Barry Bonds played in George Lopez's National Kidney Foundation golf tournament at Lakeside today.

Memphis guard Roburt Sallie had a career-high 35 points off the bench to lead the Tigers to the first-round victory over Cal State Northridge. Even though the Matadors were 20-point underdogs, they made life hectic for the Tigers, who didn't start pulling away until five minutes left in the game. Rodrigue Mels led CSUN with 15 points.

All good teams makes runs, and Memphis made a 7-0 run to take the lead at 70-64. The Tigers extended the lead to 78-68 with 62 seconds left.

The Matadors built a 62-56 lead, but Memphis has cut that to 64-63 with 7:45 left. CSUN made six consecutive shots to build the six-point lead midway through the second half. This is one of the early games today, but it will surely go down as one of the first round's most exciting games of the tournament. The crowd at Sprint Center is seemingly half for Memphis and half for the Matadors. Clearly, people like an underdog. CSUN was a 20-point underdog in this game.

Mark Hill, a transfer from Tulsa who used to play Memphis in Conference USA, just made a 3-pointer to give CSUN a 44-43 lead with 13:52 left. Only four times has a No. 15 seeded team beaten a No. 2 seed. CSUN, 20-point underdogs, could become the fifth.

Cal State Northridge came out in a zone, which flustered Memphis. Three Tigers starters - Robert Dozier, Antonio Anderson and Doneal Mack - are a combined 0-for-13 from the field. Tyreke Evans was in foul trouble. CSUN has nine turnovers, but it also has 17 rebounds and thus limited Memphis' shots. Second half is about to begin.

Cal State Northridge trails Memphis by just three points (34-31) at halftime of the first-round NCAA Tournament game in Kansas City.

Everyone's been talking about Memphis' defense, and rightfully so, but CSUN has the lone breakaway dunk of the game so far. Kenny Daniels stole a Memphis pass, and dunked on the other end. CSUN trails 29-25 with six minutes left.

From Kansas City...Cal State Northridge took an early 9-2 lead against Memphis in the first round of the NCAA Tournament...CSUN now leads 11-8 with 15:12 left in the first half. Freshman Matthew Wallace said he heard people were saying the game would be over in the first three minutes. CSUN, for the most part, has taken care of the basketball and rebounded well, two keys Bobby Braswell talked about before the game.

Manny Ramirez turned down a $25 million, one-year deal from the Dodgers, which is baffling, so what's it gonna take to sign him? Given the state of the economy, Manny's rejection is baffling. Read this column, which includes thoughts from an intelligent 12-year-old Little Leaguer.