A light?
Did Monday feel kind of, dare we say optimistic?
We ask with the firm knowledge that the changing stats and prisms in a fight against a truly invisible and unknown foe. (In fact, here's today's A2 column on the impossible and at times damaging efforts to scoreboard watch during the fight against The Corona.)
And maybe the springboard was the weekend conference call between Donald Trump and the commissioners. Maybe it was the realization of America's need for distraction and some kind of normalcy. Pragmatically, maybe it was the turn of the calendar into April and the fundamental economic realization that the bills keep coming whether the revenue does or not.
But look at the sports news of the last 24 or so hours.
Locally, the numbers in Hamilton County continue to offer promising news. As tests increase dramatically, the increase in cases continues to gain marginally. Are we through the woods?
Of course not.
But the sporting announcements for the first time turned toward scheduling rather than suspension.
Golf announced a tentative schedule for later in the year that puts the Masters on a mid-November weekend that would give any CBS executive a migraine trying to figure the time slots for the Masters around SEC college football on Saturday and NFL football on Sunday.
(Side note: You would have to believe that the CBS SEC game on Saturday would be Georgia-Tennessee at 3:30. Also, as we discussed on Press Row a little on Monday, the sun sets about 5:30ish that time of year, so golf will start much earlier in the day. We had a regular offer that a Saturday night CBS SEC game allows both, and that's true. But even as much as golf fans love Masters Sunday, almost every NFL game will cruise by it. For perspective, the NFL draft drew more viewers in 2019 than the final round of the Masters, and that was when some dude named Eldrick won it. Some of you have asked for my solution. If I'm a CBS bigwig, I ask ESPN to use it's one-time a year first pick of a CBS game on that Saturday and air the Masters during the main Saturday window. Then I offer afternoon Sunday Masters coverage - while simulcast on CBS Sports as well - during the NFL window.)
The British Open has been called. The Masters will be Nov. 12-15, the PGA Championship will be in August outside of San Francisco and the U.S. Open and the Ryder Cup will be in September. In some ways, I've wondered why golf has not been on the front edge of finding a way back to competing, but this is still some sort of positive announcement that shows a life beyond this quarantined exile. Dang you Corona.
And MLB went a step further with its optimism. According to this story from excellent ESPN baseball writer Jeff Passan - who also does an amazing Elmo impression when he's on the LeBatard Show - MLB and the players union are looking at going into a solution that has some promising options.
The plan would a) get baseball moving in May, b) move all 30 teams - players and essential players only - to the Phoenix area, c) those players and staff would be quarantined in local hotels, d) play games in the 10 spring training facilities in the area and the Diamondbacks stadium, and e) has the backing of officials at the CDC and the National Institute for Health.
That last one is really important. Which offers the question, if you were a MLB player would you accept those conditions and play? If you have $100 million in the bank and a family of five, are you willing to take those circumstances and those risks?
But having those decisions to make would be a certain step forward rather than having all those decisions made by medical personnel, right? And yes, it's just a plan, but the thought of a plan is a way more promising proposition than wondering when or hoping for a Hail Mary.
Betting bottoms out
We mentioned the normal sports glory of the nine days from last Saturday to next Sunday with the Final Four and the title game, MLB everywhere and the Masters on the horizon.
It also has traditionally been the capper to a forever profitable March.
But sports books are dark with no return to gambling in sight.
Vegas officials approved betting on the NASCAR simulated iRacing over the weekend, but the numbers were closer to minor league soccer in Turkey and about a fifth of the normal betting handle (total amount wagered) of a normal NASCAR race.
And while people are starved for something to bet on, the news that people are looking for anything to wager on is not a surprise.
Where they are turning, though, may be.
According to the AP story, the biggest betting option right now? Of course it's Russian ping pong.
"Russian ping pong has stolen the show," Nick Bogdanovich of the William Hill sports book told the AP. "You can't even find it streaming anywhere to watch, but people are betting on it."
Which also begs the question: Why is ESPN not figuring out a way to get Russian live on one of its platforms, because if people are betting on it, people would watch it.
From the kitchen
We have shared some of the kitchen experiments we have tried in our quarantined days.
We had a make-shift, thrown-together pasta dish with basic pantry options, we had a sugar-loaded s'more pancake breakfast.
We'll stay in the morning today. Weekdays, the 5-at-10 and two dogs waiting on me for food and door duties so that they can, well, you know, consume a good chunk of my mornings.
So breakfast Monday through Friday normally is pretty quick. Weekends however we like to try things. Bacon-infused waffles are a staple. We did Krispy Kreme donuts as French toast once. Last weekend, we did pineapple upside down pancakes.
The recipe called for circular rings (a little less than an inch in diameter) to be dipped in the batter, placed in the pan and more batter poured around the ring. Kind of a pancake-coated pineapple if you will.
We - like Chuck Barkley and Dan Marino - had no rings. So we improvised. We had crushed pineapple in a can. We used some of the leftover juice, some brown sugar and butter to make a pineapple drizzle rather than traditional syrup. (Put about half the pineapple juice, a tablespoon of brown sugar into some melted butter and there you go.)
Cook the pineapple-infused pancakes like normal flapjacks - true or false, you use "flapjacks" as an acceptable substitute for pancakes - on mid-to-high heat.
As for the serving, mix a little coconut between the stacks if you like coconut and top with a cherry, provided you have a cherry.
Viola.
This and that
- Friends, I believe "Better Call Saul" is the best show on TV right now. Regardless of channel, and yes that includes Ozark and anything the HBO or the Showtime is doing. It's that good. How good? Well, it's a prequel and we know that some of the main characters have to survive current episodes and escapades, but even with that knowledge last night had me on the edge of my seat for Pete's sake. Amazing TV, and dare I say - it has the look that it will dare I even say it pass the original Breaking Bad, which is only a top five or seven show all-time by most measures.
- Speaking of excellent TV, Today's Tuesday binge offering is "Billions" on the Showtime, which is offering free service during the quarantine and is also offering its OnDemand library here. Kudos, Showtime.
- R.I.P. Al Kaline, who spent his entire Hall of Fame career in Detroit.
- Because everyone loves a bracket and because everyone is looking to fill the sports void, here's 247sports' all-time college football recruits bracket.
- Under normal circumstances, we'd have spent a good chunk of this space discussing last night's NCAA title game, with some folks crowing about their bracket booty. But these are anything but normal circumstances. According to SportsLine, a gambling simulator, your NCAA tournament champ The Dayton Flyers. (Sorry, not buying it, and if we had had the chance to have traditional, "First Out, Last In" March Madness contest, Dayton likely would have been my guess as the first No. 1 seed to be dismissed.)
- The Rams and the Chargers and their new digs will be the subject of Hard Knocks, according to sources. So there's that.
Today's questions
Today is Tuesday. That means true or false. (Yep, this is true.)
True or false, The Simpsons are the greatest spinoff in TV history.
True or false, as this week converges, you'll miss the Masters more than March Madness.
True or false, MLB will be back in May.
You know the drill, answer the T or Fs and leave a T or F or two for the group.
As for today, April 7, let's review.
Well, scholars estimate that in the year 30, this was the day Jesus was crucified.
Jackie Chan is 66 today. Russell Crowe is 56. Side true or false: Considering the cast and the story, "American Gangster" with Crowe, Denzel and a slew of others, should have been a lot better than it was.)
Buster Douglas is 60 today.
On this day 57 years ago, Jack Nicklaus won the first of his six Masters titles.
Ronde and Tiki Barber are 45 today.
Do they make the Rushmore of Twins? Go, and be safe friends.