The Heat return to the hardwood tomorrow in Atlanta against the Hawks as they tipoff the second half of the regular season. Miami has the best record in the East at 36-14, while out west, the San Antonio Spurs sit on top with a 42-12. Interestingly enough, these teams are ranked 30th and 25th in rebounding in the league, but are still on top of the standings. Simple to understand: Miami leads the league in field goal percentage and San Antonio is second, thus there are a lot less opportunities for offensive rebounds. After tomorrow’s game in Atlanta, the Heat will be in Chicago to take on the Bulls on Thursday, and will square off against the Philadelphia 76ers in Philly on Saturday. The team returns home to play the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday evening at the AAA.
Most of the NBA teams return to action tonight:
Toronto @ Washington 7:00 pm
Charlotte @ Orlando 7:00 pm
Milwaukee @ Brooklyn 7:30 pm
Memphis @ Detroit 7:30 pm
Chicago @ New Orleans 8:00 pm
Boston @ Denver 9:00 pm NBA-TV
Golden State @ Utah 9:00 pm
San Antonio @ Sacramento 10:00 pm
Phoenix @ Portland 10:00 pm
Moving over to college hoops, the University of Miami Hurricanes moved up in the polls as expected, they are now the #2 team in the country, behind the Indiana Hoosiers. Gonzaga moved up to third, while Michigan State rose from eighth to fourth. Florida came in at #5. Duke, Michigan, Syracuse, Kansas, and Louisville round out the top ten. Big game tonight as Michigan State hosts Indiana. Game time for that one is 7:00 pm and you can watch it on ESPN. I think the Canes will be watching before their game tonight against the University of Virginia. Game time at the BankUnited Center is 9:00 pm, and it will be televised by ESPN-U.
FIU hosts Arkansas-Little Rock at the US Century Bank Arena on Thursday, and will travel to Louisina-Monroe to take on the Warhawks the following Thursday.
Both local universities had successful weekends as the College baseball season kicked off. The Canes swept their weekend series against Rutgers and FIU did the same to Stony Brook, a participant in the 2012 College World Series. Miami will be back in action on Wednesday against FAU in Boca Raton on Wednesday, and will host Milwaukee this weekend at the Light. FIU will play at Bethune Cookman this afternoon, and will host Manhattan for three games this weekend.
In other news out of the Coral Gables campus, Mario Cristobal, who got fired at FIU after this past season and accepted an assistant coach position with Miami on January 10, has accepted the offensive line coach position with Nick Saban at the University of Alabama. Roll Tide. You think this may have something to do with the continued NCAA witch hunt against Miami?
Here is some stuff from Yahoo! Sports regarding the so-called investigation, followed by coach Al Golden’s reaction:
Here’s coach Golden’s reaction:
Spring Training is here! I will be bringing you analysis of all 30 teams over the next three weeks. One team from each league every day, in alphabetical order. Today, may I present to you the Miami Marlins and Kansas City Royals.
MIAMI MARLINS 69-93 Mgr. Mike Redmond
What can I say that hasn't already been said? The slogan for this year is "FORGET 2012", and well we should. A total disaster, spearheaded by the hiring of Ozzie Guillen as manager, and the continued interfering from owner Jeffrey Loria. This year's payroll looks to be around $30 million after the garage sale, and new manager Mike Redmond definitely will have his work cut out for him. The Fish added SS Adeiny Hechavarria, 3B Placido Polanco, OF Juan Pierre, C Jeff Mathis, and a slew of prospects. We will see how long Ricky Nolasco and Giancarlo Stanton remain here. I do like the young pitching staff, especially Jacob Turner and Nathan Eovaldi, and am anxiously waiting to see what Jose Fernandez can do. Love the young catcher, Rob Brantly, as well. It will be difficult for Giancarlo to continue to grow with little or no protection in the lineup. More years of small payroll, smaller crowds, and little expectations. All said and done, however, I truly think this team will have a better record than they had last year.
KANSAS CITY ROYALS 72-90 Mgr. Ned Yost
Lots of changes in KC. The Royals could have an entirely different starting rotation from the start of last year. Jeremy Guthrie, Ervin Santana, Wade Davis, James Shields bolster a pitching staff that could see the Royals become a .500 team for the first time since 2003. This team is loaded with young talent and should continue to improve this year. Keep them on your radar.
Tomorrow: The Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Angels.
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Former Marlins catcher Mike Redmond is the new Marlins manager, brought in to clean up the mess made by Ozzie Guillen. How many former catchers are presently managing in the major leagues? Tell you later, Alligator.
ESPN’s Jayson Stark has an interesting story on the new and very much improved Atlanta Braves:
The New York Daily News talks about Johan Santana and his umpteenth comeback from injury:
Who is the youngest player in a spring training camp this season? Here is the latest teenage sensation:
Regardless of what you read or hear, I am still told that MLB is continuing its efforts to try and “persuade” the Marlins ownership to sell the ball club, possibly to Governor Bush and his group. (Maybe a financial incentive?) We’ve already seen how MLB is willing to punish South Florida as long as Jeffrey Loria owns the team.
Dear Jeffrey Loria and minions:
You're still here?!?!? What do you mean, you still haven’t sold the team? Haven't you done enough damage already? Baseball fans in South Florida need a Marlins owner that loves the game of baseball, and doesn’t just love owning a team. We need an owner that wants to win, not one that just treats it only as a money-making business.
Stay alert out there, Mr. Loria. Your window of opportunity to get out of town is opening up in just a few days. The five-year anniversary of the Marlins and Miami-Dade County agreement for the baseball stadium is coming up on February 21, 2013. After that time, the “penalty” for selling the team is only 5%, a mere pittance, based on a $250 million value of the team. You’ve already saved much more than that on the salary dump this season alone. Of course, you and your minions have already decided not to field a quality major league roster this coming season, hopefully setting up the sale of the team. (I’m sure MLB is willing to cough up the 5% just to get you out of their hair.)
We’ll continue to keep our fingers crossed and light a candle in the meantime.
Here’s the answer to today’s question: Former Marlins catcher Mike Redmond is the new Marlins manager, brought in to clean up the mess made by Ozzie Guillen. How many former catchers are presently managing in the major leagues?
Redmond became the 12th former catcher to be employed as a major league manager, or 40% of the managers for the 30 teams. All four teams in the championship series last year had former catchers as managers — Mike Matheny (StL), Bruce Bochy (SF), Joe Girardi (Yankees) and Jim Leyland (Det). Two other former catchers had their teams in the playoffs last year, Fredi Gonzalez (Atl) and Bob Melvin (Oak). The rest of the former catchers presently managing in the big leagues are Clint Hurdle (Pit), Joe Maddon (TB), Mike Scioscia (Angels) Ned Yost (KC) and Eric Wedge (Sea)
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Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.
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