Leave It to Tiger to Connect Like No One Else

John Eisenberg of the Baltimore Sun on Tiger Woods: “His surging popularity is easily explained. He has shed his youthful arrogance and occasional fits of childishness, evolving into an athlete fans can invest in emotionally.

“He’s also a winner, and let’s face it, fans love winners. Watching a winner connects them to excellence and makes them feel better about themselves.

“That’s why [Michael] Jordan drew ratings and no one is watching the NBA anymore. And that’s why golf ratings crash when Tiger isn’t playing.”

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Trivia time: Which player holds the record for most points scored in the men’s NCAA championship basketball game?

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On Wisconsin . . . slowly: Bernie Lincicome in the Chicago Tribune on Wisconsin reaching the Final Four: “So the plow horse makes the Derby field. The karaoke baritone gets to sing with the Three Tenors. Someone has put a flea collar in with the crown jewels, a butter churn next to the microwave.

” . . . They play every game as if they’ve memorized ‘Hoosiers.’ This is a team so deliberate that a police sketch artist can be used instead of instant replay.”

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Geography whiz: In an interview with Lacy J. Banks of the Chicago Sun-Times on the success of Phil Jackson with the Lakers, former Bull reserve John Salley, now primarily a bench player with the Lakers, said of Jackson: “He’s changed big-time. He’s older and wiser. He knows exactly how this thing called winning a championship works. It’s like he has mastered the road to Timbuktu.”

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Lady Cornhusker: KaLena Barnes, a sprinter on Nebraska’s women’s track team, is working out with the Cornhuskers as a punter and a placekicker in spring practice, the first woman to do so.

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Another Worm? New Jersey Net General Manager John Nash, on Isaiah Rider who was recently waived by Atlanta: “His talent is undeniable, but he’s disruptive. We feel the same way about him as as we feel about Dennis Rodman.”

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Complications: Ken Daley of the Dallas Morning News on the trade that made the Padres the Peyton Place of Major League Baseball: “Little did [General Manager Kevin] Towers know he was acquiring [Al] Martin, wife Cathy and a wife to be named later.”

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Classy league: From David Letterman’s Top 10 New NHL Slogans: “Share the Excitement, or We’ll Beat Your Brains In With a Piece of Wood” and “He Shoots, He Scars.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1939, Oregon won the first NCAA basketball tournament, defeating Ohio State, 46-33. It was an eight-team field.

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Trivia answer: UCLA’s Bill Walton, 44 points, against Memphis in 1973.

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And finally: Bart Hubbuch in the Dallas Morning News on Rick Pitino: “Already on thin ice with impatient fans and media for his lousy record, [he] did himself no favors by forgetting St. Patrick’s Day--in Boston as coach of the Celtics, no less--then neglecting to wear even a green tie to that night’s game.”