Weekend winners
Bubba Watson. Let’s face it, since the Tiger-proofing changes of 1997, when the young wunderkind turned Augusta National into part Moc Bend and part Sir Gooney’s, the Masters has been a tournament that almost always has been won by big hitters. And more than any other notable tournament, especially majors, the set-up fits the eyes and the games of left-handed players (There have been seven major championships won by left-handers ever; six have been at Augusta since 2003.) And we’re less than two weeks from the Masters and Bubba is a big hitter and left-handed. And after rolling through the World Golf Championship in Austin, there is no doubt he has to be a leading contender.
Keith Mitchell. Man, the Baylor School grad and Press Row fav made $324,000 with a solo second-place finish at the regular PGA Tour stop this weekend. Mitchell’s final-round 67 included five birdies, an eagle and two bogeys. (Side note His fellow Red Raiders alum Harris English finished tied for fifth. Hey, Scott Wilson, considering the season Luke LIst is having and that Stephan Jeager also made the cut this weekend on Tour, now may be an ideal time to update the donation mailer for a golf facility annex.
Malik Newman. The Kansas guard delivered in a major, legacy-defining way Sunday as he scored 13 of his career-high 32 in overtime as the Jayhawks toppled Duke. We’ll have more on the tournament in a moment, but Newman needed his own line in the weekend winners.
The Phllies. Philadelphia was a dreadful 66-96 last year. But with the addition of Jake Arrieta among other free-agent additions, this season looks brighter. And, unlike the Braves with Ronald Acuna, the Phillies kept their top prospect on the opening day line-up and rather than sending Scott Kingrey down and risking losing an extra year of control, the Phillies signed him to a deal that will soon become very familiar. Here’s the difference: Acuna will be called up in about two weeks, after the minor league season starts. That means his arbitration and free-agency clocks will start a year later and the Braves will have options and control of his contract for the next seven seasons. (Yes, if Acuna turns out to be as good as he looks, that extra year could save the 2025 Braves as much as $30 million.) But the arbitration will also be pricey, and the Phillies hedged their bets in on all fronts, signing Kingrey to a six-year, $21.5 million deal with three years team options for 2024-2026 for $13, $14 and $15 million. That means if Kingrey turns out to be what they think he can be, that’s nine years for a very team-friendly $63.5 million. Kudos, Phillies management.
LeBron James is playing basketball at a different level right now friends. LeBron of 10 years ago (2007-08 Cavs) played 40.4 minutes per game, shot 48.4 percent from the floor, 31.5 percent from 3 and 71.2 percent from the line. He averaged 30 points per game and 7.9 rebounds and 7.2 assists. A decade later, after another lights-out showing Sunday, James is playing 37.1 minutes a night, shooting 55 percent from the floor, 36.6 percent from 3 and 72.6 percent from the line. His 27.5 points per game would be the highest since 2009-10 and his 9.1 assists would be a career-best and his 8.6 rebounds would match a career-best.
Weekend losers
Giants. Which sport, you ask? Both, we answer. The New York Giants are pondering what to do with easily their most explosive player – Odell Beckham Jr. – who obviously has not met an offseason controversy he’s not interested in, which is particularly troubling since this is a contract year and the club has to decide if he is worth being paid among the NFL elite. As for the San Francisco Giants, well, an offseason of much promise with the additions of Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria, was boosted with the expected return of ace Madison Bumgarner, took a harsh hit last weekend. Bumgarner was hit on his pitching hand with a line drive Friday and the news – fractured metacarpal that will require and pins – is hardly good.
Facebook. You know why, full page newspaper ad or not. Heck, when Clay Bennett and Stewwie see eye-to-eye – like they almost certainly did with this weekend’s cartoon on the Facebook scandal – then you know something is universally frowned upon at the moment.
Albert Belle. Oh my. Arrested on indecent exposure, DUI and extreme DUI – was anyone aware of the extreme DUI add-on? – is cause to ruin a weekend for just about anyone. Belle has long battled alcoholism and looking at his numbers, man he left the game on a high and while his career was too short, his numbers on a lot of lines deserved way more Cooperstown consideration. His 162-game averages during a 12-year career were .295, 40 homers, 130 RBIs and 103 runs scored.
Michael Bennett has long been comfortable with controversy. And that’s OK. Loads of public figures are, and that’s perfectly fine. But this is not about Bennett’s outspokenness. Heck, it’s not even about the extra layers of exaggeration about his run-in with the cops in Vegas last summer in which eventually was exposed as falling somewhere between full-blown lies and race-baiting. No this is about the felony indictment returned against the former Seattle defensive lineman for pushing down a 66-year-old handicapped woman trying to get on the field after the Patriots-Falcons Super Bowl. He is expected to turn himself in sometime today, and could face a $10,000 fine and up to 10 years in jail.
Kevin Purvis. This one is from the “Ewwwwww, that’s twisted” file. Purvis started working for UGA athletics in 2006. He was arrested Friday night and charged with charged with three counts of felony eavesdropping or surveillance, one felony possession of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor charge of possession of less that 1 ounce of marijuana. All of this mainly centers around the fact that Purvis had secret cameras in the Bulldogs’ locker room shower. Ewwwww indeed.
Bonus pick: Leonard Hamilton, the FSU coach who snapped at Dana Jacobson’s completely fair question about why the Seminoles did not foul in the final 10-plus seconds while trailing Michigan by only 4.
Tournament turned on its ear
Maybe it’s to be expected in a tournament in which a nun-led 11 seed in the Final Four is only the second-biggest upset storyline of this NCAA tournament, but it still needs to be stated to make sure we got it right.
With a spot in the Final Four on the line with a team with a couple of superstar one-and-dones and a longtime senior stalwart, Duke was left on the outside looking in for two particular reasons and each is particularly surprising.
First, for the first time since Coach K was at West Point, every 50-50 call in crunch time went against Duke. There was the charge that somehow was a block. There was the ball that was tipped out of bounds and the call was overturned after a 12-hour replay process even though there was zero conclusive evidence. It was surreal.
Secondly, Duke was outperformed in crunch and Coach K was outcoached, in this view. We mentioned that Malik Newman has 13 points in the overtime, but it’s also of note that those 13 were all Kansas scored. Uh, coach, maybe we could give a little more attention to that guy, right?
Also of note, is that Duke ran the same play over and over and over again, that a) put Grayson Allen – who has never been a point guard – in a primary ball-handling spot and b) used Marvin Bagley III as a primary decoy and cutter before the screen-and-role. Bagley was the most athletic player on the floor. He played 44 minutes and took nine shots. Nine. And he did that with Kansas using a lot of perimeter players on him in man-to-man sets, especially when the Jayhawks center fouled out.
It was perplexing. And inexcusable. And if Coach K wasn’t held up as some sort of deity by Dickie V, the host of Duke former players at ESPN and every former coach with a microphone this would be a much bigger deal.
Coach K got housed. (Side note: Weeds writes college hoops, we read and link Weeds on college hoops. It could have been in the original Bill of Rights, but who knows.)
As for the rest of the weekend of college hoops, well, as Weeds said, God bless you Sister Jean. But we’re growing a little tired of the Ramblers. Michigan is legit, Villanova is so salty and tough (and also as many of us discussed from the very beginning had far and away the easiest path to San Antonio) and Kansas will be the next verse of the “guard play is so important come tournament time” adage.
As for our contest, we have four folks still in it. They are:
5-at-10 – Loyola-Chicago, Virginia
James B – Loyola-Chicago, Virginia
Scott C. – Loyola-Chicago, Virginia
Stacey C. – Loyola-Chicago, Virginia
OK, here’s the tie breaker, and everyone is welcome to play (we’ll come up with some trinket from the prize vault):
Player with the most points after Saturday and Monday. For those four still in the overall contest, speed of entry will determine if two select the same. For the rest of you, give the player and the number of points you guess they will finish with. (Price is Right rules apply.)
Go and Madness indeed.
This and that
– Man, this week’s NFL owners meetings will assuredly not be without intriguing story lines. Here are a couple – presume protests and the allegations against Jerry Richardson that led to him selling the Panthers – that Texans owner Bob McNair is already talking about.
– The Braves’ payroll got another hollow line item this weekend. Ouch-standing, and we will have multiple MLB previews this week as the season is upon us. With the weekend news that the Braves released Scott Kazmir, that means the Braves will owe Kazmir $16 million and Adrian Gonzalez $16.455 million. That more than $32 million comprises almost 28 percent of the entire team’s payroll and ranks Gonzalez and Kazmir as the second- and third-highest paid players on the team behind Freddie Freeman’s $21-plus million salary.
– Speaking of the tournament, Sister Jean has allowed Loyola-Chicago to use her likeness and market her name. Funny that a woman in a wheel-chair employed by the school has to grant permission, yet the ‘amateur’ athletes doing all the heavy lifting on the floor do not have a single say in who makes whatever off their likeness. (Well, other than video games, that is.)
– OK, it’s hard to believe that the Jeff Fisher-Vince Young apology letter, name-spelling deal is really worth headline status on ESPN.com on Monday morning. But what do we know. Heck, we linked it. Nope, nevermind, not linking it. Not being part of the problem here.
Today’s questions
Weekend winners and losers. Go.
How will Grayson Allen be remembered?
On this day 45 years ago, Andre the Giant made his WWE debut. Dude was larger than life. On this day in 1979, Bird-Magic faced off in the NCAA title game and changed everything about this tournament.
The precursor to the Band-Aid was patented on this day in 1845.
Keira Knightley is 33 today. Leonard Nimoy (Dr. Spock) would have been 87.
Some literary giants Robert Frost (born today in 1874) and Walt Whitman (died in 1892) came and went on this day.
Tennessee Williams was born on this day in 1911. Let’s go with the Rushmore of famous people that have a state in their name. Heck, let’s do real and fictional. Go.