NBA’s 200 Point All-Star Debacle! Islanders Choke In Outdoor Game Loss To Rangers. Purdue Goes Down. UCONN: Team To Beat. Alonso Wants Mets, But Vice Versa? Matsuyama’s 62 Wins Wacky Genesis
Another holiday Monday presents a wild hour of sports talk as we transition away from the NFL with all of the latest happenings in the sports universe as I’ll unpack the following:
(3:00) It was a rough weekend for the NBA as they had to deal with a repeat slam dunk champion (Mac McClung) who’s in the G-League! Plus, an All-Star Game that had one team score over 200 POINTS as the East beat the West. What can they do to fix it? Is it too late to do so? Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn has been relieved of his duties. Was it fair? Then you have the finalists for the Naismith Hall of Fame which includes Vince Carter and Chauncey Billups. Why I think both wouldn’t be enshrined in Springfield if it was up to me? The Association is still on a respite as the schedule will pick up on Thursday.
(22:50) You had another stunner in college basketball as #2 Purdue loses to Ohio State, with an interim coach, no less. Does this hurt them for a #1 come tournament time? #1 UCONN is surely looking like a team that’s going to defend their title as they destroyed #4 Marquette in historic fashion. How about Rick Pitino, the head coach of St. John’s? They lost to Seton Hall last night and are now 6-9 in the conference. He had plenty of choice words for his team, calling it a disappointing year, stating how unathletic they are, lacking toughness, going in on his squad as they try to fight for a spot in the tournament. Caitlin Clark sets the women’s record all time for scoring in the sport, eclipsing Kelsey Plum in the process. And sad news as former Maryland coach, Lefty Driesell passed away at age 92.
(30:45) The NHL had a huge weekend with two outdoor games in the same venue. I’ll unwrap the Flyers-Devils meeting on Saturday night, with the second game being a nail biter where the Islanders blew a golden opportunity to beat their crosstown rival Rangers, 6-5 in OT. I was a witness to the latter game. How much that loss stings even a day later may come as a surprise? Also, the nerve of the Ranger fan, sounding like they’ve won 6 or 7 Stanley Cups as I had to deal with them for three plus hours yesterday. Don’t look now, but the Panthers have overtaken the Bruins in the Atlantic Division for the first time since the end of the 2021-22 season. I’ll see what else is happening in the other divisions and keep you up to speed on the latest.
(46:26) With position players reporting throughout the MLB, I have to throw in my two cents regarding Mets 1B, Pete Alonso and his desire to be a lifelong Met. I call out both the VP of baseball ops, David Stearns and of course, the owner, Steve Cohen to put his money where his mouth is as he’s stated in the past that he wants to operate his team like the Braves & Dodgers, to name a couple. There were two low level signings, (Whit Merrifield to Phillies and Liam Hendricks to the Red Sox) as spring training is in full swing.
(54:40) There was a golf tournament over the weekend in LA at the Genesis Invitational. It wasn’t a major, but you had some interesting developments regarding a couple of players. Tiger Woods had to withdraw with an illness after two rounds. Is this the last of Tiger being a dominant fixture on the course? You also had Jordan Spieth disqualified due to an erroneous scorecard. But your winner was Hideki Matsuyama who shot a 62 in the final round to win the tournament as we’re still six or seven weeks from Augusta.
(57:41) The Super Bowl of Racing had to be postponed due to inclement weather at the Daytona 500. They’ll race at 4pm today/Monday. Does this hurt the biggest racing event of the year?
(58:42) UFC had a surprise on Saturday night as Ilia Topuria stunned Alexander Volkanovski in a knockout that I’m sure quite a few didn’t expect. Is a rematch in order at some point in the not too distant future?
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