Category: Sports

* Much was made of that NBA game, Knicks vs. Warriors at Madison Square Garden, that went a whole half without–literally–any non-basketball sounds and optics. No piped-in noise. No “We Will Rock You.” No videos. No kiss-cams. No dancers. No crowd exhortations. On balance, most observers–and players–missed the entertainment vibe.

No surprise. It’s a show, not merely a game. The players are also performers.

The reality is this. Whether it’s basketball, baseball, football or hockey, sports franchises today can’t be successful if they are only putting on a game for hard-core fans. There aren’t enough of them. Those days are long gone. As is the time when fans only headed to the concession stands when there was a play stoppage. What protocol?

These days belong to couples and families. It’s not just win or lose or how the game is played by the home team. It’s about being interactive and entertained. Your team wins: What a bonus.

Frankly, I’d rather analyze and second guess the game during a time out–not watch flying T-shirts or ponder a trivia quiz–but that’s just me. But, yeah, kiss-cams can be pretty funny.

* Congrats to USF’s baseball team, which has won 19 games in a row. Call it the Bulls’ version of March Madness.

* At one point, it appeared that Venezuela was primed to replace the Dominican Republic as Major League Baseball’s biggest foreign-player pipeline. Now count MLB among those adversely impacted by the economic and political chaos in Venezuela.

The Venezuelan Summer League shut down last year when MLB participation declined drastically. And only four MLB teams still run player-development academies: the Cubs, Tigers, Phillies and Rays. Speaking of the Rays, catcher Wilson Ramos, a Venezuela native, was kidnapped a few years ago during a visit home. He now lives in Florida.

* The WNBA keeps growing in media exposure, and not just in Olympic years. It’s more than mindful of its image. But it took a hit recently when a prominent, former player told the San Diego Union-Tribune that her 8-year league experience was “toxic.” Candice Wiggins said she was bullied throughout her career for being heterosexual and popular. Ouch.

* Yes, it’s “March Madness,” and my NCAA Tournament brackets are again filled out. For what it’s worth–and it’s hard for a Philly guy to not include defending champion Villanova–I have Duke, Kansas, UCLA and Arizona as my final four.

Having said all that, I wish the tournament had never expanded to 68 teams. While it includes the usual long shots–Bucknell or Winthrop, for example–it is still too skewed with teams from major conferences. For example, the Atlantic Coast Conference has nine teams in the tournament. Put it this way, if you didn’t win your regular-season championship or conference tourney and are arguably the 7th, 8th or 9th best team in the conference, what are you doing being in the hunt for the national championship?

* No, it’s not the NFL, MLB, the NBA or the NHL. It’s Major League Soccer (MLS), and it’s a parallel pro-sports universe in this country. From crowd size and media exposure to revenue streams and political clout.

And here’s another example. The less-than-major league Tampa Bay Rowdies want to enlarge historic Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg as an inducement for MLS to expand into this market. And owner Bill Edwards doesn’t want any public money. That’s not a misprint. And at $80 million, it’s not exactly chump change. And that election that must be held to get residents’ OK to negotiate a long-term lease (should St. Pete be awarded a franchise): He’ll underwrite that.

And parallel sports universe notwithstanding, yes it would be a regional plus to add MLS to Tampa Bay’s (and St. Petersburg’s) growing profile as markets on the move in a variety of ways.

* In the midst of hockey’s playoff push and baseball’s spring training, it was a welcome diversion to read about two other local sports–at the high school level–and the major accomplishments that were their story lines. Congrats to Sickles High School, which won its first state Class 8A basketball championship, and to Brandon High, which won its 17th straight state Class 2A wrestling championship.

* This year marks the fourth World Baseball Classic. No matter how seriously MLB  markets it, most American baseball fans–and players–consider it so much spring training subtext, if that. But for other competing countries–from the Far East to Latin America, it’s a big deal. They send their “A” teams, while MLB sends the best available. Most prominent, highly-compensated players, especially pitchers, don’t want to interrupt their pre-season routines. Chris Archer of the Rays, however, is all in and will be a prime contributor to Team USA–even as Rays’ management holds its breath about Archer accelerating his normal spring practice schedule.

BTW, the first three WBCs have been won by Japan (twice) and the Dominican Republic. Also worth noting: For the past 15 years, more than 1 out of every 4 players on MLB rosters has been foreign born. In short, don’t expect the U.S. to win the WBC. Again.

* We now know that the Bucs are among eight teams being considered by the NFL to appear on the HBO series “Hard Knocks” next season. And whatever team is chosen, it will not be up to that franchise to accept or not. It will be a league mandate. In short, however intrusive and distracting, just do it. It’s part of marketing.

It’s another reminder that the NFL is not just a business, it’s show business.

* First the good news. The USF baseball team is off to a 7-1 start. Among the victories, a dramatic, 9th-inning rally at Florida State, the Bulls’ first win against FSU since 1989.

As for the bad news, just when you thought men’s basketball (7-20 and a pending NCAA investigation) couldn’t get worse, it just did. Two players, including the team’s leading scorer, were left behind at the airport in Houston the other night as the team awaited a connecting flight to Tampa. No one’s in charge of making sure all players are on board? How basic is that?

* For those of us–and it’s likely most of us–who don’t have a strong preference in Sunday’s Super Bowl, here’s a tidbit that may matter. New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft considers Donald Trump a friend. “Loyalty is important to me, and he has been a wonderful friend,” says Kraft. Also publicly befriending Trump, for what it’s worth, Pats coach Bill Belichick and QB Tom Brady. Actually, it is worth something. Go, Falcons.

* Nice to see Tampa Bay’s Brittany Lincicome, 31, back in the winner’s spotlight again. The Seminole High product–she was the best player on the BOYS’ team–won the LPGA Tour’s season-opening Bahamas Classic. It was her first win since 2015.

Also good to see one of the game’s really nice players do well. She’s traveled the world, but has never changed her disarmingly friendly demeanor or her outspoken love for her roots. “I love coming home,” she says. “No tournament stress–just hanging out, sleeping in, going to my favorite restaurants. … Sometimes I think I’ll retire at 35. Buy a home on the water with a dock. The travel is hard.”

* Atlanta Falcons receivers coach Raheem Morris, the former head coach of the Bucs, is now gearing up for the Super Bowl. He’s also been reflective on how he’s grown as a coach since his Tampa Bay days. He took over for Jon Gruden after the 2008 season at the uncommonly young age of 32.

“I’m so much more prepared now to be a head coach,” he recently told the media. “It’s not even close.” For one thing, that means more of a professional relationship with Falcon players. In short, hanging out at the Blue Martini with a gaggle of players during his Buc days became a teachable moment in retrospect.

* For those looking for further evidence–beyond a winning season–that the Bucs are headed in the right direction, there is this: The Atlanta Falcons are in the Super Bowl. The same Falcons that began their season with a 31-24 loss to the Bucs.

The other NFL takeaway is that other than the New England Patriots and the Cleveland Browns, the league is largely one of parity–with no lack of “any given Sunday” reaffirmations.

* For the record, the Los Angeles Dodgers have MLB’s highest payroll: $255 million. The Rays are next-to-last at $67 million. The Milwaukee Brewers are last at $65.5 million. The top six: Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Giants and Cubs. It matters. Just ask Joe Maddon.

* To some it was glitzless and boring. Imagine, the biggest college football game–on the national championship RayJay stage–and halftime did not include A-List entertainment. No Beyonce. No Bruce. Mercifully, no Pitbull. Nothing but the Alabama and Clemson marching bands at halftime. How old school. How collegiate. How appropriate.

* If Steve Yzerman, who was unfairly and unconscionably scapegoated, can move on and congratulate Marty St. Louis on his Tampa Bay Lightning jersey-retirement night, so can the rest of us. But, yeah, that semi-hug looked understandably awkward.

There will be no elephant in the room next year when the Lightning likely will retire the jersey of  Vinny Lecavalier.

* How good is the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team? Well, a very good, nationally-ranked USF team lost to Uconn recently, 102-37. No, that’s not a misprint. No team in any sport has arguably ever been this dominant.

* Former Buccaneer–and now outspoken Seattle Seahawk defensive end–Michael Bennett raised some brows recently when he referenced Detroit Lions running back Zach Zenner as “the best (white running back) right now.” It’s a topic–in a league that is predominantly black–that isn’t commented on in public. Even as a compliment. It’s locker room talk–like wondering where all the black long snappers, holders and place kickers are.

* No emotional, post-game comment from Clemson coach Dabo Swinney resonated more around here than what he said before the national championship game. “Hey, we had snow up in Clemson, so it’s been just fine here. This has been great.”

* Chris Fowler, who called the play-by-play action for ESPN, added insight on the big game’s ambience. “It’s much more collegiate than corporate,” observed Fowler. Good.

* My favorite media shot from ESPN’s pre-game coverage was its nightly analysis at Curtis Hixon Park–with the well-illuminated minarets of the University of Tampa as a backdrop. Now THAT was awesome.

* For USF men’s basketball, it’s about as bad as it gets. The team hasn’t been winning, attendance is bad, head coach Orlando Antigua has been fired and the university is in the crosshairs of an ongoing NCAA probe–reportedly for potential academic violations. It’s a worst-case scenario. Typically teams under NCAA investigation are at least winning–and the downside is the manner in which they’re doing it. This is a lose-lose scenario.

* It now seems as traditional as the scheduling of “It’s a Wonderful Life” for Christmas. It seemingly wouldn’t be Christmas Eve without a slate of televised NFL games, including the Bucs, and it wouldn’t be Christmas Day without NBA games from noon till midnight.

Sad, albeit well-watched and well-sponsored. Too bad the two leagues can’t emulate the NHL, which never plays on Dec. 24-25. Classy move.

* Name game: It’s now official that the New York Yankees’ Class A affiliate, the Staten Island Yankees, will not be changing its name. It was put to a fan vote and “Yankees” held off, among others, Pizza Rats and Bridge Trolls.

Takes me back to my Philadelphia days when an expansion NHL franchise was coming on board in the late 1960s. It would, of course, need a marketable, possibly cool name. As part of its market outreach, the new team submitted to a fan vote that was conducted by local media. Obviously Flyers won out. “Colonials” was another contender. Alliteration and historical underpinnings. Yo, we get it.

But long forgotten is what the official runner-up was. And it was pitch perfect Philly, sometimes referred to by locals as the “city of brotherly mug”–only in a complimentary way, you know. Anyway, finishing second was “Ice Picks.” Vintage.

* Among those who apparently didn’t come close to getting the USF job was Lane Kiffin. Good. FAU will ultimately pay a price after he leaves amid some controversy.

* The University of Minnesota will not be boycotting the school’s Holiday Bowl game in San Diego against Washington State. It had to do with 10 players being suspended as a result of a sexual-assault investigation, and the rest of the team rallying behind them and demanding apologies and reinstatement.  The UM administration never blinked, and the players backed down.

The key factor: Most of the players had never read the 82-page report detailing the allegations. Apparently that did in the players’ resolve–and any claim to the moral high ground.