“Baseball Opening Day”

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Baseball is back – 2023-style. It’s green grass, blue sky, baseball under the sun, domed stadiums and designated hitters. Remembering all the history and records of the games, the stars and years gone by.

Baseball is the personality on the field.

Teddy Ballgame (Williams)…Stan-the-Man (Musial)…Duke of Flatbush (Snider). It’s the M & M Boys, (Mantle and Maris), Sey Hey (Mays), Jackie (Robinson) and Charley Hustle. (Rose). It’s the Bambino (Ruth) and the Iron Man (Gehrig), the Georgia Peach (Cobb), Reggie Bar (Jackson) and the Wild Horse of the Osage (Pepper Martin.)

Baseball is all about the teams. Murderer’s Row (Yankees)…the Gashouse Gang (Cardinals), the Gints (Giants) and D’em Bums (Dodgers). It’s the Lumber Company (Pirates), the Big Red Machine (Cincinnati), the Running Redbirds (Cardinals), and those Fightin Phils (Phillies). Its “1st in War-1st in Peace-Last in the American League (Senators), the Bronx Bombers (Yankees) and the Amazing’s (Mets.)

Baseball is places too. The House that Ruth Built (Yankees Stadium)….the Green Monster (Fenway)….the 8th Wonder of the World (Astrodome)….the Stick (San Francisco)…Coogan’s Bluff (Polo Grounds)…Ivy covered walls (Wrigley Field) and the Fans in Flatbush (Ebbets Field.)

Baseball is also about owners. The Boss (Steinbrenner)….Charley O (Finley)…The Mahatma (Branch Rickey)… Veeck as in Wreck (Bill Veeck) and Cornelius McGillacuddy (Connie Mack).

Baseball is about managers. The Major (Ralph Houk)….Smokey (Walter Alston)….Casey at the Bat (Stengel)…Billy-the-Kid (Martin.)

Baseball is about the broadcasters too, Vin Scully, Mel Allen, Jerry Coleman, Jack Buck, Bob Prince and Harry Caray.

Baseball is about opening day, when Bob Feller of the Indians threw a no-hitter; Ted Williams hit .446 in career opening days and they threw snowballs not fastballs at CNE Stadium in Toronto.

Baseball is teams of days gone by, the St. Louis Browns, the Washington Senators, Montreal Expos, Philadelphia & Kansas City A’s, the Boston Braves, and Seattle Pilots.

Baseball is numbers: 60 (Ruth-HRs)…61 (Maris-HRs)…714 (Aaron-HRs)…254 (Hack Wilson-RBIs)…76 (Barry Bonds HRs)…401 (Ted Williams batting average)…4,256 (Pete Rose hit total).

Baseball is bubble gum and trading cards. Father’s taking sons to their first game. Foul Balls, hot dogs and autographs. Rainouts and beanballs and out of town scoreboards. It’s lying under the covers late at night listening on a transistor radio. It’s learning to keep score. Playing catch with your dad, grand dad or uncle. It’s the smell of the ball park, the crack of the bat, the cheering of the crowd.

Baseball is back, and every team, every fan, starts on opening day, feeling good about itself. It’s the new look at Dodgers Stadium, Angels Stadium or the gem that is Petco Park.

Angels, Dodgers, Padres, great to see you.

Baseball is back. Welcome back old friend.

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“Chargers-Padres-Aztecs”

What I know, what I think:

CHARGERS…The family feud within Team Spanos is about to get expensive and beyond ugly.  Yea Spanos has now announced she is putting here entire 24% of ownership stock up for sale to outside interest.  This the end result of two years of bitter infighting over the amount of debt Dean Spanos has run up since the move to Los Angeles, totaling over 353M.

Her 15% ownership of team stock and her 9% ownership of the Family Trust has a value right now of 161.5M dollars.

Another fight is coming as to whether Dean has first right to buy that stock to retain majority ownership or whether he may have trouble securing a bank loan to get that money on top of the mountain of debt he has incurred since moving to Los Angeles.

This is not over this is not good.

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PADRES…Here comes opening day and with all the excitement is the reality that the team has to go 20-games into the season without Fernando Tatis in right field, finishing up his 80-game PED suspension.  He will start in the PCL, and can play 15-games on rehab assignment till he is cleared to rejoin the Padres on April 20th.

Juan Soto, hold your breath, that he can do full swings in games starting Thursday against the Rockies.  Might they be better served letting him take more extended BP before putting him in the lineup, or let him just DH?

So now you have 2-key bats who might not be there opening day, opening weekend.  Decisions, Decisions.

Looks as if David Dahl and Rougned Odor have slugged their way onto the bench as utility guys along with Matt Carpenter.

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AZTECS…It seems its ready to happen.  San ‘Diego State basketball not only punched its ticket to get to the Final 4-of the tourney, what they did may have punched the ticket for the Pac 12 to offer SDSU admittance to the conference as it expands within the next month or so.  Some spring at San Diego State.

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“Aztecs-Padres-Chargers…Rank Them”

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You can put San Diego State’s name right up there on the scoreboard with the greatest moment in sports history in America’s Finest City.

The Aztecs are going to the Final 4-of the NCAA-Tournament surviving 39:59 of a War of Attrition, in beating Creighton on Sunday in NCAA tourney play.

The SDSU accomplishment now rankeds right up there Steve Garvey’s home run that got the Padres to the World Series in 1984.

It’s equal to the Dennis Gibson’s last second, 4th down pass deflection in the Chargers AFC-championship game win in Pittsburgh in 1995.

It was a heart stopping win for SDSU.
It was a heartbreaking loss for Creighton.

It was a Darrion Trammell free throw with (:01) left that capped a furious (57-56) SDSU victory.

Oh the debate will rage all week about the final seconds of the game.

Was Trammell actually fouled on his final drive to the basket with (:03) left?
Was the Jays inbounds passer stepping on the end line when he made his throw?
Did the length of the court final pass get tipped out of bounds and by who?
Did the clock run out on the final length of the court pass?

Let the talk show debates begin in Omaha and San Diego.

It was a ‘War of Attrition’, just typical the way Brian Dutcher’s team plays.
It was ugly, it was a win, and it took  till the final second to determine the survivor.

The mood swings in the arena went all over the place.

The Aztecs struggled with Creighton’s big men in the first half.
The Jays guards got penetration into the paint and made shots the first half.
SDSU was frozen trying to defend pick and roll plays that first half.

San Diego ramped up its defense to start the second half, and they finished Creigthon off late with a series of big boy defensive plays.

Heroes?  Check off a bunch of boxes.

Nathan Mensah helped wipe out an 8 point deficit to start the second half, with a mid range jumper, a blocked shot and a huge rebound.

Then Keshad Johnson and AG Aroup combined for 4-baskets either on short hook shots in the paint, or jumpers right low on the block.

Then Mensah came back to make 3-more big plays in the final (:90) seconds that kept the Jays from taking back the lead at the end of regulation.

Oh it was not easy, and yet it was typical hammer and tong basketball for large chunks of the game.

SDSU survived a siege of 1-basket in 12-minutes when they shot (2-for-17).

State survived a horrid in bounds pass t0 Adam Seiko that turned into a Creighton game tying basket at 56-56.

SDSU let the Jays shoot 54% from the floor in the opening half, and out rebound them in the opening 20-minutes.  Things we never ever see.

And it was the undecided outcome  to the final second free throw and the time expiring instant replay video.

When it was over, the final stat sheet looked like most of the others this season.  Crehgton shot just 30$ in the second half.  Goodbye lead, goodbye game.  SDSU shot just 38$, a typical bad day at the office.

The Jays were a God-awful (2-17) on 3’s, that equates to 11% from the arc.  Of course State was (3-13) shooting long range, pretty substandard.

But it was the State defense, wave after wave of it and the depth that was the difference at the end  The Blue Jays looked gassed in the second half and it showed down the stretch.

So they are (31-6) and heading to Houston.  No one could have thought this possible 24-years ago when Steve Fisher and Brian Dutcher arrived and endured an (0-14) conference season.

The Aztxecs are about to take the next step, next Saturday against Florida Atlantic.

They are right where the Padres were at their biggest moment, and where the Chargers were at 3-Rivers Stadium.  The others got there but did not get it done in the World Series or the Super Bowl.

The Aztecs now have a chance to do something different, come Final 4-weekend.

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“Game Day-SDSU”———-

San Diego State is no longer a ‘Cinderella team’.

They are expected to be in the Sweet 16 team almost yearly.

The national media now refers to Princeton or Florida Atlantic as wearing the surprise description.

Now it’s Big Boy basketball, as the Aztecs face #1 ranked Alabama.

Here are things to look for when the Aztecs meet the Tide.

REFS..Big question, will the striped shirts allow the bigs to bang on each other.  San Diego State mugged Furman and Charleston.

DEPTH CHART…San Diego State can go 9-deep with players they trust, and that includes 5-bigs.  Alabama has a big front line but very little big man depth.

WAR OF ATTRITION…Defending against a Tide frontline that goes 6’9…6’10 and 7’…San Diego State will have 25-fouls to give in the game to slow down Brandon Miller and Bama’s two other big men.  State hasn’t face this type of size since the Maui Classic loss to Arizona.

OFFENSE…The Tide are averaging (82) points per game.  They push the pace, they shoot 3’s (10) made per game and they want to dictate tempo.

PERSONALITY…SDSU wants to make this a half court game but that may be hard.  SDSU’s defense allows the other team to shoot just 32% in the tourney and only 29% from the 3-point line in the tourney.  But much of that comes from forcing the other guy into a half court game.  What if they can’t?

3-POINTS…SDSU has shown no consistency in hitting 3’s in the tourney.  Now you are facing a pretty fierce defensive team.  They have to hit 3’s because scoring inside may be a real problem against the Bama bigs.

BOARDS…You are always impressed  with what Nathan Mensah and the boys do off the glass, 42-rebounds a night.  But then you look at the guys from the SEC, and Bama averages 44-boards a game

POINT GUARDS…Doesn’t get any better than the Matt Bradley-vs-Juvon Quinney matchup, veteran guard vs hot young playmaker.

EXPERIENCE…An intangible that bears watching.  SDSU’s roster carries volumes of experience, all those 4th-5th and a 6-year player.  Alabama is really young, and really thin along the front line.  And their roster has limited tourney experience.  Big difference maker here.

KEYS TO THE GAME…Aztecs have to keep their key big men out of early foul trouble.  Brian Dutcher has to find someone with a hot hand on offense early in the game.  Does State double the likely player of the year Brandon Miller and dare Alabama to beat them with everyone else.  But the Tide did win a first tourney game when Miller went scoreless.

Watch it, enjoy, and dream maybe there is an upset here for SDSU and a chance to play for a Final 4-slot come Sunday.  The way to you play the day you play will determine this Friday night game.
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“Aztecs Football…A Critical Spring”

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Was it a 1-off bad season or the beginning signs of slippage in San Diego  State’s football program?

That’s why this spring football schedule is so important to Brady Hoke.

It might be a launching point for SDSU to join the Pac 12 Conference in months.  It might be the turning point to return to dominance in the Mountain West Conference.  Or it might be a dropoff in a program that has peaked.

The Red-Black Spring game is next with tons of questions yet to be answered.

All this after suffering thru a disappointing debut season at Snapdragon Stadium; wretched play at quarterback; injuries and player defections; and the sordid alledge sexual assault incident hanging over the team from the 2021 season  And all that piled on top of the Covid years.

Looks like a rebuild year on the field, and a rebuild for credibility too with the community and student body.
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Coach Brady Hoke:

Aztecs nation is doing pretty good

Looking forward to spring scrimmage..had good spring
We are really a young team on both OL-DL fronts
We are not perfect  but we have worked thru it
7-6 last year is not good enough
We want to live in 12-2 world
Being in Snapdragon on Thursday scrimmage will be good

Biggest question-development from offensive perspective
Ryan Lindley playbook will look alot like Utah
Use of tight ends-peersonnel groupings..mistmatches
Load one extra blocker
The QB run game is part of our new look
Transfers coming in May to aid the offense

Norv Turner visited practice and with Lindley
We may lose players in spring break

Jaylen Maden has had really good days and some not very good days
Must learn to read defenses better and not hold ball as long as he had

We have young offensive lineman to see what they can do
We rotate alot of people in defensive front
Have to replace 3-linebackers too..led by Cody Moon as replacements
Linebackers and back end are strength of our defense
Garrett Fountain has grown into starting DE

So disappointed not getting it done in how we play football
Disappointed for our senior class it did not get done for those guys

Transfer portal have 3-or-4 scholarships…
Need depth at WR and OC in transfer portal

Very colorful schedule…gonna play it no matter what
Front end schedule is loaded with home games and 2-bye weeks too

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