Good Wednesday afternoon, folks, wherever you may be. May 2, 2018. Baseball is in full swing. Baseball and hockey playoffs galore. Kentucky Derby is Saturday. NFL Draft last weekend. Plus there are a few things I wish to backtrack and cover. Off we go.
Let's start with a current event, that being the Charles Barkley/Draymond Green spat that started last night. For those fans who may have went to sleep early last night and still haven't heard, Charles Barkley and Draymond Green had a war of words during and after Game Two of the Pelicans/Warriors series last night. It stemmed from a scuffle between Green and Rajon Rondo of New Orleans.
Barkley, quote unquote, "I just want someone to punch him in the face."
Then, seconds later, he said, "I really do. I want someone to punch him in the face."
Now, it didn't take Draymond long to respond, because after the Warriors won last night he had some words of his own:
"A lot of guys talk on the TV...stand behind the microphone on the TV screen. Fact of the matter is, if you feel that strongly about something, he's even seen me a million times, then punch me in my face when you see me."
Now, as a Rockets fan who lives in Houston, I have the sense we have no love lost for either of these guys. But something tells me that Draymond isn't all that concerned with Barkley. He's got bigger things to worry about.
Big game for the Rockets tonight, by the way, as they host Utah in game two of the other Western Conference semifinal. The Rockets really need to win this game and go to Utah up 2-0. Utah's home court edge is lethal as Rockets fans know so well; if they somehow squeak one out tonight the Rockets are suddenly in a real dogfight.
Over in the East, let's just say this: The Toronto Raptors are cursed. Cleveland just came off a seventh game win over the weekend, was on 48 hours rest, and Toronto had a double digit lead...and lost.
If they can't beat the Cavs under these circumstances...then when?
As for the Boston/Philadelphia series, Terry Rozier has been quite the find for Boston in point guard Kyrie Irving's absence. Trade bait for down the road?
On to baseball now for just a moment. Honestly, it's way too early for any sort of smack talk early in the baseball season...except when a whiny pitcher on a team who can't hold two game series leads opens his mouth and spews...well, some people may call it fake news, I just call it garbage.
That whiny pitcher is Trevor Bauer of the Cleveland Indians. Take a look: Bauer on the Astros
And you know that Astros pitchers are cheating...how, Trevor? Where's the proof? You know, fans will be fans. It's what we do. But it's another thing entirely for an MLB pitcher to be spouting that garbage, without any proof at all.
Rightfully, many Astros players and even manager AJ Hinch raked him over the coals for that on Twitter yesterday. Hopefully the next time the Astros see Bauer, it will be about 6-0 after the first inning. Not in his favor either.
Very quickly on the NFL Draft, a lot of people will pay attention to the first round and the big names, QBs, etc. that went early but honestly, in reality it's going to be the second and third day picks that determine, in the end, how well these teams do in the draft.
Because, honestly, I'm not sold on any of these quarterbacks. Mayfield I think is a bust waiting to happen, Darnold should have come out last year, Allen to Buffalo is a big risk, and Josh Rosen could make Arizona a bit better but their window came and went and they have to deal with the Rams and 49ers now.
Honestly I think the two biggest steals of the draft were by New England and Houston. I love the Pats getting Michel from Georgia. That's such a Belichick move. I watched the first round Thursday night and wondered when he'd be taken. Then, boom. Pats. He will no doubt be asked to do what a lot of Patriots running backs do, get key carries, catch passes out of the backfield a lot, basically do everything right. I think he's underrated.
I really like the Texans picking up Justin Reid in round 3 also. That guy was supposed to be a first round pick and suddenly dropped to round three...something's up with that. I have a theory on that, but I won't go there here.
Backtracking on a couple of things: First, the NCAA basketball tournament. This year was a great NCAA basketball tournament to be honest. Lots of different things to get casual fans attention. The run by Loyola-Chicago and the fame Sister Jean got received a lot of attention, deservedly so.
Kansas/Duke was a terrific Elite Eight game, IMO the best game of the tournament.
UMBC shocked the world and became the first 16 seed to knock out a number one. What a crazy night that was. That's something UVA and Tony Bennett will never live down. Ever.
I was really impressed by Texas Tech's run also. Chris Beard is a good coach (as he was in Little Rock) and they were a good team. Just ran into the best team and got beat. Nothing to be ashamed of. No idea who Tech brings back next year but if it's the majority of their team they are a definite national title contender.
That team that beat them, by the way, Villanova, is one of the most fun basketball teams I've ever seen. One of the best too, honestly. They could all shoot, all drive, all move the ball, etc. That's the basketball I like.
I'd say I felt bad for a Big 10 school getting beat by them for the title...but honestly I'm not. Houston should have beat Michigan the opening weekend. I'm still in shock Poole made that shot. Houston made a glaring error not covering the inbounds pass.
Finally, I want to touch on a college football story that really got me going not long ago.
Does anyone remember Hugh Freeze? You know, the same Hugh Freeze that got Ole Miss football 21 NCAA violations, a postseason ban and got caught using a female escort service?
He was forced to either resign or be fired. He resigned.
Well he was back in the news not long ago. Apparently, four SEC schools wanted to hire Freeze recently including none other than Alabama, where Nick Saban wanted him to basically run the Crimson Tide offense.
Thank goodness the SEC stepped in and Sankey told Saban and all the other schools who wanted him that it would look really bad for the conference if Freeze got another gig so soon.
My message on that is: Shame on you, Alabama. You are Alabama, the best there is in college football.
You do not need to go rolling around in the dirt with scum like Hugh Freeze. You're the best program there is. Act like it.
Until next time....
