I am a little ashamed of the fact that when I type in the letters “a-m-e” in the URL slot at the top of my web browser that the official website for American Idol automatically pops up.  

But after talking about Crappy Idol last week in my blog, it seems there are some other watchers out there too, so let’s keep this going each week and see if any others come out of the karaoke closet.

After last night’s performances, Adam “Man Bangs” Lambert made me eat my words. He pulled off one of the best showings of the competition that made all but a couple of his other competitors look unworthy to be roadies on his future tour.

I didn’t recognize the song and I can’t even really remember the tune, but I have to admit it was impressive. Pinnacle responded in kind and dropped Lambert’s odds to +170 earlier this morning and that number has been bet down even further since.

Matt Giraud and Allison Iraheta were the only other two top notch singers of the evening and the 16-year-old Allison has especially made herself worth a wager at +930.

But after that, this show really lived up to its Crappy Idol handle.

Lil dropped the ball. Blind dude did the same boring routine. Hot chick with tattoo sleeve forgot how to sing. Widow was respectable, but we didn’t see anything different. And Roughneck got the verbal beat down from the judges I’ve been pleading for after he's been stealing a spot from someone with talent all these weeks.

But feel free to take him at +20000 if you like.

Sweet 16 begins

I’m having a tough time capping these games with so many good teams on the board. So far I’ve only taken Memphis -4.5 against Mizzou and I’m thinking it will be a double-digit win.

I’m also eyeballing the over in the Purdue-UConn game like it might run away without paying the tab, but I’m not sure if I’ll pull the trigger.

Before the tourney began, I took Kansas at +600 to win the Midwest and I just grabbed UConn at +132 to take the West. I might go easy this weekend and just ride out those two wagers while hopefully taking in some great games.

Serving up some tennis

We’re getting into the meatier portion of the tennis season as the ATP and WTA fly cross country to Miami this week for the Sony Ericsson Open. They’re coming from Indian Wells in California last week so the three-hour time change is going to give those players with the best fitness an advantage.

I jumped on Rafa (+175) and Serena (+230) – both favorites – to win this week and I’m feeling pretty good about it.

Rafa put his mental toughness on display in the finals in California when he schooled Andy Murray. Murray whined his way through the match while he struggled with the blustery conditions.

Nadal continues to prove why he deserves the No. 1 ranking no matter what surface he’s playing on.

On the women’s side, I’ll be surprised if one of the Williams sisters doesn't win this week. They bull crappingly are allowed to skip Indian Wells and should be completely fresh for their matches.

One of them should be able to snatch this title in a women’s game that is in a bit of a funk right now. When the American sisters aren’t there, it seems like nobody wants to step up and be No. 1.

Zvonereva beat a struggling Ivanovic in the finals in Indian Wells and though Zvonny is playing some great tennis this year, you just get the feeling that either Williams (or a healthy Sharapova) could step up and wax her whenever they feel like it.

I guess we’ll find out this week.