Tuesday, April 02, 2013

BAD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS

## Was this a harbinger of things to come? The Yanks got beat by Boston 8-2 yesterday in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicated. Down three with 2 on and 2 out - their big chance - and was Granderson up? Teixeira? Swisher? Ibanez? or even A-Rod? No, it was Youkilis, with his first big chance to show the world that the New York Yankees were still the New York Yankees. Instead, we became the Scranton-Wilkes Bare Yankees.
CC Sabathia pitched okay except for one bad inning, which in MBL, is all it takes. Joba Chamberlain showed once again why he's not a good candidate for the closer role: he has powerful pitches, but he's unable to shut down a team if he gets into trouble.
Gird your loins, Yankee fans.

## The good news is that Robinson Cano has dropped Scott Boras as his agent and signed with Jay-Z's company, Roc Nation Sports, a division of CAA. Cano is still going to get big money, so why is this good news? Jay-Z is a big Yankee fan. The Yankees had made a "significant offer" to Robbie a few weeks ago, and Cashman has not heard anything from Boras. I think this may have been one reason Cano made the change.

## Theo Epstein is pushing hard to have the Cubs upgrade Wrigley field. According to Theo, the renovation is vital to producing a competitive team and wants it done as soon as possible. There are a few problems. The cost is about $300 million, not a lot of money these days, but still impressive. There is a big problem with the neighborhood. They want no changes which will eliminate some housing and they already have a court-backed mandate that the Cubs cannot initiate construction of any kind that will block the "free" bleachers on the rooftops of neighboring buildings. This is going to become a highly emotional issue.
They do need to revamp the stadium. I was there 20 years ago and the seats were small, the aisles were narrow and there was very little room between the rows. The ushers were rude and nasty, too, but that's another story. The biggest problem is that the seats do face the right way. We sat down the left field line and our seats faced the left fielder. I had to lean forward and crane my neck to see home plate.  Not fun.

## Watched the replay of the Women's NCAA Tournament game between the heavy favorite, Baylor, and Louisville. Baylor is led by Brittany Griner who is 6 foot 8 or 6 foot 9, depending on which publicist you're listening to. Louisville beat them by beating Griner - literally. They fronted her, they double-teamed her, they triple-teamed her, they pushed her and they waved their hands in front of her face. In short, they literally beat her up. Griner was so frustrated that she hit a Louisville player in the face and got called for it.
It wasn't a nice thing to do to Griner, but Louisville did show up Griner's weakness. She has no moves. She didn't need them. She is so much larger than her opponents, that many times, she didn't even have to jump to take a shot (under the basket, of course) or grab a rebound. She couldn't work around screens and couldn't fight thru box-outs. Louisville held her scoreless for the first 24 minutes.

## Well, that didn't take long. I love college basketball because of the pageantry, the colors, the excited fans, the cheerleaders and finally the teams. Anybody can beat anybody and the coaches are excitable and fiercely loyal to their players. Except...when there is money involved. Florida Gulf Coast's coach, Andy Enfield brought this new university (only 16 years old) to the sweet sixteen. The kids played their hearts out for him. So he's returned their loyalty by accepting a job with USC. Bye Andy, thanks a lot.  

***THEY SAID IT***
"ESPN's Jay Bilas said Harvard upset New Mexico because they gambled on waiting for their shots. Whatever risks Harvard took, you bet they were calculated."  -- RJ Currie
"Sidney Crosby is out of action indefinitely due to being hit by a puck resulting in a broken jaw. It’s not known at this time when he can return to filming his next commercial."  -- TC Chong
"Tiger and his squeeze Lindsey will represent the USA in golf and skiing at the 2016 Olympics. They will be co-habitating at the enclosed Olympic Village with the Swedish Women’s golf team and their 9 irons. What could possibly go wrong?"  -- TC Chong
"Obama also attended the Syracuse-Marquette NCAA tournament game. He came away impressed with Syracuse – he's never seen anyone with a tougher defense than the U.S. military."  -- Brad Dickson
"Tom Brady's new mansion reportedly includes a moat. It's the only way to keep Bill Belichick from dropping by at 3 in the morning to discuss that new crossing route."  -- Brad Dickson
" Red Sox 8, Yankees 2. Wonder who George Steinbrenner would have fired by now?"  -- Janice Hough
"Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o's persistent attempts to lower his middling dash times before the NFL draft: "He ran his most recent 40 on Saturday. Will let you know when he finishes."  -- Greg Cote
"Maria Sharapova lost to Serena Williams in Saturday's Sony Open final, leaving her 0-5 all-time in title matches of the Key Biscayne, Fla., tournament.But, hey, the post-match phone calls from Marv Levy are certainly nice."  -- Dwight Perry

CP-





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