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04/03/2023

UConn vs. SDSU; LSU Wins Women's Title

Add-on posted early Wed. a.m.

UConn Rolls to a Fifth Title

--The only way I was able to stay up for the national title game, UConn-San Diego State, was taking a nap at halftime.  9:20 p.m. ET starting times aren’t the greatest the older you get.

SDSU came out blazing, hitting four of their first five shots, and then it was brick city from there, a pathetic shooting display that reminded longtime followers of the team of some of the editions that had more talent than the 2022-23 squad, but just couldn’t shoot and thus they never made it to the Elite Eight.

For the game the Aztecs were a pathetic 19 of 59 from the field (so 15 of 54 after the hot start), 6 of 23 from three, with 20 fouls that sent UConn to the line 27 times, the Huskies converting 24, as winning teams are wont to do.

It was indeed a yawner.  But what a great tournament overall.

Nancy Armour / USA TODAY

“There’s no sugar coating it, this title game was bad.

“Watching cars spin their wheels in mud would have been more exciting than the 76-59 slogfest that ended with Connecticut winning its fifth national title. If you weren’t a UConn or San Diego State fan and you had sense, you turned the TV off at halftime Monday night so your retinas weren’t permanently scarred by the ugly display of basketball – if you can call what they were playing basketball….

“Unpleasant as the game was, though, it doesn’t mean this was a bad NCAA men’s tournament.  Quite the contrary.  The first 62 games offered all kinds of fun and that, rather than this atrocity, should be the lasting memory of this year’s men’s tournament….

“Remember Fairleigh Dickinson?  Most people had never heard of the small, private school in New Jersey before last month.  Now it’s got a permanent place in national lore, only the second 16 seed in the history of the men’s tournament to topple a No. 1 when it stunned Purdue.

“We should have known then that this was going to be the year of upsets and upstarts. All four No. 1s were gone before the Elite Eight, the first time in the men’s tournament that’s happened, and the Final Four featured a ninth seed (Florida Atlantic) and two No. 5s in Miami and San Diego State.

“FAU was two seconds from becoming the lowest seed to make the NCAA title game.  Making the Owls’ run even more impressive, they’d never even won a tournament game before this year!....

“Twenty-seven years after Princeton knocked defending champion UCLA out in the first round, a player from that team coached the 15-seeded Tigers to not only one but two wins in the tournament.  We all learned what a Paladin is – a legendary knight in 8th century France – thanks to Furman’s first-round upset of fourth-seeded Virginia….

“Tom Izzo conjured up his old March magic, leading Michigan State to a second-round win over Marquette, which had come into the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the country.  (Brian) Dutcher, who toiled as an assistant for 28 years before becoming the head coach at San Diego State six years ago, got his first win in the NCAA tournament. Then won four more.

“And no one will forget the joy, and the dance moves, of Miami coach Jim Larranaga. The 73 years young coach was movin’ and groovin’ in the Hurricanes’ locker room after every win.

“ ‘My players have said you’re so stiff, you’ve got to loosen up.  Well, I can’t.  I don’t have that flexibility anymore,’ Larranaga said Friday.  ‘You can rate it or the players can rate it. I just know my wife likes it.’

“See?  There are plenty of good memories from this year’s tournament. The title game just won’t be one of them.”

It is pretty amazing that only UCLA (11), Kentucky (eight) and North Carolina (six) have more titles now than the UConn’s five.

--Jim Nantz signed off…his final March Madness for CBS.

“To you, to everybody in the college game, to the CBS family, my family, all the viewers: Thank you for being my friend,” Nantz said.

Nantz thanked everyone who was along for the ride with him while imparting wisdom.

“One thing I’ve learned through all of this: Everybody has a dream, everybody has a story to tell,” Nantz said. “Just try to find that story. Be kind.”

“You’ve told it better than most,” quipped long-time partner Bill Raftery. “Let me tell ya.”

--In one of the stupider things I’ve ever seen, First Lady Jill Biden commented on the women’s title game, LSU over Iowa 102-85.

“I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House, we always do,” Biden said Monday in Denver.  “So we hope LSU will come.  But, you know, I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.”

LSU’s Angel Reece was right to tweet: “A JOKE,” adding three rolling-on-the-floor-laughing emoji.

It would be outrageous for Iowa to be invited.  But typical of the ‘everyone gets a trophy’ mindset that is killing our nation’s competitiveness.

Tuesday, Jill Biden began to walk back the invitation to Iowa.

MLB

--Monday….

Shohei Ohtani hit his second home run of the season, the Angels (3-1) beating the Mariners (1-4)  7-3.

The Yankees (3-1) hit two more home runs in defeating the Phillies (0-4) 8-1.

Joey Gallo hit another home run (his third) as the Twins moved to 4-0 against the Marlins (1-4).

The Giants (2-2) hit seven home runs for the first time since 2002, the team record being eight set back in 1961 when Willie Mays hit four, as they pounded the White Sox (2-3) 12-3 in Chicago.  Five of the home runs were off starter Michael Kopech.

--Tuesday….

The Mets (3-3) got blasted a second consecutive game in Milwaukee (4-1), 9-0, after getting drilled 10-0 on Monday.  Max Scherzer yielded three consecutive home runs Tuesday for just the second time in his career.  The Mets’ Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso are off to awful starts and when these two don’t hit, this otherwise fragile offense goes nowhere.  Major changes in the lineup are coming by May 1st.

The Mets have an afternoon game today against the Brew Crew and it’s already gut-check time.

The Rays are 5-0 after a 10-6 win over the Nationals (1-4).

The Dodgers (4-2) defeated Colorado (2-4) 5-2 as Julio Urias threw six shutout innings for L.A., Urias winning his first two starts of 2023.  We can now project he’ll go 29-2.

In San Diego, Manny Machado thought he had called time as the pitch clock wound down to eight seconds.

Plate umpire Ron Kulpa thought otherwise and called an automatic third strike to end the first inning.

Machado argued, and Kulpa ejected him, the first such ejection related to the pitch clock. 

Compounding matters, the Padres (3-3) blew a four-run lead and lost 8-6 to the Diamondbacks (3-3) after the bullpen melted down.

--Baseball America’s latest Top 25 (April 3)

1. LSU
2. Florida
3. Wake Forest
4. Vanderbilt
5. Arkansas
6. South Carolina
7. Stanford
8. Virginia
9. Boston College…surging…
10. Kentucky
13. Campbell…cool…
14. Miami
15. East Carolina
16. North Carolina
17. Louisville
22. Coastal Carolina…handed the Deacs one of their three losses…

But the Deacs, who had beaten Elon 20-0 just about two weeks ago, shockingly lost to them Tuesday, 5-3, to fall to 26-4. Actually, Elon isn’t bad…20-9.

The Masters

--The weather forecast is awful…showers Friday and flat out “rain” Saturday and Sunday.  This sucks.  Monday finish here we come.

--Of the 18 LIV golfers who are playing in the Masters, six are past champions – Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Charl Schwartzel.

The others include Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Abraham Ancer, Bryson DeChambeau, Talor Gooch, Jason Kokrak, Kevin Na, Joaquin Niemann, Louis Oosthuizen, Mito Pereira, Thomas Pieters and Harold Varner III.

Needless to say, the Champions Dinner could be a tension convention.  There is the issue of a major lawsuit between LIV and the PGA Tour, after all, with a lot of barbs exchanged between the two groups.

But as I go to post early Wednesday morning, we’re told the dinner was very cordial, though past champions Fuzzy Zoeller and Tommy Aaron told Golfweek that Phil Mickelson “didn’t speak at all.”

--On a call with CBS Sports last week, they vow not to cover LIV Golf members any differently than the rest of the field of competitors, but come Sunday, or Monday, we’ll see how that plays out.

--Greg Norman told NewsCorp on Saturday that if one of the 18 LIV players invited to the Masters happens to win late Sunday (or Monday), the other 17 will meet the victor for a celebration near the 18th green.

“If one of the guys, no matter who it is, they are all going to be there on the 18th green, they are all going to be there, and that just gives me goosebumps to think about,” Norman said. “When you walk up 18, your caddie hugs you then you see your wife or your mum and dad. Now, to have those 17 other guys there, that’s the spirit we want.”

Norman is excited about seeing some of his men play against the top players on the PGA Tour for the first time this year.

“I compliment the Masters on letting the players play because now they have got the best field and they are actually now the true Super Bowl,” Norman said.  “But if I’m the Masters right now, I would want, on Sunday, DJ or Brooks or Cam, any of those guys against Rory and Jon Rahm.  Can you imagine what the TV ratings would be like?

“It’s what the people want.  It’s what TV wants.  The ratings will be far higher than any other ratings if you’ve got Rory playing any one of our top guys.”

Well, the pilotfish has a point.  I, of course, will be rooting heavily for the PGA Tour side, and hopefully it’s Will Zalatoris or Cameron Young…or Rory.

--Asked Monday if he regretted saying three years ago that Augusta National for its brute-strength length was “a par-67 for me” because he can reach all the par-5s, Bryson DeChambeau said, “Do I regret?  Everybody has a perspective on it.  I don’t think I regret anything. What I do understand is that I have a lot of respect for the course. This is one of the greatest golf courses in the entire world, and if anybody thinks I don’t have respect for the course, they’d better go check out who I actually am because it’s not accurate one bit.”

Well, the fact is he tied for 38th in 2018, a tie for 29th in 2019, a tie for 46th in 2021 and a missed cut last year after shooting 76-80.  In 2020, he had to withdraw due to vertigo.

NBA

--The idle Knicks clinched the fifth spot in the NBA playoffs on Tuesday after a Brooklyn loss.  So it’s Knicks-Cavs.  Hopefully Julius Randle is back.

--Last night, many are saying Joel Embiid clinched the MVP as Philadelphia beat the Celtics 103-101, Embiid with 52 of the 103 points on 20 for 25 shooting from the field, 12 of 13 from the free throw line, 13 rebounds and six assists.

Embiid was just the second in NBA history with 50 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 80% from the field in a game (Wilt Chamberlain the other). And the first center with three 50-point games in a season since Kareem (1971-72).

--It’s going to be a helter-skelter final five days in the NBA regular season as we sort out the playoffs/play-in round berths.

Among the story lines…Brooklyn is just a game ahead of Miami for the sixth spot.

The Lakers, kind of out of nowhere, have a shot at beating out the Clippers for the sixth spot and avoiding the play-in round.

Dallas is battling OKC for the final play-in berth in the West.

Stuff

--The NASCAR races have been ending after I go to post on Sunday’s, and at Richmond Raceway, Kyle Larson picked up career win No. 20 (10 of which came in his 2021 championship season).  Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry, subbing for the injured Chase Elliott, held on for second.

Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.

-----

[Posted early Sun. p.m.]

Add-on up top by noon, Wed.

NCAA 1973 Championship Game Quiz:  This year’s tournament marks the 50th anniversary of one of the all-time great performances in sports history…UCLA’s Bill Walton and his 21 of 22 from the field, 44 points, against Memphis State in the title game, 87-66.  Name the other seven players in the Bruins’ 8-man rotation.  Answer below.

March Madness

--Saturday, in the first semifinal, 9 Florida Atlantic took a 40-33 halftime lead against 5 San Diego State and expanded it to 14, 56-42, with about 14 minutes to play.

But the vaunted Aztecs' ‘D’ clamped down, and in the end, Lamont Butler hit a buzzer-beater for the ages, Aztecs moving on to Monday night, 72-71.

In the second game, my Pick to Click, Miami Hurricanes, were simply no match for the surging Huskies, falling 72-59, as 4 UConn has put on one of the more dominating tournament performances in history; becoming just the sixth team since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 to reach the title game after winning its first five in the tournament by double digits.

And now Jeff B.’s Huskies are gunning for a fifth title, 4-0 in championship games coming in.

Emblematic of 5 Miami’s poor effort, guard Nijel Pack missed five critical minutes in the second half while team managers tried to find a substitute for a malfunctioning shoe.  The trio of Pack, Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller was a combined 11 of 30 from the field, when if they were going to be playing for the national title, needed something a lot more than that.

Of course credit to UConn’s terrific defense and efficient offense, the Huskies led by power forward Adama Sanogo’s 21 points (on 9 of 11 shooting), 10 rebounds, and two blocks.

The Huskies have a terrific 8-man rotation and can beat you inside and outside.

But the Aztecs, who have a solid 9-man rotation of their own, can match UConn’s physicality.  It’s an intriguing matchup.

SDSU, having never reached the Elite Eight before this season, is attempting to join UNLV in 1990 as the only current mid-major programs to win the national championship.

--In the women’s Final Four Friday night, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark did it again, scoring 41 points (15 of 31 from the field, 5 of 17 from three), along with eight assists in the Hawkeyes’ 77-73 upset of No. 1, and previously undefeated defending national champion, South Carolina, snapping the Lady Gamecocks’ 42-game winning streak and sending Iowa to their first national title game….

….where they will face LSU on Sunday afternoon, the Lady Tigers defeating No. 1 seed Virginia Tech to advance to their first national title game.

LSU is coached by the flamboyant Kim Mulkey who is in her second season in Baton Rouge, after winning three national titles in four seasons at Baylor.

Back to Iowa, Dr. W. told me earlier that South Carolina sucked from three and he was right, they were just 4 of 20 from downtown, as he had me place a large wa---….actually, I need to stop here. 

Well, LSU won their first national title, 102-85, hitting 11 of 17 from three.  Kim Mulkey did it again.  Not sure I’d want her as my next door neighbor, but that’s me.

--North Texas defeated UAB 68-61 on Thursday for their first NIT title in school history as they finished the season 31-7.  Congrats to the Mean Green.  I have a North Texas t-shirt lying around somewhere.  [Their coach, ol’ whathisname, took the Texas Tech job.]

--VCU’s Mike Rhoades was named Penn State’s new men’s basketball coach.  He replaces Micah Shrewsberry, who left for Notre Dame.

VCU then hired Utah State’s Ryan Odom.  Odom was the coach at UMBC when the Retrievers pulled off the first No. 16 over No. 1 upset in men’s NCAA tournament history, toppling top-seeded Virginia in March 2018.

--Michigan star big man Hunter Dickinson entered the transfer portal.  The 7-foot-1 junior averaged 18.5 points and 9 rebounds this season, after putting up 18.6 and 8.6 last season.  He is classified as a graduate transfer and plans to graduate at the end of the summer semester.

The kid is also an Academic All-Big Ten honoree, twice, so we aren’t talking Brandon Miller or Darius Miles, if you know what I’m sayin’.  Dickinson is a high character guy.

Speaking of low character Miller of loser Alabama, as you would expect, he’s entering the NBA Draft and it will be interesting to see who takes him.  A lot of talent, no doubt, but who is he?

--Marquette’s Shaka Smart was named AP Coach of the Year, edging out Kansas State’s Jerome Tang and Houston’s Kelvin Sampson.  A worthy selection.

--Finally, Monday night, Jim Nantz calls it a day when it comes to broadcasting March Madness, a farewell in his hometown of Houston.  But it’s not just the waves of nostalgia that he expected, as the past few months have been a sad time in his life.

He lost his mother in October, followed in January by longtime friend Billy Packer, who flanked Nantz for 18 years as a CBS basketball analyst.  [Nantz was hoping Packer would be there in Houston for the finale.]

And then, three days before the start of the NCAA tournament, statistician Pat McGrath died unexpectedly in his San Francisco hotel room.  He was in town to work an NBA game, just another routine stop in advance of joining Nantz for March Madness.

The two had worked side by side for 30 years.  And as with Nantz, McGrath had decided this too would be his last tournament.

“We did the Big Ten weekend, and on Sunday night he flew to San Francisco,” Nantz said.  “We do know that he got up the next morning to go get some breakfast because there was a card swipe to re-enter his room around noon.”

But Nantz said this final, Final Four, “is a joyous occasion.  I’m as nostalgic as anyone on the planet.  It’s in my DNA, and I got that from my mom.  But I don’t want the word nostalgic to infer that I’m maudlin.  My nostalgia is born out of gratitude.

“I’m deep in the heart of Texas, but deep in my heart is just an abundance of gratitude for the relationships I’ve had on this 37-year journey, the support and love I’ve had from my family and friends, and I’m here to celebrate it.”

For good reason, Nantz just needs a break between his NFL duties and golf, including The Masters, a tradition unlike any other…on CBS.

NBA

--Wednesday night, the Knicks had a key 101-92 win over Miami at the Garden, but they lost All-Star Julius Randle to a badly sprained ankle that will keep him out for two weeks, meaning he could miss the start of the playoffs, so a massive blow.

But give the Knicks credit.  They traveled to Cleveland Friday night and defeated their first-round playoff foe, 130-116, as Jalen Brunson took over, scoring 48 points with 9 assists.

--The Celtics had an impressive 140-99 victory over Milwaukee on Thursday night, pushing the race for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference into the final week of the season.

The 41-point loss for the Bucks is their second-largest home defeat in franchise history.  Jayson Tatum (40) and Jaylen Brown (30) combined for 70.

--Eastern Conference (thru Sat.)

1. Milwaukee 55-22
2. Boston 54-24
3. Philadelphia 51-26
4. Cleveland 48-30
5. Knicks 45-33
6. Brooklyn 42-35
7. Miami 41-37
8. Atlanta 38-39
9. Toronto 38-39
10. Chicago 37-40
11. Washington 34-43

--Congratulations to the Sacramento Kings, who on Wednesday night clinched a postseason berth for the first time since 2006, with a 120-80 win over the Trail Blazers, thus snapping the longest active playoff drought across North America’s “Big 4” sports.

--Western Conference Race (thru Sat.)

5. Golden State 41-37
6. Clippers 41-38
7. New Orleans 40-38
8. Lakers 39-38
9. Minnesota 39-39
10. Oklahoma City 38-40
11. Dallas 37-41

If Dallas doesn’t make the playoffs, what a shocker…and what a massive disappointment for owner Mark Cuban.

--The Nets announced this week that Ben Simmons was out for the rest of the season.

It was 2019 that Simmons signed a fully guaranteed five-year, $177 million max extension while with the Sixers, as they had drafted him No. 1 overall and he had developed into one of the game’s most promising and unique players.

But then he refused a dunk in the playoffs, spent the entire next season away from the game, moved to the Nets in the James Harden trade, and played only 42 games this season, averaging career lows in points, rebounds and assists (and shooting .439 from the free throw line).

He is still on the books for two more seasons and $78 million.

Simmons’ 2022-23 campaign ends due to what we’re told is a nerve impingement in his back.  What do the Nets do with the guy.  He’s still only 26!

--The league and its players came to an agreement early Saturday on a new seven-year collective bargaining agreement, the NBA announced.  The deal will begin this summer and will last at least through the 2028-29 season.  Either side can opt out then; otherwise, it will last through 2029-30.

An in-season tournament of some kind will become reality, and players will have to appear in at least 65 games in order to be eligible for the top individual awards such as MVP.

Marijuana is no longer a banned substance, there is a second luxury-tax tier (the kind of issue that bores me to tears), but, of interest, the age limit to enter the NBA will remain at 19 years old, so most players exiting high school will have to wait at least one year before entering the league.

MLB

--The 15 Opening Day games averaged 2 hours and 45 minutes on Thursday, 26 minutes shorter than last year’s average, which was as expected based off the exhibition season results (which also shaved 26 minutes compared to last year).  Yes, every single baseball fan can see there is a huge difference in the pace, and it’s great.

The Mets, losing their second game of the season Friday, 2-1 to the Marlins in Miami, at least lost in only 2:09, so to me, highly preferable compared to days of yore when you’d be watching your guys lose over 3 hours and 20 minutes, drooling all over yourself after passing out.

[The Metsies won Thursday’s opener, 5-3, improving their best in baseball Opening Day record to 41-21, but 41-13 after losing the first eight openers of the franchise, including 1969. But they also had to put Justin Verlander on the IL for an injury that allows him to keep throwing; as in, it’s a tough one to describe.  He’ll either be back in a month, or this is long-term, and not good.]

--I’m not going to mention a lot from the first few games, but you can’t help but note that on Opening Day, the Texas Rangers’ big free-agent signing, Jacob deGrom, was shelled, giving up five earned on six extra-base hits in 3 2/3, though Texas won the game over the Phillies, 11-7, as the Rangers tagged Aaron Nola for five earned in 3 2/3 as well.

Catcher Adley Rutschman went 5-for-5, 4 RBIs, in Baltimore’s 10-9 opening win in Boston.

I watched the Yankees take on the Giants at the Little Bandbox that Ruth Didn’t Build and Gerrit Cole was sharp, 6 innings, 11 Ks, the Yanks winning 5-0.  Appropriately, Aaron Judge hit a bomb in his first at-bat, which while I am far from a Yankees fan was pretty cool.  [Highly-touted Yankees rookie Anthony Volpe didn’t get a hit, but he walked and stole a base, while playing seamless defense at short in front of hundreds of friends and family from nearby Watchung, N.J. (and Delbarton School).]

The Cubs’ Dansby Swanson, he of the dreadful spring, went 3-for-4 in his debut for Chicago after signing a $177 million contract.  Former Met Marcus Stroman threw 6 scoreless for the Cubs in the 4-0 opening win over the Brewers.

Shohei Ohtani threw six scoreless, striking out 10 in the Angels’ opener, but they lost 2-1 to Oakland and their $143,500 payroll.

--Speaking of the Angels, they signed Anthony Rendon to a seven-year, $245 million contract after he had spent a number of highly successful seasons in Washington, leading the N.L. in RBIs in 2019, batting .300 his last three seasons.  But this deal has been an unmitigated disaster.  After the 2020 Covid season, Rendon has spent the last two years largely on the injured list while taking up about a fifth of the team’s payroll. 

And then, as Angels’ fan Steve G. first wrote, disgustedly, Rendon turned into an immense jerk in Thursday’s opener, going after a fan in Oakland.

A widely circulated 12-second video didn’t show what led to Rendon’s confrontation with the A’s fan after the Angels’ 2-1 season-opening defeat at the Oakland Coliseum, but as the L.A. Times put it, the lack of context doesn’t matter.

“Rendon is an idiot.

“Short of him preventing someone from being assaulted, nothing would excuse what he was recorded doing.

“Rendon was shown reaching up to the seats perched above the walkway that connects the visitor’s dugout to the clubhouse, his balled-up left hand holding a fan by the front of his shirt.

“ ‘What did you say?’ Rendon said.  ‘Yeah, you called me a bitch, huh?’

“ ‘It wasn’t me,’ the fan said.

“ ‘Yeah, you did,’ Rendon replied.

“At some point, Rendon released the fan, and swung an open palm at his head, perhaps at the brim of his Athletics cap.

“ ‘Get the f--- out of here,’ Rendon barked.”  Another report said he called the fan a “motherf---er.”

Rendon was placed under investigation by the commissioner’s office, and is also under investigation by the Oakland Police Department.

Rendon’s agent, Scott Boras, blamed poor security.

“This is the only stadium in Major League Baseball where fans have access to players after games.”

Weak.

--We had some terrific performances on Saturday….

Dodgers outfielder Trayce Thompson (brother of Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson and son of former NBA player Mychal Thompson), has had a middling major league career, playing sparingly, just 786 at-bats over seven seasons, a .224 batting average.

But Saturday, the 32-year-old broke out with a game for the ages, 3 home runs, including a grand slam, 8 RBIs, in a 10-1 Dodgers win over the Diamondbacks at Chavez Ravine.  He became the first player to drive in eight or more runs in a season debut since the RBI became an official statistic in 1920.

And the offensive outburst helped Clayton Kershaw to win No. 198, Kershaw looking terrific, six innings, one run, no walks, 9 strikeouts.

--The Giants evened their series with the Yankees, with a 7-5 win on Saturday, the Yankees bullpen failing miserably.  But Anthony Volpe got his first two hits and a second stolen base.

--The Braves (2-0) beat the Nationals 7-1, Matt Olson with two home runs, Spencer Strider six scoreless, 9 Ks.

--Texas (2-0) pummeled a Philadelphia ace for a second game, this time Zack Wheeler (4 1/3, 4 earned) in a 16-3 demolition, Rangers catcher Mitch Garver with two homers, six RBIs.

--Dansby Swanson had another three hits (three of the team’s five), but the Cubs fell to the Brewers 3-1.

--Shohei Ohtani had two hits and two RBIs in the Angels’ 13-1 win over the A’s after their disappointing opener.

--But then we had Baltimore at Boston, the Orioles up 8-7 heading to the bottom of the ninth, when the Red Sox’ Masataka Yoshida lofted a routine fly ball to left field, and Baltimore’s Ryan McKenna dropped what should have been the final out.  Two pitches later, Adam Duvall blasted his second two-run homer, Red Sox win, 9-8.

Duvall also had a double and a triple, with 5 RBIs.

The Orioles’ Austin Hays was 5-for-5…so a second consecutive game where a Baltimore player accomplished the feat.

Baltimore also stole five bases for the second straight game, the first team to steal 10 in its first two games since at least 1901.  You know that quiz of mine last week on stolen bases? …yes, the ‘steal’ is back!  And that’s good.

Meanwhile, not for nothing but Chris Sale, in his first Fenway start since 2021, yielded seven runs over three innings.

--Sunday….

The Mets start the season 3-1, after a 5-1 win in Miami.  Kodai Senga, a Japanese star that the Mets inked in the offseason, had a rough start but recovered in the first, and it couldn’t have gone better for his debut, 5 1/3, one run, 8 Ks.

--And the Yanks are 2-1, as Jhony Brito made his big-league debut on the mound for New York, Brito five shutout innings, 6 Ks, Yanks winning 6-0, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hitting their second home runs of the season.

--Pitcher Chris Bassitt had a nice season for the Mets last year, 15-9, 3.42, but there was no way the Mets were going to offer the now-34-year-old three years, $63 million, like the Blue Jays did, and today in his debut for Toronto against St. Louis, Bassitt yielded 9 runs in 3 1/3, including four home runs. The Cardinals won it 9-4.

--Boston beat the Orioles 9-5 today, meaning the Red Sox (2-1) scored nine runs in each of their first three games (the third team in baseball history to do so…at least nine).  Needless to say, some of the players have rather gaudy stats…like Adam Duvall, who had two more RBIs today, giving him eight, and our Bar Chat crack staff can officially project (working with our affiliates at NBC and the Fox News election bureaus) that Duvall will have 265 RBIs this season, smashing the record…while winning the 2024 Georgia primary by 11,779 votes, though the latter is down the road….

--Wake Forest’s Jared Shuster had a poor MLB debut, giving up four earned in 4 2/3 for the Braves, the Nationals winning it 4-1.

--The Twins are 3-0 after a 7-4 in Kansas City (0-3), as the much-maligned Joey Gallo, playing first base, hit two homers and drove in four.

--For the record, Sports Illustrated has the Yankees over the Padres in the World Series.  No way the Yanks make it that far.

--Minor league baseball players have their first-ever collective bargaining agreement, as the MLBPA and MLB reached a five-year deal, league and union officials said on Wednesday.

Finally, minor leaguers will no longer be paid salaries comparable to Bangladesh sweatshop workers.

Low-A: $26,200 from $11,000
High-A: $27,300 from $11,000
Double-A: $30,250 from $13,800
Triple-A: $35,800 from $17,500

The deal comes after sweeping changes to the minors in recent years with 43 franchises cut and the amateur draft shortened from 40 rounds to 20.

--In college baseball, Wake Forest did it again, swept an ACC opponent, this time on the road at Clemson…8-3, 4-3, 6-5…the Deacs 26-3, 10-2 ACC.  As Ronald Reagan would have remarked to Nancy in reading the Sunday sports pages (this series Thurs.-Sat.), Nancy fixing her Ronnie a western omelette, ‘Not bad, not bad at all…’

NFL

--Still nothing on the Aaron Rodgers or Lamar Jackson fronts.

--There are apparently two legitimate bids for the Washington Commanders on the table for $6 billion.  Magic Johnson is involved in one of them, part of the Josh Harris/Mitchell Rales group.  A Canadian billionaire, Steve Apostolopoulos, is the other.

What this shows more than anything at this point is why you buy an NFL franchise.  The last sale, just last August, was Denver for $4.65 billion, which a group led by Walmart heir Rob Walton paid for the team.

Once current owner Dan Snyder accepts an offer, he must submit the bidder’s name to the NFL for approval and 3/4s of the owners would need to approve any sale.

--We note the passing of former All-Pro fullback John Brockington, 74.  He’s fourth all-time on the Green Bay career rushing list, 5,024 yards, playing from 1971-77, with 1,000-yard seasons his first three years (the first in the NFL to do so), the ninth overall pick in the 1971 draft out of Ohio State. 

The only Packers to rush for more yards are Ahman Green (8,322 from 2000-09), Jim Taylor (8,207 from 1958-66) and Aaron Jones (5,284 from 2017-present).

Brockington was inducted into the Packers’ Hall of Fame in 1984.

Personally, after the Packers acquired fellow running back MacArthur Laine from the Cardinals, in 1972 it was quite a duo…Brockington rushing for 1,027 yards and Laine 821…which made for a good Strat-O-Matic duo.

Golf Balls

--This week’s Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio marks the last time some golfers have to make The Masters field, and heading into round four, Patrick Rodgers, a onetime standout at Stanford, was at the top of the leaderboard, needing his first win on tour to get into the field next week.

Rodgers -12
Corey Conners -11
Matt Kuchar -9
Sam Stevens -8
Chris Kirk -8

A lot of people are pulling for Rodgers.

But it was Conners, win No. 2, both at the Valero, by one over Stevens and two over Kuchar (T3 with Sam Ryder).

So Conners is Augusta bound.

--I’ll have a little something on The Masters in my midweek Add-on, but Aaron Wise pulled out in order to focus on his mental health.  “I need to take some time away to focus on my mental health so I can get back to competing at a level I am proud of.  This hurts but it’s needed. See you all soon.”

Wise has missed the cut in four of his previous five tournaments.  He had qualified for Augusta by finishing 2022 inside the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking.

Eighteen LIV players will be teeing it up for the Green Jacket, and they desperately want to play well, to put to bed, for now, that LIV’s format of limited play, 54 hole / no cut events with only 48 in the field is leading to competitive rust.

“Most of us [LIV golfers] will get four cracks at it this year [in majors], and hopefully we can get a win out of it,” Cameron Smith said.  “Maybe we just show a really hearty effort.  I think for us, internally, it’s the right thing. There’s a lot of chatter going around about ‘these guys don’t play real golf anymore’ and I think it’s BS to be honest and we just want to show people that.”

[Brooks Koepka won the LIV event this week…Phil Mickelson was T41 (again, out of 48), Bubba Watson 40, Sergio Garcia 45th.]

--Gary Player is a jerk.  Player, the three-time winner of the Masters who will be an Honorary Starter again, at least as of today, has worn “Golf Saudi” logos during the ceremony the past two years.  Golf Saudi is affiliated with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and LIV Golf.

At the 2021 Masters, Player’s son Wayne was accused of guerilla marketing during a ceremony honoring Lee Elder. Wayne told Golf Digest last year that the incident led to a ban from Augusta National.

So Gary, in an interview this week, lamented about the lack of access he has to the course, calling the situation “sad.”

“After all I’ve contributed to the tournament and been an ambassador for them, I can’t go and have a practice round there with my three grandchildren without having to beg a member to play with us, and there’s always some excuse, he told London’s Sunday Times.  “I’ve played my role: I’ve won it three times (Ed. blah blah blah)… Yet here we are struggling to get a round. If it wasn’t for the players, [Augusta] would just be another golf course in Georgia.

“It’s just sad – and I put great emphasis on the word ‘sad’ – that Augusta [doesn’t] make you feel welcome in that regard because I helped make this tournament what it is.”

You just know there is more to this story…like the other side of it.  Player has done a ton to promote the sport of golf, worldwide, but in his elder years he’s become insufferable.

Premier League

--As the season winds down over the coming 6-7 weeks, Saturday, Arsenal maintained its solid lead in the standings, 4-1 over Leeds, while Manchester City was dispatching of Liverpool, also 4-1.

And today, Newcastle leapfrogged both Tottenham and Manchester United with a 2-0 win over Man U.

Crystal Palace beat Leicester City in stoppage time, 2-1, and it cost Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers his job, as the club is battling to survive relegation.

Tottenham is at Everton on Monday, Everton another struggling to stay in the league.  If both Everton and Leicester were relegated, it would be a shock heard around the country for sure, and immensely depressing for its fans.

Standings…Played (26/29 of 38) – Points

1. Arsenal…29 – 72
2. Man City…28 – 64
3. Newcastle…27-50
4. Man U…27 – 50
5. Tottenham…28-49
6. Brighton…26 – 43
7. Brentford…28 – 43
8. Liverpool…27 – 42

17. Leeds…28 – 26
18. Everton…28 – 26
19. Leicester…28 – 25
20. Southampton…29 – 23

And this just in…Chelsea fired manager Graham Potter after a string of poor performances have them 11th in the standings.  A 2-0 loss at home to Aston Villa sealed his fate.

Stuff

--My New York Rangers lost their biggie against New Jersey on Thursday, 2-1, and then suffered a bad overtime loss at Buffalo, Friday, 3-2, but recovered this afternoon, beating the Capitals in D.C., 5-2.

But as of now, the Rangers would face the Devils in the first round and boy, I don’t like that.

--Max Verstappen won a chaotic and controversial Australian Grand Prix that finished under a safety car after a controversial crash-affected restart.

The Red Bull driver led Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso home to set the podium.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was given a five-second penalty for causing the decisive crash at the first corner by tagging Alonso’s car, dropping him from fourth to 12th and out of the points.

An emotional Sainz described that decision as “unacceptable,” adding: “They need to wait until after the race and discuss with me.  Clearly the penalty is not deserved. It is too severe.”

All in all, a real shitshow and a blackmark on Formula One.  Plus, Verstappen and Red Bull seem unbeatable, the team having taken the first three races of the season, and that’s not good.

This was Formula One’s year to really shine and explode in popularity, particularly in the U.S. with three races on American soil for the first time, but the rules are way too complex. 

--Wimbledon lifted its ban on Russian and Belarusian players on Friday and will allow them to compete in the Grand Slam as “neutral” athletes in a climbdown from the stance it took after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.  The players will be prohibited from expressing support for the invasion and must not receive funding from the Russian or Belarusian states, tournament organizers the All England Lawn Tennis Club said in a statement.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Wimbledon’s decision was “immoral” and urged Britain to deny Russian and Belarusian players visas.  “Has Russia ceased its aggression or atrocities?  No, it’s just that Wimbledon decided to accommodate two accomplices in crime,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

--We note the passing of former WBA lightweight boxing champion, Scotland’s Ken Buchanan, who died at the age of 77.  His son said his father had been diagnosed with dementia, likely “a result of the sport.”

Buchanan was Scotland’s first undisputed world champion and arguably the country’s greatest boxer.

In 1970, when he won the title by dethroning Panama’s Ismael Laguna, Buchanan was the American Boxing Writers’ Association Fighter of the Year, ahead of Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali.

Buchanan defeated Ruben Navarro in Los Angeles in 1971 to take the WBC crown, becoming undisputed world champion.

Buchanan topped the bill six times at Madison Square Garden.

--An 83-year-old Malaysian woman died and her 84-year-old husband is fighting for his life in the hospital after they ate puffer fish last week.

The couple’s daughter said her father purchased the delicacy, which is known to contain extremely potent poisons, from a local fish shop.

“My parents have been buying fish from the same fishmonger for many years, so my father did not think twice about it,” the daughter told the Star. “He would not have knowingly bought something so deadly to eat and put their lives in danger.”

I mean everyone knows puffer fish are poisonous.

But shortly after the couple cleaned and cooked the fish for lunch, the wife began to shiver and experience breathing difficulties and then her husband began displaying similar symptoms, a health authority told the Star.  The wife was pronounced dead that evening.

You can’t destroy the poisons puffer fish contain by cooking or freezing it.

The FDA says the central nervous system toxins are more deadly than cyanide, with symptoms such as tingling and dizziness typically starting 20 minutes to two hours after ingesting the fish.

Puffer fish are delicacies in Japan, but there is a specific way they need to be cleaned and prepared to remove the toxin-containing organs, so the flesh of the fish doesn’t become contaminated.

Commercial importation of puffer fish into the United States is heavily restricted.

Top 3 songs for the week of 4/3/65:  #1 “Stop! In The Name Of Love” (The Supremes)  #2 “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” (Herman’s Hermits)  #3 “I’m Telling You Now” (Freddie and The Dreamers)…and…#4 “Shotgun” (Jr. Walker & The All Stars)  #5 “The Birds And The Bees” (Jewel Aikens)  #6 “King Of The Road” (Roger Miller) #7 “Eight Days A Week” (The Beatles)  #8 “Goldfinger” (Shirley Bassey)  #9 “Nowhere To Run” (Martha & The Vandellas…this tune moves up my all-time list each year…)  #10 “Red Roses For A Blue Lady” (Vic Dana…A- week…this was what made the 60s so great…that #s 6, 8 and 10 are right there with the Beatles and Supremes…)

NCAA 1973 Championship Game Quiz: Aside from Bill Walton’s 44 points, the others in the rotation were Jamaal Wilkes (16 points), Greg Lee (14 assists), Larry Farmer, Larry Hollyfield (9 assists), Tommy Curtis, Dave Meyers and Swen Nater.  Walton played 33 minutes, Nater, one of the great backup centers of all time, played seven.

For Memphis, Larry Finch had 29 points, and Larry Kenon, 20. Ronnie Robinson, another star on the team, was held to six.

Memphis was led by coach Gene Bartow, and in a story by the Washington Post’s Scott Allen, the Memphis basketball team was critical in the city’s comeback from the racial tensions that divided the city, since the sanitation workers’ strike and Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968.

Bartow was praised by Memphis’ politicians for his role, and the team’s, in being a unifying force.

I forgot that Memphis State didn’t integrate until 1959, and the Tigers’ men’s basketball team didn’t include a Black player until 1965.

Bartow would take over at UCLA from John Wooden, after Wooden stepped down following the 1974-75 season.

For you younger folk who didn’t see Walton play in college, he was remarkable.  This YouTube clip shows all 21 field goals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAnC4cBXAuY

Add-on up top by noon, Wed.



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04/03/2023

UConn vs. SDSU; LSU Wins Women's Title

Add-on posted early Wed. a.m.

UConn Rolls to a Fifth Title

--The only way I was able to stay up for the national title game, UConn-San Diego State, was taking a nap at halftime.  9:20 p.m. ET starting times aren’t the greatest the older you get.

SDSU came out blazing, hitting four of their first five shots, and then it was brick city from there, a pathetic shooting display that reminded longtime followers of the team of some of the editions that had more talent than the 2022-23 squad, but just couldn’t shoot and thus they never made it to the Elite Eight.

For the game the Aztecs were a pathetic 19 of 59 from the field (so 15 of 54 after the hot start), 6 of 23 from three, with 20 fouls that sent UConn to the line 27 times, the Huskies converting 24, as winning teams are wont to do.

It was indeed a yawner.  But what a great tournament overall.

Nancy Armour / USA TODAY

“There’s no sugar coating it, this title game was bad.

“Watching cars spin their wheels in mud would have been more exciting than the 76-59 slogfest that ended with Connecticut winning its fifth national title. If you weren’t a UConn or San Diego State fan and you had sense, you turned the TV off at halftime Monday night so your retinas weren’t permanently scarred by the ugly display of basketball – if you can call what they were playing basketball….

“Unpleasant as the game was, though, it doesn’t mean this was a bad NCAA men’s tournament.  Quite the contrary.  The first 62 games offered all kinds of fun and that, rather than this atrocity, should be the lasting memory of this year’s men’s tournament….

“Remember Fairleigh Dickinson?  Most people had never heard of the small, private school in New Jersey before last month.  Now it’s got a permanent place in national lore, only the second 16 seed in the history of the men’s tournament to topple a No. 1 when it stunned Purdue.

“We should have known then that this was going to be the year of upsets and upstarts. All four No. 1s were gone before the Elite Eight, the first time in the men’s tournament that’s happened, and the Final Four featured a ninth seed (Florida Atlantic) and two No. 5s in Miami and San Diego State.

“FAU was two seconds from becoming the lowest seed to make the NCAA title game.  Making the Owls’ run even more impressive, they’d never even won a tournament game before this year!....

“Twenty-seven years after Princeton knocked defending champion UCLA out in the first round, a player from that team coached the 15-seeded Tigers to not only one but two wins in the tournament.  We all learned what a Paladin is – a legendary knight in 8th century France – thanks to Furman’s first-round upset of fourth-seeded Virginia….

“Tom Izzo conjured up his old March magic, leading Michigan State to a second-round win over Marquette, which had come into the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the country.  (Brian) Dutcher, who toiled as an assistant for 28 years before becoming the head coach at San Diego State six years ago, got his first win in the NCAA tournament. Then won four more.

“And no one will forget the joy, and the dance moves, of Miami coach Jim Larranaga. The 73 years young coach was movin’ and groovin’ in the Hurricanes’ locker room after every win.

“ ‘My players have said you’re so stiff, you’ve got to loosen up.  Well, I can’t.  I don’t have that flexibility anymore,’ Larranaga said Friday.  ‘You can rate it or the players can rate it. I just know my wife likes it.’

“See?  There are plenty of good memories from this year’s tournament. The title game just won’t be one of them.”

It is pretty amazing that only UCLA (11), Kentucky (eight) and North Carolina (six) have more titles now than the UConn’s five.

--Jim Nantz signed off…his final March Madness for CBS.

“To you, to everybody in the college game, to the CBS family, my family, all the viewers: Thank you for being my friend,” Nantz said.

Nantz thanked everyone who was along for the ride with him while imparting wisdom.

“One thing I’ve learned through all of this: Everybody has a dream, everybody has a story to tell,” Nantz said. “Just try to find that story. Be kind.”

“You’ve told it better than most,” quipped long-time partner Bill Raftery. “Let me tell ya.”

--In one of the stupider things I’ve ever seen, First Lady Jill Biden commented on the women’s title game, LSU over Iowa 102-85.

“I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House, we always do,” Biden said Monday in Denver.  “So we hope LSU will come.  But, you know, I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.”

LSU’s Angel Reece was right to tweet: “A JOKE,” adding three rolling-on-the-floor-laughing emoji.

It would be outrageous for Iowa to be invited.  But typical of the ‘everyone gets a trophy’ mindset that is killing our nation’s competitiveness.

Tuesday, Jill Biden began to walk back the invitation to Iowa.

MLB

--Monday….

Shohei Ohtani hit his second home run of the season, the Angels (3-1) beating the Mariners (1-4)  7-3.

The Yankees (3-1) hit two more home runs in defeating the Phillies (0-4) 8-1.

Joey Gallo hit another home run (his third) as the Twins moved to 4-0 against the Marlins (1-4).

The Giants (2-2) hit seven home runs for the first time since 2002, the team record being eight set back in 1961 when Willie Mays hit four, as they pounded the White Sox (2-3) 12-3 in Chicago.  Five of the home runs were off starter Michael Kopech.

--Tuesday….

The Mets (3-3) got blasted a second consecutive game in Milwaukee (4-1), 9-0, after getting drilled 10-0 on Monday.  Max Scherzer yielded three consecutive home runs Tuesday for just the second time in his career.  The Mets’ Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso are off to awful starts and when these two don’t hit, this otherwise fragile offense goes nowhere.  Major changes in the lineup are coming by May 1st.

The Mets have an afternoon game today against the Brew Crew and it’s already gut-check time.

The Rays are 5-0 after a 10-6 win over the Nationals (1-4).

The Dodgers (4-2) defeated Colorado (2-4) 5-2 as Julio Urias threw six shutout innings for L.A., Urias winning his first two starts of 2023.  We can now project he’ll go 29-2.

In San Diego, Manny Machado thought he had called time as the pitch clock wound down to eight seconds.

Plate umpire Ron Kulpa thought otherwise and called an automatic third strike to end the first inning.

Machado argued, and Kulpa ejected him, the first such ejection related to the pitch clock. 

Compounding matters, the Padres (3-3) blew a four-run lead and lost 8-6 to the Diamondbacks (3-3) after the bullpen melted down.

--Baseball America’s latest Top 25 (April 3)

1. LSU
2. Florida
3. Wake Forest
4. Vanderbilt
5. Arkansas
6. South Carolina
7. Stanford
8. Virginia
9. Boston College…surging…
10. Kentucky
13. Campbell…cool…
14. Miami
15. East Carolina
16. North Carolina
17. Louisville
22. Coastal Carolina…handed the Deacs one of their three losses…

But the Deacs, who had beaten Elon 20-0 just about two weeks ago, shockingly lost to them Tuesday, 5-3, to fall to 26-4. Actually, Elon isn’t bad…20-9.

The Masters

--The weather forecast is awful…showers Friday and flat out “rain” Saturday and Sunday.  This sucks.  Monday finish here we come.

--Of the 18 LIV golfers who are playing in the Masters, six are past champions – Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Charl Schwartzel.

The others include Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Abraham Ancer, Bryson DeChambeau, Talor Gooch, Jason Kokrak, Kevin Na, Joaquin Niemann, Louis Oosthuizen, Mito Pereira, Thomas Pieters and Harold Varner III.

Needless to say, the Champions Dinner could be a tension convention.  There is the issue of a major lawsuit between LIV and the PGA Tour, after all, with a lot of barbs exchanged between the two groups.

But as I go to post early Wednesday morning, we’re told the dinner was very cordial, though past champions Fuzzy Zoeller and Tommy Aaron told Golfweek that Phil Mickelson “didn’t speak at all.”

--On a call with CBS Sports last week, they vow not to cover LIV Golf members any differently than the rest of the field of competitors, but come Sunday, or Monday, we’ll see how that plays out.

--Greg Norman told NewsCorp on Saturday that if one of the 18 LIV players invited to the Masters happens to win late Sunday (or Monday), the other 17 will meet the victor for a celebration near the 18th green.

“If one of the guys, no matter who it is, they are all going to be there on the 18th green, they are all going to be there, and that just gives me goosebumps to think about,” Norman said. “When you walk up 18, your caddie hugs you then you see your wife or your mum and dad. Now, to have those 17 other guys there, that’s the spirit we want.”

Norman is excited about seeing some of his men play against the top players on the PGA Tour for the first time this year.

“I compliment the Masters on letting the players play because now they have got the best field and they are actually now the true Super Bowl,” Norman said.  “But if I’m the Masters right now, I would want, on Sunday, DJ or Brooks or Cam, any of those guys against Rory and Jon Rahm.  Can you imagine what the TV ratings would be like?

“It’s what the people want.  It’s what TV wants.  The ratings will be far higher than any other ratings if you’ve got Rory playing any one of our top guys.”

Well, the pilotfish has a point.  I, of course, will be rooting heavily for the PGA Tour side, and hopefully it’s Will Zalatoris or Cameron Young…or Rory.

--Asked Monday if he regretted saying three years ago that Augusta National for its brute-strength length was “a par-67 for me” because he can reach all the par-5s, Bryson DeChambeau said, “Do I regret?  Everybody has a perspective on it.  I don’t think I regret anything. What I do understand is that I have a lot of respect for the course. This is one of the greatest golf courses in the entire world, and if anybody thinks I don’t have respect for the course, they’d better go check out who I actually am because it’s not accurate one bit.”

Well, the fact is he tied for 38th in 2018, a tie for 29th in 2019, a tie for 46th in 2021 and a missed cut last year after shooting 76-80.  In 2020, he had to withdraw due to vertigo.

NBA

--The idle Knicks clinched the fifth spot in the NBA playoffs on Tuesday after a Brooklyn loss.  So it’s Knicks-Cavs.  Hopefully Julius Randle is back.

--Last night, many are saying Joel Embiid clinched the MVP as Philadelphia beat the Celtics 103-101, Embiid with 52 of the 103 points on 20 for 25 shooting from the field, 12 of 13 from the free throw line, 13 rebounds and six assists.

Embiid was just the second in NBA history with 50 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 80% from the field in a game (Wilt Chamberlain the other). And the first center with three 50-point games in a season since Kareem (1971-72).

--It’s going to be a helter-skelter final five days in the NBA regular season as we sort out the playoffs/play-in round berths.

Among the story lines…Brooklyn is just a game ahead of Miami for the sixth spot.

The Lakers, kind of out of nowhere, have a shot at beating out the Clippers for the sixth spot and avoiding the play-in round.

Dallas is battling OKC for the final play-in berth in the West.

Stuff

--The NASCAR races have been ending after I go to post on Sunday’s, and at Richmond Raceway, Kyle Larson picked up career win No. 20 (10 of which came in his 2021 championship season).  Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry, subbing for the injured Chase Elliott, held on for second.

Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.

-----

[Posted early Sun. p.m.]

Add-on up top by noon, Wed.

NCAA 1973 Championship Game Quiz:  This year’s tournament marks the 50th anniversary of one of the all-time great performances in sports history…UCLA’s Bill Walton and his 21 of 22 from the field, 44 points, against Memphis State in the title game, 87-66.  Name the other seven players in the Bruins’ 8-man rotation.  Answer below.

March Madness

--Saturday, in the first semifinal, 9 Florida Atlantic took a 40-33 halftime lead against 5 San Diego State and expanded it to 14, 56-42, with about 14 minutes to play.

But the vaunted Aztecs' ‘D’ clamped down, and in the end, Lamont Butler hit a buzzer-beater for the ages, Aztecs moving on to Monday night, 72-71.

In the second game, my Pick to Click, Miami Hurricanes, were simply no match for the surging Huskies, falling 72-59, as 4 UConn has put on one of the more dominating tournament performances in history; becoming just the sixth team since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 to reach the title game after winning its first five in the tournament by double digits.

And now Jeff B.’s Huskies are gunning for a fifth title, 4-0 in championship games coming in.

Emblematic of 5 Miami’s poor effort, guard Nijel Pack missed five critical minutes in the second half while team managers tried to find a substitute for a malfunctioning shoe.  The trio of Pack, Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller was a combined 11 of 30 from the field, when if they were going to be playing for the national title, needed something a lot more than that.

Of course credit to UConn’s terrific defense and efficient offense, the Huskies led by power forward Adama Sanogo’s 21 points (on 9 of 11 shooting), 10 rebounds, and two blocks.

The Huskies have a terrific 8-man rotation and can beat you inside and outside.

But the Aztecs, who have a solid 9-man rotation of their own, can match UConn’s physicality.  It’s an intriguing matchup.

SDSU, having never reached the Elite Eight before this season, is attempting to join UNLV in 1990 as the only current mid-major programs to win the national championship.

--In the women’s Final Four Friday night, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark did it again, scoring 41 points (15 of 31 from the field, 5 of 17 from three), along with eight assists in the Hawkeyes’ 77-73 upset of No. 1, and previously undefeated defending national champion, South Carolina, snapping the Lady Gamecocks’ 42-game winning streak and sending Iowa to their first national title game….

….where they will face LSU on Sunday afternoon, the Lady Tigers defeating No. 1 seed Virginia Tech to advance to their first national title game.

LSU is coached by the flamboyant Kim Mulkey who is in her second season in Baton Rouge, after winning three national titles in four seasons at Baylor.

Back to Iowa, Dr. W. told me earlier that South Carolina sucked from three and he was right, they were just 4 of 20 from downtown, as he had me place a large wa---….actually, I need to stop here. 

Well, LSU won their first national title, 102-85, hitting 11 of 17 from three.  Kim Mulkey did it again.  Not sure I’d want her as my next door neighbor, but that’s me.

--North Texas defeated UAB 68-61 on Thursday for their first NIT title in school history as they finished the season 31-7.  Congrats to the Mean Green.  I have a North Texas t-shirt lying around somewhere.  [Their coach, ol’ whathisname, took the Texas Tech job.]

--VCU’s Mike Rhoades was named Penn State’s new men’s basketball coach.  He replaces Micah Shrewsberry, who left for Notre Dame.

VCU then hired Utah State’s Ryan Odom.  Odom was the coach at UMBC when the Retrievers pulled off the first No. 16 over No. 1 upset in men’s NCAA tournament history, toppling top-seeded Virginia in March 2018.

--Michigan star big man Hunter Dickinson entered the transfer portal.  The 7-foot-1 junior averaged 18.5 points and 9 rebounds this season, after putting up 18.6 and 8.6 last season.  He is classified as a graduate transfer and plans to graduate at the end of the summer semester.

The kid is also an Academic All-Big Ten honoree, twice, so we aren’t talking Brandon Miller or Darius Miles, if you know what I’m sayin’.  Dickinson is a high character guy.

Speaking of low character Miller of loser Alabama, as you would expect, he’s entering the NBA Draft and it will be interesting to see who takes him.  A lot of talent, no doubt, but who is he?

--Marquette’s Shaka Smart was named AP Coach of the Year, edging out Kansas State’s Jerome Tang and Houston’s Kelvin Sampson.  A worthy selection.

--Finally, Monday night, Jim Nantz calls it a day when it comes to broadcasting March Madness, a farewell in his hometown of Houston.  But it’s not just the waves of nostalgia that he expected, as the past few months have been a sad time in his life.

He lost his mother in October, followed in January by longtime friend Billy Packer, who flanked Nantz for 18 years as a CBS basketball analyst.  [Nantz was hoping Packer would be there in Houston for the finale.]

And then, three days before the start of the NCAA tournament, statistician Pat McGrath died unexpectedly in his San Francisco hotel room.  He was in town to work an NBA game, just another routine stop in advance of joining Nantz for March Madness.

The two had worked side by side for 30 years.  And as with Nantz, McGrath had decided this too would be his last tournament.

“We did the Big Ten weekend, and on Sunday night he flew to San Francisco,” Nantz said.  “We do know that he got up the next morning to go get some breakfast because there was a card swipe to re-enter his room around noon.”

But Nantz said this final, Final Four, “is a joyous occasion.  I’m as nostalgic as anyone on the planet.  It’s in my DNA, and I got that from my mom.  But I don’t want the word nostalgic to infer that I’m maudlin.  My nostalgia is born out of gratitude.

“I’m deep in the heart of Texas, but deep in my heart is just an abundance of gratitude for the relationships I’ve had on this 37-year journey, the support and love I’ve had from my family and friends, and I’m here to celebrate it.”

For good reason, Nantz just needs a break between his NFL duties and golf, including The Masters, a tradition unlike any other…on CBS.

NBA

--Wednesday night, the Knicks had a key 101-92 win over Miami at the Garden, but they lost All-Star Julius Randle to a badly sprained ankle that will keep him out for two weeks, meaning he could miss the start of the playoffs, so a massive blow.

But give the Knicks credit.  They traveled to Cleveland Friday night and defeated their first-round playoff foe, 130-116, as Jalen Brunson took over, scoring 48 points with 9 assists.

--The Celtics had an impressive 140-99 victory over Milwaukee on Thursday night, pushing the race for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference into the final week of the season.

The 41-point loss for the Bucks is their second-largest home defeat in franchise history.  Jayson Tatum (40) and Jaylen Brown (30) combined for 70.

--Eastern Conference (thru Sat.)

1. Milwaukee 55-22
2. Boston 54-24
3. Philadelphia 51-26
4. Cleveland 48-30
5. Knicks 45-33
6. Brooklyn 42-35
7. Miami 41-37
8. Atlanta 38-39
9. Toronto 38-39
10. Chicago 37-40
11. Washington 34-43

--Congratulations to the Sacramento Kings, who on Wednesday night clinched a postseason berth for the first time since 2006, with a 120-80 win over the Trail Blazers, thus snapping the longest active playoff drought across North America’s “Big 4” sports.

--Western Conference Race (thru Sat.)

5. Golden State 41-37
6. Clippers 41-38
7. New Orleans 40-38
8. Lakers 39-38
9. Minnesota 39-39
10. Oklahoma City 38-40
11. Dallas 37-41

If Dallas doesn’t make the playoffs, what a shocker…and what a massive disappointment for owner Mark Cuban.

--The Nets announced this week that Ben Simmons was out for the rest of the season.

It was 2019 that Simmons signed a fully guaranteed five-year, $177 million max extension while with the Sixers, as they had drafted him No. 1 overall and he had developed into one of the game’s most promising and unique players.

But then he refused a dunk in the playoffs, spent the entire next season away from the game, moved to the Nets in the James Harden trade, and played only 42 games this season, averaging career lows in points, rebounds and assists (and shooting .439 from the free throw line).

He is still on the books for two more seasons and $78 million.

Simmons’ 2022-23 campaign ends due to what we’re told is a nerve impingement in his back.  What do the Nets do with the guy.  He’s still only 26!

--The league and its players came to an agreement early Saturday on a new seven-year collective bargaining agreement, the NBA announced.  The deal will begin this summer and will last at least through the 2028-29 season.  Either side can opt out then; otherwise, it will last through 2029-30.

An in-season tournament of some kind will become reality, and players will have to appear in at least 65 games in order to be eligible for the top individual awards such as MVP.

Marijuana is no longer a banned substance, there is a second luxury-tax tier (the kind of issue that bores me to tears), but, of interest, the age limit to enter the NBA will remain at 19 years old, so most players exiting high school will have to wait at least one year before entering the league.

MLB

--The 15 Opening Day games averaged 2 hours and 45 minutes on Thursday, 26 minutes shorter than last year’s average, which was as expected based off the exhibition season results (which also shaved 26 minutes compared to last year).  Yes, every single baseball fan can see there is a huge difference in the pace, and it’s great.

The Mets, losing their second game of the season Friday, 2-1 to the Marlins in Miami, at least lost in only 2:09, so to me, highly preferable compared to days of yore when you’d be watching your guys lose over 3 hours and 20 minutes, drooling all over yourself after passing out.

[The Metsies won Thursday’s opener, 5-3, improving their best in baseball Opening Day record to 41-21, but 41-13 after losing the first eight openers of the franchise, including 1969. But they also had to put Justin Verlander on the IL for an injury that allows him to keep throwing; as in, it’s a tough one to describe.  He’ll either be back in a month, or this is long-term, and not good.]

--I’m not going to mention a lot from the first few games, but you can’t help but note that on Opening Day, the Texas Rangers’ big free-agent signing, Jacob deGrom, was shelled, giving up five earned on six extra-base hits in 3 2/3, though Texas won the game over the Phillies, 11-7, as the Rangers tagged Aaron Nola for five earned in 3 2/3 as well.

Catcher Adley Rutschman went 5-for-5, 4 RBIs, in Baltimore’s 10-9 opening win in Boston.

I watched the Yankees take on the Giants at the Little Bandbox that Ruth Didn’t Build and Gerrit Cole was sharp, 6 innings, 11 Ks, the Yanks winning 5-0.  Appropriately, Aaron Judge hit a bomb in his first at-bat, which while I am far from a Yankees fan was pretty cool.  [Highly-touted Yankees rookie Anthony Volpe didn’t get a hit, but he walked and stole a base, while playing seamless defense at short in front of hundreds of friends and family from nearby Watchung, N.J. (and Delbarton School).]

The Cubs’ Dansby Swanson, he of the dreadful spring, went 3-for-4 in his debut for Chicago after signing a $177 million contract.  Former Met Marcus Stroman threw 6 scoreless for the Cubs in the 4-0 opening win over the Brewers.

Shohei Ohtani threw six scoreless, striking out 10 in the Angels’ opener, but they lost 2-1 to Oakland and their $143,500 payroll.

--Speaking of the Angels, they signed Anthony Rendon to a seven-year, $245 million contract after he had spent a number of highly successful seasons in Washington, leading the N.L. in RBIs in 2019, batting .300 his last three seasons.  But this deal has been an unmitigated disaster.  After the 2020 Covid season, Rendon has spent the last two years largely on the injured list while taking up about a fifth of the team’s payroll. 

And then, as Angels’ fan Steve G. first wrote, disgustedly, Rendon turned into an immense jerk in Thursday’s opener, going after a fan in Oakland.

A widely circulated 12-second video didn’t show what led to Rendon’s confrontation with the A’s fan after the Angels’ 2-1 season-opening defeat at the Oakland Coliseum, but as the L.A. Times put it, the lack of context doesn’t matter.

“Rendon is an idiot.

“Short of him preventing someone from being assaulted, nothing would excuse what he was recorded doing.

“Rendon was shown reaching up to the seats perched above the walkway that connects the visitor’s dugout to the clubhouse, his balled-up left hand holding a fan by the front of his shirt.

“ ‘What did you say?’ Rendon said.  ‘Yeah, you called me a bitch, huh?’

“ ‘It wasn’t me,’ the fan said.

“ ‘Yeah, you did,’ Rendon replied.

“At some point, Rendon released the fan, and swung an open palm at his head, perhaps at the brim of his Athletics cap.

“ ‘Get the f--- out of here,’ Rendon barked.”  Another report said he called the fan a “motherf---er.”

Rendon was placed under investigation by the commissioner’s office, and is also under investigation by the Oakland Police Department.

Rendon’s agent, Scott Boras, blamed poor security.

“This is the only stadium in Major League Baseball where fans have access to players after games.”

Weak.

--We had some terrific performances on Saturday….

Dodgers outfielder Trayce Thompson (brother of Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson and son of former NBA player Mychal Thompson), has had a middling major league career, playing sparingly, just 786 at-bats over seven seasons, a .224 batting average.

But Saturday, the 32-year-old broke out with a game for the ages, 3 home runs, including a grand slam, 8 RBIs, in a 10-1 Dodgers win over the Diamondbacks at Chavez Ravine.  He became the first player to drive in eight or more runs in a season debut since the RBI became an official statistic in 1920.

And the offensive outburst helped Clayton Kershaw to win No. 198, Kershaw looking terrific, six innings, one run, no walks, 9 strikeouts.

--The Giants evened their series with the Yankees, with a 7-5 win on Saturday, the Yankees bullpen failing miserably.  But Anthony Volpe got his first two hits and a second stolen base.

--The Braves (2-0) beat the Nationals 7-1, Matt Olson with two home runs, Spencer Strider six scoreless, 9 Ks.

--Texas (2-0) pummeled a Philadelphia ace for a second game, this time Zack Wheeler (4 1/3, 4 earned) in a 16-3 demolition, Rangers catcher Mitch Garver with two homers, six RBIs.

--Dansby Swanson had another three hits (three of the team’s five), but the Cubs fell to the Brewers 3-1.

--Shohei Ohtani had two hits and two RBIs in the Angels’ 13-1 win over the A’s after their disappointing opener.

--But then we had Baltimore at Boston, the Orioles up 8-7 heading to the bottom of the ninth, when the Red Sox’ Masataka Yoshida lofted a routine fly ball to left field, and Baltimore’s Ryan McKenna dropped what should have been the final out.  Two pitches later, Adam Duvall blasted his second two-run homer, Red Sox win, 9-8.

Duvall also had a double and a triple, with 5 RBIs.

The Orioles’ Austin Hays was 5-for-5…so a second consecutive game where a Baltimore player accomplished the feat.

Baltimore also stole five bases for the second straight game, the first team to steal 10 in its first two games since at least 1901.  You know that quiz of mine last week on stolen bases? …yes, the ‘steal’ is back!  And that’s good.

Meanwhile, not for nothing but Chris Sale, in his first Fenway start since 2021, yielded seven runs over three innings.

--Sunday….

The Mets start the season 3-1, after a 5-1 win in Miami.  Kodai Senga, a Japanese star that the Mets inked in the offseason, had a rough start but recovered in the first, and it couldn’t have gone better for his debut, 5 1/3, one run, 8 Ks.

--And the Yanks are 2-1, as Jhony Brito made his big-league debut on the mound for New York, Brito five shutout innings, 6 Ks, Yanks winning 6-0, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hitting their second home runs of the season.

--Pitcher Chris Bassitt had a nice season for the Mets last year, 15-9, 3.42, but there was no way the Mets were going to offer the now-34-year-old three years, $63 million, like the Blue Jays did, and today in his debut for Toronto against St. Louis, Bassitt yielded 9 runs in 3 1/3, including four home runs. The Cardinals won it 9-4.

--Boston beat the Orioles 9-5 today, meaning the Red Sox (2-1) scored nine runs in each of their first three games (the third team in baseball history to do so…at least nine).  Needless to say, some of the players have rather gaudy stats…like Adam Duvall, who had two more RBIs today, giving him eight, and our Bar Chat crack staff can officially project (working with our affiliates at NBC and the Fox News election bureaus) that Duvall will have 265 RBIs this season, smashing the record…while winning the 2024 Georgia primary by 11,779 votes, though the latter is down the road….

--Wake Forest’s Jared Shuster had a poor MLB debut, giving up four earned in 4 2/3 for the Braves, the Nationals winning it 4-1.

--The Twins are 3-0 after a 7-4 in Kansas City (0-3), as the much-maligned Joey Gallo, playing first base, hit two homers and drove in four.

--For the record, Sports Illustrated has the Yankees over the Padres in the World Series.  No way the Yanks make it that far.

--Minor league baseball players have their first-ever collective bargaining agreement, as the MLBPA and MLB reached a five-year deal, league and union officials said on Wednesday.

Finally, minor leaguers will no longer be paid salaries comparable to Bangladesh sweatshop workers.

Low-A: $26,200 from $11,000
High-A: $27,300 from $11,000
Double-A: $30,250 from $13,800
Triple-A: $35,800 from $17,500

The deal comes after sweeping changes to the minors in recent years with 43 franchises cut and the amateur draft shortened from 40 rounds to 20.

--In college baseball, Wake Forest did it again, swept an ACC opponent, this time on the road at Clemson…8-3, 4-3, 6-5…the Deacs 26-3, 10-2 ACC.  As Ronald Reagan would have remarked to Nancy in reading the Sunday sports pages (this series Thurs.-Sat.), Nancy fixing her Ronnie a western omelette, ‘Not bad, not bad at all…’

NFL

--Still nothing on the Aaron Rodgers or Lamar Jackson fronts.

--There are apparently two legitimate bids for the Washington Commanders on the table for $6 billion.  Magic Johnson is involved in one of them, part of the Josh Harris/Mitchell Rales group.  A Canadian billionaire, Steve Apostolopoulos, is the other.

What this shows more than anything at this point is why you buy an NFL franchise.  The last sale, just last August, was Denver for $4.65 billion, which a group led by Walmart heir Rob Walton paid for the team.

Once current owner Dan Snyder accepts an offer, he must submit the bidder’s name to the NFL for approval and 3/4s of the owners would need to approve any sale.

--We note the passing of former All-Pro fullback John Brockington, 74.  He’s fourth all-time on the Green Bay career rushing list, 5,024 yards, playing from 1971-77, with 1,000-yard seasons his first three years (the first in the NFL to do so), the ninth overall pick in the 1971 draft out of Ohio State. 

The only Packers to rush for more yards are Ahman Green (8,322 from 2000-09), Jim Taylor (8,207 from 1958-66) and Aaron Jones (5,284 from 2017-present).

Brockington was inducted into the Packers’ Hall of Fame in 1984.

Personally, after the Packers acquired fellow running back MacArthur Laine from the Cardinals, in 1972 it was quite a duo…Brockington rushing for 1,027 yards and Laine 821…which made for a good Strat-O-Matic duo.

Golf Balls

--This week’s Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio marks the last time some golfers have to make The Masters field, and heading into round four, Patrick Rodgers, a onetime standout at Stanford, was at the top of the leaderboard, needing his first win on tour to get into the field next week.

Rodgers -12
Corey Conners -11
Matt Kuchar -9
Sam Stevens -8
Chris Kirk -8

A lot of people are pulling for Rodgers.

But it was Conners, win No. 2, both at the Valero, by one over Stevens and two over Kuchar (T3 with Sam Ryder).

So Conners is Augusta bound.

--I’ll have a little something on The Masters in my midweek Add-on, but Aaron Wise pulled out in order to focus on his mental health.  “I need to take some time away to focus on my mental health so I can get back to competing at a level I am proud of.  This hurts but it’s needed. See you all soon.”

Wise has missed the cut in four of his previous five tournaments.  He had qualified for Augusta by finishing 2022 inside the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking.

Eighteen LIV players will be teeing it up for the Green Jacket, and they desperately want to play well, to put to bed, for now, that LIV’s format of limited play, 54 hole / no cut events with only 48 in the field is leading to competitive rust.

“Most of us [LIV golfers] will get four cracks at it this year [in majors], and hopefully we can get a win out of it,” Cameron Smith said.  “Maybe we just show a really hearty effort.  I think for us, internally, it’s the right thing. There’s a lot of chatter going around about ‘these guys don’t play real golf anymore’ and I think it’s BS to be honest and we just want to show people that.”

[Brooks Koepka won the LIV event this week…Phil Mickelson was T41 (again, out of 48), Bubba Watson 40, Sergio Garcia 45th.]

--Gary Player is a jerk.  Player, the three-time winner of the Masters who will be an Honorary Starter again, at least as of today, has worn “Golf Saudi” logos during the ceremony the past two years.  Golf Saudi is affiliated with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and LIV Golf.

At the 2021 Masters, Player’s son Wayne was accused of guerilla marketing during a ceremony honoring Lee Elder. Wayne told Golf Digest last year that the incident led to a ban from Augusta National.

So Gary, in an interview this week, lamented about the lack of access he has to the course, calling the situation “sad.”

“After all I’ve contributed to the tournament and been an ambassador for them, I can’t go and have a practice round there with my three grandchildren without having to beg a member to play with us, and there’s always some excuse, he told London’s Sunday Times.  “I’ve played my role: I’ve won it three times (Ed. blah blah blah)… Yet here we are struggling to get a round. If it wasn’t for the players, [Augusta] would just be another golf course in Georgia.

“It’s just sad – and I put great emphasis on the word ‘sad’ – that Augusta [doesn’t] make you feel welcome in that regard because I helped make this tournament what it is.”

You just know there is more to this story…like the other side of it.  Player has done a ton to promote the sport of golf, worldwide, but in his elder years he’s become insufferable.

Premier League

--As the season winds down over the coming 6-7 weeks, Saturday, Arsenal maintained its solid lead in the standings, 4-1 over Leeds, while Manchester City was dispatching of Liverpool, also 4-1.

And today, Newcastle leapfrogged both Tottenham and Manchester United with a 2-0 win over Man U.

Crystal Palace beat Leicester City in stoppage time, 2-1, and it cost Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers his job, as the club is battling to survive relegation.

Tottenham is at Everton on Monday, Everton another struggling to stay in the league.  If both Everton and Leicester were relegated, it would be a shock heard around the country for sure, and immensely depressing for its fans.

Standings…Played (26/29 of 38) – Points

1. Arsenal…29 – 72
2. Man City…28 – 64
3. Newcastle…27-50
4. Man U…27 – 50
5. Tottenham…28-49
6. Brighton…26 – 43
7. Brentford…28 – 43
8. Liverpool…27 – 42

17. Leeds…28 – 26
18. Everton…28 – 26
19. Leicester…28 – 25
20. Southampton…29 – 23

And this just in…Chelsea fired manager Graham Potter after a string of poor performances have them 11th in the standings.  A 2-0 loss at home to Aston Villa sealed his fate.

Stuff

--My New York Rangers lost their biggie against New Jersey on Thursday, 2-1, and then suffered a bad overtime loss at Buffalo, Friday, 3-2, but recovered this afternoon, beating the Capitals in D.C., 5-2.

But as of now, the Rangers would face the Devils in the first round and boy, I don’t like that.

--Max Verstappen won a chaotic and controversial Australian Grand Prix that finished under a safety car after a controversial crash-affected restart.

The Red Bull driver led Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso home to set the podium.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was given a five-second penalty for causing the decisive crash at the first corner by tagging Alonso’s car, dropping him from fourth to 12th and out of the points.

An emotional Sainz described that decision as “unacceptable,” adding: “They need to wait until after the race and discuss with me.  Clearly the penalty is not deserved. It is too severe.”

All in all, a real shitshow and a blackmark on Formula One.  Plus, Verstappen and Red Bull seem unbeatable, the team having taken the first three races of the season, and that’s not good.

This was Formula One’s year to really shine and explode in popularity, particularly in the U.S. with three races on American soil for the first time, but the rules are way too complex. 

--Wimbledon lifted its ban on Russian and Belarusian players on Friday and will allow them to compete in the Grand Slam as “neutral” athletes in a climbdown from the stance it took after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.  The players will be prohibited from expressing support for the invasion and must not receive funding from the Russian or Belarusian states, tournament organizers the All England Lawn Tennis Club said in a statement.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Wimbledon’s decision was “immoral” and urged Britain to deny Russian and Belarusian players visas.  “Has Russia ceased its aggression or atrocities?  No, it’s just that Wimbledon decided to accommodate two accomplices in crime,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

--We note the passing of former WBA lightweight boxing champion, Scotland’s Ken Buchanan, who died at the age of 77.  His son said his father had been diagnosed with dementia, likely “a result of the sport.”

Buchanan was Scotland’s first undisputed world champion and arguably the country’s greatest boxer.

In 1970, when he won the title by dethroning Panama’s Ismael Laguna, Buchanan was the American Boxing Writers’ Association Fighter of the Year, ahead of Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali.

Buchanan defeated Ruben Navarro in Los Angeles in 1971 to take the WBC crown, becoming undisputed world champion.

Buchanan topped the bill six times at Madison Square Garden.

--An 83-year-old Malaysian woman died and her 84-year-old husband is fighting for his life in the hospital after they ate puffer fish last week.

The couple’s daughter said her father purchased the delicacy, which is known to contain extremely potent poisons, from a local fish shop.

“My parents have been buying fish from the same fishmonger for many years, so my father did not think twice about it,” the daughter told the Star. “He would not have knowingly bought something so deadly to eat and put their lives in danger.”

I mean everyone knows puffer fish are poisonous.

But shortly after the couple cleaned and cooked the fish for lunch, the wife began to shiver and experience breathing difficulties and then her husband began displaying similar symptoms, a health authority told the Star.  The wife was pronounced dead that evening.

You can’t destroy the poisons puffer fish contain by cooking or freezing it.

The FDA says the central nervous system toxins are more deadly than cyanide, with symptoms such as tingling and dizziness typically starting 20 minutes to two hours after ingesting the fish.

Puffer fish are delicacies in Japan, but there is a specific way they need to be cleaned and prepared to remove the toxin-containing organs, so the flesh of the fish doesn’t become contaminated.

Commercial importation of puffer fish into the United States is heavily restricted.

Top 3 songs for the week of 4/3/65:  #1 “Stop! In The Name Of Love” (The Supremes)  #2 “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” (Herman’s Hermits)  #3 “I’m Telling You Now” (Freddie and The Dreamers)…and…#4 “Shotgun” (Jr. Walker & The All Stars)  #5 “The Birds And The Bees” (Jewel Aikens)  #6 “King Of The Road” (Roger Miller) #7 “Eight Days A Week” (The Beatles)  #8 “Goldfinger” (Shirley Bassey)  #9 “Nowhere To Run” (Martha & The Vandellas…this tune moves up my all-time list each year…)  #10 “Red Roses For A Blue Lady” (Vic Dana…A- week…this was what made the 60s so great…that #s 6, 8 and 10 are right there with the Beatles and Supremes…)

NCAA 1973 Championship Game Quiz: Aside from Bill Walton’s 44 points, the others in the rotation were Jamaal Wilkes (16 points), Greg Lee (14 assists), Larry Farmer, Larry Hollyfield (9 assists), Tommy Curtis, Dave Meyers and Swen Nater.  Walton played 33 minutes, Nater, one of the great backup centers of all time, played seven.

For Memphis, Larry Finch had 29 points, and Larry Kenon, 20. Ronnie Robinson, another star on the team, was held to six.

Memphis was led by coach Gene Bartow, and in a story by the Washington Post’s Scott Allen, the Memphis basketball team was critical in the city’s comeback from the racial tensions that divided the city, since the sanitation workers’ strike and Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968.

Bartow was praised by Memphis’ politicians for his role, and the team’s, in being a unifying force.

I forgot that Memphis State didn’t integrate until 1959, and the Tigers’ men’s basketball team didn’t include a Black player until 1965.

Bartow would take over at UCLA from John Wooden, after Wooden stepped down following the 1974-75 season.

For you younger folk who didn’t see Walton play in college, he was remarkable.  This YouTube clip shows all 21 field goals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAnC4cBXAuY

Add-on up top by noon, Wed.