NIAGARA FALLS, NY – Happy Monday to to everybody. For today, some things I had to leave on the cutting room floor because it just wasn’t time. So congrats to the Knicks for winning six in a row, and congrats to the USA flag football team for opening up on the pros, although OBJ is making a comeback via flag football. (Please sign with Angry Ward’s Vikings!) Anyway, today we will focus on the World Baseball Classic finale (yes, I know it was early in the week, but I finally got a chance to speak on it), March Madness in the men’s tournament, and a little bit about the Sabres. Todays topics are: World Baseball Classic, March Madness, Sabres Tie Record.
The World Baseball Classic Venezuela upsetting the USA is why we watch international sports on every level. Or at least for me. You get countries matched up with each other where one can clearly be outmatched in almost every metric. From GDP, to population size, to average income, to just about everything you can think of, the USA is bigger and better than Venezuela. But the beauty of sport is that some nights, none of that matters. Tuesday night, for a couple of hours, Venezuela proved it was better than the US. And they will be able to say that they are better than the US at something for the next few years, until the next World Baseball Classic. This is why we watch sports. This is why we play the game. You don’t have to always be the best in the world; you just have to be the best in that stadium at that moment. It doesn’t matter how many losses you had leading up to it—you just won when you needed to win. And in this instance, they needed to win, and they got the win. It was an instant classic: a 3-2 close game. It was a great advertisement for baseball. I think this whole tournament has shown what can be good, thrilling, and interesting about baseball, and why sometimes you just have to watch the game, because reading about it isn’t quite the same. Men’s March Madness Speaking of upsets and just being the best team in the stadium that day, there’s no greater example than the NCAA tournament—well, maybe the FA Cup, but that’s soccer. They’ve already had a couple of upsets, and although the favorites have been winning, the upsets have been big deals. I just want to say, in my bracket, I called St John’s beating Kansas, so nobody can touch me on that. I don’t think anybody saw a 15-seed, High Point, beating number two Wisconsin. That was absolute madness and something you rarely ever see… #11 Texas has pulled back-to-back upsets to crash the Sweet 16—upsetting number six BYU and then number three Gonzaga. When they upset BYU, people talked about BYU’s injuries, but I don’t think there’s anything to explain them upsetting Gonzaga except that every time I see Gonzaga struggle, they’re always a high seed. They never have a problem being a low seed. Yes, the NBA has weakened the powerhouses, but they’re still shopping. Number six North Carolina lost to number 11 BCU, and the biggest shock is number nine Iowa upsetting number one seed and defending champs Florida last night. It doesn’t take a lot to bust a bracket, but somebody’s done people in. I’ve got to see where I land, because I’m pretty sure it’s going to take a miracle for me to even finish in the top three. Sabres Tie Record
