There are a lot of inherent perks of being an internet sportswriter (if that's what you would call me):

I get to work from home.

I get to occasionally work in my underwear.

I don't have to ask the warden to use the bathroom. Oh wait, that's one of the inherent perks of not being in prison. Never mind.

Anyway, I know I'm one of the lucky few, and fortunate that I get to do what I love, from the comfort of my home, while many others are behind a desk, in an office all day, every day.

So today, I decided to give back to all of you out there. All of you who "work hard," at "real jobs," where you're forced by the man to wear "pants." I decided to give back by running a live blog starting at 12 p.m. of today's Big East Tournament quarterfinal afternoon games between Syracuse and Georgetown and Villanova and Marquette immediately following.

For those of you at work, please stop by, and refresh the page as often as you please. I'll be updating the commentary as quickly as possible, with no scripting, editing or revising. I just hope my six-year-old laptop doesn't burst into flames by 4:30 p.m.

Hope you enjoy.

For the last few weeks, all the talk in the entertainment world has been on the Oscar's: What's the best picture? Who's the best actor? How much work has Sandra Bullock had done on her face? Sunday night we got all the answers.

But with the Academy Awards now behind us, a new awards season is set to begin, this one, with a one person committee (put together by me), ready to name college basketball's greatest achievements during the 2010 season.

The selections weren't easy, and actually quite taxing at times. But after a lot of late hours in front of the projector, some under the table politicking, and a whole lot of palm greasing, we've got our winners.

That's right, the Academy has spoken, and they're ready to present the 1st Annual AT Awards for College Basketball Excellence.

(Important note: Aaron will be at the Big East Tournament Wednesday, tweeting all his thoughts live as they happen. Add him on Twitter by clicking here or going to Twitter.com/Aaron_Torres)

The old saying, "Time heals all wounds," has never been more true than this college basketball season.

Back in December I whined and moaned to anyone who would listen (mainly my dog, who then licked himself and went back to sleep), that this was the least inspiring group of teams, coaches and players that I could ever remember watching in college basketball. And it still might be.

But with Championship Week upon us and Selection Sunday only nine days away, I'm still more than ready to throw myself into March Madness. The teams, the upsets, the 5'9 3-point shooting white guys, everything. Bring it on.

Before we get to the NCAA Tournament though, there's still a lot to be decided, and a lot of questions that need answering.

Here are 20 of those most pressing questions:

On Wednesday night, I had the opporunity to talk a whole lot of college hoops with BlatantHomerism.com's Allen Kenney.

This is a must listen for anyone trying to get their thoughts together as we head toward the NCAA Tournament. Amongst the many, many topics that we discussed included:

- Allen's thoughts on Aaron's list of the "40 Most Valuable Players in College Basketball"        

- Is Notre Dame better without Luke Harangody?                                                                  

- Will Ohio State's Evan Turner win National Player of the Year?

- Who are some sleepers entering the NCAA Tournament.

- Are the teams in Big XII better than Big East?

And much, much more...

Like any writer, I've got good days and bad. Sometimes, I wake up, shave, shower and bang out 2500 words, all with enough spare time to grab a lunchtime cocktail afterward (I like those days). Others, I'm groggy, slow, and procrastinate, making myself as valuable to society as Snooki from Jersey Shore.

Also like any writer, my thoughts come to me at all kinds of strange times and in weird places. Laying in bed, walking the dog, showering, whatever. And when those thoughts come, I need a quiet place to write before I lose them, and my motivation to work.

Luckily for me there's a college library right down the street. Now to you, having a college library right next door might not mean much, but to a writer, it's like hitting the lottery: Quiet, open at all kinds of weird hours, with nice girls to look at too. And fortunately, I've even still got a few years before I turn into the creepy old guy hanging out there. Which is a good thing.

Anyway, a few nights ago was one of those times where I needed peace and quiet, and I needed it at a weird time of night. What was supposed to be a quick stopover turned into a seven hour stay, with me finally emerging from the library well after 1 a.m., bleary eyed, slurry speeched and staggering, like I'd just gone 12 rounds with Manny Pacquiao (See what writing does to me?)

Right next to the library is a pretty prominent music school, and as I was walking by I was shocked to hear noise coming from it. I know it's a music school, but come on, it was 1:30 in the morning, and these kids are in college. Didn't they have binge drinking to do or something?

Anyway, by now I bet you're thinking, "Aaron what does any of this have to do with the NFL Combine." I'm getting there.

My point is, that after spending the better part of the last four days on my couch, in my underwear, watching the NFL Combine, I can never again judge anyone for how they choose to use their time. Ever. Whether it's playing the flute at 1:30 in the morning, hanging out at adult bookstores, watching The Big Bang Theory, whatever, nothing was as pathetic as me these past four days. Nothing. I am now officially the last person in the world who can throw stones.

Much like waking up after a long night of drinking and looking through your text log, I'm not exactly sure how I got to this place. To use another analogy, the Combine elicited similar emotion to driving by a car crash, once it caught my eye I couldn't turn away. No matter how bad I wanted to.

But just because the last four days turned into an epic waste of time, doesn't mean that I didn't learn anything. Quite the opposite actually.

So for all of you who didn't have the chance to watch (I know, I know, you had "work responsibilities." Whatever.) I took copious notes. On the pretty and ugly, highs and lows, and bad jokes and bench presses mixed in. This is "The Good, The Bad and The Goofy of the 2010 NFL Combine." Enjoy.

A few summers ago, some buddies and I spent some time in Europe. France, Spain, Ireland, a few other places.

We did it all. Ate the food. Drank the wine. Tried (some days more successfully than others) to woo foreign girls with cute accents back to our hostel. Stayed up too late and got up too early. Saw famous monuments and nude beaches. You name it, we did it.

But what I remember more than anything from that summer was the Euro Cup. Basically, for those of you who might not know, the Euro Cup is the European soccer championship, an event that happened to be taking place at the exact time we were there. In some countries, it's even a bigger deal than the World Cup. No seriously.

It didn't matter if you were in Spain for an Italy-Holland match, or in Holland for Portugal-Turkey. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, glued to the TV, every time a game was on. Period.

When the Germans met Spain in the final, by sheer coincidence, me and my buddies happened to be in Germany. It was awesome, and even now, two years after the fact, I still can’t completely describe the atmosphere that night.  Maybe a little bit Mardi Gras and part World Cup, with some strong German beer and pretty flashing ladies thrown in. Young and old, rich and poor, doctors and lawyers, they all mixed in the streets of Munich that night. It didn't matter who you were, or what side of town you were from. That night all that mattered was that everyone was German. And it was surreal.

When I got back to the States a few weeks later, I tried to explain to everyone what I'd been a part of that night. The sounds. The smells. The tension of thousands of people swaying second to second. But nobody understood.

I mean, it wasn't really their fault, how could they understand? This wasn't Yankees-Red Sox, Lakers-Celtics, or the SEC Championship football game in Atlanta, it was so much more. Imagine if the Indianapolis Colts were in the Super Bowl this past February, playing…Japan. Weird, I know, but whether you love Peyton Manning or not, who would you be rooting for? Now multiply that by 10, and you’ve got the Euro Cup.

Sunday’s Gold Medal hockey game was the Euro Cup on skates. I'm not one for hyperbole, but this was the first sporting event of my lifetime that truly brought our country together.

On Thursday, I went ahead and named the first half of his list of the 40 Most Valuable Players In College Basketball. We laughed, we cried, and ultimately it was a fun experience for both me the writer, and the readers too. Unless you're a fan of the Pac-10. Then you probably just wanted to drown yourself in the bathtub.

For those of you who missed players No. 40-21, click here.

Today, it's time to reveal No.'s 20-1.

But before we go any further, let me clarify some things.

In that first list, I explained how a friend and I came up with the idea for this list, and how I've gone about determining "value." For those of you who missed it, let's go through again:

1. Competition Matters: My buddy Steve said it best the other day, when he mentioned, "AT I watched Northern Iowa last week, it was a joke. It was a bunch of pale 6'3 jump shooters running around like chickens with their heads cut off. UConn would beat them by 50. And they're ranked No. 22 in the country! What a joke."

While Northern Iowa fans might disagree with Steve, his point is clear: It's harder to get 21 points and 10 rebounds a night in the Big East than it is in the MEAC or America East. Sorry it's just true.

2. NBA Draft Positioning Does Not Matter: This isn't a list of who the best pure basketball talents are, or what a guy might be like in 10 years. It's based on what they're they're doing right now.

For example, Derrick Favors might be the second overall pick in the next NBA Draft. He's dripping with potential, the way that Gary Williams undershirt is dripping with sweat after games. But Georgia Tech is also 18-9 , and 6-7 in the ACC. Would they really be that much better without him? I don't think so.

3. If Your Team Stinks, Your Value Suffers: It's great that you're getting your 20 and 10 every night, seriously I'm happy for you. But if your team is 10-20, how important is what you're doing?

4. How Replaceable Are Your Stats: As an example, I've seen Pitt a bunch of times this year. I like them as a team, and I like Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wanamaker, Jermaine Dixon and Gilbert Brown as players. But if you replaced any of them with the next guy off the bench, would Pitt's record be much different? I'm not so sure it would be.

5. While Stats Do Matter, This Is A List of Value. In Other Words, How Replaceable Is What You Do?: Again, let me give you another example.

Say you took a hardcore NBA fan that's never seen a Kansas game the entire season. If you showed them the stat sheet, Sherron Collins and Xavier Henry aren't really all that different. They get basically the same points, Henry grabs a few more boards and Collins dishes out a few more assists. How could someone who's never seen Kansas play, definitively say that one is better than the other?

Now, take that same logic, and ask a Kansas fan. While they might give up their right foot to keep Henry on the court, they'd give up their first born child to keep Collins. Big difference.


And with that, let's get to the second half of the list. As always, we couldn't include everybody, but feel free to voice your opinion on who's ranked properly, and who needs to be moved.

I just hope you guys enjoy this list, as much as I enjoyed putting it together!

The idea for this list actually started in a PoliSci class five years ago.

It was the start of the second semester of my sophomore year of college, and my buddy John and I were sitting there listening to some old professor with a monocle talk about Voltaire, the Russian Revolution or something political. I think.

Needless to say, we were bored. Really bored. So John says to me, "Let's make a list. Top 50 college basketball players. At the end of class we'll compare the list." So we did.

I don't remember much about that first list five years ago (I think Chris Paul ended up No. 1. I think), other than that when I handed it John, he skimmed it up and down, got somewhere near the middle to late 30's, and said, "Who the hell is Jordan Farmar???" Much like the Masters, a tradition unlike any other was born that day.

After that, for the rest of college, John and I did these lists constantly, three, four times a year, tweaking them like the original Bill of Rights. Then we got out of college, John got some job, doing something, and he left it up to me to carry the torch. Which is exactly what I'm doing now.

Over the last two days, I've tweaked John's and my original idea, and put together a list of what I consider to be the 40 "Most Valuable" Players In College Basketball. Unlike the original lists, this isn't just a list of the "best," players, because the "best," is simply too arbitrary and objective, like trying to argue who the "hottest," Sports Illustrated swimsuit model is. Why even bother.

Instead, these are the 40 most "valuable." In other words, say in 20 years you were writing the story about the 2010 college basketball season. Who would you have to discuss, in what order and why. That's what I tried to do here.

Along with those parameters, I tried to set up some other rules to try and establish "value," and help figure out what it actually is...

One of the many great features about being part of the Bloguin network, is that the folks who are in charge here, are always on the cutting edge of technology.

With that, Bloguin recently struck a deal with Notice Software allowing all the sites, to have access to iPhone and Android Apps.

Well, the AaronTorres-Sports App was officially launched TODAY, and now you can download it, simply by going to www.aarontorres-sports.com/apps or visiting the Apple Store online.

By downloading one of these apps you'll be able to:

- be notified of new content updates
- read and search through all articles
- see relevant content across the network
- and in a future release have the ability to read and leave comments

Make sure to get yours today!

For those of you wondering why I haven't yet written about Tiger Woods' speech on Friday, I apologize. I was in sex rehab all weekend, and didn't have internet access. I'm kidding of course.

But in all seriousness, the reason I haven't commented yet is because I didn't want to rush to judgments right after the speech.

You know how we are as a society, everyone needs to have an opinion, and everyone needs to have one immediately. Half the time it doesn't matter what the subject is, or what you're saying, just as long as you're saying something, and loudly. Stephen A. Smith seems to have made a nice little career doing just that.

Anyway, when it came to Tiger Woods I didn't want to be that guy. I wanted to take in the speech, swallow it, digest it, think about, listen to others opinions, and then step away for a few days and come back refreshed. I wanted to see if I felt the same way on Monday morning that I did Friday afternoon.

So now that I've done that, taken a few days, did some swallowing, digesting and regurgitating, what do I think of Tiger's speech on Friday? Quite simply, it was a smart, reasonable, well-articulated speech. And at the same time, it taught us absolutely nothing we didn't already know.