Good morning all and happy Monday!
As predicted in the newsletter last week, the rumblings about North Carolina going after UConn basketball coach Dan Hurley are growing. Is it just smoke and mirrors or is there something to it? I break it down, along with a look at tonight’s national championship game between UConn and Michigan, in the podcast.
Here are some other thoughts on this Easter Monday:
Note the start of the tonight’s championship game. It will tip-off at 8:50 PM-ET, 30 minutes earlier than the former tip-off time.
I do not want to pile on UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma, following his horrendous display against South Carolina coach Dawn Staley at the end of Friday’s semifinal game, however: the fact he issued a written, blanket apology to the South Carolina staff and team, without mentioning Staley by name, smacks as nothing more than a damage-control-press release compiled by the UConn PR department. Auriemma needed to personally say, “I am sorry to coach Dawn Staley and her staff, team and program.” He did not. The reaction on social media was the same, as many thought it was a half-hearted mea culpa.
The fact the UConn men defeated Illinois to advance to tonight’s championship game, along with UCLA annihilating Staley’s South Carolina team, 79-51, in yesterday’s women’s national championship game are the two biggest favors Auriemma could have received over the weekend. It has essentially relegated his meltdown to the back burner. Make no mistake, however, Auriemma’s lukewarm apology is percolating below the surface, as evidenced by this:
Michael Voepel, who covers women’s college basketball for ESPN, writes that “Of the 12 times a team has defeated UConn in the semis, only three have then won the championship.”
There may be more annoying things than the incessant organ music and sound effects that blare after every pitch, during a game at Yankee Stadium; it’s just that I haven’t found them yet. Give me the days of organist Eddie Layton.
I have written in previous newsletters, I did not think the Red Sox were a playoff team, however, even I did not think their shortcomings would be exposed this soon.
Yes, I did predict the Pittsburgh Pirates would be a wild card team this year. They are off to a splendid 6-3 start, after sweeping the Orioles this weekend. Then again, I picked the Orioles to make the playoffs too. I know this is a very small sample size, but April baseball is fun.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Thank you for being a subscriber and have a magnificent Monday.
DAN
