in my world at Twitter.com/MarkPacker.