Category: News

The Big Story – The Final Four: When Florida meets Auburn and Duke faces Houston Saturday it will be the first all 1-seeds Men’s Basketball Final Four since 2008.

But the question is, does having the so-called best teams there make for a better tournament than one with a couple of Cinderella stories in the mix? Personally, I’d rather we had UConn there trying to win a third straight title because that would’ve been historic. But sadly that didn’t happen. Either way the fun starts from San Antonio on Saturday and ends Monday with a new champ.

Sports 101: How many of the top five individual scorers in the NCAA Basketball Championship game can you name? Hint: The point totals are 44, 42, 41, 37, 35 and have all happened since 1965.

News Item – Red Sox Update: (1) They won the opener behind a two-homer game from Wilyer Abreu, then lost three straight to leave Texas 1-3. (2) Kristian Campbell became the first of their vaunted prospects to make the dance when he was the starting second baseman on opening day. He had five hits in his first four games, including his first big-league homer, and started in left field on Sunday. (3) With Campbell set at second, it set in motion the inevitable moves of Alex Bregman to third and Raffy Devers to DH. (4) Garrett Crochet got off with a decent but not anything special 5.1 innings pitched in the opener when he whiffed four and gave up five hits and two earned runs.

News Item – Good Move, Patriots: Given he’ll be 32 during the season and coming off a torn ACL, signing Stefon Diggs for three years and $26 million guaranteed is a gamble. And that’s before getting to his diva-ness.But, while he’s likely past his peak, if in good health he’s better than anyone they have and a possible 1,000-yard receiver if he’s 85% of what he was in Buffalo. Plus now they don’t have to force it on draft night trying to find a receiver like they did while badly missing last year in Round 2.

The Numbers:

6 –record number of consecutive opening days Baltimore’s new left fielder Tyler O’Neill has homered after hitting a three-run bomb vs. Toronto this year.

7 – players/coaches ejected after a brawl between the T-Wolves and Pistons on Sunday.

19 – different players to start at third base for the San Francisco Giants in their last 19 openers.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Down – JuJu Watkins: Sad to see the USC star go down in a win over Mississippi State with a torn ACL. First because of the injury, and because it denies us seeing the highly anticipated head-to-head battle of women’s hoops’ two best players between JuJu and UConn’s Paige Bueckers later tonight (Monday). Boo.

Why Can’t We Get Guys Like That Award – Mookie Betts: After missing virtually all of spring training, the one that got away hit two homers including the 10th-inning walk-off that made the Dodgers 8-5 winners in their home opener vs. Detroit.

Random Thoughts:

Has any season started with Red Sox Nation really excited to see a season opener started by a guy who was 6-12 the year before as Garrett Crochet was in Chicago?

Here’s a tip for the Patriots’ drafting team. Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Brian Thomas, Odell Beckham Jr. and others all came out of LSU. So if they are looking to draft a receiver, maybe they should hire the guy who found them for LSU to be in charge of drafting wideouts for the Patriots.

Sports 101 Answer: The Top 5 championship game scorers are Bill Walton (44 vs. Memphis State, 1973), Gail Goodrich (42 for UCLA vs. Michigan, 1965), Goose Givens (41 for Kentucky over Duke, 1978), Lew Alcindor (37 for UCLA vs. Purdue, 1969) and John Morton (35 for Seton Hall in loss to Michigan, 1989).

Final Thought – A Little History – George Foreman: Never has anyone had a bigger personality transplant than the two-time heavyweight champ, who died last week at 76. He went from a sullen, brooding Olympic gold medal winner in 1968 to the jovial, laugh-a-minute TV pitch man he was after returning from a 10-year retirement to win back the crown. It was an eventful career where arguably boxing’s most punishing puncher twice beat Joe Frazier in fights spiced with many knockdowns. He took the title from Frazier in the first one, with it immortalized by Howard Cosell’s great all-time call, “DOWN GOES FRAZIER! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!” Over in two rounds after six knockdowns. The second was a little longer but just as brutal. Then came the Rumble in the Jungle when he lost the title to Muhammad Ali’s famed rope-a-dope strategy as he won back his title in 1974. Then came the first retirement and what can only be described as the amazing comeback. RIP, big fella.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story: Baseball Arrives: Tough call — opening of the baseball season or the NCAA Basketball Tournaments as the week’s top story.

I’m going with baseball because for the first time in five years there’s legit optimism regarding the Red Sox.

As for the basketball, it doesn’t hold my attention like it once did thanks to the advent of one and done, the transfer portal, consolidation of the Power 5 Conferences and NIL money. On the women’s side even with its amazing improvement/evolution it’ll likely never grab me the way the men’s tournament once did. But here’s the good news: It’s a “to each his/her own” world, so everyone can watch whatever they like most! So enjoy.

Sports 101: Who threw the only complete-game opening-day no-hitter?

News Item – NCAA Hockey Regional at SNHU Arena: It kicks off Friday when it’s Boston College vs. Bentley at 2 p.m. followed by Providence vs. Denver at 5:30 p.m. The winners meet at 4:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. to see who goes to the Frozen 4.

News Item – Celtics Sold: The two most notable elements are (1) the $6.1 billion is the highest ever paid for a North American sports team, and (2) thanks to tension between him and Wyc Grousbeck, original partner Steve Pagliuca was by passed over in favor of some guy I never heard of. Most likely because he agreed to let Wyc run the team through 2027 and Pags would not.

News Item – MLB Stories to Follow: Seeing the astonishingly versatile “why can’t we get guys like that?” Mookie Betts moving over at 32 to play shortstop for the Dodgers. Terry Francona taking over in Cincinnati after retiring because he was “too beat up” to manage. Question: How do you get beat up managing? Can anyone stop the free-agent-heavy L.A. Dodgers with their monstrous $375 million payroll? The encore for Shohei Ohtani’s 50-50 season. Can he do it again as he returns to pitching? How the Yanks fare with their retool after losing Juan Soto to the crosstown Mets and a mountain of spring injuries that includes losing ace Gerrit Cole for the year to Tommy John surgery.

News Item – NCAA Update: A few notables.Two-time defending champ UConn went down in a great game, a 77-75 loss to top seed Florida. In the battle of UMass, ex-Minuteman coach John Calipari beat ex-UMass player Rick Pitino, who recommended Cal for that job in the ’90s, when Arkansas knocked off 2-seed St. John’s.

Bryant University, who not too long ago was playing in the NE 10 with SNHU and Saint Anselm, got skunked by Michigan State 87-62.

The Numbers:

.333 –spring BA of Sox SS prospect Marcelo Mayer with one homer, two triples and 11 RBI in 36 at-bats.

17.2 –strikeouts per nine innings rate Crochet had with 30 in 15.1 innings this spring.

888 – career goals for Alexander Ovechkin leaving him six shy of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL record 894.

Of the Week:

Ignoramuses of the Week – The 2 percent of 4,003 voters who said the Bruins trade for Tuukka Rask was bigger than the Celtics getting Bill Russell in the Boston Globe’s Greatest Boston Trade Ever contest. Which was so big, I don’t know who they traded to get Rask.

What a Stupid I Yam Award – Me: For incorrectly saying in Sports 101 Joe DiMaggio won 10 World Series. He was in 10 but the Yanks lost to St. Louis in 1942, leaving Yogi Berra as the only 10-time winner. Thanks to Gil Rogers of Bow for pointing that out.

Sports 101 Answer: On April 16, 1940, the great Bob Feller no-hit the White Sox with 8 k’s in Cleveland’s 1-0 win.

Final Thought – Red Sox 2025: Things to be excited about:The trade that cost them four prospects but brought back lefty Crochet, who struck out people this spring at a Nolan Ryan-like pace. Second, free agent Alex Bregman gives them two things they badly need: better D at third base and the kind of leader this young team needs.

The young core. With Jarren Duran, Triston Casas, Brayan Bello, Ceddanne Rafaela, Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell and Roman Anthony either here or on the cusp, the Sox have their best group of promising young players since the 1970s when guys named Lynn, Rice, Fisk, Evans, Burleson, Ben Oglivie and Cecil Cooper arrived one after another.

There are two big questions, though. How many innings can the former reliever Crochet pitch now that he’s the ace? And the bullpen overall, and especially who is the closer? While they are clearly rising up, they likely still are a year away. But with the AL East appearing to be wide open you never know. So it should be a fun year. Prediction: Sox go 88-74 and make the playoffs.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.