So, are you feeling good? Have you studied your spread sheets, win charts, RPI graphs; consulted with your insiders, your psychics, your "rain men;" input your numbers into the supercomputer specifically designed to come within the smallest of percentages of you ever having a girlfriend?

In other words, have you filled out your NCAA bracket yet? The Madness doesn't wait, you know. Part of the fun is processing the myriad information of matchups and potential meetings in only a few days before making what could become your greatest achievement or your most ignominious failure.

Originally meant for a fun diversion, these pools are now hugely popular and there's billions of dollars at stake here (legally, of course). So each piece of information, regardless of how trivial, may mean something in your prognostication. Though most obscure facts have found their way into papers and onto the Internet, I have found a few that you may have missed. Feel free to incorporate this knowledge into your last-second entries. For instance, did you know:

Rick Pitino actually receives royalties every time John Calipari copies his shtick.

Missouri is the "Show Me State," but be warned, they actually have a law that makes it illegal to show them.full story >>

After several heart stoppages and two different televisions -- do you think Best Buy will exchange a flat screen with a lamp through it, since I still have the warranty? -- the chance for redemption is ON. We all remember what happened the first time the New England Patriots and the New York Giants danced in "the Big Cotillion." In fact, there are still many who wake up at night screaming, "HE'S IN THE GRASP!!!" as nightmares of Eli Manning's desperation heave to David Tyree after defensive lineman Jarvis Green held onto the quarterback's jersey for a full three-count continue to crop up.

It is now four years later and the Northeast monopolizes media coverage yet again. Welcome to Rex Ryan's personal hell. His town's successful team and his arch rival doing what he cannot do, at least not with Mark Sanchez under center.

There is a weird familiarity to this game, almost like we've seen it before. Flash back to 2007 -- no, really ... do it. Flash back! The Giants squeak into the playoffs by the thinnest of Joe Flacco Fu Manchus and proceed to win three games on the road, including the championship game in overtime, in inclement weather, after an ill-fated turnover.

Meanwhile, the Patriots, though they made history by achieving the first ever 16-game perfect season, made the Super Bowl, but only after a controversial win (in Week 13) by three points against a Baltimore Ravens team. Sound familiar?

In that season, the Patriots beat the Giants during the regular season. This year, however, they didn't, which bodes well if you're looking for comparisons to the 2001 team which similarly lost to the Rams, then proceeded to run the table, including a Super Bowl win against those same Rams.

And in a season when Brady's chief rival Peyton Manning was inactive, his brother Eli has risen like some sort of Phoenix. (A brilliant reference if ever I saw one as his first Super Bowl win was, in fact, in Arizona.) It's like some weird sort of action movie sequel where the hero, having dispatched of the bad guy, finds that the bad guy had a brother who's much more evil then his dead brother ever was. (Remember, you can't spell "elite" without ELI.)

I understand that this redundant matchup has removed all interest for many of you -- "When is Cleveland ever going to be in the championship?" -- but for those of you who haven't moved on to other sports like Texas Hold'em and the Scripps National Spelling Bee, you have myriad reasons to pick a team and get behind them, if only for one day.full story >>

People are wondering what the heck is going on with the NBA. Didn't they fix things with the new collective bargaining agreement? I mean, the NFL seems as strong as ever after their labor battles; baseball has made some changes that promise to enhance things as well; and even hockey has seen its brightest days since missing a few games back in 2004-05. So why if, just as owners and players were shaking hands and ratifying a new deal did the sports world start shaking their heads at the league?

Apparently, one team was out of line in thinking they can make a trade. A TRADE!!! How dare New Orleans try to better its team?! Well, the league quickly put the kibosh on that. It's simply another droplet in a bucket filled with questionable actions and incidents for a league that should be doing everything it can to repair consumer confidence, assuming there are consumers left. This one, sadly, may be the last straw.

But you're in luck as I have a simple seven-step process to fixing things that does not include the Scotch tape remedy the league seems to like using in order to fix things. Consider it my Christmas gift for opening on Christmas Day, when the games resume. Of course, I'll enclose the receipt in the event you'd like to exchange some items, but try them out. You might like them better than what you have now.

1) Start Fresh
David Stern is 69 years old and has not been at the top of his game for the past two or three, or 15 years. It's time for a new vision to take the league to new frontiers -- namely, up.

After eight years, the country gets to choose a new president, even after four if things aren't working. Every piece of news concerning the league these days, save for one exciting Finals series last year, is about a player, coach, or owner complaining about the officiating, the draft, the trades, free agent signings, the food selection in luxury boxes, etc.

Stern has been in charge of two work stoppages. How many more before people realize that he may not be the best guy to have at the top? Now, if he was a Wall Street banker, then we could make a case for him to stay, and get a bonus ... and probably a statue too.

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2) Contraction
Say goodbye to six teams. That's right, six! Let's revert as close to pre-expansion levels as possible. I suggest we use this abbreviated season to decide which teams go. And just as an added twist, we won't plainly eliminate the worst six, but we’ll get rid of the worst three and the best three -- regular-season records only. That will allow for parity. Of course, we’ll leave one team in New York and one in Los Angeles. So if the Clippers are the worst team and the Lakers are the best, we'll have coin flip to decide which one goes. Or maybe spin that big drum and pick their card out in front of a television audience. The NBA likes to televise these events.

3) Free Agency
Free agency is a tricky subject. Obviously, it needs to stay, but the days of players holding teams hostage to go where they want to go before their contracts are up should end. I think a system similar to what MLB used to have would be best for starters.

A team that loses a free agent gets a draft pick in return, or a player from the acquiring team. Each team can protect, let’s say, three players; everyone else is fair game. If the Heat want to acquire Dwight Howard, they may have to give up one of their own players. They can protect Bosh, LeBron, and DWade, but everyone else could be swiped by Orlando.

4) Incoming Players
College players must play at least three years of college or junior college ball or be 21 years of age. This will be a tough one to install, but it's for the good of the NBA game. As a side effect, it will make the college game better as well. Look how well Butler did last year, simply because they were playing with most of their team intact from the previous year.

5) Playoff Scheduling
The playoffs need to be two games in a row, an off day for travel, and then two more games in a row. As it is right now, they last nearly 30 months (rough estimate). I don't know, but I lose count by the time they reach into the month of Abijaba in the ancient Gezer calendar.

As my former English teacher used to say, "Chop chop, boom and go." Let's get to it. If players can't take back-to-back games, they shouldn't be in the playoffs.

6) Integrity
The question of whether or not the referees are calling games on the up and up has long been an issue that the league and fans sweep under the carpet. Yes, it sinks to conspiracy theories, but just because it's called a "conspiracy theory" doesn’t necessarily mean it's not true. And that cloud is still hanging over the league to some.

It's like when, as a kid, you sat on Santa's lap and realized that Santa smells of rum and chicken just like your fat uncle Dusty, but for some reason, you were still convinced it was the real Santa. It's just too jarring not to believe that.

It's gotten so bad that the main role of color commentators such as Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson seemed to be to offer a critique of all referee calls. I think the new commissioner (point one) may instill a better policy of integrity, but just in case, there needs to be a system of checks and balances put in place so we can be sure what we're watching is legit.

Now, I'm just spinning here and am open to suggestions, but what about a challenge flag system, coupled with a booth replay official? AND a booth replay official supervisor! (See that, I'm creating jobs! "Vote Wasif 2012 for President!")

The reason for this is that you figure a referee in the replay booth is going to be looking out for his colleagues down below. But a supervisor, whose job is to sit around all day playing Farmville, until someone cc's him with a useless memo to which he replies, "Sounds good," then, every now and again, he will check on his underlings to make random suggestions that seem to contradict what he said before, will make sure to keep the booth replay official on his toes and reverse a few calls for good measure just to protect his own cushy gig.

Consistency, that's what we're looking for.

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7) Draft Lottery
In 1985, the league instituted a draft lottery. It didn't take long before cries of "The fix is in!" began when New York, a large market team, conveniently won the rights to Patrick Ewing, a franchise center.

Just go back to a system like the NFL has -- worst team gets first pick. If a team wants to tank it, fine. That's on them. It's not like it will improve their fan base. Sure, if they tank it for a LeBron-type player,
they'll sell some seats the next year, but it's a gamble. Give them the right to take that gamble.

8) The Fans
In the interest of returning fans to the game, the league needs to improve its marketing. I just read a new parody of the NBA's slogan that read "Where Amazing Happens ... but sometimes it un-happens."

The league has a few diehard fans, but not enough to bring the game back to prominence. A recent poll I read ranked it sixth among major sports ... behind auto racing! My solution to this is to rebrand basketball as a reality show, and have judges instead of commentators.

Now, here me out for a second: It's a bold new move, yes, but basketball isn't getting any better without a bold new move. Imagine Simon Cowell criticize a dunk by Blake Griffin because he was appalled by the lack of originality on it. Perhaps we'll even give the former "American Idol" host the power to deduct points. Now we're talking!

So I'm not saying that these solutions are the gold standard, ready-to-go winners, but they are a launching point. Let's start a discussion. Er, and we probably shouldn't invite those parties from the NBA lockout. We all saw how "well" they got along. That’s how we ended up in this place in the first place. How about we ask those NFL and MLB negotiators to help us? We might be done by tip off.

The World Series is underway. Are you glued to your set? Are you Cardinals fans still wearing the same clothes you were wearing when your team entered the playoffs? Can you Rangers fans name the team's best hitter against left-handers after the seventh inning when facing a deficit of two or more runs?

There are many people who are obsessed with baseball. Chances are you know one of them. But there are comparatively few who can honestly claim to be obsessed with the baseball. Zack Hample is one of those people.

He's the author of "The Baseball: Stunts, Scandals, and Secrets Beneath the Stitches," a truly fascinating look at the game's most important element, the one constant since the very origins of a field game from the mid-19th Century. Players have come and gone, but the baseball has seen it all.

Though writing is his vocation, Zack could just as easily be called a "professional fan." For he is a ballhawk, someone who spends his time at the ballpark collecting as many baseballs as possible.

The New York resident took time out of his 12-city, 13-ballpark tour to talk to me about what makes this little round piece of cowhide that he calls a "cultural artifact."

"The baseball is the object that's at the center of the national pastime," he began. "The game can't be played without the ball."

I think about that for a moment. Baseball consists of bases and balls. The ball is called a "baseball." The game is called "baseball." Without the baseball, there would be no baseball. The sport might then have to be called "basebat" or "cleatcup" or something else related to the props on hand, no doubt diminishing its allure.

From reading the thoroughly-researched tome, you'll find that the controversy of the juiced ball is not a modern construct, but has survived longer than any accomplishment housed in the record books.

In fact, it's been criticized for being juiced longer than the leagues have been in place. In 1867, when the ball could flop around, the Nationals of Washington were accused of "juicing" the balls by the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

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The term "tear the cover off the ball" used to be taken literally (due to the flimsy construction of it) and not simply as a hyperbolic statement describing a steroid-enraged (allegedly) Roger Clemens arguing a balls and strikes call.

Another little known fact, prior to reading Zack's book – the baseball used to be the prize. Winning teams were allowed to keep the ball as they were expensive and hard to come by. "Hey, you won! Here's the ball." (That's nothing like today's World Series trophy.)

Over the years, Zack has amassed a collection of official major league baseballs well into the thousands. "It makes me very happy just to own so many baseballs." At press time, he claims it to be 5781 – "That kid's got balls," one might say – but that could change as games continue within travel distance.

This (Pittsburgh) pirate's booty resides in several locations. "They are mostly at my mom's place," he tells me, "in my old childhood bedroom, and she wants them the hell out." There are eight 32 gallon recycling bins that hold about 700 balls. Then he's packed balls snuggly into five filing drawers. He knows that each holds precisely 144 balls; no more, no less. "It's almost as if they built them for baseballs."

Who's to say they didn't? Finally, he estimates around 300 or 400 sitting in duffel bags, and maybe a hundred more in some plastic shopping bags.

What is he saving them for? Someday, he hopes to have children. "I'd like to pass these along to them. It'd be fun to dump them all out and then jump in them, play around in thousands of baseballs." He pauses for a moment, then proudly adds, "I like doing that now and I'm supposedly a grown-up."

All this for a little piece of cowhide stitched together with some yarn. (Which one might think it's as rudimentary as that.)

The stitching process itself is interesting, an exhaustive and precise undertaking. It recruits Canadian thread, Rhode Island yarn, a metal detector, a numerical code, a stamping machine, invisible ink, and the Costa Rican climate (though produced indoors with air conditioning so as not to affect the materials).

The stitching process is done by hand where warehouses filled with slouching people hunched over balls lining fourteen rows of 25 chairs each at the Rawlings Factory in Turrialba, Costa Rica. (And that is of no relation to Yorvit Torrealba of the Rangers.)

Read the book and you'll discover all you wanted to know and things you didn't know you wanted to know. It'll open your eyes to one part of the game you love that has been taken for granted all this time.

The book, Zack's third, is broken into three parts -- historical and factual stuff, baseballs in the news, and, of course, snagging the ball. The final section highlights some of the most successful ball hawks in the stands. "Even though major league baseball is huge and spread out all over the continent, it's still kind of a tight-knit community of guys who do this, at least to this level," Zack explains, as one who is unique, but not nearly alone.

Pick up "The Baseball" and become a ballhawk yourself. It's something I've been sorely in need of. I'm perpetually haunted by memories of near-misses, my thumbs and forefingers still scarred from baseballs glancing off them time and again.

As I tell of my most recent failed attempt at snagging a ball, I am hoping he absolves me of my feelings of shame. "Most people are just passive about catching balls," he says. "I think most people would love to catch a ball. Very few people make it happen."

I feel a little better at my success rate. After all, Zack's the expert. He is a hawk and can spot other hawks at the ballpark easily. "I can tell pretty quickly who has a clue of what they're doing, just by the way they're standing, how he looks, what they're wearing ..."

He's just very good at it. By the time he was in college, he'd snagged his first thousand.

Growing up as someone who wanted to play the game, this gives him the feeling he's part of it, a way of connecting to the sport he loves. "It makes me feel like I'm in the game."

The hobby leaves him a bit misunderstood which he seeks to correct. "I think a lot of people assume I don't appreciate the sport, that I'm just interested in catching balls and if I can't do that, I don’t really care about the game, but that's far from the truth." He doesn't participate in fantasy baseball, but still reads every box score.

A lot of the time, he'll go to games alone because he's not interested in the typical leisurely passive viewing habits of the average fan. There are not many companions that fit his criteria. "The few times that I tried to take people, they either bitched about moving around from seat to seat or they were competing with me for baseballs."

Now, when he attends with friends, Zack explains, "I don't ask them, 'Is this okay with you?' I just say, 'This is how it's going to be.' But they're my friends and they know how it goes, so they want to come and witness what I do, willing to switch their seats over the course of the game."

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He's experienced the glory of catching a home run ball held seconds earlier by the pitcher and inspected by the ump. But he's had his share of injuries as well. "I was on crutches this season for three weeks because I sprained an ankle at a game. I've cracked a rib in the past at a game, broke my nose slightly." Ah, the dreaded BDL (ballhawk disabled list).

This last one is a sore subject. "It's not that I can't catch. If I'm camped underneath a home run ball and some idiot comes flying out of nowhere and deflects a ball, sending it off course by an inch just over the tip of my glove into my face ... I've learned my lesson."

The pursuit has spawned a philanthropic effort as well as he is dedicated to a charity called "Pitch in for Baseball" that provides baseballs and softballs for underprivileged kids all over the world. "I'm getting people to pledge money for every ball that I catch." Since he started in 2009, he's raised over $20,000. "It's my way of giving back to the baseball world and not being a doofus in the process, running around and catching balls."

And as the season goes into hibernation, while those obsessed with baseball will go through withdrawal symptoms, you can be sure Zack will experience a much different sensation as he will no doubt marvel at the spoils of this year's hard work. (He collected 1,110 balls during the regular season, continuing with nine at Philadelphia's Citzens Bank Park, for Game One of the NLDS.)

Perhaps this is a good time to dump out a barrel and do some rolling around.

-- To donate to "Pitch in for Baseball," please go to ZackHample.com.