Well, who do you like in this evening's national basketball semifinals, better known as the Final Four?

    If the oddsmakers are correct, we're in for a pair of nail-biters in San Antonio. North Carolina is a 3-point favorite over Kansas while Memphis is a tiny 2-point favorite over UCLA.

    Two questions: Will Kansas fans finally forgive Roy Williams for leaving the Jayhawks for Carolina if Kansas beats the Tar Heels tonight? And, has anybody flown under the radar to the tune of three straight trips to the Final Four the way UCLA has?

    The answers: No and no.

    Memphis-UCLA tips off at 5:07, with Carolina-Kansas to follow. The CBS network has the coverage.

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    The turmoil surrounding the Florida State football program has claimed another victim, and this time it's one of the Seminoles' own.

    Peter Tom Willis, who played quarterback for Bobby Bowden in Tallahassee, was fired as the team's radio network color analyst Thursday evening. Considered one of the most popular players to wear the garnet and gold, Willis had been behind the microphone alongside legendary play-by-play man Gene Deckerhoff for a decade, but was apparently canned for being too honest about what he was watching from the booth.

    "I was told I was too critical," Willis suggested to the "Tallahassee Democrat."I do believe I was fair. When we did something well I made that clear. When we did something wrong I pointed it out. That's what an analyst is supposed to do.

    "I don't know how you say things are good when they are not good."

    Perhaps the low point for Willis -- who was criticized by Bowden and other members of the staff -- was in 2005 when he called FSU's offense "high school." He tried to temper that reference later but didn't back off it entirely, saying Seminole fans "are not dumb."

    As usual, the FSU Nation is split over the choice to release Willis. A replacement has not been named.

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    How loyal are the inhabitants of Fenway Park? If Thursday's attack by a hawk on an unsuspecting elementary student while she was on a field trip is any indication, extremely loyal. That is, if you get the somewhat humorous irony. The girl, a 13-year-old from Bristol, Conn., apparently got too close to the hawk's nest behind home plate and the animal chased her away, actually scratching her scalp. She was taken to a hospital as a precaution but wasn't injured.

    Now the irony. Her name was Alexa Rodriguez. Could it be the hawk thought she was hated Yankee player A Rod's daughter? Nah.

    Well, actually, maybe.

    Phil Paramore's column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in The Dothan Eagle. He can be heard weekday mornings from 7-9 on AM 560 WOOF. He can be reached at www.woofradio.com.