Buzz

Site -- San Jose, Calif. Time, TV -- 7:05 p.m., chs. 13, 9 Records -- Kansas 33-4, UCLA 29-5 Line -- Kansas by 2 How they got here -- Kansas def. No. 16 Niagara, 107-67; No. 8 Kentucky, 88-76; and No. 4 Southern Illinois, 61-58; UCLA def. No. 15 Weber State, 70-42; No. 7 Indiana, 54-49; and No. 3 Pittsburgh, 64-55 The buzz -- Kansas was held to its second-lowest point total of the season Thursday, but still prevailed. UCLA, meanwhile, was involved in its sixth consecutive game in which it didn't score more than 70 points.

1. FLORIDA LOCATION -- Gainesville, Fla. HOW BID WAS EARNED -- Won Southeastern Conference tournament. RECORD -- 29-5. RPI -- 6. RECORD VS. TOURNAMENT FIELD -- 8-3. KEY PLAYERS -- F Corey Brewer (6-9 junior, 12.7 pts., 4.5 reb., 1.7 steals); G Taurean Green (6-0 junior, 13.1 pts., 3.3 assists, 40.7 three-point pct., 86.9 FT pct.); F-C Al Horford (6-10 junior, 13.2 pts., 9.1 reb., 1.7 blocks, 60.8 FG pct.). THE BUZZ -- When the Gators are clicking, they're one of the two or three best teams in the nation.

Today's topic is: Home Security.Recently my wife and I went to the home of some friends for a dinner party involving three couples and numerous pets. Our hosts are fond of animals: They have a big herd of turtles living in a decorative pond outside, and three dogs patrolling inside. Actually, one of the dogs is only slightly more mobile than a shrub; he's around 47,000 years old in dog years and totally blind. He may in fact be medically dead. But dogs don't get all mopey over physical disabilities.

THERE'S NOT a lot of intricate plotting in "McGuffey's Eclectic Primer." Girls and boys are good or bad, depending on their desire to go to school and church, and to be kind to small animals.Ned, a bad boy, throws a stone at a quail and is tardy at school. Kate, a good baby in Lesson XXXIX, is still good as a young girl in Lesson L. Who should be Queen of the May? "It should be the best girl, and that is Kate."The only hint of birds and bees is a strange conversation between Mary and a bee in Lesson XLIV.

Few executives can say they've grabbed the reins of a struggling company and turned it around. But Charles P. "Buzz" McCormick Jr. has done it -- twice -- with the company that bears his family name.Not many, including McCormick himself, would have predicted this success. For starters, during a self-described "rebellious" period in his teens, McCormick vowed that he would do something other than work for the company his great-uncle had founded and his father had run.That feeling was short-lived.

Years ago, when Charles P. "Buzz" McCormick and Bailey A. Thomas were flourishing in their stewardship of McCormick & Co. Inc., insiders labeled it "The Buzz and Bailey Show."Thomas is gone, having passed away in 1994. But yesterday, at the company's annual meeting, 1,000 shareholders crammed their way into the ballroom at the Hunt Valley Inn, where they watched the final episode of "The Buzz Show" as Buzz McCormick handed the chairmanship to Chief Executive Officer Robert J. Lawless."Buzz, your leadership and winning attitude carried us through the tough times," Lawless said at the close of his management report to shareholders.

He's big -- 6-foot-5, 320 pounds big. But for once in his life, Michael Clarke Duncan wasn't big enough.The role of John Coffey in the movie adaptation of Stephen King's "The Green Mile" called for someone huge -- 7 feet tall, around 350 pounds. Big just wasn't going to be good enough."They told me, 'You know, you're not actually big enough for this role,' " Duncan says with a hearty laugh, his booming voice filling up his Washington hotel room like a bass drum. "I said, 'Wait a minute, nobody in my life has ever told me that.

Buzz. Ouch! Slap.Oh, the sounds of summer. And thanks to the mild, wet winter, entomologists say we can expect more buzzing and slapping than usual this year.Mosquitoes -- and creatures that slither, chirp and swim -- have benefited from the unseasonably mild weather and probably will be abundant this spring and summer, state wildlife experts say."More animals will come out in healthier conditions," said Scott Smith, an ecologist with the Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife and Heritage Division.

ASPEN, Colo. -- In a town full of comics vying for a shot at the big time, the sound of a crowd laughing is no big deal. What everyone's straining to hear is the "buzz."That's the sound that -- if you're lucky -- emanates from the shadowy back rows of nightclubs and theaters during the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Those are the seats set aside for the producers, casting directors, vice presidents, managers, agents and others known in entertainment shorthand as "industry." It's the sound that just might crescendo in the chatter in the halls, the bars and the after-show parties: that so-and-so is the comedian everybody wants to sign.

Meet Nomar GarciaparraNomar Garciaparra of the Boston Red Sox was the 1997 American League Rookie of the Year. He hit .306 with 30 homers, and he fielded like an acrobat. This season, Nomar was hitting .303 through May 7.As a kid, Nomar's coaches nicknamed him "No Nonsense Nomar" because he was veryserious about baseball. "I always loved the game," says Nomar. "I wanted to learn as much as I could."Nomar is named after his dad, Ramon. Nomar is Ramon spelled backward.Buzz WordsBuzz Beamer's guide to sports slang will help you talk like a pro!

The Matt Wieters Era is here. It officially begins Friday night against the Detroit Tigers when the can't-miss catching phenom goes 4-for-4 with a couple of moonshots into the bleachers, performs spectacularly behind the plate and wraps up a flawless post-game interview with MASN sideline superstar Amber Theoharis Look, this guy is so good he'll probably even duck the shaving-cream pie they try to smush in his face when it's all over. Think that's putting too much pressure on the kid?

As in, "get him the ball in space" or "he operates best in space." This phrase makes me think of Johnny Rodgers at Nebraska, but Buzz Aldrin operated pretty well in space, too. ( For more, go to baltimoresun.com/mediumwell)

Eagles (6-5-1) @Giants (11-1) TIME, TV:: 1 p.m., chs. 45, 5 LINE:: Giants by 6 1/2 FANTASY FACTOR: : Eagles QB Donovan McNabb threw for 260 yards and four touchdowns against the Cardinals on Thanksgiving Day, just four days after being benched against the Ravens. ... Eagles WR DeSean Jackson leads NFL rookies with 775 receiving yards. ... Giants QB Eli Manning is 25-5 in his past 30 starts, including 6-1 against the Eagles. THE BUZZ:: The Giants sacked McNabb 12 times in his previous game at Giants Stadium.

Colts (3-3) @Titans (6-0) TIME, TV: : 8:30, ESPN LINE: : Titans by 4 FANTASY FACTOR: : The Colts' Peyton Manning has a 101.9 passer rating in 12 games vs. Tennessee with 20 TD passes and 10 interceptions. ... The Titans' defense is first in the AFC with 10 interceptions. ... Titans rookie Chris Johnson rushed for 168 yards last week. THE BUZZ: : The Colts can ill afford another loss. ... The Titans are looking for their first 7-0 start and have won nine straight games going back to Dec. 16.

The makers of GU Energy Gel have cooked up a formula geared toward ultra-endurance athletes called Roctane, which contains the same ingredients as the original GU plus several amino acids to aid in recovery and help prevent lactic acid buildup. In July, I took Roctane to the Wilderness 101, a 101-mile mountain bike race in the mountains around State College, Pa. Fifteen minutes before the start, I ate a packet of blueberry pomegranate flavor and topped off every 40 minutes as part of a refueling plan that included water, bananas and peanut butter sandwiches.

There is a buzz developing around Bowie outfielder Nolan Reimold, and there should be. So, what possible reason could the Orioles have for not calling him up to the major league club after the Eastern League playoffs end? It's more complicated than you might think. The people in the Warehouse I've been talking to say roster space is not really a major problem. It's more about making sure the kids get put in a position that won't disadvantage them later. (For more, go to baltimoresun.com/schmuck)

HOLLYWOOD - Not screened Mirrors, a thriller about an ex-cop who discovers secrets hidden in reflections, was not screened for critics. If you were around in July 1969, chances are you remember exactly where you were when Apollo 11, the first manned mission to the moon, touched down and astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. took their first steps there. Now the Eagle has landed again, reimagined, for a new generation. The 3-D animated film Fly Me to the Moon tells the tale of a young fly named Nat who stows away aboard Apollo 11 with a couple of his buddies and accompanies Armstrong on the moonwalk.

The autograph signing featuring the Baltimore Colts at the Towson Center on March 29 turned out to be a final show of warmth for Madison "Buzz" Nutter. Nutter, the starting center on the Colts' NFL championship teams of 1958 and 1959, died Saturday of complications from heart illness. A resident of La Plata, he was 77. Though ailing, Nutter insisted on attending the reunion of old Colts and their fans, said his daughter, Lisa Bowie, who accompanied him. "Dad said, `I wouldn't miss this even if I was in a wheelchair,' " Bowie said yesterday.

Stanford (35-3) vs. Tennessee (35-2) Time, TV -- 8:30, ESPN Site -- St. Pete Times Forum, Tam pa, Fla. The buzz -- Stanford is led by three-time Pacific-10 Player of the Year and Wade Trophy winner Can dice Wiggins (20.3 points), the team's leading scorer and one of its top three-point shooters. Tennessee's Candace Parker (21.4 points, 8.5 re bounds) is widely regarded as one of the top inside players in the country. She can score, handle the ball well and has great vision for open team mates.

South Regional semifinals Site -- Reliant Stadium, Houston Memphis (35-1) vs. Michigan State (27-8) Time -- 9:57 (approx.) How they got here -- No. 1 seed Memphis def. No. 16 Texas-Arlington, 87-63, and No. 8 Mississippi State, 77-74; No. 5 seed Michigan State def. No. 12 Temple, 72-61, and No. 4 Pitts burgh, 65-54. The buzz -- Expect to see a lot of de fense. Both teams are deep and ath letic. Michigan State has a lot of big bodies to throw at Memphis, so there should be a lot of physical play in the low post.