With NCAA tournament pools at the forefront of sports for the next few weeks, I’ve decided to give my two cents on some of the happenings surrounding sports, including March Madness, the NFL and whatever else comes to my mind.Kudos to Major League Baseball for the idea of the World Baseball Classic and giving athletes from different countries the opportunity to do what the Summer Olympics seemed to take away from them-the chance to represent their respective countries on a world-class scale.
Thanks to Jose Canseco, the hot thing to do if you’re a former athlete or somebody who was around former athletes is to come out with a book with detailed accounts of taking speed or some kind of performance-enhancing drug. If you want a good read, pick up “Now I Can Die In Peace” by Bill Simmons. Simmons, a die-hard Red Sox fan and ESPN columnist, put together his best articles from the time the Sox acquired Pedro Martinez until the World Series sweep over the Cardinals in 2004.
Props to the NCAA Tournament Committee for having the gall to put so many mid-major teams in the tournament, probably knowing that once the teams were announced, analysts such as Billy Packer and Jim Nantz would have a hissy fit the size of Packer’s waistline.
The move is paying dividends for teams such as Bradley and Wichita State from the Missouri Valley Conference and George Mason from the Colonial Athletic Association that have all made the Sweet 16.
In the next couple of months, many people will say nothing but good things about Paul Taglibue and the work he’s done to turn football into the most-watched sport in the history of television. That’s because he will step down as the commissioner of the NFL in July after 16 years on the job. He solidified his reputation as one of the best commissioners in sports when a new Collective Bargaining Agreement was passed that will run into 2011.
Thank you, New Orleans Saints, for signing free agent quarterback Drew Brees. At first, the only reason I would watch your games was in hopes of seeing a certain quarterback aimlessly throw the football backwards to a lineman, then walk off the field smiling like he had just won the lottery. Maybe one day I can write my own book about the Saints, and the only man I know that will take the team to his grave titled, “Matt Leblanc: He Never Lost Faith.” Wow, two Matt references in one paper; that’s way too much exposure.
Finally, jeers to Hollywood for milking any cow that happens to pop up on its radar. It’s bad enough that in the next few months I’ll have to deal with, “Larry The Cable Guy: Health Inspector” and “Stay Alive,” so just stick to the comic book movies and I’ll be fine.
About that aforementioned cow, I hope the Hollywood producers and directors leave 17-year-old Jason McElwein alone and stop trying to make money off such an amazing story. In his final home game, McElwein, manager of his high school basketball team, suited up and scored 20 points in four minutes.
The scene in the gym, although movie-esque, was very real and needs to stay where it is-in the memory of everyone that witnessed it. And for this sportswriter, it reminds him why he got in this business in the first place.
