Obama Also Has a Women's Tournament Bracket; Pray for Jack the Bulldog

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Today in sports: Where's the outrage over Obama's women's NCAA bracket?, Peyton Manning has been meeting with teams in secret, and Georgetown's mascot might be going under the knife.

We're not naive: we understand why President Obama had to fill out a bracket for the NCAA women's basketball tournament. (Because it's the right thing to do.) What we don't understand is why the people who have been scoffing at this president for having the temerity -- nay, unmitigated gall -- to participate in a time-honored American tradition of spending four minutes making picks for the men's tournament are not equally furious about filling his decision out a women's bracket, something very, very few people do. (Allahpundit, we're playing your song.) Anyway: the American President picked Baylor, St. John's, Notre Dame, and U-U-UConn to make the Final Four, which seems right-ish. [ESPN]

Peyton Manning still hasn't picked a team to play for next year. but give him credit for luring NFL media types into a labyrinth of secret and lies where nothing is as it seems. (Just like Jade!) On Monday, the storyline was that Manning was done -- totally done -- with the courting process, but apparently he has been entertaining overtures from the Tennessee Titans and the San Francisco 49ers in secret. Considering the number of leaks that usually come from the Good Ship Manning, this is remarkable. Also remarkable: the fact it only emerged on Friday that the quarterback held a private workout on Tuesday night in Durham for 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh. It is also probably a sign that Manning is bound for the Bay Area, since he hasn't been letting anyone watch him throw. (Note: if Manning  ends up playing out a sad, sputtering third act in San Francisco, it will also be like the movie Jade. Jade, Jade, Jade!.) [ESPN]

How many times can one NFL franchise make the same mistake? In the case of the Miami Dolphins, the answer would appear to be many, many times. According to a tweet from Yahoo Sports NFL reporter Jason Cole, the team is in the process of "low-balling" (!!) soon-to-be-former Green Bay Packers quarterback Matt Flynn in contract negotiations, the same thing they reportedly did when they tried to hire Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh last year. Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio reports said lowballing has renewed optimism in Seattle that Flynn will sign with the Seahawks.   [@JasonColeYahoo and PFT]

Oh no: Australian swimmer Ian "the Human Torpedo" Thorpe might not qualify for this summer's London Olympics, because he imploded during the 200-meter freestyle  in Adelaide earlier today. Thorpe hasn't raced in five years, but was attempting a comeback, because he wanted to wrestle the title of world's most dolphin-esque human away from beloved American marijuana-smoker Michael Phelps. Now he'll be lucky if he can claim to be the best swimmer in Australia. Australia! That's as ironic as rain on your wedding day. [Reuters]

The little fellow above is Jack, the English bulldog who runs across the court at Georgetown basketball games. According to his handler, Father Christopher Steck, Jack tore his "dog ACL" hopping off the couch and might need surgery. A source who deals with Jack tells us he's a mean cus, but the Atlantic Wire nonetheless wishes him a speedy recovery from any and all surgical procedures. Because of the injury, Jack won't be travelling to Columbus with the Hoyas for their first-round game against Belmont. [D.C. Sports Bog]

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.