[Posted Sunday pm before Mets-Royals…as I also watch the CMA Awards]
Baseball Quiz: Name the New York Mets’ 20-game winners. Answer below.
College Basketball
So it’s North Carolina vs. Villanova, following a dreadful Saturday for hoops fans, as well as fans of Syracuse and Oklahoma.
In the opener, Villanova destroyed Oklahoma 95-51, the largest margin of victory in a Final Four contest ever, the tournament having its genesis back in 1939, as the Wildcats shot a scorching 71.4% from the field (35-49), while the Sooners’ Buddy Hield was held to 9 points on 4 of 12 shooting from the field (1 of 8 from behind the arc).
These two teams had faced off in December and Oklahoma ran away with it, 78-55.
Then in the nightcap, North Carolina was in control essentially the final 30 minutes of the contest, with Syracuse cutting it to 57-50 with 9:50 to go in the fourth, though you got the sense the Tar Heels weren’t in any real trouble as they pulled away, 83-66, on hot shooting of their own, 35 of 65, 53.1%, even though they were only 4 of 17 from downtown.
North Carolina is looking for its sixth NCAA championship, Villanova its second. Carolina last won in 2009; ‘Nova’s lone title was in 1985.
The Tar Heels are a slight betting favorite as they seek to become just the fifth team in NCAA history to be ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll, win their conference regular season and tournament titles and the national championship.
–Prior to Villanova’s success, the 3-year-old, reconfigured Big East had sent only one team to the Sweet 16 and none beyond that point, led by the underachieving Wildcats, but now coach Jay Wright and crew have put to rest the notion the conference was a bunch of chokers.
Prior to 2015-16, of the 10 teams sent to the tournament in its first two years, only one, Xavier, last season, reached the second weekend.
—Roy Williams, with 69 tournament wins, is second all-time to Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, who has 91. Should the Tar Heels win, will Roy Williams retire? He has gotten ticked when reporters have badgered him on the topic, which is rather understandable, but I think he has to stick around at least to see what the punishment will be for UNC when the NCAA finally rules on the academic scandal that enveloped the entire sports program. Williams has to own it, even if he’s not found personally responsible.
–I love Brice Johnson. He’s going to be a helluva pro.
–Congratulations to George Washington for winning the NIT title with a 76-60 win over Valparaiso. The NIT still works.
—Columbia University coach Kyle Smith left to take over the University of San Francisco coaching job, while NJIT coach Jim Engles moved to Columbia, where he had been an assistant before.
Engles took NJIT from 1-30 his first year (2008-09) to 21-12 and 20-15 the last two.
—Former longtime NBA coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. is taking his first college coaching job at Tulane, a program that last appeared in the NCAA tournament in 1995.
Dunleavy, 62, has coached four NBA teams, most recently the Clippers from 2003 to 2010. I like this hire.
—Former Duke athletic director Tom Butters died. He was 77. Butters is best known for hiring Coach K in 1980, and sticking with Krzyzewski after back-to-back 17-loss seasons in years 2 and 3. I didn’t realize Butters pitched in 43 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1962-65.
–Two days before the Final Four was to begin, FanDuel and DraftKings announced an agreement with the NCAA to indefinitely suspend contests involving college sports, bowing to pressure.
The decision is the latest in a monthslong retreat as the two fantasy sports sites are feeling the heat from government inquiries and public opinion.
The NCAA considers daily fantasy sports gambling and bars its players and officials from participating in the wagering.
–Johnny Mac implored me to mention that UNC-Asheville’s women’s coach, Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick, was named the Division I women’s basketball coach of the year by HERO Sports, a website dedicated to college athletics. Asheville finished 26-7 and made the NCAA tournament after going 9-22 last season.
–Nancy Armour / USA TODAY Sports:
“Kudos to the NCAA for hosting a tap dancing exhibition along with the Final Four.
“Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim wants you to know that cheating and breaking rules aren’t the same, no matter what Webster’s and common sense tell you. In one breath, NCAA President Mark Emmert praises the deterrent effect of postseason bans and in the very next defends Syracuse and North Carolina’s right to bring their dirty laundry to college basketball’s showcase event.
“Then, of course, there are all those references to ‘the student-athlete,’ a term designed to protect the NCAA from having to hand over some of its billions to the kids who are bringing it in.
“And by status quo I mean cash, because that’s what it always comes back to.
“The NCAA had revenues of $912 million in fiscal year 2015 thanks to the popularity of events like the Final Four, where companies are tripping over themselves to get a piece of the action. The TV contract alone for the NCAA tournament is worth $10.8 billion over 14 years, and AT&T, Capital One and Allstate are just a few of the other companies happy to write big checks to the NCAA….
“It’s not just the NCAA that’s flush with cash, either. A USA TODAY Sports survey of the coaches in this year’s tournament, published Wednesday, found that 24 are making at least $2 million, up from 11 just five years ago. Five made $4 million or more this season.”
–Finally, Brad K. told me about how one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” James Kiki, was in line to potentially win the $50,000 first prize in Yahoo’s NCAA bracket contest, as he was tied for first heading into the Final Four. Only one problem. He failed to pick a winner for the national title game.
Kiki, an accountant for a company in Syracuse, told the AP: “I was sitting at my computer and everybody was saying, ‘You have to submit one.’ I did one in like five minutes.
What’s even worse, as this story was written prior to Saturday’s games, is that Kiki said he planning to pick Villanova over North Carolina. Poor guy.
NBA
—Boston defeated Golden State in Oakland Friday night, 109-106, ending the Warriors’ NBA-record 54-game home winning streak in the regular season, including 36 straight to start this season. Stephen Curry missed a long 3-point attempt with 5.3 seconds left.
So as the Warriors take on the Trail Blazers in Oakland on Sunday night, they are 68-8, needing to win 5 of their remaining 6 to best the Bulls’ record 72-10, with two more remaining against the Spurs, who are 64-12.
–Bill Plaschke / Los Angeles Times…on the ongoing D’Angelo Russell situation.
“That Russell secretly taped pillow talk with Nick Young, then somehow allowed that tape to be released, confirms the Lakers’ worst fears as they stumble toward the world beyond Kobe Bryant.
“Russell is too immature to lead them there.
“His teammates no longer trust him, his bosses appear fed up with him, and potential free agents surely will be wary of playing with him.
“Making it unanimous, when he was introduced to the fiercely loyal Lakers fans at Staples Center before the game against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, he was roundly booed. In fact, every time he touched the ball early in the game, he was booed….
“The tape was less than a minute, but the damage will last indefinitely. It was not only an invasion of privacy for Young, who didn’t know he was being taped while talking about being with women other than his fiancée, rapper Iggy Azalea. It was also a violation of the trust of the entire locker room, whose foundations are built on such faith.”
Russell keeps compounding matters by pretending he doesn’t know how the tape got out.
I get a kick out of those, such as the Daily News’ Mike Lupica in his Sunday column, who say this is a stupid issue.
Hardly. D’Angelo Russell was the second overall pick in the draft, he’s supposed to be the face of your franchise the next ten years, and he’s gone and alienated everyone in the locker room. Management is furious, and as Plaschke notes, what free agent would want to be a Laker with this guy there?
MLB
—Clean start for the Pirates, 4-1 winners over the Cardinals in baseball’s first game of the season. Francisco Liriano struck out 10 in six scoreless innings, plus he drove in a run.
Toronto beat Tampa Bay 5-3, but the Rays’ Chris Archer was spectacular in defeat; 5 innings, 2 earned runs, but 12 strikeouts!
—USA TODAY Sports has the Cubs beating the Red Sox in the World Series.
–The Arizona Diamondbacks suffered a brutal loss before opening day as All-Star center fielder A.J. Pollock fractured his right elbow sliding headfirst into home plate in an exhibition game against the Royals on Friday. Pollock needs surgery (probably this Tues.) and there is no timetable for his return.
Pollock blossomed last season as one of the best all-around players in the game, hitting 20 homers, driving in 76, batting .315, an .865 OPS, and a Gold Glove.
Why did he do it? He had been hampered by elbow soreness since early March, after all, and there was talk he might start the season on the disabled list until he proved he could play last week.
But whereas I was preparing to put Pollock’s name in the December file for being an idiot, the way the play developed, he had to go headfirst to avoid the tag, since if he went feet-first he risked a big collision.
Pollock fractured the same right elbow in spring training in 2010 and missed the entire season.
–All baseball fans want Giancarlo Stanton to play a full season to see what he can do, especially with the Marlins bringing in, and lowering, their fences. But in the five seasons he has been on the opening day roster, he has played 145 or more games just twice.
—Catcher Taylor Teagarden, a journeyman who was caught on video admitting that he had taken PEDs, was suspended for 80 games without pay by Major League Baseball.
This was the first suspension related to an Al Jazeera documentary on banned substances in professional sports that was released in December. Teagarden, most recently with the Cubs, is heard talking about PEDs with an undercover reporter.
Even though the league didn’t have a positive test, they can ban a player if he makes statements such as Teagarden did.
So with this move, two others who had allegations made against them in the documentary, Ryan Howard and Ryan Zimmerman, must be on pins and needles, though they have sued the network for defamation.
And of course this Al Jazeera report was the same one that connected Peyton Manning to ‘anti-aging clinics’. This was the situation, vehemently denied by Manning, where HGH was reportedly shipped from an Indianapolis clinic to his wife (something Peyton has never denied).
–After I wrote about Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval the other day, the Red Sox announced that Travis Shaw, not Sandoval, will be the team’s starting third baseman on Opening Day.
Apparently the Red Sox are trying to work out a trade with the Padres; Sandoval for pitcher James Shields.
–The Cleveland Indians have demoted Chief Wahoo, who will appear only on the sleeve of the Indians’ jerseys, with the Block C the primary mark, according to owner Paul Dolan. So no more Chief Wahoo on caps or helmets.
This is a sad day, boys and girls.
Love the Pirates’ sleeve emblem, by the way.
Golf Balls
–So far this year, while Adam Scott and Jason Day have each had back-to-back wins on tour, the best stories have been the victories by journeymen Vaughn Taylor and, this week, 38-year-old Jim Herman.
Herman picked up his first win at the Shell Houston Open, a one-shot victory over Henrik Stenson.
But during Sunday’s telecast, NBC’s Dan Hicks mentioned that Herman had been as assistant pro at Trump National here in New Jersey, and that Donald Trump told him, ‘What are you doing behind the counter selling sweaters? Follow your dream!’
Great stuff. But then we learn Trump played with Herman last weekend in Florida!
Unfortunately, NBC’s telecast ran over and the guy doing the one question interview of a tearful Herman didn’t ask him about the Trump angle. Forget if you like Trump or not (I express my opinions on The Donald in my Week in Review column), but this obviously humanizes the billionaire some.
—Tiger Woods, as expected, announced he will miss The Masters for a second time in three years, writing on his website he’s just not there yet as he recovers from another operation on his back.
“After assessing the present condition of my back, and consulting with my medical team, I’ve decided it’s prudent to miss this year’s Masters.
“I’ve been hitting balls and training daily, but I’m not physically ready. I’ve said all along that this time I need to be cautious and do what’s best for my long-term health and career. Unfortunately, playing Augusta next week wouldn’t be the right decision. I’m absolutely making progress, and I’m really happy with how far I’ve come, but I still have no timetable to return to competitive golf.”
I’ll take a stab at it and say he’s ready in time for the PGA Championship at Baltusrol late July (early for the event this year due to the Olympics). B’rol isn’t a taxing course in terms of walking it. I can’t see him flying out for the British Open two weeks prior, let alone the U.S. Open at Oakmont, June 16-19.
–Just a phenomenal article on Woods in Sports Illustrated by Alan Shipnuck this week. Find it (or buy the hard copy of the magazine, as I do). Frankly, it is so good there is no reason to read any books on Woods in the future. It’s all there.
—Commissioner Tim Finchem is stepping down sometime around year end. Finchem, 68, is expected to be replaced by chief operating officer Jay Monahan.
What a job Finchem has done, aided by Tiger Woods, of course. Finchem succeeded Deane Beman as commissioner on June 1, 1994.
The PGA Tour is in great shape, even if America continues to play the game less and less.
NFL
–The San Francisco 49ers guaranteed Colin Kaepernick’s $11.9 million base salary for the 2016 season, which certainly doesn’t make it easier to trade him, say to the Jets, if that was the 49ers’ intention.
Then again, Kaepernick could agree to restructure his contract as part of any deal. He’ll no doubt be front and center in discussions prior to the April 28-30 NFL draft.
Denver is still in the running, desiring some competition for Mark Sanchez.
Women’s Soccer
Christine Brennan / USA TODAY Sports
“Of all the memorable moments in the glorious history of U.S. women’s soccer, from the celebration of Brandi Chastain to the brilliance of Mia Hamm to the headers of Abby Wambach to the hat trick of Carli Lloyd, the most important just might have happened today.
“Five well-known members of the U.S. women’s national team have filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charging the U.S. Soccer federation with wage discrimination. Set against the backdrop of a similar conversation in the sport of tennis and the ongoing discussion about women’s pay nationwide, the most popular women’s team in the world has once again taken us to a place that transcends sports and becomes part of our national dialogue.
“Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Hope Solo contend that they and their teammates were paid nearly four times less than their counterparts on the men’s national team, even though they are more prominent, better known and far more successful.
“The bonus pay disparity that the U.S. players revealed in their complaint is shocking: a male player receives $5,000 for a loss in a friendly and as much as $17,625 for a victory against a highly-ranked opponent. A member of the women’s national team receives $1,350, but only if the United States wins. Women’s players receive no bonuses for losses or ties.
“Members of the women’s national team also have long contended that their travel and hotel arrangements, as well as their working conditions, are inferior to those of the men’s team.
“One might be able to understand these kinds of differences if it were the U.S. men who won Olympic and World Cup titles, who drew the off-the-charts TV ratings, who played the long victory tours in front of tens of thousands of adoring young fans. But it’s not the U.S. men who do that. It’s the U.S. women.”
As reported by Andrew Das of the New York Times:
“The women’s players are salaried employees – the top players are paid about $72,000 a year by the federation – but they contend that even with that extra income, their bonus structure means they earn far less than their male counterparts, who receive money from U.S. Soccer only if they are called to the national team….
“Budget figures provided by U.S. Soccer at its annual general meeting in February showed a $20 million increase in national team revenue in 2015. The women’s players attributed that to their World Cup triumph and the subsequent multicity victory tour.”
If the case with the E.E.O.C. is successful, it could force U.S. Soccer to surrender millions of dollars in back pay. No word on when the case could be decided.
Premier League
As the league sprung back to action after lots of Cup and International play, the leaders all won, except Tottenham, which had a 1-1 draw on Saturday against Liverpool at Anfield. Terrific game, with the Spurs lucky to save a point. In fact as a fan, I was happy with the tie, even though it makes the chase for first seemingly all but impossible. I’ve been afraid the Spurs would collapse down the stretch and not qualify for the Champions League.
Well, the sports story of the year, and for decades, Leicester, eked out a 1-0 win over Southampton on Sunday, with Manchester United staying in touch in the battle for the 4th Champions League slot with a 1-0 win over Everton.
So Leicester is 7 clear with 6 games to play.
Saturday, Arsenal whipped Watford 4-0, Man City beat Bournmemouth by the same 4-0 score, and it was Chelsea 4 Aston Villa 0, with the latter assured of relegation. West Ham also drew with Crystal Palace 2-2 in a key matchup.
Standings…games – points
1. Leicester 32 – 69
2. Tottenham 32 – 62
3. Arsenal 31 – 58
4. Manchester City 31 – 54
5. Manchester United 31 – 53
6. West Ham 31 – 51
9. Liverpool 30 – 45
10. Chelsea 31 – 44
And in the relegation battle (last three teams being dumped)
17. Norwich 32 – 31
18. Sunderland 31 – 27
19. Newcastle 31 – 25
20. Aston Villa 32 – 16
How important is it to stay in the Premier League? Next season, the three will be cut off from global television income that will pay each of the 20 teams $150 million to $200 million.
Further, when you’re relegated, the best players bolt, making it very difficult to re-qualify the following year by being on top of the lower league.
Stuff
–Saturday witnessed a rare event. Two undefeated Kentucky Derby favorites, Mohaymen and Nyquist, faced off in the Florida Derby; a showdown billed as East vs. West.
Nyquist left Southern California for Gulfstream Park in Hallandale in the unprecedented clash.
So in the far turn, Florida’s Mohaymen, which had been about four wide the entire race, pulled alongside Nyquist but then plain ran out of gas as Nyquist pulled away for an easy victory, Mohaymen finishing fourth.
Winning trainer Doug O’Neill was thrilled. “What a horse. What a ride,” as the son of Uncle Mo, now 7-for-7, led from start to finish. Jockey Mario Gutierrez was perfect as well.
Runners-up Majesto and Fellowship may also be headed for Churchill Downs, along with Mohaymen.
–I have to admit, I caught a lot of the NASCAR race at Martinsville, as much as the Pirates-Cardinals game, and then the early golf coverage. Just very entertaining and I have to catch a race at the track Darrell Waltrip said is the one every fan needs to go to. [Frankly, I miss two defunct tracks on the circuit …Rockingham and North Wilkesboro…that I did go to a few times each.]
Anyway, defending Sprint Cup champ Kyle Busch won his 35th career race, but what was so cool is that he beat A.J. Allmendinger and Klye Larson, not the big names you’re used to seeing. Good for those two!
–Congratulations to American Ashley Wagner for finishing second in the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston. It was the first time in a decade an American woman won a medal at the worlds.
Sixteen-year-old Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia captured the gold, while another Russian teen took the bronze. American Gracie Gold, who led after the short program, fell on her opening combination and dropped to fourth.
–NHL fans were waiting to see what kind of punishment the league leveled against Blackhawks star defenseman Duncan Keith for his vicious high stick on Wild center Charlie Coyle on Tuesday night.
Keith received six games, which will include the first Chicago playoff game.
NHL safety director Patrick Burke said in announcing the suspension, “This is an intentional and retaliatory act of violence by a player with a history of using his stick as a weapon.”
With these strong words, many are kind of shocked it was just six. There had been talk of as many as 30.
–Meanwhile, for the first time since 1970, Canada is shut out of the NHL playoffs, all seven Canadian teams failing to make it. That’s not good for the sport.
–Sometimes sports really can help change the world for the better. You hope that was the case with the fourth annual Palestine Marathon, which drew a record 4,371 runners through the streets of Bethlehem as Palestinians, foreign visitors and ex-pats alike took part. All involved hope in some small way an event like this can help break down barriers.
–Along the same lines, this is cool. U.S. Olympian Meb Keflezighi ran in the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile event in Washington on Sunday, but not to win it, rather to use it as a training run, so he was to place himself in the six-minute-per-mile pace group with the intention of helping others to break the one-hour mark.
Now that’s still a helluva pace but great opportunity for some.
*However, the race nearly didn’t come off due to 50+ mph winds (gusts at Reagan National of 59!). Race organizers took down all signs, tents, clocks…canceled the kids race…everything in the name of safety. 16,000 of 17,000 who signed up ran nonetheless. That truly would have been brutal. I can’t imagine, say, half the race running into wind like that. Needless to say, 16,000 runners are sleeping very well tonight.
—A professional surfer, Brett Connellan, suffered serious injuries when he was mauled by a shark off Australia’s east coast the other day.
He suffered injuries to a thigh and a hand in the attack off Bombo Beach. Connellan was helped to shore by a fellow surfer, Joel Trist.
Trist told reporters he paddled as fast as he could towards his friend when he heard him scream. The shark had vanished by the time he got to him.
“ ‘I said ‘what’s it like?’ and he said: ‘It’s not good.’ And at that point I knew something was horribly wrong,’ according to Trist.
“Trist said he dragged his friend on to his board and the pair caught a wave to shore.”
Luckily there were two off-duty nurses on the beach who saved Connellan’s life by applying a tourniquet made from a surfboard leg rope to his upper thigh.
He lost a large proportion of his left thigh, “and the quad muscle was torn away right down to the bone,” an ambulance spokesman said.
Connellan was lucky he didn’t bleed to death, but it is going to be one long recovery. No word on the species of shark. [Irish Independent]
—After the Syrian military, and its allies, retook the ancient city of Palmyra, there was a story in the Moscow Times how Russia was sending some specially trained cats from St. Petersburg’s Hermitage museum to help in restoration efforts in Palmyra.
The director of the museum told the paper: “We know that cats can do amazing things given the right training – they can smell out landmines and use their whiskers to remove topsoil. More importantly, our cats know art and they know how crucial it is to treat treasures like Palmyra gently.”
Hermitage cats have been living in the museum basements for decades, and were used primarily to catch mice that might pose a danger for stored paintings.
A source told the Moscow Times that Hermitage cats might also be used to eliminate surveillance mice the Islamic State have reportedly deployed to Palmyra.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said military planners understand the Islamists have created their own special rodent battalion – MISIS.
“Everyone thought [vice prime minister Dmitry] Rogozin was joking about the U.S. sending mice to spy on Russian military developments, but in fact he wasn’t far off the truth. MISIS are spying on us, and we’re going to deal with it.”
‘Housecat,’ mired in the 90s on the All-Species List because it kills tens of millions of innocent birds, could move up a notch or two with a successful mission.
–Reader Jack C. reported a huge bear in his Chatham, NJ, backyard the other day that took down his bird feeder. Jack lives next to the Great Swamp, but this gives me pause for when I’m doing my running in a park that borders this wildlife refuge.
No humans were taken out by the marauding bruin, at least that we know of.
–Actually, what should be of more concern to moi is they found a rabid raccoon in my immediate neighborhood, which is believed to have bitten at least one stray cat, and now I’m afraid to walk outside to my Dunkin’ Donuts.
–We note the passing of the great Latin jazz saxophonist Gato Barbieri, who won a Grammy Award for his music in the film “Last Tango in Paris.” He was 83.
Barbieri was born in Argentina and recorded 35 albums between 1967 and 1982.
—Gwen Stefani was terrific on SNL last night.
Top 3 songs for the week 4/5/69: #1 “Dizzy” (Tommy ‘Shad’ Roe) #2 “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” (The 5th Dimension) #3 “Time of the Season” (The Zombies)…and…#4 “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” (Blood, Sweat & Tears) #5 “Galveston” (Glen Campbell) #6 “Run Away Child, Running Wild” (The Temptations…the Temps’ effort to go psychedelic fails miserably …) #7 “Only the Strong Survive” (Jerry Butler… immensely underrated artist…) #8 “Traces” (Classics IV featuring Dennis Yost) #9 “My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)” (David Ruffin) #10 “Proud Mary” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
Baseball Quiz Answer: Mets 20-game winners.
Tom Seaver 25 (1969), 22 (1975), 21 (1972), 20 (1971)
Dwight Gooden 24 (1985)
Jerry Koosman 21 (1976)
David Cone 20 (1988)
R.A. Dickey 20 (2012)
Frank Viola 20 (1990)
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
