Baseball: Season delayed. Pitch clock discussions.
Basketball-NBA: KD back from injury. Lakers struggle. Suns owner interviewing with investigators. Griner stuck in RUS.
Basketball-NCAAM: Crazy last week of regular season. Conference Championships and Selection Sunday this week! Coach K’s last game at home.
Football: Briles not taking OC job. NCAA looking at rules on targeting in 2H and faked injury TOs.
Golf: Scheffler wins again. PLAYERS this weekend.
Olympic Sports: Paralympics are on! UKR doing well. USA has 1 of each color. RUS and BLR out of the games.
Baseball:
- Season has been delayed due to no new CBA being reached. The first 2 regular season series have been canceled. The MLBPA has a new proposal in front of the MLB as of last night and its $5MM lower than the previous offer. The union’s threshold us from $238MM-$263MM while the league is at $220-$230MM.
- The MLB is considering a pitch clock of 14 seconds with no one on base and 19 seconds with runners on. This was tried in low-A for the 2021 season and it cut game time by 20 minutes. The average length of a major league game was 3:10 which is the highest ever and 20 minutes longer than 10 years ago.
Basketball-NCAAM:
- NCAAM season. #3 Baylor survived #21 Texas on Monday and #2 Arizona survived #16 USC on Tuesday. #6 Kansas lost to TCU by 10 points on Tuesday but came back to beat them again on Thursday. #10 Wisconsin beat #8 Purdue in the final seconds of the game to top the Big 10. #9 Providence lost to #11 Villanova in a close one 76-74. #23 Ohio St lost to Nebraska by 8. All on Tuesday. Unranked Creighton and Texas A&M beat #18 UConn and #25 Alabama respectively. Alabama had a rough week also losing to LSU on Sat in OT. After no upsets on Thurs & Fri, Sat had 6 ranked teams lose. #4 duke lost Coach K’s last game at home. KU rallied to beat #21 Texas in OT. #12 Texas Tech lost by 1 point in a low scoring game against OSU. We had two consecutive ranked games #13 Tennessee beat #14 Arkansas and #16 USC lost to #17 UCLA. Sunday only had 4 games with ranked teams in them and in all 4 a ranked team lost. Nebraska continued to roll also beating #10 Wisconsin and #14 Houston lost to Memphis by 14 points. #23 Ohio St ended the week the as badly as it started losing to rival unranked Michigan. The only non-upset game was #20 Illinois beat #24 Iowa by 2!
- Coach K’s final game at home was against UNC on Sat. Tickets (in the cheap seats) were going for $3,450! It’s a big deal seeing as it has been 41 years since his first game at Cameron Stadium. All 208 of Coach K’s former players have been invited back to the game. Unfortunately, UNC took the W beating the #7 Duke 94-81. It was a star studded event with Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Silver and Dirk Nowitzki in attendance.
- Selection Sunday is this week! For those of you who do not follow basketball, that means that the teams will be named on who makes the NCAA March Madness tournament.
- Its conference championship week! The Power 5 conferences will be decided this week before Selection Sunday. Each winner gets an automatic bid into the tournament.
Basketball – NBA:
- KD is back from injury but the Nets still lost their first game back. That being said, on Saturday he joined the 25k points in his career club. Only 23 men have scored that many in the history of the league. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leads with 38,387 total.
- The Clippers swept the Battle of LA series this season. But LeBron had a ridiculous comeback in their game against the Warriors. He dropped 56 points, his highest scoring game with the LA team. The Lakers came back from a 14 point deficit to win.
- Suns owner is set to be interviewed by investigators about the racist and misogynistic toxic environment at the organization. 300 people have been interviewed so far. The Suns are cooperating in the investigations, opening up their internal emails and HR records.
- More like WNBA news but still. Brittney Griner is stuck in Russia after she was detained at customs for having hashish oil in her luggage, meaning they found a vape cartridge with an oil derived from cannabis. That crime can carry 10 years in prison in RUS. There is currently a ‘do not travel’ advisory to RUS for Americans that has been in place since Jan 23 (for COVID) and another issued last Sat. TBD to see what happens to her with RUS’s invasion.
Football:
- Following up on last week, Art Briles (who was offered the OC job at Grambling St) has declined. He claims he does not want to be a distraction.
- The NCAA is looking at new rules to allow conference to appeal 2nd half targeting calls, which then carry over into the next game for the player having to sit out. If the call is ruled erroneous then the player would be eligible to play the first half of the next game. They are also looking at reporting and investigating injury TOs given to a player when a player is believes to fake an injury. Another rule proposed was that while inside the tackle box, lineman and stationary backs can only block below the waist. This is believed to be for player safety. If these changes are accepted on April 20th then we could see these new rules in the next season.
Golf:
- And so it begins! I told you Scottie Scheffler’s 1st win at the Waste Management was the first of many well Scheffler didn’t have to wait long for win #2. He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational this weekend by 1 stroke over Billy Horschel. There were only 10 players under par for the week and the highest average last round score in the event since 1981 with a 75.5.
Olympic Sports:
- The Paralympics have begun and you will notice that there are no athletes from Russia or Belarus in attendance after several other athletes threatened to boycott the games vs compete against them.
- The first gold medal for the USA was Oksana Masters who brought home the gold in the biathlon sitting sprint. This is her 5th gold medal and 11th overall between the summer and winter games. Masters has potentially 7 races at these games.
- Who has the most so far? CHN has 6 golds and 7 total. Sitting in 2ns is the 20 athletes from UKR have rallied for their country to win 3 golds and 7 total medals. The USA only has 1 medal of each color for now.
- The death penalty has been reinstated for the Boston Marathon bomber. Again I will not publish his name. But his actions caused the deaths of 3 people in 2013. Despite not agreeing with the death penalty, the Biden administration has said that the appeals court that threw out the sentence was incorrect to do so.
- Russia & Belarus have been banned from gymnastics and curling event now too.
What to watch this week
Basketball-NBA:
- Tues 3/8
- Pelicans at Grizzlies @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Clippers at Warriors @ 9pm on TNT
- Wed 3/9
- Suns at Heat @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Trail Blazers at Jazz @ 9pm on ESPN
- Thurs 3/10
- Nets at 76ers @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Warriors at Nuggets @ 9pm on TNT
- Sat 3/12
- Bucks at Warriors @ 7:30pm on ABC
- Sun 3/13
- Knicks at Nets @ 12pm on ABC
- Mavericks at Celtics @ 2:30pm on ABC
- Lakers at Suns @ 8pm on ESPN
Basketball – NCAAM: Only Top 25 on TV are listed
- Mon 3/7
- San Fran at 1. Gonzaga @ 8pm on ESPN
- Santa Clara at 17. Saint Mary’s @ 10:30pm on ESPN2
- Wed 3/9
- ACC 2nd Round Game 1 @ 11am on ESPN/ESPN2
- ACC 2nd Round Game 2 @ 1:30pm on ESPN/ESPN2
- ACC 2nd Round Game 3 @ 6pm on ESPN2/ESPNU
- ACC 2nd Round Game 4 @ 9:30pm on ESPN2
- Thurs 3/10
- ACC Quarterfinal Game 1: 7. Duke vs TBD @ 11am on ESPN/ESPN2
- Big East Quarterfinal: 11. Providence vs TBD @ 11am on FS1
- Big 12 Quarterfinal: TCU vs 22. Texas @ 11:30am on ESPN2
- ACC Quarterfinal Game 2 @ 1:30pm on ESPN/ESPN2
- Big 12 Quarterfinal: 6. Kansas vs TBD @ 2pm on ESPN
- Big East Quarterfinal: 8 Villanova vs TBD @ 6pm on FS1
- ACC Quarterfinal Game 3 @ 6pm on ESPN/ESPN2
- Big 12 Quarterfinal: Oklahoma at 3. Baylor @ 6pm on ESPN
- Pac 12 Quarterfinal Game 8 @ 6:30pm on FS1
- Mountain West Quarterfinal: 23. Colorado St vs TBD @ 8pm on CBSSN
- Big East Quarterfinal: 20. UConn vs TBD @ 8:30pm on FS1
- ACC Quarterfinal Game 4: 25. UNC vs TBD @ 8:30pm on ESPN
- Pac 12 Quarterfinal: 21. USC vs TBD @ 10:30pm on FS1
- Fri 3/11
- SEC Game 7: 4. Auburn vs TBD @ 11am on ESPN
- American AC Quarterfinal: 18. Houston vs TBD @ 12pm on ESPN2
- SEC Game 8: 15. Arkansas vs TBD @ 1pm on ESPN
- Big 12 Semifinal @ 6pm
- ACC Semifinal @ 6pm on ESPN/ESPN2
- Pac 12 Semifinal Game 10 @ 6:30pm on FS1
- Big 12 Semifinal @ 8:30pm
- ACC Semifinal @ 8:30pm on ESPN/ESPN2
- Sat 3/12
- American East Playoffs @ 10am on ESPN2
- SEC Semifinals @ 12pm on ESPN
- MEAC Final @ 12pm on ESPN2
- Big Ten Semifinal Game 11 @ 12pm on CBS
- Atlantic 10 Semi @ 12pm on CBSSN
- SEC Semifinals @ 2pm on ESPN
- Big Ten Semifinal Game 12 @ 25 min after other semi (~2:30pm) on CBS
- Atlantic 10 Semi @ 2:30pm on CBSSN
- MAAC Final @ 3pm on ESPNU
- American Semi @ 4pm on ESPN2
- Mountain West Final @ 5pm on CBS
- SWAC Final @ 5pm on ESPNU
- Big 12 Championship Game @ 5pm on ESPN
- Big East Championship Game @ 5:30pm on FOX
- MAC Final @ 6:30pm on ESPN2
- Big Sky Final @ 7pm on ESPNU
- C-USA Final @ 7:30pm on CBSSN
- ACC Championship Game @ 7:30pm on ESPN
- Pac 12 Championship Game @ 8pm on FOX
- Southland Final @ 8:30pm on ESPN2
- WAC Final @ 9pm on ESPNU
- Big West Final @ 10:30pm on ESPN2
- Sun 3/13
- Ivy League Final @ 11am on ESPN2
- SEC Championship Game @ 12pm on ESPN
- Atlantic 10 Final @ 12pm on CBS
- American Athletic Championship Game @ 2:15pm on ESPN
- Big Ten Championship Game @ 2:30pm on CBS
- Selection Sunday @ 5pm on CBS
Golf:
- Thurs 3/10
- The PLAYERS Championship – Round 1 @ 11am on Golf Channel
- Fri 3/11
- The PLAYERS Championship – Round 2 @ 11am on Golf Channel
- Sat 3/12
- The PLAYERS Championship – Round 3 @ 12pm on NBC
- Sun 3/13
- The PLAYERS Championship – Final Round @ 12pm NBC
Hockey:
- Wed 3/9
- Capitals at Oilers @ 7pm on TNT
- Canadiens at Canucks @ 9:30pm on TNT
- Sat 3/12
- Flyers at Hurricanes @ 2pm on ABC
- Sun 3/6
- Maple Leafs at Bills @ 3pm on TNT
Soccer:
- Mon 3/7
- Premier League: Tottenham vs Everton @ 2pm on USA
- Sat 3/12
- Premier League: Brentford vs Burnley @ 9am on UAS
- Sun 3/13
- Premier League: West Ham vs Aston Villa @ 9am on USA
- Premier League: Arsenal vs Leicester City @ 11:30am on USA
Olympic Sports:
- Mon 3/7
- Paralympics: CC Ski @ 12am on USA
- Paralympics: CC ski, Snowboard Cross, Sled Hockey @ 11am on USA
- Tues 3/8
- Paralympics: Biathlon, Alpine Ski @ 11am on USA
- Wed 3/9
- Paralympics: CC Ski @ 11am on USA
- Paralympics: Alpine Ski, Curling, etc @ 8pm on USA
- Thurs 3/10
- Paralympics: Alpine Ski @ 12am on USA
- Paralympics: Alpine Ski @ 11am on USA
- Paralympics: Sled Hockey Semi @ 10:05pm on USA
- Fri 3/11
- Paralympics: Alpine Ski, Biathlon, Sled Hockey – Semi, etc @ 12am on USA
- Paralympics: Snowboard, CC Ski @ 10pm on USA
- Sat 3/12
- Paralympics: Snowboard, CC Ski, Alpine Ski, Sled Hockey – Semi, Sled Hockey – Bronze, etc @12am – 8:30am on USA
- Paralympics: CC Ski, Alpine Ski, Snowboarding @ 2:30pm on USA
- Paralympics: CC Ski, Alpine Ski, Sled Hockey – Gold @ 8pm on USA
- Sun 3/13
- Paralympics: Alpine Ski, CC ski, etc @ 12:30am on USA
- Paralympics: Sled Hockey – Gold @ 2pm on USA
