The NBA celebrated the NBA All-Star game on Michael Jordan’s 50th birthday yesterday. The Western Conference all-stars defeated their counterparts from the Eastern Conference by the score of 143-138, their third straight win in the midseason game. Chris Paul of the LA Clippers was named MVP after scoring 20 points and distributing 15 assists, most of them on lobs to his teammate Blake Griffin, who finished with 19. Kevin Durant led the West with 30 points. For the East, LeBron James scored 19, Dwyane Wade scored 21, and Chris Bosh had 6 points. Carmelo Anthony led the Eastern all-stars with 26 points. The entire league will enjoy their final day off before hitting the court tomorrow. The Heat will be on the road for their next three games: in Atlanta against the Hawks on Wednesday; on Thursday, they will be in Chicago to take on the Bulls, and will square off against the Philadelphia 76ers in Philly on Saturday. The team returns home to host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday evening. Miami has the best record in the Eastern Conference at 36-14, while in the West, the San Antonio Spurs are 42-12.
In the rest of the all-star weekend events,
Toronto rookie Terrence Ross beat defending champion Jeremy Evans in the Slam-Dunk Championship.
Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers took home the three-point shooting crown.
Portland Trailblazer first-year player Damian Lillard won the the Skills Challenge event.
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Michael Jordan turned 50 years old yesterday, more proof that we are ALL getting older. When he “retired” from the NBA to go play baseball, what franchise did he play for? Tell you later, Alligator.
Moving over to college hoops, make it 13 in a row for the #3 ranked University of Miami Hurricanes, as they narrowly escaped Clemson with a 45-43 win. The Canes were losing 42-38 with less than two minutes remaining in the contest, but were able to pull it out, thanks to Kenny Kadji, who hit a three-pointer with 36 seconds left to give Miami the lead. Kadji had missed his first five attempts from behind the arc, as the Canes only hit 3 of 19 three-point attempts. They were held to their lowest point total this season, 25 points below its average. Mama said there would be days like this, and the sign of a good team is when you win on a bad night. UM improved to 21-3, and are 12-0 in the ACC. The Canes should move up to #2 this week in the polls, after #2 Duke fell to Maryland on Saturday. The Canes return home to take on the University of Virginia tomorrow night, before traveling to Wake Forest to take on the Deacons on Saturday.
FIU got back to their winning ways as well on Saturday, when they beat Western Kentucky 87-82. The Panthers will host 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 go to Bethune Cookman for a game tomorrow afternoon, and will host Manhattan for three games this weekend.
In other news out of the Coral Gables campus, the Miami Herald is reporting that Mario Cristobal, who got fired at FIU after this past season and accepted an assistant coach position with Miami, has just interviewed for the Offensive Line Coach job with Nick Saban at the University of Alabama. The Herald said that Cristobal made UM Coach Al Golden aware of this interview.
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 Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros.
LOS ANGELES DODGERS 86-76 Mgr. Don Mattingly
The Dodgers finished in second place in the NL West last season, but they have opened their wallets and acquired SS Hanley Ramirez, 1B Adrian Gonzalez, P Josh Beckett, OF Carl Crawford, and closer Brandon League. This team looks ready to overtake the San Francisco Giants in the West.
HOUSTON ASTROS 55-107 Mgr. Bo Porter
The first season for the Astros in the American League, and they have nowhere to go but up. The Astros will try to avoid becoming the first team to lose at least 106 games three years in a row since the lowly New York Mets did it in their first three years of existence from 1962-1965. Fat chance, especially moving from the weak NL Central to the very talented AL West. The Astros will have only five players on their 40-man roster with more than two years major-league experience, and their only significant off-season move was signing Carlos Peña, who is expected to be their full-time DH.
Tomorrow: The Miami Marlins and Kansas City Royals.
The Sun Sentinel has a story on Marlins catcher Rob Brantly. It looks like this kid is going to be fun to watch.
We go to Ohio, to see what’s going on with fireballer Aroldis Chapman and his move to the Reds starting rotation. I hope it works, but the Reds obviously don’t understand the concept of “It is isn’t broken, don’t fix it”.
Buster Olney of ESPN tells us, among other things, that Derek Jeter is getting older and that age is catching up to the Yankee Captain. Thanks, Buster. Really news-breaking stuff.
Now, for some apologies and explanations:
First, from Yasmani Grandal out in San Diego.
Second, we hear from almost-Marlin Yunel Escobar, now with the Tampa Bay Rays., courtesy of ESPN’s Jayson Stark:
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? Valentine’s day came and went! What are you waiting for now? St. Patrick's Day? Easter? The NFL Draft? 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: Michael Jordan turned 50 years old yesterday, more proof that we are ALL getting older. When he “retired” from the NBA to go play baseball, what franchise did he play for? Tell you later, Alligator.
Jordan played for the Chicago White Sox‘ AA team, the Birmingham Barons. In 127 games with the Barons, “His Airness” hit .202, with 17 doubles, 1 triple, and 3 homeruns in 436 at-bats. He also struck out 114 times. I know I’m going out on a limb here, but he was much better on the court.
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Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.
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