I Know It's March Madness Time, But...

  In the midst of March Madness, baseball has begun for me. As it should, now that Spring is officially here. 

Sure, the run up to the end of the collegiate basketball for the 2024-25 season has been great. We have seen a couple of upsets in the opening rounds of the NCAA Men’s Tournament—Mc Neese State flexed its muscle in a win over Missouri as did Colorado State when the Rams bounced an overrated Memphis squad from the tourney. It took a buzzer-beater shot for Maryland to eliminate CSU on Sunday. 

We learned that North Carolina, everyone’s whipping boy for grabbing the last slot in the Big Dance. should have been in the tournament with its convincing play-in win over San Diego State, but were they anything but an 11 seed as shown by how Mississippi had difficulty with the Tar Heels? UNC might have made it past the Rebels if the deficit at one point had been far less than 22 points. 

Kansas, another blue blood and the pre-season #1, bowed out with a loss to Arkansas. It was a not-too-subtle fall from grace this season for the Jayhawks. 

Props to the University of New Mexico and Richard Pitino, son of St. John’s head coach, Hall of Famer Rick Pitino. The Lobos handled a very talented Marquette team in the opening round. His team gave a favored Michigan State squad fits in the Round of 32. 

Unfortunately for his father, St. John’s picked a very bad time to have a bad game. New York’s media darlings lost to John Calipari and his Arkansas Razorbacks. 

Defending champion UConn and Florida staged an epic battle. The heart of the Huskies was evident as they valiantly tried to overcome a late spurt by the Gators which proved enough for the team from Gainesville to move on. There will not be a three-peat. Just like in the NFL. For the record, UConn should not have been a #8 seed. And please, Danny Hurley, UConn’s Head Coach—get a grip on your emotions. 

How did the 14 SEC teams do in the first two rounds? Not exactly great. Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Missouri and Georgia went down in the first round. Texas didn’t make it past the play-in game, losing to Xavier (in an odd twist, Texas fired its coach and replaced him with Sean Miller, whose Xavier team had just beaten the Longhorns). When the dust settled after the second round, the SEC had a record 7 teams still vying for the title: Alabama; Arkansas; Auburn; Florida; Kentucky; Mississippi and Tennessee. 

The favored teams performed for the most part on the first round. The somewhat maligned Big Ten went 8-0 to open the festivities, but only four teams advanced to the next round. The Big 12 also placed four teams in the Sweet 16, and they were joined by Duke, the lone ACC team left. Every top four seed won its opening game. No First Four team advanced beyond the first round for the first time since 2011. 

Looking ahead, old rivals Kentucky and Tennessee meet next weekend. Duke faces a solid Arizona team. Top-seeded Auburn draws a hot Michigan squad. Iowa State and Michigan State tangle. Arkansas draws Texas Tech. Maryland and Florida meet. Alabama will be tested by BYU. Houston faces Purdue. 

Good contests abound, with all #1 seeds alive and three #2, #3 and #4 seeds each still in the mix. The lowest seed still alive is #10 Arkansas. This hasn’t been a tournament of upstarts thus far, although that is going to be tested anew as the games go on. No matter what, for those participating and still in the mix, it remains March Madness. 

I really haven’t been following the other post-season tournaments. The National Invitational Tournament, once the best of the best and held at Madison Square Garden has produced a plethora of close games. Cal-Irvine is the only remaining top seed still playing and North Texas is the only second seed remaining. 

Army is still in the College Basketball Invitational with the likes of Queens NC, UIW, Jacksonville, Cleveland State and Florida Gulf Coast. The College Basketball Crown games start on March 31 and end on April 6 if you want to check out FOX’s attempt at further undermining the post-season.

As for the women—the top teams have either romped or had some minor trouble in the first couple of games. A trio of #5 seeds have made it to the Sweet 16—Tennessee, Mississippi and Kansas State.

In Division III action, there will be no double for NYU. That’s because Trinity CT is the best men’s team, having downed top-seeded Wesleyan in the NESCAC Final then once more defeating their rival in the semi-finals. Those wins catapulted the Bantams to a comeback win over the number 2 team in DIII on Saturday, with a late run to hold off the Violets, who defeated Washington University to reach the championship match. 

In a rematch of last year’s final, the NYU women prevailed once more over Smith. It still boggles my mind that Smith is an athletic power. Note that the schools which made the Final Fours were name-brand, quality institutions. With the exception of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, B’Gosh. 

Steph Curry suffered a pelvic contusion and Golden State become mortal against Atlanta in the start of a crucial six game road trip. Not a good thing for the Warriors’ chances to avoid the play-in portion of the playoffs. 

Also, the Los Angeles Lakers welcomed back Lebron James from his groin injury when they played Chicago at home on Saturday night. When I saw the lopsided score in favor of the Bulls, I guessed that James didn’t have Luca Doncic playing with him that night. I guessed wrong—a lot like my busted NCAA bracket which looks like Swiss cheese. 

A note on George Foreman’s death. Forget the preacher/pitchman. I think of him as a mean, ornery big man with a devastating punch. His comeuppance came in the stifling heat of Zaire against Muhammad Ali. Foreman’s comeback 10 years later was remarkable. He was a giant among heavyweights. 

I did mention baseball. At last it’s finally that time of the year when the MLB games finally count. 

Technically, the season started about ten days ago in Japan when the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Chicago Cubs in a two game series. Shohei Ohtani’s return to his home country was a rousing success. 

The New York Yankees open their defense of the American League crown when the Milwaukee Brewers come to the Bronx on Thursday. While Aaron Judge remains the focus of this team for good reason, it is a different squad in many ways from last year’s version. 

For openers, Juan Soto and his 41 home runs are playing in another borough—Queens. That is a big hole in the NYY lineup which has to be replaced. 

General Manager Brian Cashman brought in aging veterans as reinforcements—Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt. He is relying on Jasson Dominguez to man left field where he remained a work-in-progres during Spring Training—even if his bat produced well enough. Judge will be back in right field, where he is better suited to play, with Bellinger and Trent Grisham now patrolling centerfield. 

Gone to Detroit is former second baseman Gleyber Torres. Jazz Chisholm moves to his natural position to replace Torres, leaving third base to Oswaldo Cabrera and DJ LeMahieu when the latter returns from injury. 

Austin Wells will catch and bat leadoff.  Anthony Volpe will continue to improve at shortstop. But the DH spot will rotate among a number of players as there is no timetable for Giancarlo Stanton to return from injury (again).

The pitching is suspect. Even with the addition of lefty Max Fried, there are holes in the starting rotation which have already necessitated reinforcements. Ditto in the bullpen. 

Yet I feel that optimism building. Even if reality isn’t so pretty and the Yankees are far from a lock to win the AL East let alone make it to the playoffs. 

Because it is baseball season. It is the sport I played in college. I went to Weequahic Park in Newark to see my alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College, take on Rutgers-Newark. Dressed in F&M gear which included a game-worn #25 grey jersey not unlike what I wore in 1970, I watched my team demolish the Scarlet Raiders by 13-3 and 19-7 scores in a doubleheader. The Diplomats followed up with another victory in a romp over Moravian on Sunday. 

They may not be the best team in the Centennial Conference—Johns Hopkins has been ranked at #2 and the Blue Jays come to Lancaster on Saturday to open conference play. But they are resilient, having rebounded nicely from a 2-8 West Coast trip against stiff competition. 

I watched the game with a friend who played at RU-N and thought about how I once played right field for F&M. It made me think about my first at bats in college—base hits my freshman year against Elizabethtown. Then the next season versus St. Joseph’s, a Division I school as a varsity player, 55 years ago on April 7th. Both on the first pitch I saw. I remain amazed that a 5’5” kid who had not played organized ball since his freshman year in high school could have done this. 

I know it’s March Madness time. But…I love baseball. The Yankees. F&M. Baltimore for my annual trip with Fan X. Any stadium. Any game. Televised or in person. I’m there. 

I'm Not Ready To Discuss Baseball

  Selection Sunday has happened once more. The annual bracketing of 68 teams, replete with nervousness and anxiety, the work of a studied Committee with copious rules to follow and mountains of data to sift through in making the final selections. And still they sometimes get it right, but more often the Committee’s verdict brings more controversy than not. 

We have reached the conclusion of a regular season which begins play in early November and wrapped up with conference tournaments in early to mid-March. For some, it is the body of work compiled up to the start of the final conference tournament plus how they fared in the post-season. Others simply have to win or go home to make the Big Dance. 

While there are some nice stories such as St. Francis of Pennsylvania, a small school of which is the oldest Catholic-Franciscan school in the United States, located in the Laurel Highlands of the Commonwealth. The Red Flash infrequently has stars who play in the NBA (Maurice Stokes, Norm Van Lier, Kevin Porter and Mike Iuzzolino). 

This is their first time back in the tournament since 1990-91. With no wins of distinction other than riding a hot streak last week in New Britain, Connecticut to snare the conference crown, St. Francis was destined to be slotted in the play-in game as a 16 seed. 

Don’t tell it to the players that their dreams may be burst after one game. This is what they strive for. It isn’t for the NIL money which flows aplenty at most of the other entrants in this event. Instead, the pride of playing their hearts out in winning the NEC title, then getting to play one more game amongst the big boys, is a memory of a lifetime for these kids. 

Then there is the storyline of one of the big boys—the University of North Carolina. This is a down year for Carolina in the eyes of its fans and those who follow college basketball. The Quad 1 record of the Tar Heels is atrocious—they went 1-13 this season, defeating only UCLA. At least the Heels didn’t fall in Quad 2, going 8-0 and suffering a one point hone loss to Stanford while amassing a 7-1 record in Quad 3 games. That’s not a particularly good season. 

What made the UNC story more compelling on the eve of the announcement of the tournament field was what happened in Charlotte during the ACC Tournament Semi-Final contest against its arch rival, top-seeded Duke. 

Down by 24 points and left for dead in the second half playing a #1-ranked Duke team without its star, freshman Cooper Flagg, who suffered a sprained ankle in the previous game, North Carolina put on a spirited, determined run to get back in the game. 

Instead, the unthinkable happened. When Ven-Allen Lubin converted his second free throw attempt to knot the score at 72, whistles from the referees were ominous. Jaclyn Withers had committed a lane violation, wiping that precious point off the board with seconds left to play, dooming the Heels to a most painful loss to its hated rivals. 

Teetering on the brink to begin with, the Tar Heels players, coaches and faithful had to endure a fitful 48 hours to await their fate. Prognosticators had them in the Final Four In the tournament, then in the Last Four Out. 

It was a fluid situation, made more complicated by Colorado State and Boise State reaching the Mountain West final, with Utah State and New Mexico now at-large bids. Well, the NET of 36 was the metric which proved to be enough for UNC to dance. And maybe some name recognition too. Although the Tar Heels are an 11 seed and are in a play in game versus San Diego State, which may actually have a better resume. 

For every story like St. Francis or the University of Delaware, a team with 19 losses which managed to make the CAA Tournament finals only to have its luck run out in a close, four point loss to UNC Wilmington, there are those elite teams that are able to be above-average in its NIL-laden conference and not have too many worries about whether it will continue to play, but rather who the next opponent will be. Therein lies the second story of the NCAA Tournament. 

Big monied Power 5 conferences seem to get more and more teams into the Big Dance. To the detriment of other worthy schools whose resources and power ratings don’t and cannot match the likes of the Big Ten, Southeastern Conference or Big 12, their seasons are over. 

It is absolutely outrageous that the SEC has a record-breaking 14 schools in the tournament—that tops the old standard by a whopping 3. Sure, the SEC has high seeds in Auburn, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. But how many of those 14 chosen will survive into the Sweet Sixteen—not too many. 

We have seen years when schools like Florida Atlantic, San Diego State or Florida Gulf Coast ride some magic in their focused play to make a run to fame. NC State, a member of the revered ACC, had a very average season, got hot at tournament time and ended up in last season’s Final Four. Plus so many fans revel when a Towson takes down a Virginia in an early round—even if it totally busts their bracket selections in whatever pool they might be in. That could happen this year with the likes of a Drake, VCU, UC San Diego, Grand Canyon or a Georgia and defending champ UConn, which is a #8 seed.

This is the magic of March Madness. No wonder why CBS and their affiliation with Turner Sports to televise each and every game beginning with the play-in games results in high viewership and allows for the ca-ching of the cash registers of the network, the NCAA and its member schools which make the tournament. 

It has become a phenomenon, not unlike the march to the Super Bowl, the NBA Playoffs, the MLB post-season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Because it has meaning and because it gives us winners—and doesn’t America just love winners?

Do enjoy the games—whether it is the Men you watch or if you tune into the Women’s Tournament . There is no clear cut choice that will win either tournament—Duke has its issues with Flagg’s ill-timed injury and the SEC top teams can easily win or be eliminated on the men’s side, while UCLA, a suddenly red hot South Carolina, perennial power UConn, star-laden USC, Texas and TCU headline the women’s bracket. It’s unpredictable, like the weather this time of year. 

Just a couple of comments on conference tournaments. Held at neutral arenas, they are not well-populated during the early rounds. Even if the seats are sold.

Except for the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. I have been to numerous of those games, first with Seton Hall fans, then when Rutgers was in the league. I know that ACC fans will say that their tournament is the best. 

I beg to differ. There is nothing like the fervor of the Big East in March in the Big Apple. My belief was comfirmed watching a quarterfinal game between lowly De Paul and #2 seed Creighton. The overmatched Blue Demons took the Blue Jays to double overtime before losing. Not a seat was empty. That is fan-friendly college basketball at its finest.

Also, coaches are already being fired. There are vacancies at Villanova, Minnesota, UNLV and Iowa, where Fran Mc Caffrey was let go after 15 years at the school. More are on the way—possibly including Steve Pikiell at Rutgers after the Knights lost to USC in double overtime. Bye bye, one-and-done stars Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper.  

By the way—in D III hoops action, the Final fours are set. NYU, Trinity (CT), Washington (St. Louis) and Wesleyan, the #1 seed, which needed to win in OT at home versus Emory, are headed to Fort Wayne. NYU is still able to go for the double win, as the top-ranked women are joined by Smith and two Wisconsin schools—Oshkosh and Stout. 

Meanwhile, the New York Jets offered enough money to lure former Chicago and Pittsburgh QB Justin Fields to New Jersey on a two year contract worth $40 million, with a lot of that money guaranteed. It’s a good gamble on behalf of management; he reunites with his Ohio State teammate, WR Garrett Wilson, with the hopes that their college connectivity can extend in the pros. 

With the advent of free agency, teams went wild in tearing down and reconstructing rosters. Buffalo is hellbent on winning the Super Bowl—they signed former LA Chargers star defensive lineman Joey Bosa in hopes to contain elite quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, etc. to make it to the Promised Land. On the negative side, two new signees are suspended six months for positive PED use. 

Quarterbacks and wide receivers moved from one team to the next in rapid succession. Former Jets QB Sam Darnold, who resurrected his career in Minnesota, was rewarded with a big payday in Seattle, after the Seahawks sent gent Smith, another former Jets QB who revived his career,  to the Raiders. The Rams sent former Super Bowl M.V.P. Cooper Kupp packing—he landed in Seattle, too, while LA picked up former Green Bay and NYJ Davante Adams to pair with blossoming star Puka Nacua. 

Yet the headlines are with another Jets QB, recently released by the team. Yes, it’s more wondering where (and if) Aaron Rodgers will land at age 42 to make another futile attempt to lead a team he is sure to disrupt its chemistry in the process. While Rodgers is headed to Hall of Fame, he still feels he has enough left in his tank to propel a team to the Super Bowl. He has convinced the Vikings, Steelers and Giants to actually believe that he still has that ability. Good luck there—at least two of the suitors will have to scramble big time to come up with suitable alternatives at QB if Rodgers goes elsewhere (or comes to his senses and retires).

It is too early to assess what teams have gotten that much better or have become even more average to mediocre. We need to factor in the NFL Draft to more accurately decide who is a contender and/or just a pretender. One heck of a lot of media coverage was expended in this time frame—it tells you the popularity of the NFL is surging even higher. 

Finally, I am touching on the NBA. I have been watching the Golden State Warriors go bananas since the acquisition of Jimmy Butler. I wouldn’t have thought one player could energize a team like he has. Unlike the Los Angeles Lakers getting Luka Doncic to pair with the now-injured Lebron James (his recovery from the groin strain is so vital to LAL’s playoff hopes), Butler’s unceremonious departure from Miami has become seamless by the Bay. 

Still, I wonder if GSW is legitimate enough to win it all. They are perched in the sixth spot in the playoff chase, barely in front of Minnesota and two and a half games behind fifth place LAL. And they struggled against a decent New York Knicks team minus Jalen Brunson, their star guard and catalyst. 

Oklahoma City is the dominant team in the West, behind the outstanding play of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Over in the Eastern Conference, Cleveland is the big winner, authoring two winning streaks over 15 games. But until they are dethroned, many believe that defending champion Boston can win it all. The regular season ends in April. 

I caught a debate about who is going to be the NBA M.V.P. Alexander, for all he has done to lead OKC, or superstar Nikola Jokic. SG-A leads the NBA in scoring and is a highlight reel star every time he hits the floor. Jokic plays on a team hobbled by injuries and he has carried them to a third seed in the West so far. I am not ready to predict a winner here because their statistics are so comparable. Could we see a close contest?

That’s it. Even if the regular season opens this week in Japan, I’m not ready to discuss baseball.

Blogging Basketball

  My editor is away, communing with the Pharaohs. More likely the monuments than the Egyptian National Football team, a.k.a., the Pharaohs. The typos and grammar may be a little off, not the result of a Mummy’s Curse. 

With that, I apologize for calling New York Yankees pitcher Luis Gil Louis Gil in last week’s blog. I know better. Spell check doesn’t. 

College basketball is in its playoff mode. Division III has reached the Sweet 16 in both the men’s and women’s brackets. The regular season has concluded in Division I and many conferences are deep into their post-season tournaments. And the weather is beginning to moderate around the country. This time in college basketball is a true harbinger of Spring.

First the bad news for me. I watched my Franklin and Marshall College Diplomats get clobbered on its home floor by a very hungry Catholic University squad. I had seen CUA lose  handily to Drew University less than a week ago and I still thought that they were an able team, worthy of inclusion in the Tournament. 

Was I ever right abut that. The next night, the Cardinals eliminated a very highly-regarded Randolph-Macon team. For their efforts, Catholic next plays Roanoke, which edged Christopher Newport, another ranked team. Should CUA continue its run, then they get the winner of Trinity (CT) and Western New England.

As for Drew, they were smoked in the first round by Mary Washington. MWU draws Emory, easy winners over Huntington and Berry. For the Rangers, the loss stung, but this was a magical season nonetheless. 

Other members of the DIII Men’s Sweet 16 are the two top-rated teams—Wesleyan and NYU—along with WPI, Wisconsin-La Crosse, Washington University, Hardin-Simmons, Redlands, Wisconsin Lutheran, Hampden-Sydney and perennial power Illinois Wesleyan (I actually saw both Wash U and IWU’s campuses this past Summer). 

On the women’s side, is this the year for NYU to win in both brackets? A lot of experts believe that is possible. The Lady Violets routed Gallaudet and Trinity (CT) to advance to a clash with SUNY-Geneseo. The Centennial Conference has two schools in the Sweet 16—Johns Hopkins and Gettysburg. There is a game to eliminate a Wisconsin school, as Stout and Whitewater meet. A third Wisconsin school, Oshkosh, is still playing, taking on Illinois Wesleyan. Plus there is a battle of Ohio schools, as Ohio Wesleyan and Baldwin-Wallace tangle. Bowdoin, Randolph-Macon, Scranton, Smith, Mc Murry and Gustavus Adolphus are the other schools still in the tournament. 

If you noticed a number of names repeated on the men’s and women’s side, that is true.  By my count, an astounding 12 colleges and universities are represented in both tournaments. That’s 24 of 128 bids or over 18% of the available slots. And schools like NYU and Illinois Wesleyan are poised to make big runs. 

It’s not that this doesn’t happen with the big boys. UConn has won both the men’s and women’s tournaments in 2004 and 2014. Last season, NC State made the Final Four in both tournaments. 

Duke is going to have two teams in the running, this season, as the women downed NC State to win the ACC Championship. Right now, UCLA and South Carolina may have teams playing in both tournaments. High Point, too. More will surely make the Big Dances—that will be decided by next Sunday. Tennessee Tech on the women’s side and Lipscomb in the men;’s bracket didn’t win their conference tournaments but got in because the teams which won were not yet eligible to play in the NCAA’s, having transitioned to Division I and are within a five gear probationary period. 

I watched Rutgers’ final home game against Minnesota. Both teams were vying for the 11th seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis beginning on Wednesday. 

These were two evenly matched teams. While Rutgers had a lead of 11 at one time and went into the second half with a nine point margin, the Golden Gophers outworked their opponent on its home floor, even forging ahead by three points. 

The two teams exchanged shots, but in the end, the game had to be settled in overtime. That’s when Dylan Harper, Rutgers’ super freshman, took over. In what was likely his last collegiate home game before he hears his name called as the probable second pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, Harper showed his excellence and poise.

Sure, at times he plays like a freshman and makes mistakes. He can be a bit lazy on defense. Yet it is unmistakable that the pedigree is there—his father won multiple titles in the NBA and his brother was a star preceding him at RU. 

Harper set the school freshman scoring record, as he averaged over 19 points per game in a season where he suffered an ankle sprain and went through a period of illness. He was among the elite players in a conference with plethora of them. 

His running mate, 18 year old Ace Bailey, showed flashes of his NBA future in every game, yet he appears to need more work in the weight room and to exercise better shot selection to succeed at the next level. While he is projected to be a lottery pick, I think that he is not ready to start, whereas initially Harper should see much more playing time in the pros. 

As for this disappointing season in Piscataway, RU draws USC in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. While RU downed the Trojans at home, this is no gimme win for the Scarlet Knights. Should RU prevail, Thursday’s opponent is a seasoned Purdue team, which humbled the Knights earlier in February by 29 points in West Lafayette, Indiana. 

I also saw the heavyweight battle between Auburn and Alabama. The visiting Crimson Tide took it to the Tigers on Auburn’s home court. While it took overtime for Nate Oates’ team to win, both are title contenders. 

So, too, is Florida, which is a vastly underrated team. I have been impressed with Michigan State’s dominance in the Big Ten, along with St.John’s winning the regular season Big East crown. 

It is not easy to pick who will win the NCAA men’s championship. There are plenty of schools in the Top 25 which can scare any other member. Look for large numbers of schools from the SEC and Big Ten making the tournament. 

On the women’s side, how dangerous are UCLA and South Carolina? Both were winners of their respective conference tournaments. Notre Dame, USC, UConn and Texas are legitimate threats on the women’s side. 

UCLA finally defeated JuJu Watkins and USC to win the Big Ten. If nothing more, the Bruins are resilient, overcoming a double digit deficit to win over their arch rivals. 

I had the pleasure to watch Golden State play both the Knicks and Nets. Steph Curry is so energized and playing like the icon he has become. He sank shits form near mid-court in games agains Charlotte and both NY teams. He crossed the 25,000 point mark versus Detroit on Sunday.  He is the 26th to pass that threshold and the 10th to do it with one team (the others are Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan, John Havlicek, Reggie Miller, Jerry West and one Michael Jeffrey Jordan.) 

It would take 3,580 points for him to surpass Shaquille O’Neal for 10th place. Curry won’t likely catch James Harden, who is still firing up shots for the Clippers, but he will catch and rush past Russell Westbrook, the two active players in front of him.

Teammate Draymond Green got into the debate over Curry. He felt that his friend should be in the conversation for G.O.A.T. Yes, he can be. But that the discussion should include Jordan, Lebron James, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant, too. What is undeniable is that Curry is the greatest three point shooter and long range gunner ever. 

Teamed with Jimmy Butler, the Warriors are now as exciting a team as there is in the league. So are the Los Angeles Lakers, except that James suffered a groin injury which will curtail his playing time for an undetermined period. Still, Cleveland and Oklahoma City remain the teams to beat in each conference. 

One more Steph Curry note. It was announced that he has accepted a role at Davidson College, his alma mater, to be Assistant General Manager for college basketball. His goal is to raise an 8 figure amount to sustain the Wildcats in this NIL world. Would I doubt is ability to reach that goal? 

There it is. Almost an entire blog devoted to basketball. Virtually no Yankees baseball mentioned. I can’t right now.