I had George Mason

The NFL has hired a headhunter to find a replacement for Paul Tagliabue. Which has to make Mike Thomas smile... To all who have asked me about players Mick Cronin is looking at: Asking me about recruiting is like asking PeeWee Herman about scoring. I keep track of them when they actually get here... NY Times reports 4 people out of 3 million who entered ESPN.com's NCAA pool picked the Final 4 teams; one winner penciled George Mason in by mistake. He meant to write George Washington. Why didn't we think of that? Pete Rose still thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. When someone at the Moeller stag last night mention to the Hit King that his name was no longer on the baseball writers Hall of Fame ballot, Rose said, "How does your eligibility run out if you're never on the ballot?'' C'mon, Pete. A little more humility about 10 years -- and one paid-confession book -- ago, and you'd probably be in by now, or at least be in the discussion. It's not the semantics of an election guideline that has kept your nose against Cooperstown's window. Live big.