By TERRY LYONS, Editor in Chief of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Long before we needed passwords for every single thing we do online, and long before all the passwords needed a double authentication via a mobile phone or additional email, there was a TV Show called, “Password.” It ran on CBS from 1961 until 1967, then switched to ABC for a nice run from 1971 to 1975. After that, it popped-up in a few different iterations.

None were as good as the original Mark Goodson-Bill Todman produced, and Allen Ludden hosted version. Ludden has an interesting yet sad backstory. He was born in 1917, the son of Elmer Ellsworth, an ice dealer who fell ill by the Spanish flu and died at age 26. Ludden’s mother remarried and, at age five, the youngster took on the name of his new father, Homer J. Ludden, an electrical engineer.

Allen Ludden graduated from the University of Texas-Austin with Phi Beta Kappa honors, and he served in the Army, then took a job as program director for WCBS, utilizing his skills from being the Army’s entertainment man for the Pacific theatre of the war. Ludden married Margaret McGloin on October 11, 1943, but she died of cancer in 1961. He then proposed to the great Betty White, a regular he met on Password. It took two or three proposals for Ms. White to accept. They were married on June 6, 1963 and remained so until Ludden’s early death at age 63, losing a battle with stomach cancer.

Before his death, there was a memorable episode of “The Odd Couple” when Ludden and White guest starred in their on air “Password” roles.

Aristophanes …

Ridiculous!

(That’s an inside joke related to THIS.)

###

Today, the Password is RELEGATION.

Relegation is an accepted practice in England’s Premier League, certainly the top tier of global futbol (we’ll call it soccer from now on). This season (2024-25), three teams from the Premiership will be relegated to Championship level. The three relegated clubs will transfer back the share certificates that gave them Premier League status, and the Premier League Board will confirm the cancellation of those shares at their annual summer meetings. The rule reads as follows:

“The teams who finish the season in the bottom three places of the Premier League table – 18th, 19th and 20th – drop down to the Championship, the second tier of English football. Those teams are replaced in the Premier League for the following season by three promoted clubs – the sides who finish first and second in the Championship, plus the winners of that division’s end-of-season playoffs.”

While Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton’s relegation will be officially confirmed this summer, two other clubs will be promoted (Leeds United and Burnley) and a third will be named from the upcoming Championship level playoffs.

Keep in mind, in 2015-16, Leicester won the Premier League and now the club finds itself in the equivalent of Triple A baseball.

The obvious question abounds: Would relegation ever work in North American professional sports? In short, the answer is a resounding no. Using the NBA as an example, when a team is purchased, they enter into a Joint Partnership Agreement with the other franchise owners. With that comes agreed upon draft choices, television money shares and all other benefits (NBA merchandising rights, etc). These days, teams are going for some $6 billion, so there’s zero chance of an agreement to be made to undercut that investment. The same goes for the NFL, MLB and NHL.

A secondary example – call it an idea – recently surfaced and it came from within the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Stanford men’s basketball coach Kyle Smithsuggested the ACC adopt a Premier League-like system for ACC basketball, according to the Washington Post of April 18.

The ACC sent only four teams to the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, a low for the conference that lives and breathes hoops. Smith’s idea is to create divisions within the ACC so the top teams play each other more often and thus have a chance for the Quad-1 victory – the kind the NCAA men’s committee values when selecting the tournament’s at-large participants.

With 18 teams in the ACC, that would mean two divisions of nine — Smith’s ideal version – or – not as desirable – three divisions of six. With two divisions, the bottom two teams of the top tier would move down every year, and the top two of the second tier would move up. With three divisions, one program would get relegated from each of the top two tiers, meaning two programs would get promoted. Smith’s idea for relegation is really promotions within two or three divisions, never a ticket down to say – the Southern Conference – for a stint. All clubs would remain ACC member teams and benefit from the Conference as a whole, never mind compete in all the other sports – both men’s and women’s.

Said Smith to the WaPo: “The ACC, we’re struggling for a place in the marketplace,” he said while in San Antonio for the 2025 Final Four. “We need to be the first ones to do something like this. The big boys, the SEC and Big Ten, are trying to take over. Put some pressure on them and the Big 12, too. This is the ACC! The ACC is basketball. So you come out and say: ‘We’re going to relegate teams to raise excitement and get back on top.’

“We might need to think of a better word than relegation,” Smith admitted. “You know, it could sting. But that’s what it would be! Relegation! And if we try it and it doesn’t work, what’s the worst case? We get four teams in the tournament? That just happened.”

TL’s Take: Re, Rel, Rele, Relegation would be a terrible idea for the major USA/Canada pro sports leagues but a very interesting idea for collegiate conferences. But, that only seems to relate to the mega-sized college conferences of 15+ teams. Going forward, more conferences might be forced to merge and – if that is the case – a college basketball conference of 18-30 member institutions, a new system would need to be developed. It wouldn’t work for a basketball conference like the BIG EAST with 11 member schools. And, it would NEVER work for the IVY League conference. Can you imagine if Harvard or Yale had a few bad seasons and were sent down to play against the “Little Ivy” schools like Amherst College, Wesleyan University and Williams College?

All that said, there is an incredible story about the opposite side of relegation, that being the three consecutive years of promotion gained by Wrexham of Wales, the club which became the first team in English football history to achieve three consecutive promotions. That dates all the way back to 1888. Franchise co-owner Ryan Reynolds of Canadian-American acting fame, said that his club is charting a course for the Premier League.

“Our goal is to make it to the Premier League,” Reynolds said. “It just seemed like an impossible dream – when he bought the club in February 2021 – but as storytellers, you look as much as you can at the macro view of history.”

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: A great Titan of Trinity and all-around tremendous friend, dating back to the mid-70s, is Jim Johnson, the executive director of Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine’s Companions in Courage. More than one million pediatric patients and their families have benefited from the work done through LaFontaine and his foundation www.CiC16.org of which JJ oversees on a day-to-day basis. Says Johnson, “We’re in the process of providing new interactive rooms in Connecticut, Long Island and upstate New York. Plus, we are providing sensory devices, stuffed animals and upbeat videos to enhance the healing process at children’s hospitals across North America.

“I’d like to invite you to a wonderful night of upbeat jazz and friendship as we present a “Concert for COURAGE,” on Friday, May 30th at 8:00pm (ET) at the Adelphi University Performing Arts Center in Garden City, Long Island. Tickets are available for under $30.

Jazz keyboardist, Al DeGregoris and his All-Star ensemble, is known for incredible high-energy performances that “will have you moving all night long,” promised JJ. Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine will be on hand and he’ll be joined by a few old friends. To purchase tickets: Click HERE.

THINK: Former NBA colleagues John Kosner and Ed Desser frequently pen some thought leadership pieces for our friends at the Sports Business Journal. The most recent opinion delves into this week’s NCAA rulings on the pending House antitrust judgement (expected July 1st) and its effect on college sports.

So say John and Ed: “As college athletics becomes more professionalized, we believe athletic directors need to think: vision, best practices and providing the right incentives for their students and institutions.

“For starters, the sky isn’t falling. Intercollegiate athletics remains crucial to all who participate, watch and cheer — and consider matriculating. College football is more popular than ever; men’s and especially women’s basketball are ascending, as are women’s sports such as softball, volleyball and gymnastics, which fuel Olympic sports globally. Sports media value and importance continues growing.

Thus, July 1 presents an opportunity to think differently.”

For the full column, Click HERE.

TL’s Take: I agree 100% with John and Ed that the collegiate administrators need to stop complaining and own the next chapter in competitive collegiate sports. It’s either that, or fold the cards and offer intramural sports for your students and stay on campus.

For too long, collegiate administrators were pointing the fingers, nay-saying everything professional sports was doing to their “amateur student athletes.” Meanwhile, FedEx envelopes were criss-crossing the nation, paying off athletes under the table. It was the “NBA’s fault” that players would come out early, they’d complain, ignoring the legal Robertson Settlement Agreement of 1970 and subsequent Haywood vs. National Basketball Association (1971) that called “for a significant number of high school graduates and college attendees to make themselves eligible for the NBA Draft as long as their senior year of high school had passed. At the time, the NBA allowed for the “hardship draft” to exist allowing for circumstances to determine the need for a player to turn pro and become a primary income source to benefit his family. That provision stood for few years before it was abolished by the 1976 NBA Draft in relation to the NBA-ABA absorption. In Collective Bargaining, it was exchange for allowing college underclassmen to join the rest of the draft eligible players so long as their high school class had graduated and they declare their intent to forgo remaining college basketball eligibility to enter the NBA Draft.”

It was never “an NBA rule,” but rather a key point in a legally agreed upon Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NBA Players Association. Collegiate basketball coaches would be sure to make their fans think otherwise.

That brings us to today, some 55 years after the fact, the NCAA and its member schools are looking at legal proceedings which allow for players to be paid to attend and also to make significant income from their Name, Image and Likeness, as determined by O’Bannon vs. NCAA. Thus, the golden goose of having a full sports business entity operating without having to pay the players has vanished. No longer is the promise of an athletic scholarship an adequate mechanism of bargaining with an athlete. It’s time for the colleges to adapt.

This coming week, the University of Kentucky will ask its board of trustees to approve a plan to convert its entire athletic department into an LLC, a move the school says will position it to adapt to the new world of collegiate sports.

Champions Blue, the name of the school’s proposed Limited Liability Company, would allow Kentucky to create a public-private partnership and raise funds and handle expenses as collegiate sports shifts into the new era.

The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | April 27 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – It started back in 1969. The Viet Nam war was boiling over, escalating in controversy after the tumultuous year of 1968. I was yet to turn ten years old, but was being schooled by the Huntley-Brinkley Report and the front pages of Newsday. It wasn’t pretty and even the youngsters of the ‘60s could sense it.

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969) was the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) case that determined the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, as applied through the Fourteenth, did not permit a public school to punish a student for wearing a black armband as an anti-war protest, absent any evidence that the rule was necessary to avoid substantial interference with school discipline or the rights of others.

The case stemmed from a seemingly peaceful and non-controversial event of December 16, 1965 when five students in Des Moines, Iowa, decided to wear black armbands to school in protest of the USA’s involvement in the Vietnam War as they were supporting the Christmas truce that was called for by New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

By the time the case made its way all the way to the SCOTUS, Kennedy was dead, felled by an assassin’s bullet on June 6, 1968. The case was argued that Fall, on November 12, 1968. The student, John F. Tinker, was 15 years old. The case was decided February 24, 1969, and the court’s 7–2 decision in favor of the students held that the First Amendment applied to public schools, and that administrators would have to demonstrate constitutionally valid reasons for any specific regulation of speech in the classroom.

That became precedent in Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853 (1982). Island Trees happened to be my home school district although I only attended “IT” in Kindergarten. The rest of my schooling was at St. Ignatius Loyola grammar school and Holy Trinity for high school. In the Island Trees case, which dated back to September of 1975, the Island Trees Board of Education received a list of books deemed inappropriate by Parents of New York United. Island Trees is one of four major school districts in Levittown, New York. The board temporarily removed the books from school libraries and formed a committee to review the list. The committee found that five of the nine books should be returned, but the board overruled the decision and returned only two of the books.

A group of five Island Trees high school students (including one junior high school student) who, according to oral argument, were 17, 16, 15, 14, and 13 years old at the time of the removal of the books, led by Steven Pico, filed a lawsuit against the school board by claiming a violation of First Amendment rights.

The list of nine books eventually grew to eleven books that were the subject of the case. The books were:

• Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
• The Naked Ape, by Desmond Morris
• Down These Mean Streets, by Piri Thomas
• Best Short Stories of Negro Writers, edited by Langston Hughes
• Go Ask Alice, of anonymous authorship
• Laughing Boy, by Oliver LaFarge
• Black Boy, by Richard Wright
• A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ but a Sandwich, by Alice Childress
• Soul on Ice, by Eldridge Cleaver
• A Reader for Writers, edited by Jerome Archer*
• The Fixer, by Bernard Malamud*
• – added to list

The case moved from Long Island to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, where the court granted summary judgment in favor of the school board, citing the discretion given to a school board’s authority in terms of its political philosophy.

From there, it moved along to the Court of Appeals for Federal District Courts where the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case for a trial on the merits of respondents’ allegations. It was on to the Supreme Court.

The United States Supreme Court split on the First Amendment issue of local school boards removing library books from junior high schools and high schools. Four justices ruled that it was unconstitutional, four concluded the contrary. One Justice concluded that the Court need not decide the question.

This all brings us to Jackie Robinson, as this week we celebrated the life of the great Dodgers player who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball on April 15, 1947. His No. 42 was worn by every MLB player this past Tuesday.

And thinking of the great No. 42, a uniform number retired by every club in Major League Baseball, and this being 42 years since the Island Trees District No. 26 v. Pico case, we find ourselves right back where we started from as the Naval Academy – via its Nimitz Library – was instructed to strip 381 books off the shelves.

Yes, this happened in 2025 and one of the books was a Jackie Robinson biography, as first reported by The New York Times and ESPN, while sports site, Awful Announcing, stayed on the story, too.

“As Secretary Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department. Discriminatory Equity Ideology is a form of Woke cultural Marxism that has no place in our military. It Divides the force, Erodes unit cohesion and Interferes with the services’ core warfighting mission. We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. In the rare cases that content is removed – – either deliberately or by mistake – – that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct the components and they correct the content accordingly,” was the Department of Defense statement provided to ESPN’s Jeff Passen, a very solid reporter.

Let’s get this straight. The story of the great Jackie Robinson has “no place” in “our” military? A decorated World War II veteran and model for every baseball player everywhere, every sportsman everywhere – no matter of race, creed or color – “divides the force?”

In Los Angeles this week, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the legendary NBA star was speaking at Dodgers Stadium in celebration of the day: “Jackie Robinson’s legacy is as important now as it has ever been,” he said as he made the reason for the swipe at Robinson he believes is so abundantly clear.

“(President) Trump wants to get rid of DEI, and I think it’s just a ruse to discriminate,” Abdul-Jabbar said to a scrum of reporters, while sitting at the base of Robinson’s statue in the center field plaza of Chavez Ravine..

“You have to take that into consideration,” he added, “when we think about what’s going on today.”

The Navy doubled-down:

“The U.S. Naval Academy is fully committed to executing and implementing all directives outlined in executive orders issued by the president and is currently reviewing the Nimitz Library collection to ensure compliance,” said Commander Tim Hawkins, a Navy spokesman. “The Navy is carrying out these actions with utmost professionalism, efficiency, and in alignment with national security objectives.”

It might be time for the Supreme Court to reconvene, as they did in 1982, but in this day and age, we all know where that would go.

Banning a Jackie Robinson biography in the Year 2025?

Shame on all of us for allowing this to happen, once again.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The annual Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, known to NBAers as PIT, has been on-going this week in beautiful Portsmouth, Virginia. The tournament is run in “old-skool” fashion with no frills, no TV, some online streaming and 100% solid basketball under NBA rules.

The PIT allows the “bubble” level players the ability to play in front of NBA team scouts in a live setting to separate the top two round players from the possible free agent invite players to the two-way signees to the “c’ya” in Europe prospects.

TIDBITS: The 2025 NBA Draft pool is coming together, and deepening. Three more Lottery-worthy players entered the NBA Draft this past Wednesday. Duke’s Kon Knueppel, Florida’s Alex Condon and Michigan’s Danny Wolf all officially declared.

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson received the Michael H. Goldberg NBCA Coach of the Year Award, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced. The award recognizes the dedication, commitment, and hard work of NBA head coaches and is presented annually to a head coach who helped guide his players to a higher level of performance on-the-court and showed outstanding service and dedication to the community off-the-court. It honors the spirit of Mr. Goldberg, the esteemed long-time Executive Director of the NBCA, who set the standard for loyalty, integrity, love of the game, passionate representation, and tireless promotion of NBA coaching. The award is unique in that it is voted upon by the winners’ peers, the head coaches of all 30 NBA teams.

In total, five coaches received votes, reflecting the depth of coaching excellence in the NBA. In addition to Atkinson, the following head coaches also received votes [listed alphabetically]: J.B. Bickerstaff, Detroit Pistons; Mark Daigneault, Oklahoma City Thunder; Michael Malone, Denver Nuggets; and Ime Udoka, Houston Rockets.

“Kenny Atkinson has long been respected by his peers as an innovative and humble servant to the game,” said Indiana Pacers Coach and NBCA President Rick Carlisle. “Congratulations to Kenny on a historic season along with this prestigious recognition by his peers.”

The great Lee Corso, legend of College Game Day for ESPN and a respected football man for four decades, will retire this August, just as the college season is about to start. Corso’s final broadcast will be Aug. 30, ESPN announced, saying additional programming to celebrate Corso’s great career is planned in the days leading up to that weekend. “He was really a trailblazer for the way the sport was covered. It was OK to laugh, it was OK to poke a little fun, it was OK to show your personality. What Lee did really set the trend for the generations that have followed and continue to follow in covering college football,” said College Game Day hist Rece Davis of ESPN.

The Boston Ruins, errr, Bruins started the season with the usual playoff contender hope but finished with players such as Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo, and Trent Frederic nowhere in sight. Dumping Marchand, the team captain and backbone of the team, was a sure indication that it’s time to strip down and rebuild. While it’s much easier to revamp a team roster in the NHL than NBA or NFL, the Bruins braintrust will have their work cut out over the Summer of ‘25.

Fire Sale on those No. 13 Phoenix Suns jerseys, eh?

MARATHON MAN: Seventy-eight year old Amby Burfoot, the winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon when he was a student at Wesleyan (same school as Bill Belichick), will run in Monday’s 129th running of the Boston Marathon. Of course on Monday, the 250th celebration of Patriots’ Day in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Marathon will begin in the morning and the Boston Red Sox toss the first pitch against the Chicago White Sox at 11:10am.

The post TL’s Sunday Notebook | April 20 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief, Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – The radio and its sister, the transistor radio, gave way to the television which soon became a color TV. A few years later, we watched sports from around the globe by way of satellite TV. Years later, the technology improved from over-the-air to cable TV. A little while after that we could buy our own pizza-sized DIRECT-TV satellite dish which gave way to the smart TV and streaming devices.

Basketball’s set shot became a jump shot which morphed into running one-handers and finger rolls. Sooner or later, we had the dunk shot, then the slam dunk. Years later, the gimmick three-point shot was brought into the gamed years after that, pro teams were shooting 50 three-point attempts per game.

In baseball, the fastball was soon joined by the curve ball which gave way to a slider, then a cutter which is now a sweeper.

All-in-all, things ch, ch, ch, change.

Things change in life and in sports. It’s inevitable. When you take a giant step back to examine the progress, progress is good. Standing still is bad.

Take a look at the coverage of the 2025 Masters Tournament. CBS Sports via Paramount+ (and similar coverage by ESPN and its ESPN+ Streaming service) will provide over 100 hours of coverage this week. ESPN+ served up four hours of coverage of the Par 3 tournament on Wednesday. Not too long ago, over-the-air TV coverage of the Masters was limited to four or five hours from Augusta on the weekend.

For all four days of Masters Tournament play, viewers can watch four Featured Groups per day and Featured Holes coverage of Holes 4, 5 and 6, the famed Amen Corner and Holes No. 15 and No. 16. – all streamed on ESPN+ or Masters.com sites.

That a ton of TV coverage and a ton of change for the members of Augusta National who used to pride themselves as the ultimate “less is more” believers.

The “less is more” theory was perfected by the late NBA Commissioner David Sternwhen the league had to consolidate regular season coverage on CBS Sports in order to land a (then) lucrative tv deal that really focused on the NBA Playoffs and Finals. At the time, the NBA national tv deal was only eight regular season exposures plus the NBA All-Star Game. The power of the league’s cable tv package via Turner Sports had yet to reach its eventual impact.

Let’s talk about another ch, ch, ch, change.

The NBA will begin postseason play this week with a relatively new Play-In Tournament that will be as competitive as any first round match-up. Upon conclusion, the two teams to survive the Play-In will be in position to upset the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. That’s especially so in the West where about four games separates seed No. 2 from Seed No. 8.

In other words, the No. 2 Houston Rockets will have their hands full with their opponent, no matter who it is. That’s good for competition and good for the NBA which sparks interest in an extra four franchise markets and a massive marketing deal with So-Fi as the NBA Playoffs begin.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Back in the good old days of the Masters, these nine players were atop the leaderboard. In 2025, they all missed the cut. In fact, of the 18 former champions in the 2025 field, nine made the cut and these nine did not”:

• Dustin Johnson, 3 over (74-73)
• Bernhard Langer, 3 over (74-73)
• Sergio Garcia, 4 over (72-76)
• Mike Weir, 4 over (75-73)
• Fred Couples, 4 over (71-77)
• Phil Mickelson, 5 over (75-74)
• Adam Scott, 5 over (77-72)
• Jose Maria Olazabal, 7 over (77-74)
• Angel Cabrera, 11 over (75-80)
• Vijay Singh withdrew on Monday

This year’s tournament marked the end of his Masters playing career for Germany’s Bernard Langer, one of the true, gentlemen of the game of golf. He missed a 10-foot par putt on 18 and missed the cut by one after rounds of 74 and 73. Not only would making the putt have extended the two-time champion’s Masters career by two rounds, but it also would have made Langer the oldest player to ever make the cut at Augusta National. “It was a very special last two days for me,” said Langer, the 1985 and 1993 Masters champion, after 41 years playing Augusta.

All five amateurs in the 2025 Masters field missed the cut. Justin Hastings, the Latin American Amateur champion, shot 76-72 to lead the amateur contingent, but a player must complete 72 holes to earn low amateur honors. Hastings, No. 12 in PGA TOUR University, finished T13 at this year’s Mexico Open at VidantaWorld.

MASTERS: After an opening round 72 (even par), Rory McIlroy put two great rounds of (66) together and leads the 2025 Masters by two strokes over an equally impressive Bryson DeChambeau (69-68-69). The tournament’s 18 and 36-hole leader, Justin Rose, shot (75) on Saturday and fell seven strokes off the lead and is tied for sixth place. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler is also seven back heading into Sunday’s final round.

The post TL’s Sports Notebook | April 13 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – This weekend’s column is one of my favorites of the entire sports year. Sometimes it’s presented as an hour-by-hour timeline of coverage of NCAA Final Four Saturday, possibly the greatest day of sports anytime and anywhere. This year, with Boston Red Sox Opening Day at Fenway Park just a couple days ago, you’ll be reading a condensed timeline of “A Day in the Life of the Sox Opener,” a 13-9 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Here we go:

11:00am: My usual  T ride to Fenway from Newton only takes about 20 minutes. The 11:00am departure time for a 2:10pm game catches a relatively empty T train except for a few early bird fans, all dressed in their Sox gear.

A cloudy morning is showing promise as the forecast calls for a 67-degree day and blue skies, low wind.

11:30am: A brisk (in speed, not temperature) walk to Gate D where the PR/Gate Attendant has my pass all ready to go. On the short walk over, I sometimes count the Red Sox or visiting team team replica tops and keep a list. The opening day walk saw: Ortiz (4 times), Pedroia (2), Papelbon, Bogaerts, Devers, and a Yaz. For St. Louis, there was one Willie McGee.

Bag scanned and check-in a breeze. It’s off to the press elevators.

11:45am: There were tons of greetings, hand shakes and a few bro-hugs to my “Summer Family,” as I like to call them, ripping a page from Jimmy Fallon’s acting in “Fever Pitch.” It’s great to see everyone after a long winter.

11:50am: I partake of the usual routine of having my pass scanned at the pressbox entrance, a long walk down the hallway adorned with tons of Red Sox history, framed newspaper front pages and a few dedications to scribes departed. That’s always following with a detour to the press lounge, where I grab an ice cold Diet Coke along with the MLB league-wide stats package, Game Notes for the two teams and the daily scoresheet with official line-ups listed.

A few steps up to Row Three and my usual seat is assigned. Opening Day is always a little more crowded but it’s still fine working conditions in a warm pressbox. Soon after, Red Sox PR Man/Press Room Attendant Kevin Doylegrabs the keys to the automated windows and Fenway Park comes alive with sound and perfect temperature for a beautiful day of baseball.

Noon: Upon arrival, my first move to cover a game is to unpack the old MacBook Pro, find all of its cords and plugs, open my Boston College branded pencil case and grab my brand new pack of Opening Day pencils, along with a marker and a pen. All set. It’s time for the official Bob CarpenterBaseball Scorebook – a brand new book has been purchased and one game – the Red Sox MLB opener at Texas is already in the books. It was a practice run, scored off NESN.

I meticulously hand write the batting orders, the defensive assignments, the assigned umpiring crew, date and other small details while looking up the Game Note bios of any player I’m not familiar with – usually rookies.

Scoring the game is a tradition in the family, but my technique was perfected scoring the games of the Holy Trinity Titans back in the ‘70s when I was covering the team for the Trinity Triangle but also acting as a psuedo General Manager, assistant coach/manager, analytics/scout to Mr. Joe Cupolo, the head varsity baseball coach and great guy.

12:30pm: Some time to head down from the fifth floor press level to the field to take in a little batting practice and mingle with the rich and famous, and some of the legion of mindless hacks covering the game. There’s nothing like standing behind the batting cage, watching batting practice on Opening Day of a Major League season, nevermind doing it at the cathedral that is Fenway Park.

Only Fenway and Wrigley Field in Chicago remain as the ballparks situated right smack in a neighborhood. There’s nothing in sports as great as the sounds of the game, the crack of the bat, taking in the visuals of coaches smacking baseballs with a fungo bat for infielder’s still wanting more practice of properly fielding ground balls and getting accustomed to the Fenway Park infield. Players mingle with reporters and some notepads and microphones are pointed in the direction of players making themselves available for a pre-game chat. Nothing said is ever useful.

1:00pm: With everything going according to my own personal schedule, there’s time for a bite to eat and the Red Sox treat the media to the press room dining back up on the fifth floor. The entree is a beef stew with mashed potatoes and broccoli but I opt for some nice mixed salad, a Fenway Frank, and then add a scoop of potatoes and the roasted broccoli florets. Very nice.

There’s more meeting up with friends and acquaintances, a lot of talk and incoming questions about the NBA and college basketball, coming from some who covered the first and second round games in Providence – the game in which St. John’s (my alma mater) lost to Arkansas re-opens a relatively new wound.

1:30pm: The Red Sox media advisory asked all to be in their seats by 1:30pm, but there seems to be about a ten minute delay in the day’s itinerary. No big deal.

1:40pm: The public address announcer welcomes everyone to Fenway Park – the world’s most beloved ballpark – and the pregame ceremonies get underway. The Red Sox do ceremonies as great as any organization – within and out of sports. This year, they are paying tribute to the 1975 Red Sox American League championship team, along with their recently departed pitcher and fan favorite, Luis Tiant, one of the all-time greats of baseball.

The crowd is asked to observe a moment of silence in memory of Tiant, and the big video board shows still photographs of El Tiant with his Red Sox teammates who are all escorted over by the Green Monster where a huge American flag is hanging from the top row to the warning track. The players are incognito under the flag. “Danny Boy” was played softly as quiet background music during the photo tribute. Classy.

There’s on field ceremonies and staging and a wonderful rendition of the USA National Anthem, followed by a fly-over of three jet airplanes, two of them F-35s which can rock the joint at low altitude. I can live without two things in the many pregame rituals of sports. The first? Any type of pyro. I hate it. It’s not fancy or impressive, a real waste of money and only the possibility of something going terribly wrong. The second? Fly-overs. Again, what could possibly go wrong with three airplanes flying in tight formation less than a mile above a ballpark with 36,000 people?

2:00pm: The 1975 team is introduced and the players, all in their Red Sox home uniform tops, walk into the infield and pitcher’s mound area. Dewey Evans, Bill “Spaceman” Lee, Jim Rice, Freddie Lynn, Carlton Fisk and Carl Yastrzemski (aka Yaz) are the headliners.

Lee bee-lines it to the pitching mound where he digs a small hole alongside the rubber for old times sake.

Yaz throws out the ceremonial first pitch, a short toss to Red Sox Manager Alex Cora, as much an honor for AC as it was for Yaz.

The Tiant Family, together, exclaimed “Play Ball,” and the 2025 home season is officially underway.

For a game recap, visit HERE.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: From various polls and media sources, it seems as though OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, aka SGA, has the 2024-25 NBA Most Valuable Player Award sewn-up. No argument here.

TL – NBA MVP VOTE

1). Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC Thunder

2). Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets

3). Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors

4). Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics

5). Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers

Yep, no LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and no Luka Doncic of the Lakers. And, the really tough player to leave out of the Top 5 was Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. I leaned to Mitchell because of the Cleveland Cavaliers Won-Loss record and top spot in the East. If I were picking players to start an Expansion Franchise, I’d go with Giannis, right after Jokic.

TIDBITS & TORPEDO BATS: I’ve heard of Torpedos and the PT-109 Torpedo boat. I’ve heard of the 2021 Cigar of the Year – the 1964 Padron Anniversary Torpedo, and I’ve heard of Rhode Island Torpedo Sloppy Joes, but never – until this baseball season – had I heard of a Torpedo Bat, although they were frequently in play years before.

This baseball season, largely because of the second day of the season up in the Bronx when Yanks’ slugger Aaron Judge hit three of the club’s nine home runs in a 20-9 blow-out, all hit with the Torpedo bats. Since then, the topic has been all the rage.

With that in mind, how about a list of “Torpedos,” the kinds much in need:

• Torpedo Golf Drivers and Fairway Woods
• Torpedo Tennis and Badminton Racquets
• Torpedo Ping Pong Paddles
• Torpedo Arrows for Archery
• Torpedo Golf Carts
• Torpedo Bobsleds (already halfway there)
• Torpedo Curling Stones
• Torpedo Lawn Mower and Leaf Mulching Machines
• Torpedo Snow Blowers
• Torpedo Beer Cans
• Torpedo Guitars

BASKETBALL HALL: In case you missed it from a busy Final Four Saturday schedule, the Basketball Hall of Fame named the Class of 2025, elected for enshrinement this September.

NAISMITH BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2025

North American Committee (in alphabetical order): 2008 US Olympic Men’s Basketball Team, Carmelo Anthony [Player], Danny Crawford [Referee], Billy Donovan [Coach], Dwight Howard [Player].

Women’s Committee: Sue Bird [Player], Sylvia Fowles [Player], Maya Moore [Player]

Contributors Committee: Micky Arison

The Class of 2025 will be celebrated during the Enshrinement festivities on September 5-6.

WORLD SERIES PREDICTIONS by STRAT-O-MATIC: Regular readers of this column will recognize the tradition of having our friends at Strat-O-Matic predict the winners of seasons to come. This week, it’s a surprise/upset winner that takes the Commissioner’s Trophy.

With 107 wins, the Los Angeles Dodgers breezed to the top berth in the National League, but LA suffered a fictional five-game defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers, an NL wild card entry in the Division Series to end its season. The Chicago Cuba, 91-game winners took honors in the Central, and they swept NL East winner Atlanta, then dispatched Milwaukee in six games to reach the World Series. Surprisingly, the Chicagolanders swept American League winner Toronto (AL East champion, 92-70) for the World Series title.

The other division winners in Strat-O-Matic’s simulation were Minnesota (92-70) and Seattle (94-68). The wild cards were the New York Yankees (84-78), Houston (84-78) and Kansas City (84-78) in the American and New York (95-67) and San Francisco (88-74) in the NL.

THIS JEST IN: The PGA Tour rejected the most recent $1.5 billion proposed investment from the Saudi Public Investment Fund that underwrites LIV Golf, according to published reports by The Guardian in the UK. There is no clear path for the two entities to agree to joint operation, as LIV Golf has a deal-breaker demand to continue to play weekly tournaments around the world. It seems they’re two ships passing in the night, in perpetuity.

CAN’T MAKE IT UP: Former St. John’s guard A.J. Storr might earn the “Golden Sombrero” of college basketball and he’s likely to do so with the “Golden Sombrero” of high school basketball in his back pocket. Storr has entered the CBB transfer portal once again. Here’s a look back at his soon-to-be eight-pack of amateur basketball:

High School

• 2018-19: Kankakee High
• 2019-20: Bishop Gorman High
• 2020-21: AZ Compass Prep
• 2021-22: IMG Academy

College

• 2022-23: St. John’s
• 2023-24: Wisconsin
• 2024-25: Kansas
• 2025-26: TBA

The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | April 6 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

While We’re Young (Ideas) | On NCAA Madness to Come

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – There are two (somewhat) hidden gems in the annual NCAA championship calendar. One is underway, and the other is Memorial Day Weekend – this year at nearly Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. Sometimes, they are overlooked with all of the hullabaloo of March Madness, the GranDaddy of them all. The two best?

1. The NCAA Frozen Four
2. The NCAA Lacrosse Championship

Here’s the bracket for the on-going men’s ice hockey tournament, noting local favorite Boston College was a 3-1 winner over nearby Bentley on Friday afternoon in a very hard-fought game. BC improved to 27-7-2 overall. UConn, Penn State and Denver advanced as well, all three knocking out New England-area schools. Denver will play Boston College on Sunday night at 7:00pm with the winner advancing to the Frozen Four. Boston University played Saturday afternoon and defeated Cornell, 3-2, in overtime, to advance to the national semifinals in St. Louis … You can see all the results by visiting HERE.

When all is settled to four hockey teams, the Frozen Four will convene in St. Louis, Missouri – the hockey capital of the Mississippi River – although the river that runs through it never freezes.

The Frozen Four usually pits schools from New England (and occasional New York State) against schools from the west (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Michigan, Denver). This year, Penn State is representing the top notch Big Ten schools.

Going into the tournament, the four schools ranked in the Top Four were the same to be assigned No. 1 seeds. They were:

1. Boston College
2. Michigan State (was ranked as No. 1, while BC was No. 2)
3. Maine
4. Western Michigan

No. 3 Maine was ousted by Penn State, 5-1, on Friday while No. 2 Michigan State was eliminated by Cornell, the lone Ivy League representative.

While the men’s Final Four basketball tournament is April 5 & 7, the Frozen Four is scheduled for April 10 & 12.

LAX: Come Memorial Day Weekend, May 24 & 26, with ancillary (Women’s semis/finals and Division II and III men’s championships all weekend, one of the great American events will be staged in nearby Foxborough, Mass., at the home of the New England Patriots (NFL) and Revolution (MLS). Tickets range between $33 and $100 and are available on Ticketmaster. The top schools currently ranked include:

1. Cornell
2. Maryland
3. Ohio State
4. Princeton

That’s two Ivy League schools and two Big Ten schools at the top but plenty of others knocking at the door, and there’s two months of action and tournament games to come.

One important thing of note, the women’s basketball Finals Four, women’s Frozen Four and the women’s lacrosse championship are tremendous events with outstanding student-athletes, competing at a very high level. I do not want to take one thing away by listing the men’s tournaments without mentioning the women, especially in lacrosse as we’ll see them play in Foxborough this May.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: As long as the topic is tournament time, let’s look at the newest college tournament on the block. The College Basketball Crown is a new 16-team, single-elimination postseason men’s basketball tourney, featuring teams from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East conferences, along with additional at-large participants. It’s scheduled from March 31 to April 6, 2025, and will be played at two Las Vegas venues – the MGM Grand Garden Arena and T-Mobile Arena. All games will be broadcast on FOX and FS1.

Look for the likes of Boise State, Georgetown, Oregon State and Villanova competing for NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) money. According to reports, the champion team will receive a $300,000 in NIL money, the runner-up will earn $100,000, and the semifinalists will each take home $50,000 in NIL.

Utah vs. Butler will tip off the event on Monday, March 31, at 3 p.m. EDT.

The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | March 30 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

While We’re Young (Ideas) – Special NCAA Edition

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

PROVIDENCE – Highly respected sports industry guru Tony Ponturo, he of multi-time nominee and winner for both the Most Powerful Man in Sports and in the theatre industry, wrote a thought-leadership book entitled, “Revenge of the C+ Student.” Ponturo, a two time TONY Award winner for his efforts on Broadway, reviving “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” and producing 2010 Best Musical “Memphis,” helped make the brands “Bud” and “Bud Light” household names on a worldwide basis. Just ask The Budweiser Clydesdales.

Ponturo spent 26 years selling Bud, the exact same amount of time this columnist spent working for David Stern at the National Basketball Association. Looking at those two parallel lines, and enlightened by Ponturo’s book and his transcript, I’d love to author a similar sports business practice book and I’d call it, “At Least I Was Good at Geography.”

To wit, I give you this year’s brackets for NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball.

In the East, we have:

• No. 2 Alabama
• No. 3 Wisconsin
• No. 4 Arizona
• No. 5 Oregon
• No. 6 BYU (Utah)
• No. 7 St. Mary’s Moraga (California)
• No. 14 Montana

In the West, we have:

No. 1 Florida

No. 2 St. John’s (New York)

No. 3 Texas Tech (Lubbock, Texas)

No. 4 Maryland

No. 5 Memphis (Tennessee)

No. 6 Missouri

No. 8 UConn (Hartford, Connecticut area)

No. 9 Oklahoma

No. 14 UNC Wilmington (North Carolina)

No. 16 Norfolk State (Norfolk, Virginia)

There’s a few more.

In the South, there’s Michigan State (Lansing), Marquette (Wisconsin), Yale (New Haven, Connecticut), and Michigan (Ann Arbor) – four schools where you can’t get much further North, unless Canada does become the 51st State and UConn is south of Yukon.

In the Midwest, the bracket claims, UCLA (Los Angeles), Gonzaga (Spokane, Washington), Utah State (Logan, Utah), and then a slew of Southeastern or Southern schools like Wofford (Spartanburg, South Carolina), High Point (North Carolina), Clemson (South Carolina), Kentucky, McNeese (Lake Charles, Louisiana), Tennessee and Georgia.

There are other examples, but you surely get the point.

In recent years, the NCAA made adjustments to the brackets so an Eastern team such as St. John’s (full disclosure as my alma mater) can play in the West Regional but remain in Providence, Rhode Island to do so. But, success in Providence sends teams in that pod to San Francisco while a successful weekend in Seattle for Arizona or Oregon sends a team to Newark New Jersey.

The tournament itself increased from 64 to 68 teams in 2001, so we’ve been bickering about this stuff for decades. Still, there is no resolve and it’s pretty bad when there’s no Big East team in the East.

Admittedly, this is nothing new being reported. The days of a truly East vs West NCAA Tournament went out with the 16 team set-up which gave the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) in New York the golden opportunity of securing a very deep field in the late ‘60s and early ‘70’s. As the times changed and the Big Dance played to a bigger ballroom of dancers, the money kicked in and TV programmers maxed-out the billions being spent.

Suffice it to say, the names of the regionals should no longer be East, West, South and Midwest, and maybe the NCAA should take a page out of the NHL’s book and rename the basketball regionals something like:

• Lester Patrick
• Conn Smythe
• James Norris
• Charles Francis Adams

Joking aside, it’s time to rid the tournament of its D- grade in Geography, as the Men’s and Women’s basketball committees divvy-up the schools with goals other than to stack them to represent a region of the USA.

May it be suggested:

• Dave Gavitt Division (East)
• John Wooden Division (West)
• Ray Meyer Division (Midwest)
• Guy Lewis Division (South-Texas-Southwest representation)

Those names, in tribute of Dave Gavitt (founder of the BIG EAST), John Wooden (the great UCLA coach), Ray Meyer (coached Chicago’s DePaul University from 1942 to 1984) and Guy Lewis (coach of University of Houston from 1956 to 1986). To pay proper respect to college basketball in the United States, the Most Outstanding Player from each division would be recognized and awarded with:

• Gavitt MOP received the Patrick Ewing Trophy
• Wooden MOP honored with the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Trophy
• Meyer MOP receives the Oscar Robertson Trophy
• Lewis MOP honored with the Junior Bridgeman Trophy

Should the tournament choose to expand, we could very easily add:

• Gonzaga Division (Northwest) – MOP award John Stockton Trophy
• Coach K Division (Southeast) – MOP gets the Michael Jordan Trophy (apologies to Grant Hill, Ralph Sampson, Artis Gilmore and Len Bias).

Those two divisional mentioned do not need further explanation, I hope.

---

The bottom line as the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament begins, is that the famed, crack committee did a pretty good job of selecting the right teams and fairly distributing them across the four existing regional pods, sans the Group of Death they sent out West.

The West is so stacked, a hot team like Florida, after its No. 1 vs No. 16 tilt against Norfolk State, will have a rough road to the Final 4, including:

• Winner of UConn v.Oklahoma
• Winner of Memphis v. Colo State/or/Maryland v. Grand Canyon
• A Regional Final against No. 2 St. John’s or others (Kansas/Texas Tech) etc

There’s gotta be a better way.

---

PICKS: Here are a few picks that are going into a combination of my two or three bracket submission with friends and family. (Note: I always bang out one bracket on Selection Sunday night and set it aside). Then with more thought and research I do another bracket for use in pools.

TEAMS CONSIDERED HOT: These teams were playing the best over the past few weeks and into their conference tournaments:

1. Florida
2. Duke
3. Houston
4. Auburn
5. Tennessee
6. Michigan State
7. St John’s
8. Alabama
9. Texas Tech
10. Iowa State

FACTS: In the Round of 64, the higher seed wins 71.5% and that includes No. 8 v. No. 9 which are really equal … In the Second Round, the better seeds win at a 73.1% clip. After that, the advantage for the higher seeds declines gradually:

• Sweet 16 – 63.8% victory pace for higher seed
• Elite 8 – 55%

In terms of vulnerable seeds since 2009, the No. 6 seeds are (29-31) against the No. 11s. In just the last 10 years, No. 11 seeds are 22-18 vs. No. 6

Applying the 6 vs 11 raw data to this particular year’s bracket set-up surfaces a few interesting upset possibilities:

• In the East bracket, can No. 11 VCU upset No. 6 BYU in Denver where you have to figure in the travel and altitude?
• In the South, No. 6 Ole Miss has to play the hot play-in winner of North Carolina.
• In the West, No. 6 Missouri (22-11) has a tough draw vs. No. 11 Drake (30-3).
• And, in the Midwest bracket, No. 6 Illinois will face play-in winner Xavier, a team that finished the Big East regular season quite strong with seven straight victories to close out the season before meeting and losing to Marquette at the Garden.

The teams entering the tournament that have executed the best in terms of both Offensive and Defensive efficiency:

• Auburn
• Duke
• Florida
• Houston
• Arizona
• Tennessee
• Louisville

Not to bore anyone with a full Round-by-Round, Pick-by-Pick selection show, (see Jay Bilas’ column on ESPN.com as he does a much better job than everyone else put together), I’ll simply list my Regional Finalist predictions. Yes, they are rather high seeds.

• East: Duke vs. Wisconsin
• Midwest: Houston vs. Tennessee
• South: Auburn vs. Michigan State
• West: Florida vs St. John’s

---

No matter what – whether your bracket is torn up tomorrow or your favorite team survives and advances – it’s time for March Madness. Enjoy the ride. Enjoy the spectacle of the best of College Basketball (Men’s and Women’s) with a love of the game and not the X and O marks on a piece of paper, otherwise known in American culture as “your bracket.”

TL

The post March Madness Tip-Off appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief, Digital Sports Desk

NEW YORK – At one point in 2023, this column took a deep dive into a lifetime of memories created within New York City’s Madison Square Garden. It’s worthwhile to take a look back at that column and soak in the many experience from such a magical world.

This week, writing from a press room we used to call “The Rotunda” but now renamed “The Expo,” it’s time to recall the rise of the Big East Conference, which began in 1979-80 but didn’t make “The Garden” its post-season HQ until 1983 after fiddling around with a moving post season home that included:

• 1980 – Providence Civic Center (Georgetown 87-81 over Syracuse)
• 1981 – Carrier Dome (Syracuse 83-80 over Villanova)
• 1982 – Hartford Civic Center (Georgetown 72-54 over Villanova)

In ‘83, the tournament moved to The Garden, and the BIG EAST never looked back, finding the perfect meeting place for a bevy of teams taking the subway, the Tubes, Amtrak or an easy flight into town. When the conferences played square-dancing do-si-do and Val Ackerman was named Commissioner, she and the “Catholic 7” school presidents made sure they kept the rights to play at MSG. Then Ackerman re-upped to the point where this year marks the 43rd consecutive season the BIG EAST champion has been crowned at The Garden.

Just last season, Ackerman and Garden event guru Joel Fisher announced the tournament will continue to be held at The Garden through 2032, ensuring “The World’s Most Famous Arena” will host 50 consecutive BIG EAST men’s basketball tournaments.

Ackerman and the Big East are not just about men’s hoops, as Ackerman was formerly the President of the WNBA (1996-2005) and represents women’s sports about as strongly as anyone in the USA. All totaled, sponsored athletic programs of the Big East institutions provides big time college participation opportunities for more than 3,800 student-athletes on over 200 men’s and women’s teams in 22 sports.

The memories of the past run deep (as the link to column above connects), but what’s most important is that new memories are being created each and every year. The future is quite bright, as long as Ackerman is in the Commissioner’s chair and the game officials continue to excel by allowing the players, ahem, student-athletes to determine the outcomes with a “let them play” style. That works, as long as the teams are evenly matched and there’s no B.S. or malicious intent on the physical nature of the game.

At this tournament, the game officials just might be the MVPs.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: While the topic is NCAA college basketball, here’s to sharing my United States Basketball Writers’ annual choices for men’s and women’s All-Americans, and the Wayman Tisdale Rookie award, along with the Hank IbaCoach of the Year award:

Men’s All American Vote (Ranked)

Men’s All-America 1 – Johni Broome, Auburn

Men’s All-America 2 – Cooper Flagg, Duke

Men’s All-America 3 – RJ Davis, North Carolina

Men’s All-America 4 – Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton

Men’s All-America 5 – Kam Jones, Marquette

Men’s All-America 6 – Mark Sears, Alabama

Men’s All-America 7 – RJ Luis, St. John’s

Men’s All-America 8 – Hunter Dickenson, Kansas

Men’s All-America 9 – Caleb Love, Arizona

Men’s All-America 10 – Alex Karaban, U Conn

Men’s All-America 11 – Kadary Richmond, St. John’s

Men’s All-America 12 – Ace Bailey, Rutgers

Men’s All-America 13 – Eric Dixon, Villanova

Men’s All-America 14 – Dylan Harper, Rutgers

Men’s All-America 15 – Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest

Men’s Most Outstanding Player Vote (Ranked)

Oscar Robertson Trophy 1 – Cooper Flagg, Duke

Oscar Robertson Trophy 2 – Johni Broome, Auburn

Oscar Robertson Trophy 3 – Cam Jones, Marquette

Wayman Tisdale Rookie (First Year) Player of the Season Vote (Ranked)

Tisdale Award 1 – Cooper Flagg, Duke

Tisdale Award 2 – Liam McNeeley, U Conn

Tisdale Award 3 – Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn

Hank Iba Award for National Coach of the Year Vote (Ranked)

Henry Iba Award 1 – Bruce Pearl, Auburn

Henry Iba Award 2 – Tom Izzo, Michigan State

Henry Iba Award 3 – Rick Pitino, St. John’s

On the women’s side, here is my All-American ballot:

Women’s All-America 1 – Paige Bueckers, U Conn

Women’s All-America 2 – JuJu Watkins, USC

Women’s All-America 3 – Lauren Betts, UCLA

Women’s All-America 4- Madison Booker, Texas

Women’s All-America 5 – Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State

Women’s All-America 6 – Aneesah Morrow, LSU

Women’s All-America 7- Hailey Van Lith, TCU

Women’s All-America 8 – Olivia Miles, Notre Dame

Women’s All-America 9 – Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame

Women’s All-America 10 – Georgia Amoore, Kentucky

Women’s All-America 11 – Kiki Rice, UCLA

Women’s All-America 12 – Mikaylah Williams, LSU

Women’s All-America 13 – Izzy Higginbottom, Arkansas

Women’s All-America 14 – Grace Larkins, South Dakota

Women’s All-America 15 – Joyce Edwards, South Carolina

HAVERBACK: Also, of importance, the USBWA recognized the long service to the game of women’s basketball by Rose DiPaula, Director of Strategic Communications and Content Development at the University of Maryland, who was honored with the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Mary Jo Haverbeck Award winner for 2025. … The award is presented annually to recognize those in women’s college basketball who have rendered a special service to the USBWA and sportswriters who cover college basketball. It is named after the late Mary Jo Haverbeck, the longtime women’s sports communications director at Penn State who passed away in January 2014. The award pays tribute to Haverbeck for her pioneering and visionary work as one of the first women to work in the sports communication profession.

BIG EAST LEGEND: After the press conferences were completed on Friday night, St. John’s coach Rick Pitino presented John Paquette, the retiring BIG EAST head of communications (since Day 1), with an “official” No. 35 St. John’s uniform/jersey to commemorate Paquette’s 35 years of service to the BIG EAST conference. A classy move by Pitino and St. John’s players/athletic staff as Paquette had only announced his decision to retire (at the end of the school year) this week. “While it’s impossible to imagine a BIG EAST world without John Paquette in it, we join in the chorus of congratulations that we know will come his way with this announcement,” said BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman. “The BIG EAST will be eternally grateful to John for countless late nights, unrelenting travel, his unmatched knowledge about our proud history, and the extraordinary relationships he’s developed with media members across the country. Simply put, few have done more for the BIG EAST than John. We wish him, Debbie, Phil, Charlotte, Terry, and his family nothing but the best as they begin this new family chapter.” Paquette has been active in College Sports Communicators (CSC) – (formerly the SIDs), the national trade organization of college athletics communicators. He has served terms on the CSC Executive Board and Board of Directors and was CSC President for the 2023-24 academic year. Paquette is a member of the CSC Hall of Fame. He’s also mentored countless communications staffers and interns who have gone on to enjoy productive careers in the sports industry.

TIDBITS: Red Sox Slugger Rafael Devers made his 2025 spring training debut on Saturday. He batted second, ahead of INF Alex Bregman and INF Trevor Story. … San Francisco Giants right fielder Jerar Encarnacion is tied for the MLB spring training lead in RBI with 13. … Throughout spring training, the New York Mets pitching staff has raved about teammate Clay Holmes’ “stuff,” saying it’s been “nasty” which is the ultimate compliment. On Friday, Holmes was named as the starter for the Mets’ March 27 in Houston. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, is converting a career reliever to a starter over the past few months and like what he’s seen. … It’s Selection Sunday, and the Southeast Conference might get a load of invites to the Big Dance. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey believes it would be “justified” (his word not ours) for his conference to receive as many as 14 bids to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. “It’s a unicorn league right now. We’re not going to change our name, but we stand alone historically. And I think that’ll be rewarded,” said Sankey as noted in D-1 ticker. “We went 30-4 against the ACC,” he added. … St. John’s went (0-1) against the SEC, dropping a November 24 game to Georgia (66-63). … Villanova relieved head coach Kyle Neptune of his duties after three years at the help. Neptune was an assistant to the NCAA chmpionship coach Jay Wright and went to Fordham for a year or so, turning around the Rams’ fortunes before returning to ‘Nova. The Villanova job is one of the gems of college basketball coaching. They’ll be lining up for interviews in Philly.

THIS JEST IN: Red Sox spring training signee Trayce Thompson leads the Majors in spring training Home Runs with six. He also leads the Grapefruit League in OPS (1.585) and has hit .357 (10-for-28) with 13 RBI in 14 games. At the moment, there’s no clarity on whether the 33-year old veteran MLB outfielder with a career .212 batting average will make the big league club or not. There’s a decent chance he’ll get picked up by another club if the Sox part ways when camp breaks or he might become a fill-in for Wilyer Abreu, who may or may not be ready for Opening Day after a gastrointestinal virus caused him to lost a significant amount of weight this spring. Abreau, however, was in the Red Sox starting lineup on Saturday, batting eighth.

YOU CAN’T MAKE IT UP: There were multiple reports this week on the upcoming fate of the MSG Network and its counterpart in the amazing Sphere venue – the combination being Sphere Entertainment. According to reports in Front Office Sportsa month ago and many financial reports this week, Sphere reported financial results for the three months ending Dec. 31. Revenue declined 2% to $308 million with a net loss of $126 million for the fourth quarter. The company also warned that bankruptcy is an option for the regional sports network if it cannot refinance its $804 million in debt that originally came due last October 11. The RSN’s debt sits within the MSG arm, and creditors can’t make a claim on Sphere. The company and its lenders have entered into several forbearance agreements to extend the deadline, with the current expiration date on March 26. … In other words, “It could be trouble for MSG Net.” … Now, why is that such a “You Can’t Make It Up” item? It seems New York Knicks franchise owner James Dolan – who has been on a two-year rant on this topic – called for a financial resolution to be voted on at this month’s NBA Board of Governors meeting as he’s asking for clearer accounting of the league’s finances, according to a letter received this week by the league office and the NBA Board of Governors. Back in September, Dolan said he wouldn’t be voting on the league’s 2024-25 budget or voting for a chairman of the board. … What’s his beef? … Last year, Dolan sent another letter criticizing the league for its new television deal, which he said would render regional sports networks as “unviable” moving forward. … “The NBA has made the move to an NFL model — deemphasizing and depowering the local market,” Dolan wrote in the letter, which was obtained by ESPN. “Soon, your only revenue concern will be the sale of tickets and what color next year’s jersey will be. Don’t worry, because due to revenue pooling, you are guaranteed to be neither a success nor a failure.

“Of course, to get there, the league must take down the successful franchises and redistribute to the less successful. This new media deal goes a long way to accomplishing that goal,” wrote Dolan and his attorney. … The NBA signed a new 11-year media rights deal worth $76 billion, granting broadcast rights on behalf of the league to ESPN/ABC, NBCUniversal, and Amazon Prime Video, starting in the 2025-26 season. This agreement will significantly increase the number of nationally televised games and thus limited individual team “home broadcasts.” … In summary, a guy who is bankrupting a regional sports network, complete with linear and streaming rights in the No.1 major market in the USA, is now peering into the line-by-line operation of the league office which has helped increase franchise values from some $32.5 million (expansion of 1998-99) to $125m (expansion of 1995) to some $4 or $5 or even $6 billion in 2025, according to recent reports of the proposed sale of Boston Celtics. He’s seeking minutia from a league office that took the national TV deal from $88m in 1982-83 to its current $76 billion?

C’mon now.

Interestingly, New York Mets club owner Steve Cohen recently added more than 400,000 shares to his position in Sphere Entertainment through his Point72 Asset Management hedge fund, according to a Feb. 14 SEC filing. It pushed the billionaire’s stake in Sphere to 7.3%, according to a report this week in Sportico.

What do the Mets see that MSG/Knicks/Rangers do not?

The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | March 16 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

While We’re Young (Ideas) | On Site at the MIT Sloan Sports Conference

TGL’s Mike McCarley (2nd left) at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (Photo by T. Peter Lyons/Digital Sports Desk)

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – The sports world descended upon the Hynes Convention Center in downtown Boston this weekend to probe, ponder and pontificate on nearly every aspect of the major sports – and some others. The annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (#SSAC25), also known as #AnalyticsInMotion, played to a sold out crowd for two full days of seminars, presentations and start-up fund-raising.

Yours truly, representing a combination of Digital Sports Desk, Pivottv Media and Boston VC Sports, was in attendance for the full conference and enjoyed panels on “Sports in 2045,” featuring New England Patriots team president Jonathan Kraft and former head of ESPN and current President and Chief Operating Officer of Endeavor (NYSE: EDR) and TKO Group Holdings Mark Shapiro, along with “Building Sports Empires with an Entrepreneurial Edge, featuring Michele Kang (Washington Spirits – NWSL) and Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital Partners.

Cardinale was particularly interesting because of his wide-ranging and incredibly successful career, not only in the sports world, but at Goldman Sachs prior to his founding of RedBird.

RedBird’s most recent investments include European football’s AC Milan; Everpass Media (the NFL); Skydance Media (Larry and David Ellison); Artists Equity (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon); All3Media (largest content creator in the UK); Fenway Sports Group (Boston Red Sox, Liverpool FC, Pittsburgh Penguins, New England Sports Network); the Yankees Entertainment & Sports (“YES”) Network (New York Yankees and Amazon); The Springhill Company (LeBron James and Maverick Carter); the United Football League (UFL) (Disney/ESPN, Fox and Dwayne Johnson); the Indian Premier League’s Rajasthan Royals; and Formula One’s Alpine Racing team.

Carter appeared on another panel with Draft Kings head Jason Robins on Saturday and spoke of “Re-writing the Playbook” and the fact the RedBird-Springhill venture, headed up by Carter and James with their distinguished brands, including UNINTERRUPTED, The Shop, and The Robot Company, recently merged with Fulwell 73 Productions (London) to form a new global entertainment company, Fulwell Entertainment.

The conference – light in the sport of baseball because of the fact nearly all front office and analytics teams are quite busy at Spring Training camps – delved into “The New Age NFL Office,” the “Next Generation of Sports Venues” and the “Globalization of Sports,” a panel that featured NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum.

Tatum spoke of the NBA’s plans to return to China and play a pair of games in Macau this October, the first since the controversial 2019 dust-up caused by (then Houston Rockets GM< now Philadelphia 76ers GM) Daryl Morey’s tweet to “Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.” Tatum fully explained that after the NBA put out a statement defending Morey’s rights to express his opinion, that China’s CCTV removed NBA programming from its airwaves but later returned things to normal operating, all the while the league’s primary broadcast outlet – “Tencent” continued to air games and highlights. The Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns were tapped to play October 10 and 12 at the Venetian Arena, which is controlled by the Adelson family — by way of the Las Vegas Sands conglomerate — now the majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks.

Tatum also reiterated the NBA is doubling down on efforts to expand growth in the game on the continent of Africa and in India, where a cool billion people are available to say, “I Love This Game.”

Early on Friday, Mike McCarley of the new (indoor) TGL pro golf league was amongst the panelists on Emerging Sports and he was presented with the MIT Sloan “Alpha” award for excellence as a start-up sport, recognized for the incredible use of data, technology, social media and broadcast excellence.

While the panelists previously mentioned filled the “Bill James Room” and the “Sue Bird Room” – the two largest ballrooms in the convention center, there were dozens of break-out rooms for smaller presentations, research paper workshops and even some player participation displays of golf swings being “closest to the pin” or batting cages and a hitters’ “exit velocity.” There was even a new name for one of the break-out rooms, dubbed the “Shane Battier Room.”

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Ready for your first look at the BIG EAST brackets?

BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Tournament, Presented by JEEP

First Round, March 12 (Peacock)

No. 9 Butler vs. No. 8 Providence 4:00

No. 10 DePaul vs. No. 7 Georgetown 6:30

No. 11 Seton Hall vs. No. 6 Villanova 9:00

Quarterfinal, March 13 (Peacock/FS1)

Butler/Providence vs. No. 1 St. John’s 12:00

No. 5 Marquette vs. No. 4 Xavier 2:30

DePaul/Georgetown vs. No. 2 Creighton 7:00

Seton Hall/Villanova vs. No. 3 UConn 9:30

Semifinal, March 14 (FOX)

Quarterfinal Winners 6:30

Quarterfinal Winners 9:00

Championship, March 15 (FOX)

Semifinal Winners 6:30

TIDBITS: Much was said and written about Nikola Jokic’s 31 points, 21 rebounds and a career-high 22 assists stat line as the Denver Nuggets outlasted the Phoenix Suns, 149-141, in overtime Friday night. Jokic became the first NBA player with a triple-double of at least 30 points, 20 rebounds and 20 assists and he tied his team record with his 29th triple-double of the season, stretching his career total to 149. That’s pretty good. … Old school NBA stat geeks had to wonder what some of Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain’s best stat lines were when the “Stilt” played back in the ‘60s and ‘70s. … Here’s one, picked at random, from Wilt’s 1967-68 season – the year he had his highest assist totals of 8.6 per game. On March 4, 1968, Wilt played all 48 minutes, scored 58 points, grabbed 35 rebounds and had four assists. … Of course, on March 2, 1962, Chamberlain scored 100 points, added 25 rebounds but had only two assists. … On February 28, 1962, Chamberlain played all 48 minutes, scored 61 points, added 28 rebounds and six assists. … Obviously, none of those were triple-doubles, but there’s one key statistical anomaly. There’s a distinct possibility Chamberlain might’ve had a triple-double if the NBA charted blocked shots and/or steals at the time. With that in mind, statisticians recreated a March 18, 1968 stat line which clocked Chamberlain’s single game output at 53 points, 32 rebounds, 24 blocks, 14 assists and 11 steals with the blocks and steals “unofficial.” … The great Nate Thurmond once had 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 rebounds, and 12 blocks when he led the Chicago Bulls to a victory against the Atlanta Hawks while San Antonio’s David Robinson clocked 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and 10 blocked shots in a February 2, 1994 Spurs win over Detroit. … There have been other quadruple doubles since that great game but one game, in particular, stands out as one of the all-time greatest performances. In a Game 7 of the 1962 NBA Finals, Boston center Bill Russell scored 30 points and added 40 rebounds with four assists in the Celtics’ 110-107 series clincher over the LA Lakers. Elgin Baylor of the Lakers had 41 points and 22 rebounds in the losing effort.

The Red Sox front office went to work and agreed to terms with 23 players on one-year contracts for the 2025 season. Signing one-season deals were: Wilyer Abreu, Brennan Bernardino, Triston Casas, Cooper Criswell, Hunter Dobbins, Richard Fitts, Jhostynxon Garcia, Romy Gonzalez, Vaughn Grissom, Luis Guerrero, David Hamilton, Zack Kelly, Chris Murphy, Carlos Narváez, Zach Penrod, Luis Perales, Quinn Priester, Blake Sabol, Justin Slaten, Nick Sogard, Greg Weissert, Josh Winckowski, and Connor Wong.

THIS JEST IN: On Saturday, forward Zuby Ejiofor hit a buzzer-beater to send the St. John’s men’s basketball team (27-4, 18-2 BIG EAST) back home from Marquette (Milwaukee) with a men’s basketball program record 27th regular season victory. Ejiofor, a junior forward for the Johnnies, buried a luck-out toss at the buzzer to upend Marquette (22-9, 13-7 BIG EAST), 86-84, in overtime. On the final day of the regular season, St John’s managed a tough road win behind clutch performances from RJ Luis Jr. and Kadary Richmond. Luis led St. John’s with 28 points, shooting 10-for-19 from floor with a trio of 3-pointers, to go with 11 rebounds marking his ninth double-double of the season. Meanwhile, Richmond recorded the first St. John’s triple-double in since Metta Sandiford-Artest (formerly Ron Artest), reached the milestone on Jan. 9, 1999. Richmond’s clutch performance included 10 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and four steals. … Ejiofor, who also sank a game winner at the buzzer in the team’s first BIG EAST road game of this season, at Providence on Dec. 20, finished with 17 points and 12 boards.

St. John’s captured the No. 1 seed in the upcoming BIG EAST tournament to be held at Madison Square Garden this coming Wednesday through Saturday. Digital Sports Desk will be on-site at The Garden for the tournament.

YOU CAN’T MAKE IT UP: There’s a whole new meaning to the the word SNOWboard. According to the AP, there’s a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who is wanted for allegedly running a multinational drug trafficking network and orchestrating multiple murders related to his drug ring. The FBI added Ryan Wedding, 43, to its 10 Most Wanted list, while announcing the U.S. State Department’s $10 million offer. … “Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities and in his native Canada,” said Akil Davis, the assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office. “The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man.” … Seems that the drugs were flowing from South America to Mexico to Southern California and then to Canada, calling into question the USA’s claims that drugs were flowing north to south. … Authorities alledge that Wedding’s group killed two members of a family in Canada in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment in what officials there said was a case of mistaken identity, then two other people, associated with the ring.

The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | March 9 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – The Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox share Fort Myers as their MLB Spring Training hometown. The Twins call Lee Health Sports Complex home and play their games at Hammond Stadium. There are five additional playing fields and the year-round Twins Player Development Academy. It is also home to two Twins minor league affiliates, the Low-A Fort Myers Mighty Mussels and the rookie-level Florida Complex League Twins.

Of course, the Red Sox have JetBlue Park at Fenway South, sometimes referred to as “Little Fenway,” situated at 11500 Fenway South Drive in Fort Myers. Because of the close proximity, the townspeople created a way for the two clubs to battle for one of the most obscure trophies in all of sports.

The Twins once played against the Texas Rangers for the Senators’ Cup, but with the Twins move to Lee County in 1991 and the Red Sox soon following in 1993 to share tiny Fort Meyers, there had to be a new deal. Knowing the history, the local fans called for a special springtime competition between the two Fort Myers ball clubs. The local newspaper, the News-Press, held a naming contest for the competition(s) and the award itself.

The Senators’ Cup became the Crosstown Cup but that only lasted a while until it was re-named, the Mayor’s Cup. The team’s battled for the Mayor’s Cup for decades but then someone realized that JetBlue Park was technically outside the Lee County line, so there was yet another name change.

Saturday (March 1) began the competition for The 2025 Chairman’s Cup between the Red Sox and Twins, with Boston taking the first of the six Grapefruit League matchups, 8-4. The “Battle for the Cup” will continue on March 12 and 23 at Little Fenway. They’ll meet at Hammond Stadium on March 8, 16 and 20. The clubs split the 2024 Chairman’s Cup, but, most importantly, the Twins lead in the all-time series, 15-14-3 in Cup wins and Minny holds a 93-84-2 edge in games.

This is the 33rd season the Sox have called Fort Myers their Spring Training home (1993-2025), their most years spent at any Spring Training city. The Red Sox are in their 14th season at the Fenway South Spring Training and Player Development Complex, which opened in 2012.

Now, how about that for a notebook full of interesting but useless information?

That said, long before MLB interleague play between the American League clubs and National League clubs, in the decade of ‘60s when this columnist was growing up a few miles east of then, brand new Shea Stadium, there was an annual, one day break in the schedule in order to schedule the Mayor’s Trophy game between the New York Mets and New York Yankees. Mayor John Lindsay – NYC’s, call it, “Fun City” was Mayor between January 1966 to December 1973 – the glory years of the Mayor’s Trophy game which alternated between Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium every other year.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said he doesn’t know if the recently completed and quite popular 4 Nations Face-Off tournament is here to stay, and he called it a “quick appetizer” as the league turns its focus to other international ice hockey events. Bettman, appeared on “The Rich Eisen Show,” noting the success of the tournament “has been so quick and overwhelming, we’ve got a lot of things to consider and sort out, including what our own All-Star Game looks like going forward.” … On international plans for the future, Bettman said, “What we’re going to do is Olympics (Milan/Cortino ‘26), two years later the World Cup, two years later Olympics (French Alps ‘2030), two years later World Cup. And the World Cup will have at least eight countries participating, and that’s something we’re in the process of finalizing. The World status may have something to do with exactly how we pull that all together.” Bettman said the NHL is aiming for a full World Cup “like you see in soccer,” with host sites in North America as well as Europe. The odd country out, as Bettman noted with the vague “world status,” is the Russian Federation.

IN OTHER NHL OFF-ICE NEWS: The Woods College of Advancing Studies at Boston College and the National Hockey League Players’ Association have reached an agreement that will open the door to current and former members of the NHLPA to complete their education at Boston College through NHLPA UNLMT, providing an invaluable resource for professional hockey players looking to earn college degrees. The agreement was signed by Woods College Dean David Goodman and NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh, a BC Woods College graduate.

STOP the RACE: Do you believe in miracles? Yes. On Saturday afternoon, St. John’s clinched the Big East regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York.

SPORTS BIZ BOSTON: The Boston Celtics extended their deal with TD Bank through the 2044-45 season. This sponsorship will continue the bank’s role as the retail and online banking provider for the NBA’s Boston franchise and the Maine Celtics of the G-League. “We’re elated to extend our partnership with TD Bank, and build on our shared commitment to community engagement and connection with our fans,” Boston Celtics president Rich Gotham said in a statement. “TD Bank’s continued investment in our initiatives makes a significant impact, and their ongoing support ensures we can continue providing unique experiences for fans while contributing to meaningful causes that benefit the Greater Boston area.”

Included in the terms of the extension, the bank will launch a Celtics season ticket wait list that will enhance “engagement with this dedicated Celtics fanbase.” With the Maine Celtics, TD Bank will add sponsored promotional games, such as ‘EmpowHER Night’ and ‘Fan Appreciation Game.’ They will also hold CommUNITY Crew events in Maine to support its local communities.

The naming rights to the arena for the Celtics and NHL’s Boston Bruins is controlled by the Bruins and their parent company, Delaware North.

TIDBITS: Is there better use of a nickname in sports other than CBS Sports’ Bill Raftery calling his college basketball play-by-play man, Ian Eagle, by the name, “Bird?” … Our local dog grooming store is activating a big promotion for the month ahead. They are calling it “Bark Madness,” with discounts on all kinds of baths, nail brushing and every other thing you can think of to cater to your furry friends. … If you picked Adam Svensson as your one and done fantasy PGA TOUR player this week, you had the wrong Svensson. Jesper Svensson was high on the leaderboard on Saturday and in contention for the Cognizant Classic title in the Palm Beaches.

TAURASI: When Phoenix Mercury and UConn great Diana Taurasi decided to retire from the WNBA, she didn’t mess around. A very well-planned announcement was made via Time and the magazine’s longtime sports business reporter Sean Gregory. Taurasi explained that January 1 is her usual date to begin training for the next season and “I just didn’t have it in me,” Taurasi, 42, told TIME from her home in Phoenix. “That was pretty much when I knew it was time to walk away.” … Taurasi has accomplished all there is to accomplish in women’s basketball. She’s scored 10,646 points in the regular season, she’s won three WNBA Championships (2007, 2009, and 2014), six Euroleague titles during her 12-year career playing in Russia and Turkey during the WNBA off-season, She was the 2009 WNBA MVP, a two-time WNBA Finals MVP, a three-time Euroleague MVP, and a three-time Russian League Player of the Year. All that written in stone, Taurasi also has won six Olympic gold medals with USA Basketball, an all-time record. With all due respect to Cynthia Cooper, Lisa Leslies, Sheryl Swoopes, Maya Moore or Candace Parker and all the other top notch women’s basketball players, but without a doubt, Taurasi was the very best. … She knows that someday, someone will come along to challenge her status as “the GOAT of women’s basketball.” … She said to TIME, “My scoring record, or the six gold medals, someone’s going to come around that has the same hunger, the same addiction to basketball, and put those records in a different way, a different name,” said Taurasi. “That’s what sports is all about. That’s going to be fun to watch. Hopefully not soon.”

THIS JEST IN: According to D-1 ticker via Online Athens (GA), the University of Georgia will not be fined for this past Tuesday’s court-storming after its men’s basketball team upset Florida, “since they held the fans back until the court was clear,” according to SEC Director of Communications Craig Pinkerton. Bulldogs AD Josh Brooks was proud of the student body and their ‘polite court storming,” noting, “Last night proved once again why we have the best students in the country, and I want to personally thank them for waiting to rush the floor. Our students have bought in and helped create a tremendous home court advantage. They have been with us all year long and have made the difference in so many of our big home wins.”

YOU CAN’T MAKE IT UP: It’s quite logical to place the legendary Tiger Woods as the sure-fire No. 1 earner on the PGA Tour, but who might you rank as No. 2?

If you guessed four-time Major winner and 26-time Tour title winner Rory McIlroy at the two spot, you’d be wrong. Try Maverick McNealy – who regularly arrives at the golf course in his own private jet – is already richer than any golfer in the world not named Woods, including the likes of McIlroy, (Jon) Rahm, DJ, or Bryson DeChambeau. That’s because McNealy is the heir to a $1 billion empire.

McNealy’s father, Scott, co-founded technology giant Sun Microsystems back in 1982. Sun was later acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2010 for an eye-watering $7.4 billion, securing generational wealth for the McNealy family for many, many years to come.

Maverick is the heir to McNealy senior’s astonishing fortune, having grown up in a 28,000 square-foot mansion in Palo Alto, California. To put his wealth into perspective, McNealy stands to inherit six-times the net worth of four-time major winner McIlroy.

1985: “No one ever left alive in nineteen hundred and eighty-five will ever do,” wrote Paul McCartney to begin his hit song for The Wings in 1973. McCartney later noted, he’d build his songs when he’d established the first line of the lyrics, citing the words to The Beatles’ classic Eleanor Rigby, “picks up the rice in the church where the wedding has been.” Said McCartney, “That was the one big line that started me off on it. With this one (1985) it was “No one ever left alive in nineteen hundred and eighty-five.” … “That’s all I had of that song for months. ”No one ever left alive in nineteen hundred and eighty… six?” … It wouldn’t have worked.” … Those thoughts lead us to the fact that 1985 was 40 years ago, and a number of 40-year anniversaries will be celebrated this year. There was one that caught this reporter’s eye this past Tuesday when one of my all-time favorite bands, Tears for Fears, celebrated the 40-year anniversary of their ground-breaking album, Songs From the Big Chair. which along with 1989’s The Seeds of Love marked the band’s worldwide appeal and became a “cultural touchstone for Gen Xers who grew up on MTV,” wrote conservative culture platform, Twitchy. … In the summer of 2023, bandmates Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith took their Tears for Fears’ Tipping Point Part II tour through North America with a stop at The Mohegan Sun two days before playing to a full house at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The June 24 show came just as the PGA Tour stop for The Travelers rode through Crowmell, Connecticut, and yes, it was a short and easy ride to anchor an amazing weekend. … It all melds together to underline a great year of music, history-making and great sports. Remember, 1985 was the year of Live Aid, the all-day rock show on two continents (London, England, Europe and Philadelphia, USA North America) which raised millions for famine relief in Ethiopia. … The year began with the establishment of the “Domain Name” system as a framework for the World Wide Web and the common man’s use of the Internet. … “We Are the World” began the USA for Africa relief efforts … Joe Montana won MVP honors in Super Bowl XIX when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Miami Dolphins, 38-16. … Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and de facto leader of the (then) Soviet Union. … Amadeus won the Academy Award for Best Picture … Villanova defeated Georgetown, 66-64, at the Final Four in Lexington, Kentucky to cap the biggest upset in college basketball history … In one, if not the biggest blunders in marketing history, the Coca-Cola Company changed its formula and released New Coke. The public response made Coke execs re-think that one. … The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics 4-games-to-2, winning the NBA title at the famed Boston Garden. It marked the first time an opponent clinched an NBA title on the famed parquet floor. (Note: In 2022, the Golden State Warriors duplicated the feat, defeating the Celtics in six games with the clincher at TD Garden). … Eighteen year old Boris Becker became the first German and the first unseeded player to win the men’s championship at Wimbledon, defeating Kevin Curren in four sets, 6–3, 6–7 (4–7), 7–6 (7–3), 6–4. … The Kansas City Royals defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 4-games-to-3, to become the first team to win the World Series after losing the first two games at home. … And, another reminder of just how long ago it was, the Microsoft Corporation released the first version of Windows software.

The post TL’s Sports Notebook | March 2 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – The Polar Vortex has been doing cartwheels all around North America as the glaciers melt in the Northern 51st. With it, the ice surrounding our homes is deeper, darker and as dense as the ice at TD Garden, where Team Canada recently defeated the U.S. of A. in overtime of the championship game of the 4 Nations Tournament

4 Nations was missing the sanctioned Russian Federation team and possibly the next best, the Czech Republic, for sure, but for an NHL contrived mid-season tournament, the event(s) in Montreal and here at TD Garden in the cold North End couldn’t have gone better, sans the injuries sustained by Charlie McAvoy, the Bruins’ best defenseman and Florida Panthers star forward Matthew Tkachuk who sat out Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken because of a lower-body injury. Panthers coach Paul Maurice announced Tkachuk’s absence after the pregame morning skate. Tkachuk first experienced discomfort during the 4 Nations, when he helped lead the United States to the tournament final.

McAvoy had “an infection in his right shoulder” and suffered “a significant injury to his AC joint” during Team USA’s 4 Nations opener last week, the Bruins said. He was released from the hospital on Thursday and is reportedly on a week-to-week timeline to return.

With McAvoy out, the Bruins’ new top backline pairing heading into the second half of the regular season will be Nikita Zadorov and Andrew Peeke. Recent call-up Michael Callahan is skating on the second pairing with Brandon Carlo, while Parker Wotherspoon, who has not played since January 30, is on the third pairing with Mason Lohrei.

Boston has an uphill climb, as they’ve dropped to sixth place in the NHL’s Atlantic Division, but they remain only one point behind the Detroit Red Wings for the final Wild Card spot. The Bruins are the fourth worst team in the Conference in +/- goal differential.

Down the hallway, the Boston Celtics are among the top three teams in the Eastern Conference but trail the Cleveland Cavaliers for the coveted top spot. Not surprisingly, the New York Knickerbockers are only two games behind Boston in the loss column. Even though the Celtics have won eight of their last nine games, the Sunday, Feb 23 (today) 1pm game against the Knicks at TD Garden will be a key indicator for the second half of the NBA season. The Knicks are coming off a 142-105 thrashing at the hands of the Cavs.

Similarly, on February 8, the Celtics slapped the Knicks’ ears with a 131-104 lesson at Madison Square Garden. Jayson Tatum put up 40 points in that game to anchor the Celtics’ scoring effort. Guard Payton Pritchard had 25 points off the bench. … NY Knicks ‘glue’ man, Josh Hart, has been sidelined with patellofemoral syndrome, a painful knee condition.

In other NBA news, San Antonio’s amazing All-Star center Victor Wembanyama will be sidelined for the rest of the season due to deep vein thrombosis (blood clot) in his right shoulder. His injury pretty much buries the Spurs underneath the four Western Conference play-in teams but assures them of another substantial pick in the NBA Draft.

All in all, we’re coming down the homestretch, and I don’t mean at rain-soaked Daytona.

If you’re watching the calendar and awaiting the great sports days of the spring, you’re not alone. We’re only 22 days away from the first pitch of the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season, as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs have the honor of opening the season in Tokyo. In doing so, the great fans in Japan will see some combination of the outstanding Japanese pitching trio of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and newcomer Roki Sasaki, while Chicago is likely to throw SP Shota Imanaga in the opener. … The rest of the MLB teams open their 2025 season on or about Thursday March 27 with the Red Sox at Texas. … It’s 40 days and 40 nights until Opening Day at Fenway Park in Boston.

SPRINGTIME SPORTS CALENDAR

• February 22 – MLS Regular Season begins
• March 2 & 5 – Atlantic Sun and Big South Tournaments begin
• March 9 – Daylight Savings Time begins
• March 11-15 – ACC Basketball Tournament (Charlotte)
• March 12-15 – BIG EAST Conference Tournament (MSG)
• March 16 – NCAA Selection Sunday
• March 17 – St. Ptrick’s Day
• March 18-19 – MLB Regular Season begins (in Tokyo, Japan) (LAD/CHI)
• March 20-21 – NCAA Basketball First Round (Play-In is March 18-19)
• March 20-21 – Hockey East Semifinals and Championship (TD Garden)
• March 27-28 – NCAA Sweet 16
• April 3-6 – NCAA Women’s Final Four (Tampa Bay)
• April 4 – Boston Red Sox home opener vs. St. Louis (2:10pm)
• April 5-7 – NCAA Men’s Final Four (San Antonio)
• April 10-13 – The Masters (Augusta, GA)
• April 10-12 – NCAA Frozen Four (St. Louis)
• April 15-18 – NBA Play-In Tournament
• April 19 – NBA Playoffs begin
• April 20 – NHL Playoffs begin
• April 21 – Patriots’ Day (Boston Marathon/Red Sox @11:10am)
• May 24-26 – NCAA LAX Final Four (Foxboro, Mass)

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The 4 Nations Face-Off concluded on Thursday night with Canada defeating the USA, 3-2, in overtime. According to ESPN and Nielsen, the championship game delivered 9.3m viewers, ESPN’s largest audience for ice hockey, ever. The previous high on any broadcaster was 8.9 million for NBC’s telecast of Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues. During the USA loss to Canada, the ESPN audience peaked at 10.4 million viewers and gave the network its largest non-NFL or college football viewership on the network’s platforms since the 2024 NBA Finals.

Former New England Patriots QB Tom Brady purchased part of a Foxborough-based trading card retailer and wants to help it score new business, according to the Boston Business Journal. … The Pats’ GOAT acquired a 50% stake in CardVault and is lending his name to the company, which will be known as CardVault by Tom Brady, according to the news release issued this week. The company did not disclose specific terms of the deal. … CardVault sells sports trading cards and other sports collectibles through its stores at TD Garden in Boston, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, and at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.

TIDBITS: “The Trade,” as it is now known, seems to be one of those occurrences in sports where everyone “knows where they were” when they heard the news. While it’s not of the level of Michael Jordan leaving the NBA in his prime for minor league baseball, the Dallas Mavericks’ trade of Luka Dončić for LA’s Anthony Davis (and other assorted goodies) just stopped the NBA/sports world in its tracks. … Mavericks great Dirk Nowitzki was in – get this – The Maldives, vacationing with family, when “his phone blew up,” according to the franchise’s all-time best player. … In the truly global NBA, the news of the trade travelled 10,022 miles in a matter of seconds.

Is Boston Brewin’ or is it just another cup of coffee? Brad Marchand, captain of the Bruins, winning member of Team Canada at the 4 Nations tournament and a six-time NHL All-Star, is launching a new business – his own brand of ground coffee. Brad’s Brew will soon be available at 90 Market Basket grocery stores in New England, according to a news release issued this week. … The coffee comes in medium and dark roast blends and is roasted by a family-owned business, Boston’s Best Coffee, which is based in South Easton.

The 2014 NBA Rookie of the Year, Michael Carter-Williams of Syracuse University, is hoping to land a WNBA franchise for Boston, whether it’s through expansion or being a destination for a current team that wants to move. Williams is part of the Boston Women’s Basketball Partners group that is spearheading the initiative. The group hasn’t submitted a bid to the WNBA, although it has talked with the third party the league hired to handle the expansion bidding process. “The main objective is to get a team in Boston,” said Carter-Williams to the Associated Press earlier this week. “It doesn’t matter if it’s an expansion team or a team that wants to sell and move to Boston.” … The hint was being dropped to the nearby Connecticut Sun franchise, playing out of the Mohegan Sun resort in Uncasville, Connecticut – about a 107 mile drive from TD Garden. Should the Sun wish to set up in Boston, complete with its loyal following and NESN broadcasting deal. … The WNBA already announced three expansion teams that will start play over the next two years, with Golden State beginning this summer, followed by Toronto and Portland starting in the summer of 2026. … One other expansion franchise is expected in 2027, and that will come from a long list of bidders, including Cleveland (again) – where are the Rockers? – Detroit (again) – where are the Shock? Houston (again) – where are the champion Comets? They’re all lined up along with Philadelphia, Kansas City and Nashville, among others.

THIS JEST IN: Where’s Johnny Damon when you need him? …Why? …It’s “Bring back the beards to the Bronx” year for the New York Yankees. Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner declared “well groomed beards” would be permitted in declaring an end to the franchise’s longstanding policy that allowed mustaches but not beards or unruly sideburns.

“In recent weeks I have spoken to a large number of former and current Yankees – spanning several eras – to elicit their perspectives on our longstanding facial hair and grooming policy, and I appreciate their earnest and varied feedback,” Steinbrenner said Friday morning in a statement. “These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years. Ultimately the final decision rests with me, and after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward. It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.”

The policy on player appearance includes the length of their mane — stating “hair cannot touch the uniform collar” — and came about in 1976. When George Steinbrenner died in 2010, his daughter and Yankees managing partner, Jennifer, insisted the team’s rule not be changed. … A generational shift that came too late for infamously shaggy stars such as Damon and Randy Johnson takes effect immediately.

IS IT COINCIDENTAL timing or part of a plan, as Steinbrenner claimed? Yes, there is at least one current Yankees player who appreciates the razor relief. New closer Devin Williams reported to Tampa with the goatee look he’s had for several years. When the topic of the facial hair policy came up, Williams was coy and said only “we’ll see” when pressed on his plans for altering his appearance.

CAN’T MAKE IT UP: PGA Tour pro Blades Brown made the cut at the 2025 Mexico Open at Vidanta World. To do so, he shot 68-69 for -5 when the cut came at -3. Brown made his PGA Tour debut about a month ago at the American Express at LaQuinta. Since then, it’s been a challenge. “I mean, I’m hitting a lot of golf balls. The weather back in Nashville isn’t amazing right now, but I’m super happy to come down here to Mexico and speak some Spanish,” said Brown. “I took Spanish four years in high school, so I’m really happy I chose that over Latin. I’m having so much fun here at the resort and I can’t wait for the next two days.”

The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Feb 25 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.