As the title suggests, this was a very busy sports weekend, football and otherwise.
The biggest news from the football world this weekend occurred yesterday, and it involved none other than Timothy Richard Tebow, who if you recall almost had a cult following the last time he was in the league especially when the Broncos went to the playoffs under his watch. It was a cult following that included, amongst others, Skip Bayless of ESPN.
One thing we've already seen is that Chip Kelly isn't afraid to do things his way, and this is just another example. He's already dealt away his two top offensive weapons, Shady McCoy and Nick Foles (although, to be honest, most average quarterbacks could probably do well in that system) and now he's got Frank Gore and whoever the Eagles QB is going to be - and it looks like TRT is going to be at least in the mix for a bit. Since they signed Tebow, my feeling that Kelly will go after Mariota is waning. But you never know with him.
In other football news, a possibility talked about in recent weeks in some NFL circles is that Philip Rivers might get dealt from San Diego to the Tennessee Titans. Fueling these rumors is the news that the Chargers sent people to the home of the Oregon Ducks, Eugene, to work out Marcus Mariota.
Now, I'm not sure whether the Chargers will deal Philip Rivers and take a chance on Mariota (who I am not sold on as an NFL QB to begin with). I do know this; I am no fan of Philip Rivers, but that guy is a gamer and has a lot of heart and talent. I would say it would be really stupid of the Chargers to trade Rivers, but as I mentioned in the last blog, there is at least a possibility the Chargers could move to LA in the near future. And according to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, Rivers "ain't about LA." So maybe if the Chargers are going to move to LA, they trade Rivers and both teams get what they want.
Also from the NFL, Andre Johnson said recently that he didn't sign with the Colts to get back at the Texans. Yeah, that's reaaaaaalllll believable, Andre. If it weren't about revenge, then you wouldn't have signed with a division rival. You could have gone to the Pats or someplace else and had a chance to win a Super Bowl. But where did you go...to a Texans division rival.
On college football; it is ridiculous that the Big 10 and Delany are still pushing for freshmen to be ineligible in football and basketball. In case you missed it, Delany sent out a 12 page treatise Friday explaining why he favors freshmen ineligibility.
One thing that caught my eye was from an article in Friday's USA Today, where it is noted that Delany believes the balance between academics and athletics has tilted too far in the wrong direction. Now I'm not the best translator in the world, but I think what this really is, is a move against the SEC.
It's a move against the SEC and most notably the Kentucky basketballs of the world; as most fans who follow college basketball know, Kentucky has probably benefited the most from college basketball's one and done system as they sent seven players to the NBA draft this year and probably will still be ranked top 5 preseason next year. Football obviously pays the bills in college athletics, but I think the way Calipari runs his program at Kentucky has really gotten under Delany's skin.
Thing is though, there is an easier way to solve this problem and keep freshmen eligible at the same time (which is how it should be). They should use the NCAA baseball model, which I really like. In that first year draft, the guys who go into that draft are either straight out of high school or have completed at least three or four years in college and are 21 years old (and junior college players can be eligible any time). But wait, I forgot, the Big 10 doesn't care about college baseball all that much except for schools like Nebraska, which is truly a shame.
Also from college football, Ohio State gets over 99,000 for their spring game. I can't stand Ohio State but that's an impressive accomplishment. Their stadium holds between 104,000 and 105,000 so they did a good job almost filling the place up. They were part of a weekend where a lot of the SEC's heavyweights (Alabama, LSU, Auburn) also had their spring games.
Time to double back now and go to the Masters and golf; yeah, I know they played at Hilton Head this past weekend and Furyk won in a playoff but to be honest, not many of the top players played this weekend. Speaking of Spieth, there's your answer to the future of golf.
I've heard lots of chatter from talking heads in recent years that golf won't be the same without Tiger and Phil playing well. Bottom line is, golf will carry on just fine no matter who is leading it, even for as good as Tiger and Phil have been throughout their careers, and Spieth appears to be the flag bearer for the next generation. How many guys who are 21 can go do what Jordan Spieth just did at Augusta? Even more impressive was that every single one of the top golfers in the world took a run at him at one point but he had an answer for everything.
Perhaps the most appropriate thing about this Masters was that as legendary University of Texas golfer Ben Crenshaw played his final Masters, Jordan Spieth, the next generation of Texas golf and golf in general, has taken the torch and ran with it. That will not be the only major he wins, by the way.
Not a whole lot of surprises from the NBA playoffs this weekend, but I will touch on two things briefly. #1, Mavericks fans should be very concerned. Harden had a fairly quiet night and Howard played just 17 minutes Saturday and the Rockets still beat them by 10. #2, I'm not 100 percent sure the Clippers can knock out the Spurs, it's tough to knock them out 4 of 7, but the Clippers made a very large statement last night in the first game.
A few baseball things now:
1. Probably the biggest thing in baseball this weekend was the debut of highly publicized talent Kris Bryant, who made his MLB debut for the Cubs Friday against San Diego and went 0 for 4. He got a hero's welcome though, from Chicago dignitaries such as Mike Ditka. Astros fans may remember that the Astros were scouting him in the draft two years ago before they took Mark Appel instead.
2. A's/Royals looked and felt a bit like Chiefs/Raiders this weekend; there were skirmishes in all three of those games, for those who missed it. The whole thing started Friday with this play, when A's player Brett Lawrie slid into second base with his spikes up as Royals shortsop Alcides Escobar is trying to cover second. You can see the play here: http://deadspin.com/brett-lawrie-alcides-escobar-and-the-case-of-the-text-1698799891#
Now, Lawrie claims he texted Escobar after the game, Escobar claims he didn't and called Lawrie out for his slide. Personally, whether Lawrie did apologize or not, you absolutely cannot slide into second base with your spikes up. Those spikes on those cleats are dangerous. In any event, there were skirmishes on Saturday and Sunday as well. All I can say is it's going to be interesting when those teams meet again in June.
3. Like I said last week, the Mets intrigue me. They've won eight games in a row and currently sit in first in the NL East. The Nats will probably come back and take over first place, but the Mets should be a good team the whole year.
4. Almost as hot are Don Mattingly's Dodgers, who have used a seven game win streak to grab an early NL West lead and end the Rockies undefeated run of six in a row on the road.
5. Early on there is at least reason for careful optimism regarding the local nine in Houston; so far the division is playing mediocre. Even the division favorite (for a lot of people) the Seattle Mariners have had their struggles early this season. If the division continues to play mediocre, the summer could be pretty fun at Minute Maid Park.
Finally, the Boston Marathon is today. I have friends who are competing in that event. Best wishes to all the athletes in that event.
Until next time....
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