WE'RE CLOSE TO SOME BASEBALL NEWS

Pitchers and catchers start today but in the meantime, there's college basketball.

Duke over N. Carolina
Dickie V. must have had an orgasmic experience last night, watching his 'Dukies" upset Carolina. I can no longer handle watching a game that Dick Vitale is announcing..."Baby!" I know, I could just mute the sound, but I like hearing the crowd, they're college kids and they really get into the game. I've read that Vitale insists on doing Duke games and the network gives in because they think he's a draw. Note to network executives: He isn't!!  Let him do the Slippery Rock State games.Maybe he won't be able to find his way back.


Louisville over Syracuse
The recap I read said that Louisville's defense won the game for them. They "held" the Orange to 38% shooting. No, they didn't. Syracuse held the Orange to 38% shooting. Syracuse missed layups, dunks, jump shots - they even shot 57% from the free throw line. Even Annie-O can make 60% and she's got a bad shoulder. No, Louisville's defense wasn't the only reason for the Cardinal victory. The Orange offense contributed greatly to the cause.
Another annoying feature was the networks insistence on highlighting "Rivalry Week," during the game. They cut the screen in half with one section taken up by three clowns talking about the great Duke-No. Carolina rivalry - during the Syracuse game. Forget any commentary about the SU-Louisville game, the next game was obviously more important. There must be a way to blame this on Dickie V, too.

Baseball Predictions
It's difficult for me to make any predictions, because I'm prejudiced and I tend to see with my heart and not with my brain, especially when it comes to the Yankees. It is interesting to see what others feel about the coming season.
The Yanks have been slotted to finish anywhere from 2nd to last, depending on the prejudices of the particular writer. I get that. What I don't get is this fascination with the Boston Red Sox. Every year, the forecasters pick them to finish first and possible win the World Series. For the last two years, they couldn't have been more wrong. They're all back at it this year. The Yanks get no backing because they have too many question marks. The three main hitters are old (A-Rod, Teixeira and Beltran) and can't be expected to perform like last year. The pitching has a history of injuries and they have a 2nd baseman who has not played the position before. Therefore, back to the cellar for you.
Ah, but the Red Sox. Well, they fixed their whole pitching staff because they signed one ace starter.Even though the rest of the staff stunk last year, they will all perform much better this year. Their third baseman WILL hit like he was 25 again.   Their first baseman will be an all-star, even though they haven't shown him where first base is yet. And their youngsters will continue to improve exponentially.
I don't know. Maybe it will happen that way and it's my glasses that are fogged.

I keep reading about the the Olympic venues in Rio. Are they really that dangerous? If they are, why did the IOC award Rio the 2016 event? I hope all these athletes are safe.

***THEY SAID IT***
" In the Sabres-Panthers game, Evander Kane and Alex Petrovic fought three times. Three fights in one night? Was that a hockey game or a marriage?"  -- RJ Currie

"Browns QB Johnny Manziel (accused of domestic violence) and Bills RB LeSean McCoy (bar fight) are doing their part to keep the NFL in the news after the Super Bowl. Hey, if you can’t be All-Pro, be All-Con."  -- Dwight Perry

"Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch tweeted out his retirement announcement. Knowing Lynch, he had 136 characters left over."  -- Brad Dickson

" After overcoming a childhood stuttering problem to become a freewheeling TV commentator: “Learning how to speak is my greatest accomplishment and everybody else’s worst nightmare."  -- Bill Walton

" The NBA is mulling whether to let teams put a corporate logo on their jerseys in 2017-18: “Meaning, by about the 2020-21 season, the uniforms should all look like NASCAR’s"  -- Janice Hough

"Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson landed a two-year, $28.7 million contract. Congrats on the deal. Now you can tip your barber so he’ll stop doing what he does to you."  -- Ex-teammate Brandon McCarthy

" Super Bowl MVP Von Miller went to Disneyland after the game. He was still so stoked, he sacked Goofy three times."  -- RJ Currie

"A temporary ski jump 140 foot high was installed inside Fenway Park for a U.S. Grand Prix snowboarding/freestyle event. Hard-boiled Bostonians say they haven’t seen anything go downhill this fast at Fenway since the 2014 Red Sox."  -- Dwight Perry

"The Phoenix Waste Management PGA tournament was just held. I hate to even picture that trophy."  -- Brad Dickson
"As seen (Sunday) on TV: Notre Dame’s women’s basketball team in gray uniforms, Florida’s and Washington’s in black uniforms. The score graphics identified all three by their official, traditional school colors, which weren’t in sight."  -- Phil Mushnick

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