Talk about a shot out of left field. Or, in a really bad joke, the left coast.

I talked to several people today about who was going to be named the new president of the NCAA. No one knew. The nation's largest athletic body, and often it's most criticized, was very tight-lipped about its decision. Things were so crazy that early today I heard a rumor that retiring Indiana Senator Evan Bayh may be the named announced by the executive committee.

Instead the UW community heard stunning news, when the NCAA announced the Washington President Mark Emmert would be named the fifth chief executive in NCAA history.

Emmert replaces Myles Brand, who died of cancer last fall. He is the second consecutive president with deep Pac-10 ties, after Brand, who was president of the University of Oregon.

For those who think this will mean the Pac-10 gets favorable treatment, stop. It doesn't. While he won't assume duties for a few months, one of the first things the body is going to do after this announcement is lay out its punishment on USC. Don't expect Emmert to say anything negative about the infractions committee.

No, what those who read my blog, most with northwest ties, should really be thinking about here is UW. Despite the fact that the state was in a deep recession, billions in debt, Emmert kept UW afloat and enrollment steady. It required tough cuts, but he made them. In a fundraising effort aimed at raising $2 billion, the school raised $2.8 billion on faster timetable under his leadership.

I have admired the work Emmert has done since he took the job in 2004. He cleaned up the athletic department, then watched it thrive, winning more national championships in his tenure than in the school's long history before him. He was not afraid to make leadership changes or tough financial decisions. He oversaw the cutting of a sport.

And I can forever say that I shook his hand at the last graduation he led at UW.

Obviously a couple of questions immediately arise, with the first being: why would he leave? Well, aside from his pay being doubled (he was already one of the highest paid university presidents in the country at over $900,000), this is frankly a new challenge. He said that and I agree with it. In a letter to the UW community, he wrote:

The NCAA is one of the nation's most influential collegiate organizations. Leading it offers a chance to shape the educational and athletic experiences of over 400,000 young people and to work with more than 1,200 universities, colleges and conferences to make intercollegiate sports a competitive, healthy, integral part of the growth and maturation of student-athletes. It also presents a new set of challenges for me. I am very excited about taking on these challenges and the opportunity to work with so many university and college presidents.

It isn't quite the equivalent, but it is close to being the president of every major university in the country. His influence may even be greater and his budget surely will be. The NCAA is in the midst of finalizing an $840 million deal with CBS to continue televising the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament.

Said Washington Men's Basketball Head Coach Lorenzo Romar:

"President Emmert is one of the most impressive persons I've ever met. Obviously, you hate to see someone go that is that talented and so supportive. But at the same time, it is an unbelievable oppotunity for him. The NCAA will be better as a result of his leadership."

The other question many will ask is: 'what does this mean for Scott Woodward, Emmert's close friend who has worked with since his days at LSU. Woodward immediately responded by saying that he will be stay put in his position as athletic director, where he plans to be for some time.

That good news aside, this is a great hire for the NCAA and a huge loss for Washington. Many will say negative things about Emmert, mostly in reference to some of the financial issues out of his control, but they are not deserved. The University of Washington is a better place because he was the president. Like I said before, he becomes the second consecutive head from the Pac-10, which would seem to indicate that the governing body really respects the way Pac-10 schools are run. Emmert often called athletics, "the doorstep to the university."

A couple of interesting notes to think about:
- Could Mark Emmert be the leader who takes the NCAA toward paying players? It is no secret that the issue is a major one and it will be staring Emmert in the face.

- Will he also be the one that changes the BCS? Obviously that is the biggest athletic question he will face in the coming years.

- A note on the NCAA executive committee: it's chair is Oregon State University President Ed Ray. Just worth noting.

I know it sounds like I just have glowing praise for everyone, but I should also note that Emmert has large shoes to fill. Myles Brand changed the way the NCAA was run, especially from a transparency standpoint. Frankly, the body, which is well-known as rigid and a relative unknown, really opened up during Brand's tenure. He was very well liked and respected.

It would be shocking if Emmert doesn't get the same treatment. To put it bluntly, he now takes the head job at what amounts to the fifth major professional sports organization (after MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL) in the country. This one, however, is by far the largest and most difficult, with far more competing interests and the whole academic component. Expect Emmert to be a good leader of that organization.

Which is why I reiterate: this is a big loss for UW.

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...

Short and sweet today, mostly because I started late, but also because it's sunny outside and I am going to run grab breakfast. So happy Wednesday.

Yes, I know there has been a stretch of negative things that have happened in the last few days - although frankly, I thought the Michael Steele thing was hilarious - but today I have to lead off with a local incident from last night.

Noticed it on Twitter not long before I walked out the door that DC EMS were responding to a shooting on the 4000 block of South Capitol SE, along with two words at the end, "mass casualty."

The headline in today's Washington Post is "LIKE A WAR ZONE". A gunman, in an apparent drive-by shooting, sprayed bullets into a crowd outside of an apartment building, killing four and leaving five more wounded. In an ensuing police chase that led to three arrests and the recovery of a weapon, four more police officers were slightly injured.

Two quotes from witnesses are chilling:

A man who said he was in the area at the time recounted the sounds he heard as "pat, pat, pat, pat, pat," followed by a loud boom.

Then, "all I saw was bodies dropping," he said. "It was like Vietnam."

Another witness said that as bodies fell, "it was like a pileup at a football game."