It was a blustery day with temperatures more like those in early March. Baseball returned to the Bronx. Opening Day 2021 was upon us.
With hopes of that elusive 28th championship abounding, the Yankees, behind ace Gerrit Cole, took on the youthful Toronto Blue Jays. Cole struggled, still struck out plenty Jays and surrendered a home run in the sixth inning to end his day.
New York’s offense was limited to Gary Sanchez’s two run blast in the second inning. The Bombers had plenty of chances to win, but the Blue Jays pitchers repeatedly thwarted the Yankees.
After Toronto scored what would prove to be the winning run in the top of the 10th inning when Aaron Judge slightly misplayed a smoked line drive, I watched a brilliant pitching performance by Julian Merryweather of the Jays. He went through the number 3-4-5 batters in the Yankees lineup, striking them out with an array of fastballs up to 99 m.p.h. and change ups as slow as 79 m.p.h. Almost all of his pitches were thrown in the strike zone. I am going to keep my eye on this guy.
Was it good to see fans in the stands? Yes and no. There is a resurgent pandemic producing heightened numbers in the NY Metro area and forcing the postponement of the Washington-Mets series in D.C. due to positive tests for the Nationals. Far too many in the stands weren’t wearing masks or were wearing them improperly.
So while it was great to hear “Roll Call,” the chorus of the names of the Yankees’ players in the field by the Bleacher Creatures, it wasn’t like the throaty roar of a full stadium on Opening Day. Maybe I will get used to it or perhaps vaccination of many more Americans will permit higher in person attendance at MLB games. Or maybe I will still be somewhat disapproving of the whole idea of fans in the stands—especially if the states have to cut back on attendance due to the virus.
In any event, the season has started. Experts believe that the Yankees and Dodgers are the teams which will meet in the World Series. While both should make the playoffs, I feel that teams like Toronto and San Diego are full of talent and will make a serious run at the AL and NL titles. So, too, do the Mets have an outstanding chance to make the playoffs in a very even NL East. Never count the Cardinals out of anything, just like the Astros and Braves.
It seems like every team has improved from last season. In the end, it will be a war of attrition, with COVID always part of the equation. That’s the reality of the new normal in 2021.
A baseball story of a different kind. Jack Leiter, son of former Mets and Yankees pitcher Al Leiter and a New Jersey native who attended The Delbarton School, appears to be the top pitcher in college baseball. Leiter vaulted his status while pitching a complete game no hitter for Vanderbilt, followed by another 7+ innings of no hit pitching in SEC play. In a recent interview with The Star-Ledger, the senior Leiter, a broadcaster with the MLB Network, touted his son as much better than he was—which was pretty good overall. The draft watch has begun for Jack Leiter as the possible number one pick.
I don’t often talk about golf. However, I was absolutely amazed by Sergio Garcia’s walk off ace on the fourth extra hole to win the match in the recent Match Play Tournament. That is some way to win. Sudden and absolute.
Some NFL notes. The league announced that the 17 game schedule is now a fact. Teams will play three exhibition games instead of four. The extra game will match teams by last year’s finish—for instance, the Jets and Eagles meet at Met Life Stadium while the Giants head South to take on Miami as the NFC East and AFC collide. Next season the Giants will host the 17th game while the Jets will go on the road.
The change will result in pushing back the playoffs and Super Bowl. So much so that in 2022, the game will be played on President’s Day weekend, allowing for the revelers to have Monday off from work without taking a sick day.
That sounds nice, until you recognize that the playoff games will be one week later in January, which means even more cold and snowy weather will be gripping much of the country, allowing for scenes like the frigid conditions in 1982 when San Diego met the Bengals in Cincinnati. Nothing like caring for the fans.
Also, Roger Goodell, the cheery NFL Commissioner, envisions full stadiums for NFL games this season. Wishful thinking by Mr. Goodell or typical NFL arrogance?
There was some significant NFL Draft maneuvering. San Francisco and Miami switched slots, with the Niners taking the Dolphins #3 choice and Miami took the Niners #12 choice and sent it to Philadelphia for he Eagles number 6 pick. SF want a QB badly, despite having Jimmy Garoppolo, who is continually rumored to be headed back to New England. Miami is going forward with Tua Tagoviloa as heir QB, after drafting him last year. Philadelphia is staying the course with their young QB, Jalen Hurts, who looked so good when he played in 2020. Plus Miami received some top draft choices in the process.
What is Houston going to do about QB Deshawn Watson? Watson, who arrogantly wanted out of his gig there, is now the subject of 21 allegations of sexual assault in civil suits. While he denies the charges through his big time lawyer Rusty Hardin, the NFL is starting an inquiry and Hardin said he would meet with prosecutors if they started an investigation. On top of that, 18 women came to the defense of Watson. What a mess.
I fell for Pardon The Interruption’s fake story that Urban Meyer and the Jaguars were passing on drafting Trevor Lawrence and would go in a different direction, which included Alex Smith coming in to mentor Justin Fields, the Ohio State QB who Meyer would draft on the recommendation of current OSU Head Coach Ryan Day, who was an assistant under Meyer with the Buckeyes. I told my wife the Jets were getting Lawrence! I should have known better. April Fools on me.
Some streaks to report. The Timberwolves scored the final 22 points in a game versus Houston in a come-from-behind victory. Houston has broken its 20 game losing streak with a win over Toronto.
Meanwhile, the Buffalo Sabres ended their 18 game losing streak by downing the Philadelphia Flyers. This happened after the Sabres blew a chance to beat the Flyers in Philadelphia.
And speaking of the Flyers—what has happened to this team? Seemingly on the way up last season, the Flyers and their young goalie, Carter Hart, have struggled mightily in 2021and may not reach the playoffs. Talk about a franchise which cannot win—the Flyers and their rabid and loyal fans haven’t seen the Stanley Cup in their hands since 1975. That’s 45 years ago. Wow!
Montreal and now Vancouver have had COVID pauses recently. The Canadiens are back, but the Canucks aren’t permitted to play before April 8. The NHL, famous for its historic bubbles last season, has encountered numerous COVID incursions with teams like the Devils, Bruins, Flyers, Wild and Sharks enduring shut downs, and with more probably on the horizon. Hopefully they can re-create bubbles in some form for the playoffs.
Washington Wizard guard Russell Westbrook had a stat line this week of 35 points, 21 assists and 14 rebounds. Only Magic Johnson (1981) and Oscar Robertson (1961) have had a 30 point triple double. Pretty amazing.
The NBA had its trade deadline come and pass. The Nets managed to secure free agents Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge, adding depth to a star-studded lineup which features M.V.P. candidate James Harden, point guard Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant, who was embroiled in a homophobic social media exchange, and who will be returning shortly from his hamstring hiatus. Brooklyn is still the team to beat in the East.
In the West, Denver and Dallas made moves to bolster their rosters. Plus Steph Curry returned from his tailbone contusion and scored over 30 twice as the Warriors beat Chicago and lost to the Miami Heat.
Speaking of the Heat, savant Pat Riley declared that the Heat is again a team to be reckoned with. On the Duncan Robinson watch, the former Williams and Michigan star scored 21 points versus Golden State and played a team-leading 37 minutes. He has also had a few 20+ point game in the Heat’s last few games. I guess he is an integral part of the Miami team, not merely a three point shooter.
With the recent onerous voting legislation passed in Georgia, boycotts have been called for regarding the Masters and MLB All Star Game in Atlanta. Coupled with the recent Atlanta Dream team protest which resulted in former Senator Kelly Loeffler divesting her interest in the WNBA team, it shows that Georgia is the hot bed of political activity which has extended from the Presidential and Senatorial runoffs. When there is challenge to the new laws, the Georgia legislature takes action against those who dare oppose. Delta’s CEO spoke out against the laws; as a result, the largest employer in the state is in jeopardy of losing their tax incentives.
Those who oppose what has happened believe that something must be done to show that this blatant racially motivated action is unacceptable. Sports is always a forum for social discourse.
Yet in the South, it is not acceptable. Look at the resignation of first year East Tennessee State basketball coach Jason Shay. He abruptly resigned on Thursday after intense pressure from legislators and the state’s Congressional delegation over linking arms with his players who knelt on one knee when the National Anthem was played.
I am embarrassed for our country and as native Georgian, I am appalled. When and how this will change is uncertain. As is the future of sports in the South.
Lastly, I have to discuss the NCAA’s Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments plus some other related matters involving he NCAA. It’s too bad that other things intervene in what has been a very interesting run in both brackets leading to the respective Final Fours.
NCAA head Mark Emmert was in the news aplenty. First, he lamely apologized for the mishandling of the Women’s Tournament in San Antonio. What happened there was an absolute disgrace and shows the shameful disparity between genders.
Furthermore, on Thursday Emmert met with Rutgers’ Geo Baker, injured Michigan star Isiah Lives and Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon on Thursday over the issue of name, image and likeness (NIL). The players wanted more representatives present, but the NCAA naturally said no.
There has been much litigation on this issue—rightfully so. The archaic belief that giving scholarships to students is sufficient while the schools and other NCAA make millions off of the NIL off its student-athletes is going to come to an end.
Unfortunately, like all things related to the NCAA, it will be resolved in the courts instead of by reaching a meeting of the minds. This week, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments about paying collegiate athletes. The justices seemed to side with the players in their questions and statements. Let’s hope that SCOTUS gets this one right.
North Carolina and Basketball Hall of Fame Coach Roy Williams retired on Thursday. His resume is impressive—multiple titles with Carolina and one at Kansas. Well over 900 wins. Plenty of his players to the NBA—from his time as an assistant to the legendary Dean Smith, at Kansas, and with his tenure as the head man for the Tar Heels.
The will be readers who disagree with me on this. I think that Roy Williams may not have been the greatest tactician the college game has ever seen. What he was was a decent man who succeeded in one of the highest profile jobs in the sport, becoming a father figure to so many of his players. Measuring his legacy in wins and losses is not the way he should be remembered, especially with some struggling seasons since the 2017 National Championship. Williams is simply too good for that.
There is speculation about his successor. I hope it is former Tar Heel star and current assistant Hubert Davis. Davis, who played in the NBA and relinquished a fine TV analyst spot to go back to his alma mater, would break barriers at the school as well as be a great fit. This should not be a long, drawn out process in replacing Williams.
So what about the Final Fours? Ladies first.
UConn somehow survived its nemesis, Baylor, on a controversial end of the game no call on a shot which could have won the contest for the Lady Bears. It was a riveting game, with scoring streaks and lead changes.
Which put the Huskies, with freshman sensation and National Player of the Year Paige Buechers, into the team’s record 13th straight Final Four. UConn faces upstart Arizona, which was left out of the NCAA’s Final Four promotional video (way to go NCAA, botch another thing up), while two #1 seeds, South Carolina and Stanford vie for a place in the Finals. I will be watching on Friday and Sunday.
As to the men, I did a quick count. Of the 68 teams in the men’s bracket, I have seen or been on 59 of the campuses. Plus I am unsure if I saw Wichita State or Drake when I passed through Kansas and Iowa. The others I have not seen are Winthrop, Illinois, Appalachian State, Creighton, Ohio U and Eastern Washington.
I also saw a statistic that 37.5 of the old Southwestern Conference was still alive in the Elite Eight as well as 37.5 of the Pac-12. Five of the teams were from blue states and 3 came from red states.
This led me to research different conferences to see how represented they were in this year’s Tournament. The old Big 8 had 7 schools (bet you didn’t know that Drake and Iowa once were in the Big 8). The Southwest Conference also had 7 of its members in the Big Dance.
Ten schools affiliated with the Big East at some time were in this year’s bracket—Florida and Liberty were associate members in women’s lacrosse (UF) and field hockey (LU). Eight ACC schools were present, if you add Maryland.
The venerable Missouri Valley Conference had 10 former and current members in Indianapolis. Who knew that Hartford joined for Mens’ soccer?
Not to be shortchanged, the American Athletic Conference had former members Rutgers and UConn in the Dance along with associate members Florida (again for Women’s lacrosse) plus South Dakota State and Villanova in for Women’s rowing.
Other surprises I learned were that Grand Canyon is part of the WAC in baseball and Creighton’s Women’s rowing was part of the West Coast Conference. Don’t forget that Utah and Utah State had been members of the WAC and Mountain West Conference. Plus Abilene Christian is on the verge of membership in the WAC. I know—such silliness. But it’s part of the fun. At least for me.
Houston returned to the Final Four for the first time since 1984. Baylor’s drought goes back to 1971. Play-in team UCLA, a perennial champion under John Wooden, winners of 11 titles, is making its 19th Final Four appearance and first since 2008.
The game between Houston and Baylor will be the first time that two Texas teams meet in the Final Four. Houston has been lucky up to this point. Playing the old children’s game of what if, Rutgers should have been in the Final Four had they held on against the Cougars. Baylor is formidable under Coach Scott Drew. Don’t count the Cougars out yet.
Gonzaga is attempting to become the eighth unbeaten NCAA Champion, joining three UCLA teams, Indiana, North Carolina and San Francisco. The Zags have won all of their games by double digits. They are a record 14 point favorite to defeat UCLA in Saturday’s semi final contest. Although UCLA had a great upset win over Michigan, the Bruins are likely to be no match for this Gonzaga team, led by super freshman Jared Suggs, Mr. Basketball and Mr. Football in Minnesota. Suggs could play in the NBA right now.
I had Gonzaga in my bracket to win it all. Baylor or Houston will provide a stern test. In the end, it is hard to pick against Mark Few’s team.
Whew! I’ve said a lot. I keep thinking about the Hollies’ great tune, Time of the Season. For that it is.
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