Spring Sports Opening Day?
It's Opening Day! Maybe.
For some reason, I thought it was Monday and looking at the weather today, it might be, especially for baseball and softball games played on grass. If the fields look anything like my lawn, they're in rough shape.
As of this writing, I've got the baseball schedule loaded and I'm working on getting softball and lacrosse up. The heal points will probably be up this weekend.
The scoreboard is pulling from the streaming links database for basketball, so that could be different (but a good place to start looking).
I'll also have rankings for baseball/softball/lax and the newsletter will have updated for those, but probably not every day, unless the response warrants it.
Stay tuned!
If you missed it, the Celtics broke a dubious record against Milwaukee.
No team in NBA history has played a game without a free throw attempt.
— Dick Lipe (@DickLipe) April 10, 2024
To be fair, they had a lot of help.
Speaking of the refs, I had one of Peter Webb's All-Stars on the podcast.
This was a really fun conversation with Chris Barstow with a lot of insights about how refs call the game, how they've progressed in recent years on things like the Euro Step, the impact of sportsmanship and rowdy fans, some news I hadn't heard on the expansion of replay for next season(!), and a lot more.
Plus, I found out how you can do a Mutombo finger wag without getting a technical.
You can watch the whole thing on YouTube or Facebook or you can listen to it on your favorite podcasting platform.
As with any podcast, if you enjoy these, make sure you rate it, subscribe, share and all that jazz. It really does help with the algorithm.
And if you've got a suggestion for a future guest, let me know!
Stacey Porrini Clingan's kid had a pretty good tournament.
Donovan Clingan wears #32 in honor of his mom, who passed in 2018.
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 9, 2024
She was a dominant center at Bristol Central in Connecticut—just like Donovan—then led Maine to three NCAA Tournaments.
He's now played in two NCAA Tournaments—and won back-to-back national titles with UConn. pic.twitter.com/9r957HnSgA
The women's National Championship got HUGE numbers.
BREAKING: The Iowa-South Carolina national championship game averaged 18.7 million viewers.
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) April 8, 2024
That makes it the most watched basketball game — men's or women's, college or professional — in five years.
What a MASSIVE month for women's basketball. pic.twitter.com/qCXRcpt392
Mackenzie Holmes has declared for the WNBA draft, but she's also not going to be playing this season.
ESPN's latest WNBA mock draft has Holmes going to Connecticut in the 2nd round. Beyond Women's Sports has her going to Indiana in the 2nd. But it's unclear if that's factoring in the injury news or not.
My guess is that WNBA teams already had her ongoing knee issues factored into their draft boards, so if the surgery can clear that up, it's got to be a net-positive, long-term. It's not like this is a new injury concern.
The draft is Monday, so we'll know soon.
That's it for now. Stay dry out there!