I know I don’t talk about hockey too often. While its not my favorite sport, I do love a lot of things about the NHL. The one thing that will always bring me back to the NHL is the postseason. There is nothing like the thrill of playoff hockey. The games are super intense and the players would rather die on the ice then lose. But the playoffs are a few weeks away still, so I’ll have to wait. Sidney Crosby was able to catch my eye here in the mean time will an insane goal. I don’t think hockey players get enough credit for being freak athletes. They skate around at 20 miles per hour while trying to kill each other and control a tiny little puck with a long stick. Crosby’s goal last night showed off just how crazy their hand-eye coordination is. Crosby tipped his teammate’s shot up in the air in front of the net, passed it to himself, and knocked it out of air again and into the net. That’s right, he hit that tiny puck out of mid air twice while skating around the goalie to score what I think is the goal of the season. You’ll have to see the slow-mo to believe me. Check out the video below.
Sad news for Yankees fans all over. Long time YES broadcaster and former MLB player Ken Singleton has announced that this will be his last season in the booth. Singleton has been calling Yankees games with the YES network for 22 years now and has always been a fan favorite. Singleton, who is now 70, told reporters that he still loves the game and knows he could continue to call games, but he wants his summers back. “There are things I like to do that I haven’t been able to do during the summer” said Singleton. He has always been an avid golfer and he now has three young grandchildren that he plans to spend more time with. Singleton will always be remembered fondly by the Yankee faithful. Personally, he has been one of the voices of the Yankees for my entire life. Singleton has always brought great insight to broadcasts along with a charming and informed personality. He always had something to say. When the Yankees were good, he would tell you why the players were succeeding. And when they were bad, he wouldn’t hesitate to point out mistakes. I think that his local upbringing also helped him maintain a great relationship with the fans. Singleton is a New Yorker through and through. He was born in Manhattan and grew up in Mount Vernon before attending Hofstra for college and starting his MLB career with the Mets. For Yankees fans, he was one of us. He was a New Yorker that understood other New Yorkers and their relationship to the Yankees. We have lofty expectations and demand that the team delivers, but we also understand and love the game. Singleton shared this point of view. He loved the game and made a life out of it but he also understood that it was a business and that the fans need to be happy and informed. Singleton will be missed for sure. The YES network will never be the same.
The NCAA Tournament has definitely lived up to its name of March Madness so far this year. We enter the Sweet 16 after seeing all kinds of upsets and a field that no one saw coming. A few days ago, no one had ever heard of UMBC. Now they are the talk of the nation. The Retrievers became the first 16 seed to ever beat the number one seed in the opening round in the history of the tournament. They outplayed Virginia for most of the night, shooting the lights out from three and playing great defense. Fellow one-seed Xavier fell to Florida State in the second round. The South Region is a mess with 5-9 and 7-11 matchups in the Sweet 16. Teams like Arizona (4), Wichita State (4), Cincinnati (2), and Michigan State (3), make up part of a long list of upsets. Villanova, Duke, and West Virginia are a few survivors that stand out along with my personal pick: Michigan. The Wolverines squeaked by after Jordan Poole nailed a buzzer-beater three in classic March fashion to beat Houston after getting outplayed most of the night. I’m sure your bracket is in the trash by now, almost everyone’s is. Mine is hanging on by Michigan and not much else. Regardless of your bracket, the tournament has been super exciting so far and I can’t wait to see what the next round has in store for us.
Aaron Boone and the Yankees are now expecting Jacoby Ellsbury to start the regular season on the DL. Ellsbury has not been able to get enough game time after an oblique injury at the beginning of the month. They do feel he is healthy, he is just not game-ready. He was expected to get some time in today’s game but it seems that Jacoby is sick as well and was held out with flu-like symptoms. With Ellsbury already looking at a backup role in the outfield, the team feels no rush and want the center fielder to be 110% ready when he begins his season. Ellsbury will be a valuable fifth outfielder and late game runner and I’m sure the Yankees want to get some use out of him and that massive contract that has made trading him near impossible. This news is more annoying that upsetting for Yankees’ fans. If we’re going to be paying Ellsbury all this money to sit on the bench I at least want him to be in uniform. He still has the potential to be a good ball player. He is just no longer worth as much as he’s being paid, especially in an outfield that has no space for him. I would much rather move him for some other pieces but if he’s going to be around I at least want him to be available for late game defensive and running situations as this is where he can be most valuable. I think the Yanks are smart for playing this slow. They don’t need him right out of the gate but I’m sure they will at some point this season and you want a productive version of Ellsbury, not a hobbled one. It’s more about September and October for this team, not April.
Kevin Love returned to the Cavaliers last night after missing 21 games with a broken hand and mental health struggles. The All-Star forward played well, adding 18 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two blocks to the 124-117 win over the Bucks. He did not play full minutes but told reporters it felt good to get his legs under him and is all set to increase his workload. Apparently it will be assistant coach Larry Drew figuring out the schedule instead of Ty Lue for now. Lue is stepping away from the team to focus on his health after leaving his third game early this season on Saturday night. Lue told reporters that he has undergone multiple tests but doctors cannot put their finger on exactly what is causing the Cavs coach to have chest pains and cough up blood on occasion. ESPN has reported that Lue is planning to be away from the team for around a week and hopes to return feeling healthy enough to make a playoff run. This will certainly be another obstacle for LeBron and the Cavs as they are still trying to fine-tune their rotation after the deadline acquisitions and the return of K-Love. April is creeping up and they are running out of trial time. These games are going to start counting real soon and the Cavs need to be firing on all cylinders before then if they want to win the East, let alone challenge the Western powers. I hope Coach Lue figures out what is ailing him and finds a quick remedy so he can return to the team for an exciting postseason.
