Sitting here, my mind is as blank as this &8220;sheet&8221; of Microsoft Word in front of me. Topics, topics, come out wherever you are.

I’ll take &8220;Is this the road to Itta Bena?&8221; for $300, Alex.

Well AISA basketball fans, it’s all over but the shoutin’ for some teams. Now I know that it’s time for the area tournament and that some teams still have a chance to make it to Montgomery, but, hey, they’ve got their work cut out for them.

As of today and as far as I know, Morgan and Meadowview will both be on the road for their tournaments. Morgan will be at Hope Hull and Meadowview will be at Taylor Road, despite the Lady Trojans having secured a berth into the AISA’s Elite 8 Tournament at Faulkner.

Central Christian will be on the road to Shelby Academy. Lowndes and Marion Military will both host their respective regionals.

Both schools have also earned bids into the Elite 8 by virtue of being regular season champs.

So the worst they can go as is a No. 2. AHSAA fans, don’t worry. I’m not leaving you out.

As far as I know, which isn’t very far, Southside and Hatch will host their area tournaments, with Hatch hosting both the guys and girls. Selma will travel to Montgomery for their area tournament and Dallas County will be in Greensboro.

Coaches, both AISA and AHSAA, please be sure to fax me your brackets.

I’ll take Supersize it for $600, Alex.

Now, with that bit of housekeeping out of the way, sportsfans, it’s less than five days away from the nation’s first unofficial holiday of 2006.

It’s Super Bowl weekend. And this one is Xtra Large, or at least that’s what it’s being billed as, oh wait, XL is Roman for 40.

Super Bowl Xtra Large sounds a lot better, especially when you look at the teams that are playing in it. Who would have ever thought that the Steelers and their second-year quarterback and veteran running back would make it into the Big Dance?

Good on them.

Same for the Seahawks. It looks like Shaun Alexander is finally going to get to play for that championship that eluded him all those years at the Capstone.

Now, this should be a great match-up that reeks of &8220;Old School&8221; football.

Sportsfans, don’t expect this one to get ugly, it should stay close for four quarters. When the final horn sounds, whoever comes out on top will have earned it. It won’t be like the Steelers’ last trip to the Super Bowl when they were massacred by the Steve Young-led 49ers.

The Steelers have the potential to ground out the victory, especially with an inspired Jerome Bettis at the tailback position playing for a championship in front of his home crowd for the first time in his 14-year career.

Now, while the Bus will be inspired, Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck will have the opportunity to show everyone that he deserved to be in the spotlight all along. The first-year starter for the Seahawks played under Brett Favre in Green Bay before being traded to the Pacific Northwest. Once here, he was Trent Dilfer’s understudy for a year. It would have been two, had Dilfer not gotten injured to kickoff this season.

I’ll take the incredible shrinking sports editor for $500, Alex.

Now, news from the battle of the bulge.

Sportsfans, whoever said that dieting was easy is nothing but a stone cold Omaha beachfront condo salesman. It’s been a month since I’ve been on this diet and I’ve only lost five pounds. But hey, I only have 35 more pounds to lose to meet my goal.

It’s that simple.