By David Scott
Boston Sports Media

10:01 p.m.

• Billy Packer was quoted in today’s USA Today as saying he enjoys the preparation for the games more than the games themselves. Which is only funny because we enjoy his preparation (which we never see) to his participation (which is hard to avoid).
• Get ready for CBS’s big 25th year of the Tournament celebration all next season. It’s sure to be overbearing.
• It’s worth the visit to the link below, sent in by a true Shots friend, to see Johnny and the new Mrs. Damon and her, uh, Damons. This guy is officially “SHOT,” and it’s not necessarily the worst thing.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page3/story?page=photogallery/johnnydamon/050404#
• Do we give Weber credit for wearing the old Howard Johnson’s orange blazer or do we condemn him? Too bad it wasn’t plaid AND orange.
All we know is that Boeheim didn’t feel the need to go Orange, and he went to the damn school.
• Cool overhead of the jump ball with the Final Four logo’s ball seemingly being thrown up form the hardwood.
• Pedro K’ed a dozen, but Foulkie wasn’t in the bullpen for him. His post-gamer seemed tame and for at least one blown-save, the Diva appears composed. And his jheri curls are tight. Real tight.
• With afternoon baseball coming up on Tuesday and temps climbing, we may have to launch Porch Dining ’05 at Chateau Scotts. Reserve your seats now. It’s sort of like sitting in the Monster Seats, but overlooking Nantasket Ave. and the ocean instead of Manny and Fenway.
• Free Shawn Kemp.
• If you were wondering, the NCAA this year has three “corporate champions” (Cingular, Coca-Cola and Pontiac) and four “corporate partners” (The Hartford, State Farm, Kraft and Monster). It would appear State Farm was a late addition, as they did not appear in early material for this year’s Tournament.
Why does any of this matter? Because it’s all about the money, friend, and these companies have big money invested in this event. And I came across the info on a random visit to their website.
• I keep wasting my time clicking over to Eric Neel’s pseudo blog. For his most recent entry, he bitches about his crappy seat in the rafters.
Trust us, it’s a better seat than he deserves.