Here are some mid week thoughts on the world of sports.
– The MLB season kicked off this early morning with the A’s playing the Redsox in…… Japan. This 2 game series will count before both teams fly back to the states to play a couple of exhibition games, before once again starting the regular season. The game started at a 3 AM PT and was an A’s home game despite that Boston has 2 prominent Japenese players.
These games have made headlines for all the wrong reasons. I understand the need to internationalize baseball to non domestic audience but have to say there are better ways to do it. While its a little out of the box, Bobby Valentine is pushing for a true world series pitting the MLB champion agaisnt the Japenese league champion in Hawaii. Interesting concept that will never happen, but I think it’s not too bad.
– Its going to be a rough transition in Ann Arbor for Rich Rodriguez. With the dramatic change in system, I don’t know if Rodriguez will ever get his program back to the stature that the AD and boosters expect it to be. Last week I blogged about Terrelle Pryor selecting Ohio State over the Wolverines, which now leaves Michigan with a pretty barren and bleak QB situation.
Although there has been a lot of rumblings of the Rodriguez regime overhauling the complacent attitude of the team, some Wolverines have not taken to the change so kindly. Starting offensive guard Justin Boren (a Michigan football legacy) has decided to leave the program. Its an extreme rarity to have a starter transfer and one that has been on campus for 2 1/2 years. Boren was in position to be an all conference player but obviously butted heads with the new regime. The more interesting tidbit is that its in the realm of possibility that Boren would transfer to Ohio State. He would not be eligible for a scholarship due to it being an inter conference transfer, but Boren is a Central Ohio native who almost picked the Buckeyes over Michigan. Keep an eye on this as Boren’s brother ,a high school junior looking for a OSU offer, might be the enticing last piece for this recruiting puzzle. If so it would be the first football transfer from Michigan to Ohio State in the history of the rivalry (historians correct me if I am wrong)
– My bracket is doing ok. The games have been fun to watch. UNC is dominating. Can’t wait for Thursday. My Final 4 is in tact so far (Texas, Tennessee, UCLA (apparently the refs and god are a fan of), and Kansas.
– Lastly the 49ers have already butchered this years draft. They in essence traded the 7th pick in the draft for Joe Staley (who has not lived up to the billing thus far) and now have lost their 5th round pick for tampering violations stemming from last year’s courting of Lance Briggs. Even worse the niners will have to flip flop their 3rd round pick with the Bears moving them back from 7th to 12th. The Niners, a proud dynasty in the nineties built on consistent proficiency in the draft, now find themselves sand bagged by a string of incompetent decisions which has essentially already ruined a draft day that is still a month away.
