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TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | May 4

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The 1999 NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs in Milan

By TERRY LYONS. Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Earlier this week, Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs announced Popovich will transition from head coach to president of basketball operations. In 29 seasons as the Spurs head coach, Popovich amassed 1,422 regular season wins, the most in NBA history. During his tenure, the Spurs captured five NBA championships.

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“While my love and passion for the game remain, I’ve decided it’s time to step away as head coach,” said Popovich. “I’m forever grateful to the wonderful players, coaches, staff and fans who allowed me to serve them as the Spurs head coach and am excited for the opportunity to continue to support the organization, community and city that are so meaningful to me.”

After joining the Spurs in the summer of 1988, as an assistant coach on Larry Brown’s staff, Popovich enjoyed a 37-year career in the NBA as a coach and executive. He spent two seasons, from 1992-94, as an assistant coach for Don Nelson with the Golden State Warriors. His other 35 NBA seasons have all been in San Antonio with the Spurs, making him the longest tenured professional coach among the four major North American leagues.

Popovich’s pre-NBA career is, perhaps, more amazing than his run in the league. As noted in Military dot com, Popovich was born in East Chicago in 1949, the first child of Raymond and Katherine. His father, a steel-mill pipefitter, had served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

As a youngster, Popovich did well in school academically, but “was the biggest wiseass you ever saw, and all I gave a damn about was playing ball,” he told the U.S. Army Installation Management Command in a 2012 interview. He enrolled in the Air Force Academy, and played basketball for the Air Force Academy in El Paso County, Colorado, just north of Colorado Springs.

Popovich majored in Soviet studies and graduated in 1970 after starting all four years for AF basketball where he was team captain and the leading scorer for the Falcons his senior season at the academy.

Then, it got very interesting.

Popovich served in the Air Force for the required five years of active duty, during which he toured Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union with the U.S. Armed Forces basketball team. After graduation, his first assignment put him with the 6594th Support Group at the Air Force Satellite Control Facility (AFSCF) in Sunnyvale, California. In those years of service, he operated spy satellites monitoring Soviet missile launches under the top-secret facility, under command of the Space and Missile Systems Center.

Popovich continued playing basketball while touring Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union as a member of the U.S. Armed Forces Team. As a member of an all-star team Goodwill Tour from April to May 1972, he traveled to the then USSR capital of Moscow, the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, and the Estonian capital of Tallinn.

“The opportunities I got in the military to travel with basketball really made me understand how much basketball is played around the world, how many good players there are,” Popovich told The New York Times in 2005.

By 1973, he was transferred to Diyarbakir Air Station in Turkey, an American-Turkish military base that tracked Soviet launches.

After months of service in Turkey, Popovich returned to Colorado to coach high school at the Air Force preparatory school — for which he received an Air Force commendation medal — and then coached college-aged cadets at the Air Force Academy. He also was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon and Air Force Longevity Service Award Ribbon. He continued to serve in the Air Force Reserve until 1993, working his way up to the rank of major.

Popovich remained at the Air Force Academy for six years and served as an assistant for head coach Hank Egan, who later helped Popovich as an assistant coach with the Spurs.

In 1979, Popovich became the head coach of the Pomona-Pitzer men’s basketball team, but his biggest break came with his move in 1988 to the NBA as an assistant coach to Larry Brown with the Spurs.

Popovich became general manager of the Spurs in 1994, then head coach after Bob Hill was fired in 1996.

In 2015, Popovich was named head coach of the USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team for the 2017-20 quadrennium, but the team suffered a tough loss to France in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Two years later, the USA men’s national team earned a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. (The 2020 Games were postponed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and staged in 2021).

While the biography remains stellar and Popovich’s work with the Spurs continues, his resume also includes a rather manipulative and cranky side. In many instances with his interactions with the media, he was an intimidating bully, one who was actually sending messages to the NBA league office and then-Commissioner David Stern.

Popovich detested doing in-game interviews and remained “old-school” throughout his coaching days, even as the NBA became more and more media savvy and the demands of TV partners mounted. Quite famously, Popovich gave the late Craig Sager of Turner Sports the hardest of times as Sager’s outside reporter duties called for him to interview Popovich on the basketball court at times when Popovich preferred to be with his club and not be bothered.

The one word answers – complete with a smirk or roll of the eyes – became legendary, the insults grew embarrassing and frequently Popovich crossed the line of sic human decency. But through it all, Popovich developed a sincere appreciation for Sager’s doggedness and tenacity, admiring Sager’s preparedness as well. Somehow, through it all – in years, not days or weeks – the two became solid friends.

When Sager was battling leukemia and the entire NBA and sports world were paying tribute to the broadcaster, Popovich led the way – often very subtly and behind the scenes and sometimes on camera – joking with Sager about his wildest sport coat, and breaking any tension that might’ve existed in the past.

That edge and manipulation factor were out-done by Popovich’s pure and honest humanity. The coach’s insights and generosity were seen more often and his commentary of current events, world politics and the state of the United States presidency remain legendary quotes and must-see TV.

So, in the TL take side of this column, I am not here to bury Gregg Popovich but to praise him. There were more than a few practical jokes he played on us, and we’d all get a laugh. And, he truly loves the game of basketball and – without a doubt – he’s the greatest NBA coach of all-time.

Do I wish there were fewer “cross the line” intervals with the NBA’s media contingent over the many years? Yes. Do I wish there were fewer (F-U) messages sent in code to the NBA league office and its Commissioner? Yes. Do I wonder what it was like for then rookie Tony Parker being crushed and degraded as a ballplayer to the point where longtime Spurs basketball GM R.C. Buford had to talk “Pop” off the ledge from cutting Parker? Yes.

But, like everything in his life, somehow Popovich would come full circle to see the results he envisioned, and thus the incredible rise of Parker to NBA Finals MVP level (2007).

The tail end of Popovich’s illustrious coaching career sadly will be remembered for the “mild stroke” he suffered on November 2, 2024 while at the Spurs facilities. Assistant coach Mitch Johnson was named the acting coach in Popovich’s absence and Johnson named the next full time head coach of the Spurs this week.

All-in-all and despite the abrupt end to Popovich’s on court coaching career, there have been too many wins, too many Hall of Famers coached to their highest potential, and too many NBA titles (5) to call his scope of work in the NBA anything other than fabulous – maybe even, FAN-tastic, a phrase to honor the coach and his contributions to San Antonio, the Spurs organization and the overall and worldwide game of basketball.

The Winningest Head Coaches in NBA History

  • Gregg Popovich – 1,388
  • Don Nelson – 1,335
  • Lenny Wilkens – 1,332
  • Jerry Sloan – 1,221
  • Pat Riley – 1,210

The other two coaches to be highlighted among the very best of all time were the two “Reds” – Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics and Red Holzman of the New York Knickerbockers.

  • Red Auerbach – 938 (coached Washington Capitals and Tri-Cities Blackhawks, too)
  • Red Holzman – 696

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday was named by the NBA as the recipient of the Joe Dumars Trophy for winning the 2024-25 NBA Sportsmanship Award. This is the second NBA Sportsmanship Award for Holiday, who also earned the honor in the 2020-21 season with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Presented annually since the 1995-96 season, the NBA Sportsmanship Award honors a player who best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court. The trophy is named for Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer and two-time NBA champion Joe Dumars, who won the inaugural NBA Sportsmanship Award and played his entire 14-year career with the Detroit Pistons.

Each NBA team nominated one of its players for the 2024-25 NBA Sportsmanship Award. From the list of 30 team nominees, a panel of league executives selected six finalists (one from each NBA division). Current NBA players selected the winner from the list of six finalists.

In addition to winning the NBA Sportsmanship Award twice, Holiday is a three-time recipient of the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award for his selfless play, on- and off-court leadership as a mentor and role model to other NBA players, and commitment and dedication to team. Holiday is also a finalist for the 2024-25 NBA Social Justice Champion Award, marking the third time he has been a finalist for the honor in its five-year history.

A 16-year NBA veteran, Holiday is a two-time NBA All-Star and six-time Kia NBA All-Defensive Team selection. He has won two NBA championships (one each with Boston and Milwaukee) and two Olympic gold medals with the USA Men’s National Team.

Sadly, the glut of the “do good” awards has forced the hand of the Pro Basketball Writers Association and they have discontinued the annual J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award that was given annually by the writers from 1975 until 2024. (James) Walter Kennedy was the NBA’s second Commissioner (1963-1975) and his title was league President. He passed away in 1977 at the young age of 65. A native of Stamford, Connecticut, Kennedy was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1981.

The NBA now recognizes:

  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Award
  • Jack Twyman-Maurice Stokes Teammate of the Year Award
  • Joe Dumars Sportsmanship Award
  • Lifetime Achievment Award

While the Basketball Hall of Fame recognizes:

  • John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award (Highest basketball honor outside Induction/Enshrinement into the Basketball Hall of Fame itself).
  • Manny Jackson Human Spirit Awards (usually recognizing three players)
  • Ice Cube Impact Award (presented to Ice Cube himself in its inaugural year)

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: TPC Craig Ranch is hosting The CJ CUP Byron Nelson golf tournament for the fifth time, honoring the legacy of the tournament namesake, in the great Byron Nelson. It was the first PGA Tour event to be named in honor of a professional golfer. Nelson had 52 career PGA Tour wins including a record 18 event titles (11 straight) in 1945.

SOX: The Red Sox won 16 games during the month of April, trailing only the Detroit Tigers (18) for most in the American League … A streak of six straight quality starts by Boston pitchers ended Saturday when Sox RHP Hunter Dobbins missed earning a quality start by one batter. Dobbins did go 5.1 innings to extend Boston’s streak of 15 starting pitchers going at least 5 IP. That dates back to April 18.

For no reason at all, Boston broke out their yellow “Boston City Connect” (tribute to the Boston Marathon) uniforms on Saturday. Prior to Saturday’s afternoon game, delayed by rain, the Red Sox are 37-16 when they don the yellows. Boston is 22-12 in the uniforms since 2023.

Of late, the Red Sox have lost three of the last four games and six of their last 10. In MLB, the fans tend to do some scoreboard watching come September but sometimes the games of May or June determine the season.

When Red Sox left fielder Jarren Duran faced Minnesota Twins closer Jhoan Duran in the 9th inning at Fenway Saturday, it was Duran-Duran. Although Boston’s lead-off hitter was “Hungry Like the Wolf,” he grounded out to shortstop and must’ve “Come Undone.”

On Sunday, May 4, the good folks at Strat-O-Matic will “take over” the Mets House NYC at Union Square, in Manhattan from 11:00am through mid-afternoon for open Strat-O-Matic play, prize giveaways, meet-and-greets with Strat-O-Matic founder Hal Richman and other staffers. The latest simulated games (series) was between the current 2025 Mets and the 1986 Mets, one of the best and most likable teams in NYM history. In the decisive Game 7, the ‘86 club’s Ray Knight hit .375 and his teammates, Mookie Wilson and Keith Hernandez, both hit .333 as the ‘86 squad won the simulated series in seven, rallying for two runs in the bottom of the 10th to win, 4-3.

If you’re wondering how Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and the ‘69 Mets would fare, the simulation boards had the current 2025 team winning four straight. Red hot NYM 1B Pete Alonso hit .353, with two HR, and four RBI while SS Francisco Lindor batted a blistering .412, scoring five runs. On the hill, closer Edwin Diaz, appeared in four games, and earned three saves to close down the series against those pesky ‘69 Mets.

THIS JEST IN: Roger Clemens stopped by the Fenway Park press box on Friday night, but it was Saturday afternoon when the Rocket watched his son, Kody, hit his first homer of 2025, a 398 foot blast to right field. It was Kody’s first time ever facing the Red Sox and he has only the Baltimore Orioles remaining for teams he hasn’t played against. Kody is a 28 year old, 6-1, 190 lb infielder.

Here’s one for the ages. On Tuesday, Netflix will premier Untold: Shooting Guards (emphasis on the shoot). The promo reads: “What really went down between GilbertArenas and Javaris Crittenton? It continues, “This exposé unpacks how a gambling dispute led to guns drawn in an NBA locker room.”

NBC Sports commentator Mike Tirico was forced to sit out for the 2025 Kentucky Derby broadcast after suffering a nut allergy exposure.

John Skipper, the former head of ESPN and once most powerful man in sports, stepped down from his post at Meadowlark Media, a production company he founded with former ESPN host Dan LaBatard. In between ESPN and Meadowlark, Skipper was executive chairman at DAZN.

RIP: Stan Love, a 6-foot-9 forward and father of NBA star Kevin Love, passed away last week at the age of 76. Stan Love was a top-notch player for the University of Oregon, and was selected ninth overall in the 1971 National Basketball Association draft by the Baltimore Bullets, the predecessors of the Washington Wizards. He averaged 6.6 points and 3.9 rebounds a game with modest playing time over four seasons with the Bullets and the Los Angeles Lakers of the N.B.A. and the San Antonio Spurs, then of the American Basketball Association. Stan was also the brother of the singer Mike Love of the Beach Boys and a onetime bodyguard and caretaker of the band’s brilliant but troubled leader, Brian Wilson

TL’s Sports Notebook | April 13

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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.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | March 30

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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.

March Madness Tip-Off

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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.
They were partying at West End Johnnies at an NCAA Regional in Boston

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

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | March 16

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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?

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | March 9

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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.”

MIT Sloan panel: “Have the Nerds Ruined Basketball?’

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.

TL’s Sports Notebook | March 2

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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.

Diana Taurasi (2nd from left) and the 2004 USA gold medal women’s team (Getty)

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.

Tears for Fears’ Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, 1985

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.

Tears for Fears’ Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, 2025

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Feb 25

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The Gate D Press Elevators at Fenway Park Await (Photo by DSD)

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. P☘️trick’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.”

Super Sunday Sports Notes | Feb 9

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It’s Super Bowl Sunday – LIX (59)

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

BOSTON – The Dallas Mavericks came through Boston this week, riding into town from Philadelphia after a two point loss to the 76ers. The Mavs’ 757 aircraft carried a team with enough baggage to fill Logan Airport’s entire baggage claim system, and they landed with contrails from the team jet spread out across the entire NBA basketball world.

The Mavericks traded superstar Luka Dončić’to the Los Angeles Lakers and the reaction was as if the Mavs orchestrated a move for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys to Santa Monica. The full trade went down as follows:

Dallas sent Dončić’ and forwards Maxi Kleber and journeyman Markieff Morris to Los Angles for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first round NBA Draft pick. Utah was the “third man in,” as the Jazz acquired Jalen Hood-Schifino from the Lakers, the 2025 Clippers’ second-round pick, and the 2025 Mavericks’ second-round pick in the trade while giving up nothing except having to waive recently acquired Mo Bamba.

The reaction to the trade can only be categorized as “legendary,” as the Elias Sports Bureau confirmed that a trade involving a reigning All-NBA guard for an All-NBA center in midseason. “Shocking” was the most frequently used word to describe the trade, noting there was no indication the trade was coming down. ESPN’s newsmaker Shams Charania broke the news a little after midnight on February 2.

LA’s Lebron James thought it was “a hoax,” while longtime NBA reporter and current editor and columnist for The Athletic David Aldridge called it a “Holy Shit” trade, utilizing a phrase that legendary Washington Post editor-in-chief Ben Bradlee used for only the greatest of the greatest stories. The Lakers were overwhelmingly considered the winners of the trade. Many gave the Lakers an “A+” grade while criticizing the Mavericks by dumping and “F” grade on the team for not acquiring more.

That wasn’t the sentiment for the young, upcoming and highly competent Dallas GM, Nico Harrison, who targeted and picked Davis as the player he coveted if he planned to trade his franchise favorite. In fact, both the Lakers’ GM, Rob Pelinka, and Harrison said they began trade talks in January facing the February 6 NBA trade deadline. The fact there wasn’t a single leak proved the two GMs kept their negotiations secret.

NBA executives – all around the league – expressed shock at the fact that the Mavericks negotiated exclusively with the Lakers, and argued that Dallas could have obtained a much larger return for Dončić in an open auction. “It probably would have been the biggest haul in NBA history,” said one team executive in an off-the-record interview while another claimed, “every team in the league would have offered everything they could.” Lost in the ‘what-ifs’ is the fact Dončić and his agent would’ve tried to dictate the terms and destination of the deal if they’d been informed and involved.

Here’s TL’s Take: First and foremost, Dallas GM Nico Harrison knew what had to be done and he deserves enormous credit for having the guts to move on it before there was a major hurdle in front of him and time working against the Mavericks in a big way. Dončić was due for a new contract and his All-NBA status qualified him for a “supermax” deal that would’ve included terms above Boston’s five-year, $314 million deal to keep Jayson Tatum.

Dončić would’ve signed a $325m-plus contract but would’ve built-in a one year opt-out to increase his personal salary haul the next year (2026-27) when the new NBA TV deal kicks in and the team salary cap will increase significantly. With that opt-out in one hand but a longterm contract in place in case of injury, Dončić could’ve easily walked from the Mavericks to any team he wanted to play for, as he would be an unrestricted free agent. The Mavericks would be left empty-handed.

Dončić hasn’t played since he left a Christmas Day (Dec. 25, 2024) after 16 minutes and hasn’t set foot on the court ever since. His calf strain has sidelined him indefinitely and reports of his 230-pound playing weight might now be topping 250-260-pounds with a long road of conditioning ahead before he can be effective in the high speed NBA pace of play. To his credit, Dončić played through injury and led the Mavericks to a surprise appearance in the 2024 NBA Finals where they lost to Boston.

Harrison had to wonder if Dončić would be healthy and would he choose to stay in Dallas when every NBA team coffer would open filled with the loot from and 11-year, $76 billion ABC/ESPN, Amazon, NBC Sports and rising global TV deals flooding the league from platforms anxious to air the league’s daily reality show.

In Davis, Dallas has another “big” and a highly skilled two-way player. Harrison stated the old cliche that ‘defense wins championships’ and that fact was his motivation in trading for Davis who is 32 years old. Looking ahead, AD is in his prime holding a contract that is valid through – at least – the ’26-27 season, with his (player option for ’27-28), an option which he’s likely to accept at $66,821,676. for the season. Davis must stay healthy for the trade to work out for Dallas.

Additionally, Max Christie is a very nice piece in this blockbuster puzzle and he is likely to see major minutes for Dallas,

Although Dončić is only 25 years old and has been an All-NBA first team selection five times, joining only Larry Bird, George Gervin, and Tim Duncan as players earning five All-NBA First Team selections in their first six seasons in the league (since the ABA teams were absorbed into the NBA in ‘75-76).

Taking it all in, While We’re Young (Ideas) bucks the trend, and confidently states, “Advantage Dallas.”

LOST IN THE SHUFFLE: With all the attention on the Dallas and LA Lakers, many overlooked a huge acquisition by the San Antonio Spurs when they acquired De’Aaron Fox from the Sacramento Kings.

The Kings, Spurs and Chicago Bulls completed a seven-player, seven draft pick trade which went down in the shadows of the Davis/Dončić deal:

San Antonio Spurs acquire:

  • De’Aaron Fox and Jordan McLaughlin

Sacramento Kings acquire:

Zach LaVine and Sidy Cissoko

  • 2025 first-round pick (via Hornets)
  • 2027 first-round pick (via Spurs)
  • 2031 first-round pick (via Timberwolves)
  • 2025 second-round pick (via Bulls)
  • 2028 second-round pick (via Nuggets)
  • 2028 second-round pick (via Bulls)

Chicago Bulls acquire:

  • Zach Collins, Tre Jones and Kevin Huerter
  • And the Bulls re-acquired their own 2025 1st-round pick (via Spurs)

Advantage Spurs who can now combine Fox with (possible) Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle (UConn) all backing the dynamic ‘24 NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama. When they spread the floor – Look out!

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: One other big NBA trade was tucked in on Trading Deadline Eve.

  • The Golden State Warriors will send forwards Andrew Wiggins and Kyle Anderson plus a top-10 protected 2025 first-round pick to the Heat. Also, recently acquired guard Dennis Schroder, will be shipped-out to the Utah Jazz.
  • Utah will send forward P.J. Tucker, who previously played with the Heat in 2021-22, to Miami.
  • Guard Lindy Waters III will go from Golden State to the Detroit Pistons, and Josh Richardson will go from Miami to Detroit.
  • And, the highlight – Miami’s suspended bucket-man, Jimmy Butler, will join the Warriors.

TIDBITS: This weekend is ESPN commentator and Basketball Hall of Famer Dick Vitale’s “Super Bowl Weekend, Baby,” as the popular icon of college basketball returns to the ESPN airwaves after fighting back four bouts of cancer. Vitale called the Duke at Clemson game on Saturday night. … In addition, Hubie Brown, one of the most revered and beloved coaches and broadcasters in basketball history, will call his final NBA game (this weekend), Sunday, February 9, at 2:00pm ET on ABC. Brown will join fellow Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Mike Breen on the call with Lisa Salters reporting. The trio, along with the late Stuart Scott, served as the broadcast team for the 2006 NBA Finals on ABC. Brown will call the Philadelphia 76ers at Milwaukee Bucks game. The legendary coach made his NBA coaching debut in Milwaukee as an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks in 1972 under the great Larry Costello.

ALL-TIME FICTIONAL CHARACTER HOOPS TEAM: “You can’t teach height,” was the old adage for fielding a competitive basketball team so our Fictional Five and bench players will all stand as the tallest of the tall, rather than the most talented crew. wait no longer, here’s the club:

C: Rubeus Hagrid – Standing 12-foot, Hagrid of Hogwarts has to be our “five,” although there’s going to be plenty of height and length to our line-up, good guy Hagrid will lead this squad. Certainly, all opponents will find it difficult to match-up with Hagrid anchoring a 12-foot, 7-foot-6, 6-foot-9 frontline.

PF: Herman Munster – Straight out of Transylvania (Romania), Munster holds down the power forward spot on the Fictional Five club. He’s tough, quick, defensive minded and stands a lengthy 7-foot-6, according to most accounts.

SF: Lurch – The Addams Family butler stood a legit 6-foot-9 and can man the “three” with the best of ‘em. His abilities as an intimidator and enforcer should not be overlooked, as he can help on weak-side defense. Lurch has a nice stroke, too.

Lurch

SG: Gomez Adams – Castilian-born and surely a fan of León, Gomez Adams stood tall in all photos with his longtime sidekick, Lurch. For the home team, he starts at shooting guard and he’s fine unless he picks up early fouls because of the visiting cheerleaders speaking French.

PG: Bullwinkle J. Moose mans the point. While some might’ve thought Rocket “Rocky” J. Squirrel would’ve been our starter at PG, Moose got the nod over Squirrel, although – at times – they are paired together. Rocky lacked the height to start and match-up vs. taller squads.

The Bench:

The Sixth and Seventh Men come to the club directly from the Bundeslega and they are versatile players who can guard any position. In fact, in their fictional roles, they often had to guard the guard house.

Sergeant Hans Schultz is first man off the bench. The right hand man to Colonel Wilhelm Klink in Hogan’s Heroes, Schultz never melts under opposition pressure. He sees nothing, knows nothing, says nothing when questioned by scouts and media.

Schultz’s cohort from Stanisławów (occupied Austria, back in war-time (American Civil war), was Trooper Hoffenmueller and he joined our club after appearing in 11 episodes of F-Troop. Hoffenmueller had one huge claim to fame, in case you didn’t know, the actor, John Mitchum, had a slightly more famous brother, Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award winner, Robert Mitchum.

The back-up center for our club was the inspiration behind the great nickname given to Celtics star center Robert Parish. “The Chief” gained his nickname from Chief Bromden of the 1975 film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” With the great Randle McMurphy (LA Lakers fan Jack Nicholson) egging him on, Chief strides up and down the court and scores at will. He does the same thing off the bench for this club.

And, as long as McMurphy came up, he happens to be the first guard off the bench.

Rounding out the team, it would be very easy to go with three characters out of “Space Jam,” and maybe include that “bigger than life” Michael Jordan guy, but not here.

James Bond fans know our reserve power forward, Jaws, from “The Spy Who Loved Me.” The 7-foot-2 bruiser has medical clearance from our team dentist who recently replaced Jaws’ metal teeth with game-friendly plastic.

Jackie Moon is a key reserve on the club. A singer who used the profits from his one-hit wonder, “Love Me Sexy”, to buy his own basketball team, the Flint Tropics, Moon eventually moves to a role player slot on the Tropics which was enough to prove his worth to our club.

The 12th man is a two-way player shared with the Minnesota North Poles. The Abominable Snowman hails from The Island of Misfit Toys, and stands 8-feet tall by most accounts. In basketball season, he needs to take a month-long break in December and report back home.

Our coach from the motion picture BLUE Chips is the great Pete Bell of the Western University Dolphins (played by Nick Nolte). Bell is assisted by David Greene (Gabe Kaplan) of Fastbreak, Ken Reeves (Ken Howard) from The White Shadow and grad assistant Jack Cunningham (played by Ben Affleck in The Way Back (2020). Cunningham comes from the Pete Bell coaching tree and Affleck admired the work of Nolte, as well.

SUPER BOWL MENU: The continuation of a popular column tradition, to be shared today with all readers. Here’s what’s being served at ‘the ranch’ on Super Bowl LIX Sunday.

Breakfast

  • Homemade Belgian Waffles, with Vermont Maple Syrup, served with Fresh Strawberries.
  • Everything Bagel (toasted) with Vegetable or Plain Cream Cheese
  • Fresh squeezed Orange Juice
  • Pot of home-brewed “Kick Ass” coffee, with Half & Half

Lunch and Snacks, in honor of Max “Snax” Lyons, our English Springer Doodle

For the Dogs (yes, we spoil them a bit):

  • Homemade Dog Biscuits cooked with Apple Sauce, PBJ and Assorted treats

For the People:

  • Utz Special Dark Sourdough Pretzels
  • Cape Cod Air Fried Chips with Sea Salt
  • Assorted Greek Olives, freshly shipped from Greece
  • Vegetable Crudite with side of Ranch or Thousand Island Dressing
  • Assorted Cheese & Black Pepper Flavored Crackers

Pre-Game and Halftime | Dinner Offerings:

  • Special Meatballs, slow-cooked in Crock Pot, served with Bulky Rolls
  • Salisbury Steak Style Meatballs, with noodles
  • Pistachio Crusted Boneless Chicken Breast, with Grilled, Crispy Brussels Sprouts
  • Mediterranean spices on Boneless Chicken Breast, Grilled with Broccoli side
  • Chips, Salsa with Simple Guacamole

Beverages:

  • Ice Cold Diet Coke
  • Jack’s Abby, Banner City Lager Beer
  • Wine Coolers
  • Home brewed Cold Seltzer with Orange, Peach, Mango Juice over Ice
  • Fresh Lemonade
  • Coffee and Tea

Dessert:

  • Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

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TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Feb 2

by

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – In the depths of a freezing cold winter, there are two things New Englanders can count on to brighten their spirits. Groundhog Day and Fenway Truck Day. No matter what forecast that damn rodent, Pennsylvania Phil, has in store, when the Boston Red Sox equipment truck is loaded up on Van Ness Street and begins its 1,480 mile trip to Jet Blue Park in Fort Myers, Florida.

Groundhog Day is (today) Sunday, February 2 while Fenway Park Truck Day is (tomorrow) Monday, February 3. The truck will be loaded starting at 7:00am and is scheduled to leave around 1:00pm. This will be the 28th straight year that Milford native Al Hartz will drive the 53-foot truck, which will carry an assortment of baseball equipment and supplies, including:

  • 20,400 baseballs
  • 1,100 bats
  • 200 batting gloves
  • 200 batting helmets
  • 320 batting practice tops
  • 160 white game jerseys
  • 300 pairs of pants
  • 400 t-shirts
  • 400 pairs of socks
  • 20 cases of bubble gum
  • 60 cases of sunflower seeds

The celebration of Truck Day has been a Red Sox tradition since 2003, signaling the unofficial start of Spring Training. Boston’s Pitchers & Catchers report on Wednesday, February 12 while other Major League clubs report anywhere from February 9 (Chicago Cubs – traveling to Tokyo for games against the LA Dodgers – March 18/19) through February 13. For the most part, full squad workouts begin Monday, February 17. The Dodgers have scheduled their first spring training dates for February 11/15).

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Boston is a tough town, known very much as a “Hockey Town,” but it’s also a large community of figure skating families as nearly every single New England Mom or Dad has memories of taking the youngsters to the local rink (outdoor or indoor) with the kids dreaming of skating for Olympic gold. New England, along with the rest of the Figure Skating world community – a very tight knit group – are all mourning the loss of legends, friends and family in the freak airplane accident. American Airlines Flight 5342 and a Blackhawk military helicopter collided less than a mile from the runway at Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport where the Wichita to DC flight was within seconds of landing safely. Instead, all souls aboard both the jet and helicopter experienced true horror and immediate death. Then, another air catastrophe in the same week as a Medivac transport jet crashed in North Philadelphia, killing all six aboard the Learjet 55. They were all Mexican nationals returning home after a child was treated in Philly.

The American Airlines regional air flight originated in Wichita, Kansas just a few days after the U.S. Figure Skating Championship and subsequent Development Camp, held for the most promising young skaters in the country.

Two Boston area teenage skaters, two coaches and two parents from The Skating Club of Boston (Norwood, MA) were on the flight that crashed Wednesday into the Potomac River in DC after a midair crash with an Army helicopter, the club confirmed. A total of 14 members of the US skating community were aboard among the 67 passengers and crew.

Ice skating coaches and former world champions Evgenia Shishkova and VadimNaumov were aboard the flight from Wichita, coming home from the camp that followed the national championships, which ended last Sunday. Shishkova and Naumov were both coaches at The Skating Club of Boston, and had been with the club since 2017, according to Doug Zeghibe, the club’s executive director.

Shishkova and Naumov were a married couple, settled in Boston, who competed for Russia in pairs skating in the 1994 Winter Olympics and placed fourth. Later, they won their gold medals ‘94 World Championship.

The young skaters were identified by the club as Spencer Lane and Jinna Han and they were accompanied by their mothers, Christine Lane and Jin Han. All six were a constant presence at the skaking club, often 10-plus hours at a time, six days a week.

The Skating Club of Boston is the third-oldest club in the country and is a founding member of U.S. Figure Skating. In 2020, the club closed its Soldiers Field Road facility it had occupied since 1938 and moved to a fabulous three-rink headquarters in suburban Norwood, Massachusetts. Unlike most New England ice rinks, the Skating Club is dedicated 100% to figure skating, as opposed to sharing the ice time with men’s and women’s hockey.

The club has a rich history as home of Tenley E. Albright, the first American woman to win gold medals at the Worlds (1953) and Winter Olympics (1956). After her skating career, Dr. Albright went on to study medicine at Harvard Medical School where she held a faculty appointment as Lecturer in the Program of Surgery.

The great Dick Button also skated at Boston when he was enrolled at Harvard. A native of Englewood, New Jersey, Button, a five-time World Champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. Button, who later became a fixture of American figure skating coverage as a TV network color commentator, was the only male skater to simultaneously hold the Olympic, World, North American, European and US National Championship titles.

Button passed away this week at the age of 95, providing the figure skating community another kick in the teeth as they mourn some 20 deceased colleagues, six from the Boston area.

BAD MEMORIES: The horrific Wichita to DC plane crash reminded some of the February 15, 1961 crash that killed 18 members of the U.S.A. world figure skating team, along with sixteen coaches and relatives of the skaters. Those dear souls were lost when Sabena Flight 548, traveling from New York’s Idlewild Airport to Brussels, crashed on approach to Brussels.

TIDBITS: The NHL, according to ESPN, is expected to significantly raise its team salary cap over the next three seasons, according to a memo the League and the NHL Players’ Association sent to teams. … According to the memo, obtained by ESPN, the salary cap for 2025-26 will rise to $95.5 million, with a floor of $70.6 million. In 2026-27, it is projected to increase to $104 million with a floor of $76.9 million, and in 2027-28, it will again go up to $113.5 million with a floor of $83.9 million. … The NHL’s current salary cap is $88 million with a floor of $65 million. … The minimum team salary or ‘floor’ is important to keep teams from operating at an incredible low salary in years when they feel they can not be competitive.

The Washington Wizards are experiencing their second 16 consecutive loss streak of the 2024-25 season. The first was November 2 through December 5 and the current losing streak began January 3. (The Wizards faced the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis as press time was calling).

Super Bowl LIX commercial spots on FOX Sports are going for $8m. Just think of the good one could do with $8m bucks.

TOP NBA COACHES, RANKED by TL: There’s been a list of the “best” NBA coaches floating around. It’s pretty good, but here’s a TL Sunday Notes version to ponder. The thoughts are for the whole body of work, over their careers, for the Top 6 and a tip of the hat to the younger generation in the second half dozen:

  1. Erik Spoelstra, Miami
  2. Gregg Popovich, San Antonio (heavy on the body of work side, and a get well soon)
  3. Steve Kerr, Golden State
  4. Nick Nurse, Philadelphia
  5. Rick Carlisle, Indiana
  6. Tom Thibodeau, NY Knicks

THE NEXT GREAT CROP of NBA COACHES:

  1. Ime Udoka, Houston
  2. Joe Mazzulla, Boston
  3. Mark Daigneault, Oklahoma City
  4. Ty Lue (he’s actually been terrific for a while), LA Clippers
  5. Kenny Atkinson, Cleveland
  6. Mike Malone, Denver

THIS JEST IN: The National Hockey League just announced that Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak was named the NHL First Star of the Month for January. Pastrnak led the NHL in scoring in January, totaling 11 goals and 13 assists for 24 points. The 27-year-old recorded points in 12 of the team’s 14 contests, with four three-point games. Pastrnak started February even hotter than January as he registered his first hat trick of the season and an assist to lead the Bruins to a 6-3 win over the visiting New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon.

The 6-foot, 200-pound winger has played in all 53 games with the Bruins this season, notching 24 goals and 37 assists for 61 points overall. He leads the team in goals, assists, points, points per game (1.15) even strength goals (18), even strength points (47), power play goals (6) and power play points (14) this season.

Currently in his 11th season with the Bruins, Pastrnak has skated in 727 career NHL games, totaling 372 goals and 416 assists for 788 points with a plus-135 rating. The Havirov, Czech Republic native was originally drafted by Boston in the first round (25th overall) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

YOU CAN’T MAKE IT UP: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver asked by radio mogul Dan Patrick for “the wildest ideas” about the game cited discussions on awarding only two free throws for fouls on three-point field goal attempts. Then, Silver noted that he was in the minority on another idea. That being reducing the NBA game to a 40-minute game, with four 10-minute quarters. Silver cited the fact international basketball (FIBA) rules call for 40 minutes. … Repercussions from a change to a 40-minute NBA game is the fact every NBA record, dating back to 1946, would be signed, sealed and engraved into the books. Team game records, scoring records, most or fewest points scored, rebounds, assists and everything in between would be enshrined. The NBA would need to begin a new record book as Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game mark would be chiseled into stone.