Tuesday musings

     Apologies to my readers, but the response by JCP&L to the previous Nor'Easter proved to be the downfall to a posting this past weekend. Governor Murphy sure isn't happy with JCP&L. We escaped the cold of the house (49 degrees overnight Thursday to Friday) by prudently driving to Pittsburgh to visit our daughter. We encountered snow showers en route and cold on Friday, morphing into nice cool, sunny days on Saturday and Sunday. And we stayed in a Homewood Suites room which felt much warmer than the last time we were in the house. The one plus to the cold weather and sleeping under three comforters and several layers of cold was that I had two great night of sleep. Now I appreciate what a 3 Dog Night really is.

     So now with our power fully restored and no noticeable damage to the interior of the house, I am free to delve into sports from this past week. The first full week of March always delivers a powerful lineup of events to choose from.

     I missed the Warriors beating the Spurs on Thursday night. I also missed the Warriors losing big for a second time to Portland on Friday night and to the Timberwolves in Minneapolis in a closer battle on Sunday. The defending champs were in the midst of playing 4 games in 6 nights. All-Star guard Steph Curry once more tweaked an ankle, which doesn't help when Golden State is playing so many games on short rest. More importantly, Curry has to get better fast--the NBA is in the throes of the stretch run towards to the NBA Playoffs.

     The seemingly unstoppable Houston Rockets lost a game!! Not to a bad team, but to the Eastern Conference leaders, the Toronto Raptors, in Toronto. I think a team like Toronto is underrated and can create problems for a Western Conference team like Houston or Golden State should they meet in the NBA Finals.

     My attention was on Franklin and Marshall College playing Friday at Ramapo College in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament. F&M had made it through the first two rounds by defeating Emory & Henry and Christopher Newport on their home court. F&M had been ranked in the top 25 for much of the season, but Ramapo had consistently been in the top 20. F&M played hard, but shot poorly. The Diplomats were within 2 at 62-60 with 1:54 left in the game. The game was decided by free throws, with the Roadrunners hitting 20 of 27, while F&M converted 9 of 12.

     Thus F&M ended the season with a 22-7 record. The guard duo of Matthew Tate and Brandon Federici played their last collegiate game.  Tate scored 24 points in the losing effort, while Federici added 14.

     I have followed the career of Federici since he was a freshman. With good reason. Federici leaves as the all-time leading scorer in the Centennial Conference and at F&M. He was first team All Conference all four years. He was the Centennial Conference Player of the Year and Scholar Athlete of the Year.

     Federici played four years at Colts Neck High School, where he was All-Monmouth County and All-Group 3 his senior season. A season ending groin injury which required surgery, shied Ivy League and other Division I suitors away. Even after a stellar post-graduate year at the Lawrenceville School, F&M remained the top pursuer.

     The Ivies loss was F&M's great gain. He has topped Georgio Milligan, who I thought was the best player ever at F&M. Federici's squads did not make a Final Four like two other F&M teams did. His impact on and off of the court was lasting. I will miss watching him in person or on the computer; he would launch a three point shot that would routinely be a dagger to the opponent.

     Whatever lies ahead for Federici, I hope he does it well. I wonder if he can go to a Division I school and play an extra year as a graduate student, permissible by NCAA rules. That would be fun to watch and might even make me miss a game or two on the computer.

     Then there was Tiger Woods. For at least a brief moment, Tiger was back. Finishing second at the Valspar Championship, Woods had a chance to tie on the 18th hole, but left a birdie put two feet short.

     When Woods started to make his run, the ratings on NBC took off. The golfing public misses Woods. No matter how talented the top tier of the PGA Tour is, Tiger Woods remains golf's polestar. He is mesmerizing. He is divisive. But he is one of the greatest athletes ever--when you think of him, you think of Michael Jordan in basketball, Roger Federer in tennis or Tom Brady in football. The best of the best.

     Having overcome personal demons and surgeries, Woods appears to be back to form. With the Masters looming ahead in April, perhaps he is ready to make a challenge. The Arnold Palmer Invitational is next up as Woods tries to play back-to-back tournaments for the first time in a long time. Plugged in as the favorite, the TV ratings will soar.

     Do I believe he is the Tiger Woods of old? Not really. He has to prove that he can maintain consistency and even win a tournament before I am convinced. I am not rooting against him. I just want more proof before I make that decision. Can you blame me?

     One casualty of the power outage was my missing the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday. I watched with fascination every March as the field is unveiled. I felt good for the bubble teams who made the tournament. I felt sad for those who were relegated to the N.I.T. as a consolation prize. Oh well, being on I-78 and wondering if the house was in one piece trumped the show, at least for this year.

     I have made my bracket, which is loaded with upsets. I have a Final Four of Virginia, Villanova, Michigan State and Michigan, with Virginia defeating Villanova for the championship.

     Do I question some of the selections for the tournament? Yes. Take Oklahoma for instance. Losers of 11 of the last 15. Yet they have star power in guard Trae Young, who seems destined to play next year in the NBA. Arch rival Oklahoma State was more deserving a bid into the tournament--and they didn't deserve to be in the Big Dance. But I am hypocritical, for I have the Sooners winning their first round match up with an under performing Rhode Island team.

     I thought Providence College deserved entry into the tournament based upon its performance in the Big East. I have liked Florida State since I saw them at the RAC in November when they handled Rutgers; they looked like a tournament team then. The four teams in the play in games--Arizona State, Syracuse, St. Bonaventure and UCLA are questionable invitees. I felt that St. Mary's, USC, Nebraska, Penn State, Western Kentucky and BYU had better resumes.

     Who am I to quibble? I am more concerned that my wife does not beat me in our 2nd Annual head-to-head bracket challenge. After all, I write a blog. She faithfully reads it. My ego is at stake. Let the madness begin.

     Speaking one more time about basketball, I noticed that for the four public high school groups, all of the winners came from Central and South Jersey. Woodbury, Haddonfield, Nottingham and Shawnee. Are they the best in the State? Roselle Catholic and Don Bosco Prep are the Parochial winners and Roselle Catholic is nationally-ranked. It is nice to see that the non-North Jersey teams play some very sound basketball.

     In hockey, I see that the Las Vegas Golden Knights are still playing well overall, but they have been surpassed by the surging Nashville Predators, last year's Western Conference Stanley Cup finalist. Also, right on the heels of Vegas are the Winnipeg Jets. Finishing second or third in a very competitive conference is still remarkable for an expansion team. I just don't see them doing well in the playoffs.

     Football free agency has begun. The jockeying for ex-Washington Redskins' QB Kirk Cousins has started and ended in Minnesota. The amount of money he will eventually receive--a fully guaranteed $84 million over 3 years--is obscene. He is no Drew Brees of New Orleans, who just signed a 2 year $50 million deal. Brees is a Hall of Fame QB. Since his Redskins' teams have not had that much success, I wonder what the Cousins hullabaloo is about. The New York Jets had him in their sights; I wonder if he even had them in his sights? Besides, would the Jets be better off finding a QB of the future to groom, like Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Rams have done? This is a draft with 3-4 solid QB available. Good luck to Cousins and the Vikings; that is a staggering investment. Which makes the Jets' re-signing of Josh Mc Cown and then the offer of a contract to the injury-riddled Teddy Bridgewater to be their 2018 QB's even more puzzling.

     Moving on to tennis. Venus Williams beat sister Serena in straight sets in the Round of 32 at Indian Wells. Serena is coming back from the difficult birth of her baby. The fact she is competitive at this juncture is amazing. To expect her to return to her prior dominance is almost unthinkable. It would make a remarkable story if she did.

     Then there is Yankees' news. Aaron Judge said he is likely to skip the Home Run Derby at the All Star Game in Washington. While he won't outright admit this, his shoulder injury which required surgery and led to his slump, was the result of his participation in the Derby. Judge wants to let teammates Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez win the crown. Smart thinking.

     GM Brian Cashman signed switch hitting 2B Neil Walker to a 1 year, 10 million dollar deal. The addition of Walker shores up the infield, allows the young talent to mature a bit more in the minors and makes an already potent lineup even fiercer. Provided that the pitching staff and the vaunted relief corps are sufficient, the Yankees have been projected to win between 97-100 games in 2018.

     Then there is one other X factor in the Yankees' future. Rookie Manager Aaron Boone is that unquantifiable factor. An event last week led me to be slightly concerned.

     Dellin Betances completed his pre-planned inning. The next pitcher slated to pitch was Adam Warren. Except no one called the bullpen to have Warren warm up. Betances was already in the clubhouse, half undressed when he was hurriedly told to get dressed and come out to pitch to start the next inning. He did and when Warren was warm, Betances was removed from the game.

     While that gaffe was funny in part, the problems attached to that are greater. Betances could have hurt himself. Warren too. All because of a rookie managerial communication mistake.

     Such mistakes come with inexperience. Boone may have great baseball blood lines, but he is coming directly from the ESPN booth to the role of manager of a contending team in the toughest media market. If this was a regular season game, he would have been severely second-guessed.

     It is best that this happened without incident and in spring training. But this event does raise the issue of how well prepared Aaron Boone is to be the Yankees' manager. Will he make costly errors which could lose winnable games or hurt players unnecessarily.?

     It may be snowing today. The season opens at the end of the month. Yankees fans should have a little trepidation as the team starts its quest for a 29th World Championship.

     At least I have other things to distract me until then. And we still do have power.