As if touched by an angel, Bruce Pearl's Tennessee Volunteers won their first-round NCAA tournament game after Chris Lofton broke a tie game in the final seconds with an improbable jumper against Winthrop. But two days later, the Vols couldn't shoot straight in the endgame and Wichita State hit two late jumpers to knock off the D.C. bracket's No. 2 seed. Perhaps Tennessee simply wasn't as good as the Shockers. But Gelf prefers to think that the tourney gods didn't care for Bruce Pearl's nationally televised Jewish joke.

ESPN's camera crew was following around Tennessee each day during the tournament. In its segment aired after the Winthrop game, Pearl is captured making a crack about the breakfast spread before the game: "This is what you call a Jewish dilemma: free bacon." He then shovels some of the cripsy porcine goodness on to his plate.

Pearl, it should be noted, isn't Seinfeld's Tim Whatley; he didn't convert to Judaism for the jokes. He was raised as a Reform Jew and credits much of his success to Jewish guilt, according to JewishSports.com. Now he should feel guilt for his bacon remark, which implies that Jews are cheap. In fact, bacon at any price is a Jewish dilemma.