With March Madness on the books and the World Series a long way away, the world's gamblers need another race to follow. With Prince William newly single, the odds-makers are placing stakes on who England's most eligible bachelor might be courting next.

On the list, with fairly generous odds of 20-1, is reportedly rehabilitated pop starlet Britney Spears, who was rumored to have engaged in email flirtation with Prince William five years ago. Other potential suitors for William (and therefore possible heirs to the throne of England -- how frightening) include Paris Hilton, with 14-1 odds (!), and Heather Mills (formerly Heather Mills McCartney), who has proven talented at earning the love of beloved Englishmen and then dragging their names and fortunes through the muck.

I'm not a gambling woman by nature, but I must say these odds are not ones I'd take. I just can't conceive of the chances being all that good for a Britney/William union (or a Paris/William match-up, for that matter). By means of comparison, bookmakers have set odds of 30 to 1 on the Cincinnati Reds winning the World Series (300 to 1 for the Washington Nationals), and there are certainly fewer teams in Major League Baseball than there are eligible young women interested in Prince William's hand.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

It's a lesson as old as the elementary-school playground; if you want to get rid of an irritant, one of the best things to do is ignore it. This morning the Associated Press reported the end of a weeklong ban of stories about Paris Hilton.

The hotel-enterprise heiress, reality television "star," wannabe singer, and general pox on the future of America's youth has been speckled all over the news for all of her "adult" life, and editors at the AP were intrigued to see what would happen if they just ignored her antics for seven straight days.

As it turns out, there was a bit of a public outcry, but not because the world's gossip mongers wanted details of Paris' latest drunken entanglement (or the freshest not-safe-for-work snapshots). Rather, critics were concerned about what such a ban meant for the news industry in general. What topic, important or trivial, could possibly be next on the banning block?

Well on Tuesday, as the ban drew to a close, Miss Hilton was ticketed for driving with a suspended license (of course she was), and the news machine started cranking again. For now, but hopefully not forever, it's a Paris Hilton world; we just live in it.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Note to advertisers: be really careful who you pick to pitch your products.

Sure, you want a big name. You want convincing. You want sexy. But do you really want someone who doesn't even like your product? (Hint: no!)

Yesterday, Paris Hilton plead 'no contest' to one count of alcohol-related reckless driving -- she'll pay a fine and be on probation for 36 months. All this because she was really hungry (and drunk) and "wanted to have an In-N-Out burger."

Which all would be a juicy story, and par-for-the-course with the idle rich like Ms. Hilton. Except that she's a former spokesperson (spokesmodel?) for rival Carl's Jr., a unit of CKE Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:CKR). There was so much egg (or was that hamburger grease?) on everyone's face, the incident made Business 2.0's list for dumbest moments in business.

I'll give this: you probably don't want your spokespeople drinking and driving. But if they do, and they're caught in the act and interviewed as to what was going on, wouldn't you want them to say, "I really wanted a Carl's Jr. burger?"

Pick your spokespeople like you pick your CEOs: make sure they love 'em a good ____ [your product goes here]. It will at least make for a good crawl on CNN. Any PR is good PR... right?

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. If you believe Paris Hilton makes too much money, cast your vote.

Socialite, singer, actress, and model, Paris Hilton is an heiress to the Hilton Hotel fortune. Already a celebrity in Manhattan and Los Angeles nightlife circles, she came to wide attention for starring in the reality television program The Simple Life, and for the infamous sex video that was leaked onto the Internet. She is also the niece of former child stars Kim and Kyle Richards, who appeared in the film Escape to Witch Mountain, and also distantly related to actresses Zsa Zsa Gabor and Elizabeth Taylor.

Hilton grew up in homes in Beverly Hills and the Hamptons, as well as a suite at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. She dropped out of high school, but earned a GED, and did not go on to college. Besides starring in The Simple Life, she has also had cameo appearances in television programs such as The OC and Veronica Mars, in music videos by Eminem and John Oates, starred in a TV commercial for the Carl's Jr. burger restaurant chain, and made numerous appearances at red carpet events. Her role in the film House of Wax earned her a Worst Supporting Actress Razzie Award in 2005.

She is the founder of Heiress Records, a record label whose only release is a Paris Hilton album. Her other projects include a line of jewelry, a chain of nightclubs, and a New York Times bestselling book of advice for would-be heiresses. In 2004 she participated in a campaign to encourage young people to vote, though it was later revealed that she hadn't bothered to register to vote herself.

While she has been quoted comparing herself to blonde icons Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe, she will reportedly appear in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most overrated celebrity.

With millions of web sites, it's darn tough to stand out. For example, a friend of mine, who is an insurance attorney, has an online newsletter. He asked me: "How can I improve traffic?"

My answer was pretty simple: "Have Paris Hilton on the cover of your next issue. It works all the time."

Well, YouTube understands this. This firm is not really about tech; it's about leveraging New Age of marketing. And, it's been quite successful, as others like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft have been much less inspiring in their efforts for online video.

So, now YouTube is giving Paris her own channel. Yes, I'm sure they had to buy many more servers for this.

But, wait, there is more.