Sports Banter

  ((photo owned by marchmadness IG, we do not own the rights) Holy shit.... What actually just happened? My SDSU Aztecs were up against in Saturday night's Final 4 matchup versus the FAU Owls. Down 14 with 13:53 left in the 2nd half it started to feel like the end to a historic run. A team that would've been remembered for going the furthest of any SDSU team in history (Final 4), taking down the #1 overall seed Alabama in the Sweet 16, and a nail biting Elite 8 win over Creighton. That would've been a lot to be proud of on its own but what happened is what makes college basketball so great. The Aztecs started to chip away at the lead with some 3 pointers by Micah Parrish and Matt Bradley, followed by a flurry of offensive rebounds that continued to give the Aztecs extra possessions. It was an extremely physical matchup to say the least and SDSU couldn't buy a foul or a bucket under the rim for the longest time. WAR. That's the only thing that comes to mind. FAU was ...

  (image is owned by medium.com, we do not own the rights) 2016 seems like a distant memory. When the Chicago Cubs entered spring training that year the expectation was clear, World Series or bust. 7 years later the only remaining player from that team is now the teams' manager, David Ross. That itself speaks volumes to how this team has been put together and how the expectations surrounding this team are much different. With owner Tom Ricketts promising to all Cub fans that we would not be rebuilding, but rather revamping, the trust within the fan base still existed. But as we've watched the previous 2 years, the Cubs were obviously not trying to compete with the elite teams in the MLB. It became apparent that the focus was on payroll efficiency and not fielding the best team we could. Along with that, the lack of respect to the great players who wore the jersey was obvious i.e. Wilson Contreras who now wears the disgusting Cardinal red we all hate. BUT ALAS. The beauty of spr...

(Reinhold Matay/USA Today Sports)     Last week Netflix released their series "Full Swing", which was watched and completed by myself in 3 days. Although I am not a binge watcher by any means, I was enamored by the authenticity of this series. The platform was similar to Netflix's F1 series "Drive to Survive", but let me tell you "Full Swing" is exceptional. But let me get back to what I really want to talk about, Tiger Woods and his impact on the game of golf. This weekend was the Genesis  tournament, which started on Thursday and ran through Sunday with Tiger Woods as the host of the event. I am a pretty big golf fan, maybe not as much as Doc Downing but I am pretty close. This weekend there was so much coverage of the tournament and the reason for that is because of Tiger. Tiger was able to get through the weekend, and I was watching every single day. On Friday he birdied the last three holes of the tournament on a bum leg, bad back, and noneth...

  (photo is owned by Porter Binks/Getty Images, we do not own the rights) Less than 10 months removed from Jay Wright's abrupt retirement, Villanova basketball is at a crossroads. Adapt or die. When Wright announced his retirement following his 3rd Final 4 run in 7 years, winning National Championships in both '16 & '18, he blindsided College Basketball, Nova Nation, and most importantly, his program. A legend and architect of arguably the most dominant basketball program of the 2012 - 2022 era, Wright was done. The fire and passion that had propelled the miraculous run had fizzled out and Wright had "lost his edge", as he put it. Months before the announcement, Wright notified Mark Jackson and Father Peter of his decision. Seemingly to both save the heralded incoming recruiting class and "keep it in the family", the trio allegedly chose to forgo a quiet national coaching search for a top 10 job in college basketball, and instead appointed former ass...

  I AM SICK. This is the most disturbed I've been watching one of my teams play since Cody Parkey's double-doink. That's a DEEP cut. The Lakers go into Boston and play an absolute beauty of a game, only to be cheated out of their rightful win in the final moments. This isn't an overreaction piece, this isn't a debate, this is just a blatant lack of accountability on 3 NBA referees who took this win from the Lakers and there's obvious video evidence to back it up. Truly disgusting. A couple notes to harp on from the last 10 seconds of play: 1. Only in Boston, would a historically HORRIBLE 3 point attempt from Al Horford that hits the top of the backboard end up in the hands of Jaylen Brown. He gets the rebound, puts it back in for the layup and that was that. No whistle, the play moves on, Lakers still up 1. But ohhhhhh wait the referee by the Celtics bench decides 2 full seconds after the play that he's calling a foul. Let's make this clear. It was a fou...

  (Image is owned by FOX, we do not own the rights) When the 49ers drafted Brock Purdy with the very last pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, they never could've imagined that this would be the result. All of the franchises stock had been invested in top pick Trey Lance. So much so that the organization had basically made it known to Jimmy G (who just led the team to an NFC Championship appearance) that they were openly looking to trade him. That was the plan. But when Trey Lance suffered a serious season ending ankle injury in week 2 everything changed. The once scorned Jimmy G was in line to be QB1 for the niners once again, music to the 49er faithful and why wouldn't it be? Like I said he just led the team to an NFC championship appearance and damn near Super Bowl berth. And that would have been a good enough script for the 49ers this year. But again the injury bug bit the niners and bit them hard as in week 13, Garropolo went down with a broken foot and was ruled out for the season...

  (Photo owned by Tom Fox/Staff Photography)     At the end of every season you have two groups; one group fighting for the title and one group trying to re-build to compete next season. The group of teams that are looking for the edge next season are conducting interviews with college coaches, front office personnel, and crazy enough other coaches that are still coaching in playoff games. This to me is one of the weirdest things in the NFL, interviewing for a  job while you are working towards the title. Perfect example, Dan Quinn of the Cowboys had a number of interviews this past week leading up to their divisional play off game against the 49ers. Quinn and other coaches are being pulled away from focusing on winning to interview for potential future jobs. I understand that the goal for other teams is to get the edge early and fast, but I don't understand what a couple of months could change.      The NFL needs to review and change th...