What is it about sports and sports betting that turn ordinary athletes, journalists, administrators and pundits into such quotable sources of information, wisdom, fun and absurdity?

A brief sampling from the first three months of the year:

"750 million."—Terry Elman, acting executive director of the Council of Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, offering an estimate on how much money will be wagered in office pools on the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

"1.7 billion."—John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a Chicago-based placement firm, estimating how much money the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament will cost employers in lost productivity

"Get your vasectomy at Oregon Urology Institute the day before the Tournament starts. It's snip city."—A promotion that urges men to get the medical procedure before the opening tip-off of the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The idea is that men should spend two to four days recovering from a vasectomy and by timing their surgery, they can do it in front of a TV screen watching the opening rounds of March Madness.

"It's no wonder Isenhour lost his PGA Tour card and is now playing on the Nationwide Tour. Maybe he should concentrate more on making birdies instead of killing them."—Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, after golfer Tripp Isenhour intentionally hit golf balls into a tree, killing a noisy hawk during the television taping of a golf instructional video

"This is classic 16^th century punishment where you get your fingers cut off for stealing a penny."—Geoff Smith, president of Roush Fenway Racing, after NASCAR handed down a 100-point penalty to driver Carl Edwards for having the cover off his car's oil tank in the UAW-Dodge 400 in Las Vegas, March 2, an aerodynamic advantage

"That's the worst tire I've been on in my life in any professional form of racing. Look at when they exited Formula One and the IRL and CART and World of Outlaws, USAC, you name it, because they can't compete, they can't keep up, they don't have the technology and they don't have the people smart enough to build a tire. This was pathetic today."—The always combustible Tony Stewart, after finishing second in the Kobalt Tools 500 in Hampton, Ga., March 9, voicing his "discontent" with Goodyear

"If he does it another 400,000 times, we'll have it all back."—Graham Sharpe, spokesperson for the William Hill Agency, one of the world's top bookmakers, after an unidentified gambler, who turned a $1 bet into $1.97 million after correctly predicting the winners of eight straight races at various horse tracks, lost a $5 bet

"If Ralph Nader, who captured 2.7 percent of the popular vote in the 2000 election, is now referred to as a presidential candidate, why aren't the Tampa Bay Rays, who accounted for 2.7 percent of the victories in Major League Baseball last season, being hailed as World Series candidates?"—Dwight Perry, Seattle Times

"That's one."—New Mariners ace Erik Bedard, telling journalists following a spring training game in Peoria, Arizona that he would answer only four questions, responding to a reporter's query, "Why four?"

"His press corps is bigger than mine. And we both have trouble answering questions in English."—President George W. Bush, during the World Series champion Boston Red Sox's visit to the White House, on Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka

"Did he like to bet on football games? Yeah, a lot of people do."—Denise McGee, widow Green Bay Packers receiver Max McGee

"I'll be damned."

The Big East has five teams ranked in the Top 25: Georgetown Hoyas, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Louisville Cardinals, Connecticut Huskies, and whatever the Marquette Warriors are now called. Two more teams have 22 wins: West Virginia Mountaineers and the Pittsburgh Panthers.

To say the least, the 2008 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament should be one of the most hotly contested ever. This is perhaps why the Vegas odds are so close. John Thompson Jr. and the Georgetown Hoyas, led by Roy Hibbert and Jonathan Wallace, are the favorites at 3/2.

However, Louisville is very close behind at 5/2 and Connecticut and Notre Dame are 5/1. Rick Pitino and his Cardinals have very much rebounded from early season injuries that saw David Padgett miss 10 games, Juan Palacios out for nine and Derrick Caracter have some off court distractions.

Marquette and Pittsburgh are both fairly long shots at 12/1. Pitt though won 3-of-4 to enter the postseason after a midseason conference swoon. Marquette has only one conference tournament win in six years and stumbled across the finish line.

The once highly regarded Villanova Wildcats can be had at 15/1. Bob Huggins current team, the West Virginia Mountaineers are at 15/1 and the team he made his name with, the Cincinnati Bearcats are 30/1, the same odds as Seton Hall. The Providence Friars backed into the tournament, but with a recent win to Connecticut, perhaps the 40/1 odds a bit steep.

Though most sportsbooks have posted the March Madness tournament lines, these quoted odds are courtesy of NewBodog

The staff of OffshoreInsiders.com takes a look at the Monday night conference championships.

Elon-Davidson

It's the Southern Conference title on the line. The Wildcats have won the last two championship games and have the longest winning streak in the nation at 21 games. Furthermore, they have won 35 straight conference games by a combined 17.8 points per game.

Elon is playing their best basketball of the year at the right time. In addition to already upsetting the No. 2  seed Chattanooga, they crushed Charleston by 14 and Furman by 15. It's their longest winning streak of the year.

Elon is the lowest seed to make it to the conference finals since 1988. As a result, they are playing their fourth game in four days of the tournament. Davidson because of a bye is playing just their third game.

William & Mary-George Mason

Bill and Mary knocked off the top seed VCU on a last-second basket last night. They met just once this season with the Patriots winning by six. Pressure or motivation, you handicap it? William & Mary must win to make the Big Dance for the first time in their history.

Rider-Siena

It's tough to be more evenly matched than these two teams. The teams split the regular season conference title and split two meetings with each winning on the road. The Broncos played without their starting backcourt yesterday and Ryan Thompson and Justin Robinson were both out. Thompson is second team all-conference. Because he has a concussion suffered two days ago, it is unlikely he will play tonight.

Will Siena have anything left in the tank after erasing a 17-point second half deficit yesterday?

Middle Tennessee State-South Alabama

According to Cy McCormick head of the online betting syndicate MasterLockLine.com, "While USA is known for having the best backcourt in the Sun Belt, MTSU cannot match up against South Alabama's frontcourt," Cy said, referring to 6-8 Ronald Douglas and 6-7 DeAndre Coleman.

South Alabama is the tournament host.

Gonzaga-San Diego

Remember that this game is on San Diego's homecourt. The Zags are a stunning 32-12 all-time straight up in the conference tournament. Gonzaga has won eight of the last nine conference titles, but their only loss was to San Diego.  As far as motivation, there is no doubt that the Zags are in the NCAA Tournament win or lose.

Get the spread winners in these games at OffshoreInsiders.com