I'm not sure I've ever been more excited to open a blog post. Last night, Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker stayed awake until past midnight. He wanted to be wide-eyed when the calendar turned to April.

That is because, just a day after a deadly drive-by shooting rocked Southeast Washington, D.C., Newark received far better news on that front. For the first time since 1966, a calendar month went by without a murder.

Fitting that I heaped so much praise on the mayor in my post yesterday morning, as he truly is turning that city into something it hasn't been a decades. It has been 32 days since a homicide was committed in New Jersey's largest city.

Just three years ago, Newark's murder rate was more than five times the national average. In 2010, the city is on pace to better than halve that number.

The news is especially enlightening when taking a look at the recent developments in the case here in Washington. Reports today are that police believe a stolen bracelet was the motivation for the back-and-forth violence that led to Tuesday.

Police are saying they believe the murder last week of a man, over the bracelet, led to retaliation days later, which then led to this most recent shooting. Over a bracelet.


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This is a tough transition to make, but I'm doing it on purpose. Saturday, two teams will tip off against each other in the Final Four. One, just six miles from its campus, which holds one of the most storied gyms in all of basketball, against one, honestly not much farther away, with an iconic coach.

For the last couple of decades, basketball has been an "out" for kids in the hood trying to live a better life. These are freak athletes, given a scholarship to come play basketball, make money for the school and hopefully move to the next level. That last thing obviously happens less than it doesn't happen, but in the grand scheme, where many of these kids could have been standing in front of that apartment building (one of the men the police arrested was 20), this is a step in the right direction.

For several decades, dating back to the 1920's at Butler's historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, basketball has not been an out, but instead a right of passage. Like football in Texas, basketball in the Hoosier state is the thing that identifies you. While some absolutely play it as an escape, many play it because it's what you do when you're from Indiana.

The reason I bring this up is that, Butler, the little school in Indiana, is full of these types of players. And there has always been a part of me that said that, if players from inner-cities, where basketball is as much an escape as a passion, were more the latter, our athletes would be more successful, both on the court, but more importantly off of it. Butler understands that, as its star player is a first team academic All-American.

I have always thought that sports can strengthen a community. Where many stand separated, sports can unite. Where many stand disheartened, sports can encourage. Where many stand weak, sports can empower. But only in situations like that in Indiana, where it is sport, specifically basketball, that is loved, not the lavish rewards. That desire for lavish rewards and the "respect" that comes with them seeps into our most vulnerable communities - and leads to a situation where six people die - over a bracelet.

A gun does not make one any stronger than a basketball does, just more violent. But guns incite passions where often basketball doesn't. Maybe one day we can make shooting into a hoop more common than shooting into a body.

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- ESPN's Pat Forde writes about the small school in the Big Dance.

- On health care again, it appears that many Republicans are backing off the "repeal the bill" language, fearing it could harm them in November. Instead some are turning to "strengthening" the bill, something that is exactly the point of major legislation like this.

- The recess town halls have begun, meaning a daily roundup of who got drilled by constituents and who had a funny, Barney Frank-like "kitchen table" response. Yesterday it was Carol Shea-Porter.

- All you Washington state people should really pay close attention to what Rob McKenna is doing. Contrary to the crazed belief of some health care opponents right now, suing the federal government is not going to make this well-liked and respected lawmaker look good. Especially when his governor and state legislature disagree with him. Also, it takes what was a perceived moderate (pro-choice, great environmental record) and drives him to the right. His ability to win the governorship everyone knows he covets in 2012 is centered on him being less Dino Rossi, more Dan Evans.

- Finally, this is awesome only because she was okay. Minnesota Twins outfielder Denard Span hit his own mother with a foul ball during a spring training game. He then ran into the stands and stayed with her until the paramedics checked her out (like I said, she was fine). After the delay, Span returned to home plate to finish his at-bat. Only in spring training...