Hey, Tuesday night TV doesn't suck (for once)!

Tonight, there is a slew of interesting content on television. And of course, I can't watch or follow any of it, because I'm covering a town council meeting. Bollocks. I'll be S out of luck for most of it, unless I get REALLY lucky and get the shortest town council meeting in recorded history. (I doubt this, because I had a 27 minute meeting earlier this year, so if anything, I'm due for an impossibly long one soon. And yeah that's what she said.)

Ranking what's on, from most to least interesting...

- LOST returns for its final season! Ahhhh! I know several of my blogging friends are obsessed with the show, and I am too now, after resisting it for a couple years. The first episode is tonight, and stretches from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.

I've kind of offered specific predictions in the past on this season; new readers of my blog can find them here. I will generally predict right now that it wouldn't surprise me if one of the more popular characters like Jack, Kate, Sawyer or Hurley were killed off early in the season. Of course, of those the biggest surprise would be Jack, and I don't see them pulling off quite THAT big of a swerve. And besides, I love Jack. So my money is on Sawyer, Kate, Hurley or Sun dieing in the first half of the season.

I am hoping that I manage to make it home before 9, because otherwise, I will have to wait until after I can catch the episode by whatever means possible to check Facebook, Blogger and any other site actually used by human beings. Already, a lot of my friends are commenting and hypothesizing, so I must be diligent and disciplined to avoid spoilers. I've resisted looking at any of the trailers, although I'm of the opinion that they wouldn't help anyway; I think they just create more doubt in people's minds. You know, it's like trying to determine whether your best friend is getting a cold after listening to a single one of their sneezes.

Actual quote from seven-foot Rhode Island center Will Martell: "Kevin McHale is one of my favorite old players ... I love his moves, and we're both similar in that we have no athleticism." By the way, while he was saying this, he pulled a big bag of cookies out from the pocket of his sweatshirt and started eating them. By far the best athlete press conference I have seen in person.

- The Rhode Island Rams will attempt to avoid another late season swoon with a game at La Salle University in Philadelphia. On paper, this game that the Rams should dominate. After all, they are 17-3 with some decent non-conference wins, and a good conference win at Dayton University.

However, the last few years have seen collapsed by Rhody teams down the stretch, as Atlantic 10 coaches that know their tendencies have contained them in conference play. There is a bit of a different "feel" to the team this year, as they're winning close games they would have lost in the past, but I don't think Rhode Island fans will rest easy until they get to 24 wins. I mean, in 2007-08, the team sprinted out to a 19-3 record and then lost 9 of their last 11.

Regarding tonight's game against La Salle specifically, I've actually watched a game from La Salle's gym. I took a road trip there a couple years ago with some friends, during the Rams' big slide, and the Rams got the victory by a couple points. I'm worried about tonight because La Salle is a sort of tough place to play; it feels like a high school gym. It reminds me a bit of the old Keaney Gymnasium on URI's campus, which is now used mostly for medium-sized events and volleyball matches. I feel like La Salle's gym deflates offense a bit, which would hurt a good team like the Rams more than an iffy team like La Salle.

It's not really a good game, but I still have fond memories of NCAA Basketball for the Super Nintendo, which featured Providence College. Note their star player, Metos (a.k.a. Eric Murdock).

- In the second most interesting basketball game affecting the state of Rhode Island, the Providence Friars play at nationally-ranked Syracuse tonight. I'm actually surprised at how well Syracuse has played this year, after their preseason loss to Division II "power" Le Moyne.

This game is interesting because, despite their record, the Friars have a puncher's chance against the Orange tonight. When the Friars are "on", they can play with any team in the Big East. "Greedy" Peterson is a horrible defender, but as the name implies he can score, and there are some solid players for the Friars in freshman point guard Vincent Council, freshman center Bilal Dixon and junior forward Marshon Brooks.

However, the team is streaky as heck, which is evidenced by just looking at their results. Their longest win streak is three, even in the non-conference portion. The Friars lost to Alabama, who are a pedestrian 13-8, and the aforementioned Rhody Rams, who came back from a double-digit deficit in the second half. Providence has also lost to Iona, and weren't competitive for 40 minutes in Big East games against Notre Dame, Louisville and Marquette, losing all three by double-digits.

A two-game stretch last week illustrates the yin and yang of the Friars. On Jan. 23, they had a 9-point lead with a minute left against South Florida, and led by six with 30 seconds... and lost in overtime after missing some free throws and a late turnover in regulation. Four days later, against a Connecticut team coming off its biggest win of the season, the Friars posted an impressive 15-point win. Providence can play mind-bogglingly great or bad, and as a result, Syracuse should be on guard.

Will Martell's photo is from this Providence Journal story from before his sophomore year. The Lost photo at the top is from E! Online, here.