Espn Bracketology

ESPN Bracketology fame, the man who successfully picked all 65 teams in last year's tournament field, had eight teams from the Big Ten going into Friday's action. Jerry Palm, of collegerpi.com, also had eight Big Ten teams in the field. His selections also were going into Friday's play. Coming out of Friday, however, I have to think Penn State, Minnesota and Michigan are going to have a long 36 hours or so until Selection Sunday rolls around.

My personal take right now is that five Big Ten teams should be locked (Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois, Ohio State and Wisconsin in that order), while Minnesota and Michigan have probably also done enough. So I would go with seven. But I think Penn State's play against Purdue Friday night, coupled with a few other upsets in conference tournaments around the country, have the Nittany Lions in a precarious position.

Penn State is 22-11 with quality wins against Michigan State, Illinois (twice) and Purdue, all within the conference. The Lions also beat Georgia Tech on the road in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. But in the last three games, Penn State lost in double overtime at Iowa, beat an IU team with an RPI of 211 in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament and then gave up 51 points in the first half Friday to Purdue before losing by 14.

Persian New Year

Persian New Year and to showcase the Iranian culture to our non-Iranian colleagues. This event has been organised by the Iranian Association as the University of Toronto (IAUT), Iranian Student Union (ISU) and University of Toronto’s Hart House. The event will feature music performances by Chakavak ensemble and Shiraz ensemble, dance performances choreographed by Ida Meftahi, storytelling from Masnavi of Molavi by Ariel Balevi, as well as Hart House’s famous 5-Bucks Lunch Program.

This event is open to the public. We encourage all of you to join us in these festivities. Our three similar events in 2003, 2005 and 2007 were very well received by both Iranian and non-Iranian communities; however, we promise you an even better and especially unforgettable event this year. You can find the schedule of our events and a description of the performers below.

Attendees can purchase Persian dishes for only 5 bucks! The delicious menu includes: Khoresht-e Fesenjan (Iranian stew with chicken, pomegranate sauce and walnuts), Zereshk Polo Ba Morgh (barberry and zaffron rice with chicken), Kookoo Sibzamini (potato patties), Shevid Baghali Polo (lime bean with dill rice) and Shirazi Salad (made with tomato, cucumber, onion and lemon juice).

Julian Peterson

Julian Peterson could be on his way out of Seattle, according to a report from KJR-AM's Dave Mahler. Here's a link to the report right here. Mike Sando of ESPN.com has subsequently confirmed Peterson declined to take a pay cut from his 2009 salary, which will be $6.5 million. If Seattle were to release Peterson, he would still count more than $4 million under the salary cap to account for the remainder of the signing-bonus money he received.

Peterson was the only Seahawk to appear in the Pro Bowl, but he is also the oldest of the Seahawks trio of starting linebackers. Seattle currently has $20 million in salary-cap space tied up in its linebacking corps after designating Leroy Hill its franchise player before free agency began. It was first reported by Dave "Softy" Mahler of 950 KJR AM this afternoon, but now Sando is chiming in. According to their sources, Julian Peterson was approached by the team and asked to take a pay cut. Peterson refused and now there is speculation that he may be cut or traded sometime in the near future.

The obvious implication pointed out by Mahler and Sando is that Peterson's rejection of a pay cut may mean that his future with Seattle is in doubt. I won't go that far yet, but the fact that the Seahawks approached Peterson about his contract at all would seem to indicate that the front office is trying to navigate payroll and cap issues for next season. Whether or not Peterson is actually in any imminent danger of being cut or traded isn't quite clear at this point.