Three things to think about this week of March 7th

1. It's interesting and a bit concerning to consider the direction college athletics is headed. I should say big time college athletics that get big coverage. Ask fans who prefer college basketball to the NBA or college football to the NFL, and many will tell you the reason is that they are purer games, and that they just can't cheer for the ego-maniacs and jerks on the professional level.

Without being an alarmist, I can't help but be concerned about how fast "amateur" college athletes are catching up with the professionals in terms of entitlement and bad behavior, from all the reports of players accepting payments and benefits to Sports Illustrated's report this week about the alarming number of arrests in college football. There's plenty of blame to go around when it comes to these issues, but at the very least we should stay away from any broad claims about the pure motivations of the typical college athlete.

2. I am really, really tired of the Miami Heat's excuses. Game after game they don't get it done in the closing minutes. They say it's an ongoing process and that they're still learning. They say that at some point they will break through. They act like we're idiots for holding them to a high standard right now, because they still haven't had enough time for it to click.

It would be different if right from the start the big three said things like this: "We haven't won anything yet. We know it's a process and we won't be perfect right away. We have a lot of work before we're champions."

Instead they fired up the ice machines, flexed their muscles and starting counting their rings. So no, I don't want to hear about "the process"...that horse is out of the barn. Also, they were crying after today's loss to the Bulls? Seriously?

3. Less than one month until opening day. In the mean time, check out Mat Latos and his big mouth...anything to keep them interested, right?