This should also run in the Log Cabin Democrat in the morning, but I'm putting it here too for the thousands of my daily readers who don't check out the Cabin.

And before I get to the preview, I would just like to say Super Bowl XL was, as Bill Walton would say, HORRRRRIBLE. I fell asleep right before halftime and on three different occasions during the second half and once had a dream that the zombies from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video performed at halftime, calling themselves "The Rolling Stones" or something like that. The one who was supposed to be Mick Jagger nearly slipped on the puddle of formaldeyhyde forming underneath him.

And next to any Sean Paul song or Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter", The Rolling Zombies performed the most incomprehensible song ever with a horrible rendition of "Start Me Up". The lyrics went something like this ...

If you start me up
If you starr me up I'll nehhhh stop
You make gwone man cwyyyy
Arrrrrrruhhhhhhgaxclkxhlkcacyt cwwyyY!!!! gwone man!!!
Star mup
Star munurr stah, nurr stah
Gwone man cwy!!!
Aalkcnnlxodayidrunkaljkdsfdajkcocaineakljdadk
gahhhhurrrrr meeeachnnnee!!!
Zzzzzz.....

Thank you Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. Since your little stunt it's been all downhill at the Super Bowl halftime. Next year what's it going to be? Are any of the Statler Brothers or Beach Boys still kicking? Sign them up. Maybe Tony Bennett wants in on the action. What's Robert Goulet doing?

Or, evidenced by the Stones, having a pulse is no longer a requisite criterion. That opens up endless possibilities. Elvis can rock the house one more time, Milli and Vanilli can be reunited, Pac and Biggie can squash their beef and share a stage for one night only, Johnny Cash could do his thing, or we could get The Rat Pack on stage one final time.

Better yet, just hold a drawing and let like three lucky fans come out and do some karaoke.

On to the preview.

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After a combined 159 victories and 104 losses between the University of Central Arkansas men’s and women’s teams in the state’s longest-running basketball rivalry, Teachers hopes to give Tech one final lesson starting tonight at 6 p.m. in the Farris Center when the Bears (13-7, 6-4 GSC) and Sugar Bears (15-6, 7-3) share the court with the Wonder Boys (11-10, 2-8) and Golden Suns (11-10, 3-7) for likely the last time.
UCA’s move to the NCAA Division-I Southland Conference will likely preclude the Bears and Sugar Bears from scheduling Division II opponents, who are substantial liabilities in schedule strength and the NCAA’s Ratings Percentage Index.
So basically, this is it.
“It’s been a great rivalry for a long time,” Bears coach Rand Chappell said. “It’s Tech’s last time here, they won their 11th game of the year last Monday which is the most they’ve won in about four years, they have a good team and it ought to be a good basketball game.”
Sugar Bears coach Checola Seals, who has been a player, assistant coach and head coach in the rivalry, has seen it from several angles and has seen enough.
“I’m ready to get it over with,” said Seals, who set a UCA record against Tech nearly 15 years ago today with 20 field goals on Feb. 7, 1991. “There comes a time you’re ready for it to end. We know we’ll have new competition and a new conference. Technically, Tech is a rivalry but it’s not our biggest rivalry. But either as a player, assistant coach or head coach you get up for it and you know it’s going to be a physical game.”
The last time UCA and Tech shared a court, both games came down to the final moment with the Sugar Bears winning on an improbable steal and bucket at the buzzer, and the Bears surviving in two overtimes.
“I’d rather just go ahead and win by 10 or 15 and I think our kids are ready,” Seals said. “They’re coming to our place for the last time and they’re fired up, especially after how the last game went down. We know they’re going to be fired up for us. I think our kids are going to be ready, coming off a loss (at Ouachita Baptist last Thursday). We’re going to be a little more focused and with it being Tech week now there’s going to have a houseful, and we know we’ve got to take care of business.”
The Bears, who have taken care of business in their last five meetings with the Wonder Boys, are shooting for six and another valuable win in a tight conference standings battle.
“I think we expect it to be a very close game,” Chappell said. “Obviously a double-overtime game the first time says a lot, and every game we’ve had in conference has been single digits. With a rivalry like this you’d expect it to be very close.”
Last time out, in the Bears’ 81-77 win, UCA placed five players in double figures scoring – led by 16 from forwards Stephin Booth and LeMar Phillips. The Bears also had five go for 10 or more in last week’s victory.
“I think when we’re playing our best we’ve got everybody involved,” Chappell said. “We’ve played pretty well the past couple games and I’ve been pleased with our balance. We had a good balance in number of shots taken by each player, and I think that’s something we’re going to strive for the rest of the season.”
By the same token, however, Chappell knows the Wonder Boys have good balance and present match-up problems for the Bears.
“They’re a balanced team with a strong inside game and good 3-point shooting,” he said. “Ike Ohanson and Rone Smith give them two big bodies down low and a lot of times we play with just one big body so that’s tough for us. Denarryl Rice has had some big games this year, and Andrew Stanek has given us problems in the past. “
A big part of neutralizing Smith and Ohanson will fall on Booth, 13 points, seven rebounds and three blocks against OBU.
“Stephin’s coming off a good game against OBU and he’s a key guy for us,” Chappell said. “We need him to continue that production.”
The Sugar Bears’ victory hopes will be greatly aided if they can keep ATU’s Christy Mahan from continuing the production she showed in the last meeting – when she went off for 24 points and hit six treys.
“We’re making some adjustments on that and we saw we had some communication breakdown,” Seals said. “She got warmed up and she was able to get loose and hit some crucial 3s on us. We’ll try to shut down a couple of their offensive sets and shut her down.”
One thing is certain – after the final horn sounds tonight in the Farris Center, the Arkansas Tech/Central Arkansas rivalry will be shut down.
“I hope we have a great crowd,” Chappell said. “And hopefully we’ll close out this series the right way.”