Vince Marriott: There's no doubt that the premier sporting event of this week is taking place on Monday night, when the Kansas University Jayhawks take on the Kentucky University Wildcats in the NCAA National Championship game. Neither team's presence in the finals is much of a surprise, and Kentucky beat Kansas by a comfortable margin of 10 points early this season, but the past has no bearing on Monday. Each team's entire season will come down to how it plays over these last 40 minutes. The winner will remain immortal, while the loser will find itself subject to perpetual highlight-reel humiliation. Look for Kentucky to win, at least until Calipari does something to force the university to vacate its victories. (Monday, 9:23 p.m., CBS).
Jonathan Gault: Yeah, it's technically not the first game of the MLB season, but when the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals visit the Miami Marlins Wednesday night to open the brand new Marlins Park, it will have the feel of an opening night fixture. Both of these teams underwent drastic changes in the offseason. St. Louis lost super-stud first baseman Albert Pujols to the Angels, while legendary manager Tony La Russa retired along with pitching coach Dave Duncan. Miami, on the other hand, went on a spending binge, signing Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Heath Bell. Throw in Hanley Ramirez, Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Johnson, and the Marlins have a chance to upset the balance of power in the NL East this season. (Wednesday, 7 p.m., ESPN).
Dong Zhao: Is the old Tiger back? That will be the question on everyone's minds as the players tee off on Thursday in round one of the 2012 Masters. All of the attention at this year's tournament will be on Tiger Woods, who ended his 30-month PGA title drought at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week with a convincing five-shot victory. Woods is only four major wins away from Jack Nicklaus's all-time record of 18. However, standing between Woods and the Green Jacket this year are some of the world's greatest golfers, including current world No. 1 Luke Donald, fellow Englishman Lee Westwood, young phenom Rory Mcllroy, Americans Steve Stricker and Dustin Johnson and of course 2010 winner Phil Mickelson. (Thursday, 3 p.m., ESPN).
