Bruins pummel Craig Robinson -- but not as badly as the stock market is pummeling his brother-in-law

Craig Robinson, in his first year coaching Oregon State, is, of course, Michelle Obama's brother. He was the reason Michelle went to Princeton -- he preceded her on a basketball scholarship and coached at Brown last year. The story, which might even be true, is that when Barack and Michelle started dating, Craig insisted on playing a little basketball with Barack, and after that he gave him the big brother seal of approval. He has certainly made a mark at OSU, tonight's game (79-54 Bruins) notwithstanding. Last year OSU was 0-18 in the Pac 10, and this year they've won 7 league games. Might even be able to beat USC, which has been in a bit of a funk lately (don't know yet how they did -- now I do -- tonight) on Saturday. So he must be a pretty good coach.

This was a nice win in every way. Alfred Aboya's parents were here from Cameroon (the sports pages say Alfred is thinking about being president of the country one day, but I hope he gets a few years in the NBA first) and the cameras honed in on them several times -- very distinguished-looking couple. Josh Shipp was just unconscious, getting 22 points in the first half and 27 in the game. The reserves got quite a few minutes, which should serve the team well in the NCAA tournament. And they came out strong and got a decisive win, better than grinding out a close one at this time of the year with tournaments coming up.