As I watched the stock market open substantially higher this morning only to drop all the way into negative territory, I needed something to cheer me up. I got it in the form of wonderful news. No, the Giants didn’t make a Madden-like trade of Jeremy Shockey for Champ Bailey. No, Tila Tequila was not killed in a fiery automobile accident. And unfortunately, Fox isn’t bringing back Temptation Island (as far as I know). The great news I received was that Billy Packer is out as a college basketball color man for CBS. This was the best news coming from the broadcasting industry since ESPN told Joe Theismann to hit the bricks last year. For some inexplicable reason, Packer has been the go-to analyst for the Final Four for the past 34 years (7 with NBC and 27 with CBS). Finally, for the first time in my life, college basketball fans will be mercifully reprieved from our punishment for loving the NCAA tournament –- listening to Billy Packer.

“Fudge,” as he was known in some circles, constantly filled his two hours of airtime with comments that were either obvious, annoying, dead wrong, or not really dead wrong but still ridiculously stupid. One of the things that annoyed people most about “Fudge” was his arrogance. Comment after comment reeked of Billy knowing he was smarter than everyone else in the world when it came to basketball. What annoyed me most about Packer was his insecurity, which manifested itself in Billy incessantly pointing out where a previous comment of his was actually (more or less) on the mark. For example Billy might open the game saying something like, “Jordan may have a tough time scoring on Thomas tonight. Thomas is one of the best defenders in the country.” And then EVERY time Jordan touched the ball and didn’t score we’d have to hear Billy chime in with a comment like:

“You see Jim? Jordan missed that shot because Thomas was all over him.”

“See what I mean? Jordan is trying to go to the hole but he just can’t get past Thomas.”

“Are you seeing this? Jordan can’t do anything against Thomas– as I said, he’s a great defender.”

“Remember when I said Thomas was going to be able to stop Jordan? Jordan just passed the ball into the post because he knows he can’t do anything with Thomas guarding him.”

“Coach Williams just sat Jordan because even he knows Jordan doesn’t stand a chance of scoring on Thomas– just what I said earlier.”

“See how Jordan just hit his first three? Remember I said he won’t be able to score on Thomas, well Thomas is on the bench.”

“Again, like I said, Thomas comes back into the game and Jordan misses another shot.”

At which point I’m now yelling at the TV: “But Thomas had switched off on the pick and was guarding someone else and Jordan had a WIDE OPEN shot you jackass!” But I think you get the point.

As awful as Packer was as a color commentator (and make no mistake about it, he was awful) I actually backed him during his most recent “controversy.” After the Kansas-North Carolina semifinal game this past season Packer caught a lot of heat for proclaiming, “The game is over” when the Jayhawks took a 38-12 lead, only to watch the Tar Heels cut the lead to 4 midway through the second half. That wasn’t the first time an analyst prematurely called the end to a lopsided game and it surely won’t be the last. I much prefer this type of “error” to the announcer who tells me that a twenty point game with two and a half minutes left is still in question because “stranger things have happened” or “you never know.” Yes I do. This one is over.

But I digress. Back to Billy Packer sucking as a color commentator. CBS could have chosen anyone (except Susan Waldman) to replace Packer and I would be satisfied. I wouldn’t care if they hired John the Stutterer from Howard Stern (not to be confused with Stuttering John) or Corky from “Life Goes On” to do color commentary for college basketball, as long as Billy Packer isn’t there it’s a net gain in my book. But instead of Corky CBS went with someone who has some basketball knowledge and gave the Final Four color commentary job to Clark Kellog. Personally I would have liked to see Bill Raftry get a shot, but I have no complaints about Kellog. He’s very knowledgeable and passionate about college basketball. Kellog is interesting and engaging while lacking the obnoxiousness and pompousness Packer exudes. With this move CBS has guaranteed that the NCAA tournament will be at least seven times more pleasant to watch than in years-past. Now if we could just get ABC and ESPN to drop Bill Walton.

If you are at all a baseball fan do yourself a favor and watch the final game of the College World Series tonight between Georgia and Fresno State. Tonight is game three of a three game set and is sure to be as thrilling as baseball gets. The passion and excitement that these kids play with is unmatched, even in the MLB World Series. The enthusiasm the crowd shows (made up mostly of family and close friends rather than the corporate CEOs and Hollywood stars that litter the seats of Major League stadiums throughout the playoffs) is super contagious and only matched by the enthusiasm shown on the field. This year viewers get the added benefit of watching the final chapter in the greatest Cinderella story in college sports history. Fresno State is looking to become the first team with thirty or more losses to win the College World Series, and the lowest seed in ANY NCAA sport to win a championship.

Fresno State needed to win the WAC championship just to make it to the NCAA tournament. Beginning with that WAC championship game they faced five elimination games, four as underdogs. They entered the NCAA regional as a four seed. Not so bad you say? There are only four seeds in each region. With 64 total teams in the tournament, a four seed amounts to a 13-16 seed in the NCAA basketball tournament. Fresno State took out 1 seed Long Beach St. and then 2nd-seeded San Diego. After losing the first game of a three game series with 1 seeded Arizona State, the Bulldogs needed to win two straight against the number 3 team in the country. Somehow Cinderella pulled it off and advanced to the 8-team College World Series where they continued their unlikely run, defeating number 6 in the country Rice, and taking two of three from number 2 in the country North Carolina. Oh and by the way, they made this run through the World Series with their ace pitcher benched by an arm injury. To review, this is what Fresno State’s run through the tournament would look like if the baseball tournament was set up the same way as the much more popular basketball tournament: They won their conference tournament and earned a 14 seed. They took down a 3 seed in round 1, then took out a 6 seed in the second round. They beat the 1 seed in their region (3rd in the country) in the Sweet 16 and beat the 2 seed in their region (6 in the country) in the Elite 8. In the Final Four they ran into another 1 seed (2 in the country) and beat them. Now in the Finals they face another 2 seed (8 in the country). That’s a hell of a run for a 14th-seeded Cinderella. How can you not root for these guys?

In baseball though, the finals is actually a three game series. So up 6-3 heading into the bottom of the 8th in game 1, Fresno State lost the lead and lost the game 7-6. Again the Bulldogs found themselves needing to win two straight against a team ranked in the top 10 nationally. Then in game 2 Georgia built an early 5-0 lead and felt the title in their grasp, only to see Fresno State storm back for a big 19-10 victory, keeping their unlikely championship hopes alive. The first two games of this series were extremely exciting to watch and this final game promises to be the best of the bunch.

The College World Series is baseball at its purest (except for the aluminum bats). And tonight at 7PM ESPN will be airing the deciding game of the 2008 College World Series and the final game of this storied run by Fresno State. There’s no question it will be an exciting, emotional game. The only question is: Will the ultimate Cinderella get her fairy tale ending?