My sports week really began when Anthony Volpe was named the starting shortstop for the New York Yankees. My sports week ended with me sitting near my upstairs TV with my wife, watching UConn win its fifth national title in men’s basketball. In between there was a lot that happened which made this sports week unusual.
Volpe is the future of the Yankees, like Aaron Judge is the present (and near term future) of the team. The kid has stardom written all over him. He was a straight A student, the son of two well-known and respected medical doctors, a kid who grew up on the East Side of Manhattan and then in a beautiful home in Watchung. A boy who had a dream-like many of us—in this case to be the starting shortstop of his favorite team, the Yankees.
His story is so uplifting that it is a made-for-television movie at the least. How can you not root for him to succeed—unless you hate the Yankees and you don’t like dreams coming true. I find myself checking on him every day, and to see how he did, what his teammates and Manager Aaron Boone are saying about him. I am also anxiously holding my breath, pessimistic as I can be, hoping that this story does not come crashing down. Because this could be the missing piece that makes the Yankees better and perhaps leads them to that elusive World Championship. One which little Anthony Volpe, an elementary school student living in a household of avid Yankees fans, last watched in 2009.
So when Opening Day rolled around on Thursday, there he was in the starting lineup, batting ninth. When the team members were announced, as tradition would be for the first game, of course the cheers were loud for Aaron Judge, coming off an M.V.P. season where he hit 62 home runs and re-signed with the Yankees after a bit of a tumultuous free agency.
But no cheers were louder than those reserved for Volpe. He’s the local player—he’s one of us. While he did not get a hit that day, Volpe showed us all he could read the strike zone, drawing a walk. When he stole second, he gave the fans a glimpse of his speed. And Volpe made the putouts he needed to make, even beginning a double play.
The Yankees defeated the San Francisco Giants, the team of Judge’s youth and a strong pursuer during his free agency. The irony was not lost that Judge could easily have been on the other sideline, his name announced as a Giant, on a team which was playing its first Opening Day in New York since 1956, when the team called the Polo Grounds on Upper Manhattan its home, a mere .8 miles away from the former Yankee Stadium.
Judge blasted a homer in his first at bat. Ace Gerrit Cole set a Yankees franchise record for strikeouts on Opening Day. It was a feel good day in late March coolness. Baseball was back in the Bronx, with a local kid taking over the spot that Derek Jeter once patrolled.
The Yankees went on to win two of the three games versus the Giants. Then the team beat up on the defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of their series. Everyone who is inserted in the lineup seems to be contributing in big ways. There may be some relief pitching questions to be sorted out. The team is 3-1 and almost won on Saturday with a ninth inning rally that fell short.
Not to get worried that Tampa Bay began the season 4-0. It’s a nice start. Moreover, the closeness and intelligence among the players reminds me of the 1969-70 and 1972-73 New York Knicks. I read an article in The Atlantic about how returning star first baseman Anthony Rizzo gifted each teammate two expensive bottles of Italian wine with a personal, handwritten note accompanying the gift. This team is the kind of team I would want to play on—and I liked my college squad just fine.
A quick word on the Golden State Warriors. They won 4 of the last 6 games and remain in sixth place in the Western Conference, trying to avoid the play-in round. The two losses could have been wins. The long-awaited return of forward Andrew Wiggins is happening. Three more games to conclude the regular season—OKC tonight in San Francisco then on the road at Sacramento and Portland. Their seeding will come down to that last game.
Now I did not see too much of the Yankees until Monday night. That is because my son and I resumed our father-son hockey trips to Canada with the New Jersey Devils.
Saturday we traveled to Manitoba by way of Ottawa, a bumpy trip over the initial round of storms in the East. We managed to make it to a sports bar near the Canada Life Centre in time to watch the end of the first game of the Final Four while we had dinner.
I watched in awe as ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic University frittered away a 14 point lead in the second half, succumbing to a last second game winning shot which sent San Diego State into the Finals. Sitting among a whole lot of Canadians, there was not the uproar which might have erupted in an American sports bar. After all, a distant screen carried a curling tournament from Ottawa and two screens or more showed games involving Toronto at Ottawa and Carolina at Montreal. Hockey, for sure, as our waitress would say.
My son graduated Miami Law. We made it back to our hotel in time to watch his school play UConn in the other semi-final game. Which turned out to not be much of a contest, as the Huskies propelled themselves into Monday’s matchup with SDSU. UConn continued to steamroll through its opponents and was an overwhelming choice to win it all.
We watched the game on a CBS affiliate from Minneapolis. I did learn that the two sports networks in Canada, SN and TSN, are bitter rivals. Hockey and Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Raptors games are the big sports in Canada and they are split among the two. There is plenty of US and Canada fare to keep any Canadian (or visiting American) sports fan satiated.
Our Sunday was spent traversing through Winnipeg, the smallest NHL market. It was warm and humid when we left New Jersey. It was cold and blustery with diffuse sunshine in the True North, as the area is called. We visited a must see if you ever make it to Winnipeg—the Canada Museum of Human Rights. Awesome.
We slipped Into our Devils gear and headed to an eatery called Earl’s, not too far from the hotel and an eight minute walk to the arena. What we found were a lot of people wearing Winnipeg Jets jerseys—we clearly stood out. The manager of the place made a comment about not seating us wearing Devils clothing. I didn’t take his gesture well, firing back at him that maybe we shouldn’t patronize his establishment. My son brokered a truce so that I didn’t begin an international incident.
For our dinner entertainment, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship game was on the screens. Caitlin Clark had been spectacular in leading upstart Iowa to the finals, including a thrilling win over undefeated and defending champion South Carolina. LSU, led by its great coach, Kim Mulkey, she of the loud outfits, was simply the better squad.
Sure, the officiating was horrible. It greatly detracted from a surefire, exciting matchup which became the highest-rated women’s basketball game in TV history. And LSU had no great liking for Iowa and they showed it. With symbolic gestures which drew the ire of many, but not me. They are individuals and they are allowed to express themselves in whatever way they choose.
What bothered me more was that the keeper of the TV set at the restaurant turned the game off in the fourth quarter. Instead we picked up the TNT NHL telecast of Boston and St. Louis. At least it wasn’t curling.
The Devils were routed, 6-1, scoring with 13.9 seconds left to play. New Jersey was playing its second game in two nights, having won in Chicago on Saturday night, while the Jets played at home on Friday and were well rested. I like the arena and we nonetheless had a great time while being disappointed with the outcome. Plus it was snowing on our walk back to the hotel. A novelty for me this winter.
Escaping the frigid 14 degree (10 C) morning in Winnipeg, I was home in New Jersey in plenty of time to watch the Phillies-Yankees and UConn-SDSU games. The Huskies should have blown out the Aztecs by over 20 in the first half. Instead, SDSU tried to mount another comeback. Connecticut and its coach Dan Hurley deserved to win. They were the best team by a landslide. Adama Sanogo is going to be a force in the NBA. For that matter, he could be right now.
I fell asleep just before midnight (11:00 CDT). In a week which Golden State won two and lost two, baseball began for real, college basketball ended and I watched curling, I traveled to Winnipeg.
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