The meeting took a couple weeks to arrange through a shadowy intermediary. Terms and conditions were negotiated. We met at an undisclosed location, and eventually found ourselves talking – in low, conspiratorial tones – in a dim basement room with a single light. My contact wore a press-on mustache, wig and dark glasses. Really. He would not tell me his name, even when I promised not to reveal it to anyone. “In my world,” he said, “there’s no such thing as off the record.”

How long ago was it that critics were saying college basketball was comatose? No one cared, they said. All the stars had gone to the NBA. No one could identify with the game. The regular season meant nothing. Of those criticisms, only the relevance of the regular season is still debatable. Let's say it. The NCAA basketball tournament is the greatest sustained sporting event in the United States.

If you're still among the non-believers after the regional finals in St. Louis and St. Petersburg on Sunday, you'll never be converted. How can anyone doubt this has been the most scintillating NCAA Tournament leading to a Final Four? Does the case still need to be argued?

One of the handiest resources in The Washington Post newsroom is the reverse phone book, a hefty volume that lists phone numbers in simple numeric order, allowing you to see who belongs to what number and where they live. But if you don't work at a newspaper (i.e., you are sane), you can perform this same magic at AT&T; Labs' AnyWho Web site (http://www.anywho.com).

It's easy and vicious sport to make fun of Olympics coverage - summer or winter. And yes, this year CBS has been particularly inept in Nagano. But it's time for the whining to stop. It's easy to say that CBS wasn't skilled at filling time when events were canceled. Or that the network should have had a better game plan for the 17-hour time difference on the West Coast (14 hours on the East Coast).

Between commercials, former Olympian Dan Jansen is doing a commendable job as a speed-skating announcer for CBS. Photo by Associated Press

Two months after his seventh birthday our worst fears were confirmed. Our son Jared was, like Travis Pascoe, diagnosed with Type I diabetes. Today Jared is a sophomore at University High School and one of just a handful of area high school athletes who have been identified with the disease. That's why I was intrigued by Pascoe's story. "You know," Jared told my wife, Tambra, not long ago, "I've lived longer with diabetes than I have without it."

George Karl deserves to stay with a big raise. Photo by Associated Press

1. John Elway finally relishes the thrill of a Super Bowl victory. Photo by Associated Press 2. Jack Elway is the only one riding higher than his father after the Broncos won the Super Bowl. Photo by Associated Press