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Hacksaw’s Monday Post…1pm
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“Quick Thoughts-Tons of Topics”
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Here,there, everywhere in sport.

MARCH MADNESS..In a weekend of crazy games, the U-Conn (30-0) run takes the cake for accomplishment, considering they destroyed what was a really gifted Illini team.  Runner up has to be the 40-point day of Zach Edey of Purdue, who fouls out everyone’s big men.

FINAL FOUR…The biggest surprise who is not there, Houston, losing its guards to injuries, and the up and down Arizona Wildcats…We had 17-upsets in 3-rounds heading into the Saturday-Sunday games.

BIG NIGHT LA…The Lakers are screaming heading into the playoffs, trying to avoid the play in games in the first round.  The Lake Show now 11-games over (.500) after LeBron James went for 40-points.  And the Clippers, trying to show they still fit, watch Paul George pour home (41P) and are (42-278)

DODGERS..The best money can buy, continue to pound the ball as the top 3-bats drove in 304-RBIs last season.  Mookie-Showtime-Freedie Freeman are doing it again.

THE YANKEES…Quite a different start for Juan Soto.  Hitting (.529) so far in leftfield, driving home the winning run Saturday after saving the Saturday game with a glove and throw for an out at home plate.

ANGELS..Team meeting after two blowout losses to the Orioles.  Seems like it’s way to early to panic.  But then again, a hitless weekend for a struggling Anthony Rendon, who looks like he’s lost his ability to hit.

BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE..The Rockies ace Kyle Freeland gets left in and gives up 10-runs in an inning as Arizona scored 14-runs in that one weekend frame.

PADRES ROOKIES…What a first home game for Grahame Pauley with a 3R-HR on the weekend.

GIANTS ROOKIE..That was a share weekend for Hung Woo-Lee, RBI hits and towering home runs.

BIG BATS…Fernando Tatis and Manny Machardo creaming upper deck home runs at Petco Park.  Can they stay hot?

PATIENCE..All I can say of the continued struggles with Joe Musgrove, trying to master a new slider to protect his shoulder issues.

WAR OF WORDS…Go digging the Washington Post, and find the brutal column about LSU-Lady Tiger coach Kim Mulkey, in grudge mode against everyone.  She called it a ‘hit job’, I call it a portrait of someone who has dislikes of lots of people, in college basketball and her family.  An amazing story.

DUCKS HOCKEY..Can’t get worse than this end of season slide, (1-11-1)..just not scoring many goals.

GULLS HOCKEY..Problems in San Diego much like the problems in Anaheim, can’t score goals, too many young players.  Lots of rebuild to still be done with both the AHL-and-NHL clubs.

ON YOUR TV-IN YOUR CITY…Anyone watch the new spring football league (UFL)….LIV golf, the San Diego Strikeforce?  Didn’t think so.

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Hacksaw’s Great Sports Weekend Podcast
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“AZTECS–END OF A RUN”
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All college basketball seasons come to an end, and so it did at San Diego State, this (82-52) blasting by the University of Connecticut.

You just saw the likely NCAA-championship team win on Thursday night, doing what they did last year, a lopsided Huskies win over an outmanned SDSU crew (82-52).

The game had so many layers to it.  A quick start by both, firewagon basketball, trading baskets, attacking the rim, and hitting long distance jumpers.

SDSU started (6-for-10).  UConn shot (11-for-16) in a game that went back and forth for the first 12-minutes.

Jaedon LeDee was brilliant early, shooting (7-for-10), hitting shots everywhere against a big-physical UConn front.  He had 15-at the half, and just when it looked like the Huskies were going to pull away, SDSU rallied back.

And 11-point lead was cut to 5.  It went back to 11-again, and State cut it to four.

But the roof caved in early in the second half, and wave after wave of scorers piled up points for U-Conn while San Diego State stalled.

LeDee had no baskets for 8-minutes in the 2nd half.  He finished with 1-basket in the final 17-minutes as his career ended and the season closed out.

SDSU just never got much help for LeDee as the night wore on.

The 3-guards were overwhelmed by the bigger UC guards.  The guards went (4-17) shooting.

The big young forwards found the stage too big for them-shooting (2-for-9) with virtually nothing from 3-point range.

SDSU finished shooting 36%.  It was a very tough night on the glass, outrebounded (50-29).  They got smoked-giving up 21-rebounds on the offensive glass and 29-at the defensive end.

UConn hit 10-3’s and everyone was burying shots in that second half.

What was a 4-point deficit late in the first half, became a 32-point hole with 4-minutes left.

Cam Spencer had (18) and the 3-UConn guards combined for 51-points on offense.

Pick any verb you want and it likely fits.  State was outmuscled…got mugged..got scorched.

Nothing to be ashamed of.  This is not Mountain West Conference play anymore.  This is a UConn team that busted up every Quad 1-opponent they played with the exception of a 4-point loss to Kansas.  That team is (23-1) since early January.

As for State, we say goodbye to LeDee, who stayed the extra year and made himself a 1st round draft pick by his rugged play all year.  But he couldn’t do it alone against the deepest team in the NCAA tourney.

Aztecs fans should say thanks  for what LeDee gave them every night.  Feel good too for the continued superb coaching and leadership job Brian Dutcher has given this school.  They have earned his (177-58) record in his SDSU career.

The post game press conference was about pride, the accomplishments two years in a row, and respect Dutcher will have for his players going forward into their careers and private lives.

There will be more upsets this weekend in Sweet 16 play.  Nationally ranked Arizona the latest big name, to get knocked out of the tourney.

You feel let down at this hour, compared to what  we experienced a year ago this week.  But 1-Aztecs team is different the next year, and so it was with the Red & Black even with LeDee leading this team.

End of fun season.  No disgrace losing to the likely NCAA champion again.  U-Conn just that good.  SDSU not close to being at that level.

Thrills-chills this year, then spills on Thursday night.

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Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast-1pm
BASEBALL PREVIEW
AZTECS-U CONN PREVIEW
You Tube-Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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“BASEBALL OPENING DAY”
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Baseball is back. It is the 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 Dem Bums (Dodgers). It’s the Lumber Company (Pirates), the Big Red Machine (Cincinnati), the Running Redbirds (Cardinals) and those Fightin’ Phils (Phillies). It’s First in War, First in Peace, Last in the American League (Senators), the Bronx Bombers (Yankees) and the Amazings (Mets).

Baseball is places, too: The House that Ruth Built (Yankees Stadium), the Green Monster (Fenway), the Eighth 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 McGillicuddy (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 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 about the teams of days gone by: the St. Louis Browns, the Washington Senators, Montreal Expos, Philadelphia and 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’s hit total).

Baseball is bubble gum and trading cards. Father’s taking sons to their first game.

Foul balls, hot dogs and autographs.

Rain outs and bean-balls 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, granddad 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.

Angels, Dodgers, Padres — great to see you!

Baseball is back. Welcome back, old friend.

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“LAKERS STATEMENT GAME”
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March Madness leaked out onto the NBA floor on Tuesday night.

While all of basketball is talking about the upcoming Sweet 16, all the top seeds are still there, and the vibe of the 12-upsets in the first weekend of the tourney, the other guys continue to play basketball in the NBA.

And the Lakers posted a March Madness type win in Milwaukee against the once dominant Milwaukee Bucks.

Anthony Davis, who has to get MVP consideration for his yeoman efforts playing on a banged up team, was amazing. Was it the 34 points…the 23 rebounds…the 4-blocks or the assists that impressed you most?

And he has had enormous nights like this all thru the season. But he did this without LeBron James, out with ankle issues again. And he did it playing 52-minutes, a season high in the double overtime win.

Austin Reaves, who had a miserable start to the season, continues his mid season surge back to credibility, going off for 29-points, 14-rebounds, 10 assists.

D’Angelo Russell, who can be hot, be cold, be good, be bad, had a 29 point night too.

And on this night, the Lake show went (30-32) from the free throw line, like 93% conversion rate at the stripe.

The Lakers may still be in 9th place in the NBA-West, and are desperately trying to avoid the play in games coming in postseason, but that double overtime win was one for the books in recent years of disappointments.

The Bucks coach Doc Rivers, was like you and me, sitting there watching it, not using timeouts, keeping his same players on the floor as the leads wilted away, and almost sure victory turned into lousy defeat.

With less than 3-weeks left in the season, the Lakers are chasing a better slot in the standings. They still won’t have any type of home court advantage in the playoffs, but if they can get to the finish line with this type of effort and tenacity, anything is possible in a short series come April

1-game, 1-win, but a statement of sorts. The Lakers are doing this spring what they did last spring, forging their way into the post season, one that took them to the NBA-West finals against the champion Denver Nuggets.

Can they keep this up? Can they get everyone healthy? Tuesday showed what they could be, even if King James was a cheerleader in street clothes rather than their power driving high scoring guard..

Important win on the road against a good Bucks team. Now they must make sure they don’t backslide.

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Hacksaw’s Monday BONUS Podcast
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“DODGERS-TRUTH-LIES”
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At first glance of the story, you did not know who to believe, Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani or his Personal Aid Ippe Muzikara.

You know, the gambling addiction, the payoff of 4.5M to an illegal bookie in Orange County.

The ever shifting story of what was a gift, what was a loan from player to friend.

Now the story has shifted again, with Ohtani’s 16-minute press statement to a jam packed media on Monday.

Ohtani delivered a strong message in 2-languages.  It came in like a 101 mph fastball when he pitched; it left the yard with an exit velocity of a 107mph home run onto the Pavilion.

While the Dodgers 700M man was delivering a strong message, the man who started this has gone underground, his trail of lies left behind.l

Yes, so many unanswered questions, but that will be detailed when MLB and the IRS completes what will be a long-long investigation.

Here’s what Ohtani said:

..Sad-Shocked-Someone I Trusted would do this
..I never bet on baseball nor on any sport
..Never bet with a Bookmaker
..Never asked anyone to place a bet for me
..Ippe Mizuhara lied and stole money from my accounts
..I did not know of his gambling addictions and debtgs
..I never agreed to pay his debts to a bookmaker
..Ippe used my accounts to pay a bookie
..Ippe never told me about a media interview
..Ippe said it was to pay off debts-not gambling debts
..Everything he said was a complete lie
..Did not know about his gambling till a clubhouse meeting
..I am beyond shocked
..I will cooperate in all investigations.

There are lots more questions to be answered.

Muzikara lied to the Angels about having worked with the Red Sox
Lied about his education
Is being investigated for what he did or did not do with Nippon Ham Fighters?.
Did he have gambling debts in Japan?

Did he have pass word access to Ohtani’s accounts?
Did he access Ohtani’s Charity Fund accounts to pilfer money?
Did he lie to the Dodgers star about failed business transaction debts?
Did Ohtani allow him access to money to pay bills-make investments?

We’re not done with this story.
MLB is just getting started and now the IRS is involved too.

But for 16-minutes on a Monday, it was an impressive display of emotion and honesty by the Japanese pitcher, who has always been distant from his team and teammates when he is not in the stadium.

Truth-Lies..more to be found out.

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