Thursday April 3, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3874

it's like a museum trip

OK, since Kevin Willard told us all yesterday we need to "move on" and discontinue our angst-filled reaction to his abrupt departure from Maryland, I'll go ahead and focus on something far more meaningful.

Today, my Calvert Hall golf team makes its annual regular season visit to Rolling Road to take on a very good Mount Saint Joseph team. We're off to a 3-0 start and the Gaels are 5-2, so both teams have a lot on the line today when we start at 3:15 pm.

But this trip always means a little more to me, personally, because Rolling Road is a very special place to me. I've written this story here almost annually for the last decade and I'll do so again today. Rolling Road is the site of the very first golf lesson I ever received, from former head golf professional Bill Bassler Sr.

Rolling Road is the course where I broke 70 for the first time.

It's the course where I won my first "real" golf tournament.

And it's where I made some great lifelong friends, including the Basslers, Bill Sr. his son Billy, and Billy's grandson, Matt.

I'll take a few minutes today when we first arrive at Rolling Road to head over to a spot about 75 yards in front of the 13th tee and spend a minute there by myself, just chatting with Bill Sr., who passed away a decade ago.

It was there, on the 13th hole, where Bassler ushered me out of the golf cart on a warm summer day sometime in 1988 and said, "Grab your 7-iron."

He dumped a bag of golf balls out in front of me and directed me to hit a few.

I slapped six or eight balls out into the fairway of the 13th hole before Bassler Sr. stopped me and uttered the words I still remember like they were whispered to me yesterday.

"You're going to hear a bunch of bulls**t your whole life about the golf swing. Lead with the shoulders, drive your left knee to the target, lift your left heel on the downswing," Bassler Sr. said with the familiar growl in his voice.

"Don't listen to any of that. Just remember this: It's a hands game. You hit the ball with your golf club. The golf club is in your hands. It can't be held anywhere else but in hands."

While he was talking, Bassler Sr. was -- as the kids like to say today -- putting on a "stripe show", hitting ball after ball perfectly in the middle of the clubface. The sound. The trajectory. It was all so perfect.

"Use your hands," he said. "Always remember that. It's a hands game."

And from that day on, I started to get better. Little by little, I learned how to hit the golf ball properly, in part because of those famous words from Bassler, Sr.

"It's a hands game."

He followed me on the local amateur circuit once I got decent enough to compete in the various local tournaments and would always offer a complimentary word anytime I ventured over to Rolling Road to play in some sort of tournament or match.

"I remember you when you couldn't play a lick," he'd say with a sparkle in his eyes. "I took you out there to number 13 one day and had you fixed in 20 minutes!"

It might have been more like 10 minutes.

"It's a hands game" resonated me with right away, which might have been due to my hockey background or my baseball background. Either way, I learned how to use my hands in the golf swing thanks in part to Bill Bassler Sr. telling me it was OK to swing the club that way.

The interesting thing about the evolution of the golf swing is that virtually no top teacher in the country focuses on the hands these days. It's all ground force and body rotation.

But I stick with the hands and follow Bill Bassler Sr.'s words even now. He knew what he was talking about.

Today's match will also be the first time I've visited Rolling Road or faced a Mount Saint Joseph team since the untimely death of their longtime head golf coach, Mike Dooley, last September.

We have a special way to honor Coach Dooley this afternoon. I hope the competition warms his heart in heaven as he watches us today from above.

The O's threw a Beatles at the Red Sox last night, with just four hits in a ragged, listless 3-0 loss at Camden Yards.

Garrett Chochet was very good for Boston. He went 8 innings and struck out O's hitters while walking just one in the win.

Zach Eflin wasn't terrible for the Birds, giving up 3 earned runs in 6 innings of work, but it wasn't good enought offset a Cy Young kind of night from Crochet in front of 18,146 at Camden Yards.

Westburg, Mountcastle, Urias and Ramon Laureano, trying to make up for a lousy opening day display on Monday, produced the four Baltimore hits.

The Capitals were drubbed by Carolina last night, 5-1, but Alex Ovechkin did manage a tally to get to within one-game striking distance of Wayne Gretzky's all-time record.

The Great Eight now needs two goals to tie and three to break the mark. The Caps have 7 games remaining.

Last night's loss wasn't earth-shattering or anything like that, but in their last three games, Washington has allowed a total of 16 goals, including three in the opening 20 minutes last night.

Much is going to be expected of the Caps in the upcoming post-season, but they won't be around long if they're giving up 5-plus goals per-game in the post-season.

Meanwhile, Friday night in D.C. marks Ovi's next chance to enter the record books. If it doesn't happen there, Sunday on the road against the Islanders could be the venue where history is made.

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10 on our list was former PGA champion Jason Day. #9 was Sepp Straka. #8 was Will Zalatoris.

#7 Patrick Cantlay -- The former top ranked amateur in the world has carved out a great PGA Tour career for himself, with 8 career wins and several near misses in major championships.

This year, he's 6-for-6 on TOUR in events/cuts made, with 4 top 25 finishes and a pair of top 10 finishes to his credit.

He's played in the Masters seven times as a professional with a T9 serving as his best finish in 2019. In fact, you might remember, Cantlay was the momentary leader after he birdied #15 on Sunday (the year Tiger won his last major), but he falted over the last three holes to fall back to that T9 finish.

He's having a great statistical year in addition to piling up money.

Cantlay is 13th on TOUR in the all-important "shots gained" category and 33rd in shots gained: approach. But the biggest and most important stat for Cantlay is rise up the putting ranks this year. He currently ranks 35th in shots gained: putting.

He's a lot like Will Zalatoris off the tee. Not the longest guy out there (298 yards per drive on average) but he hits it straight, hitting 60% of the fairways he hits. If there's one course where length off the tee doesn't matter all that much, it's Augusta National. And without much rough on the property, driving accuracy is also not crucial.

There's always a debate about which guy on TOUR owns the label of "best player without a major". I think it's Cantlay. His career has been borderline spectacular, but he still doesn't own a major championship. That's coming, though. He's going to get one soon, perhaps even in 2025, and it might very well come next week at Augusta National.

Cantlay is currently listed at +3500, which are remarkable odds for a player of his caliber.

Wednesday April 2, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3873

another "right" williams?

Man, these are crazy days down at Maryland.

Hopefully yesterday's hiring of Buzz Williams settles things down a little bit, but this has been a wild last few weeks, for sure.

One university athletics staffer I spoke with (and, believe me, I have very little direct contact with anyone there, so this is saying something) called the whole thing: "a travesty".

The worst-kept-secret in town down there has apparently been just how dysfunctional and inefficient the school's athletic department has been over the last 10 years. A lot of people tried to blame Damon Evans for it, but the malaise extends far beyond his tenure.

"It's a school wide thing," someone involved in athletics said to me on Tuesday. "The school and the athletic department are to blame. We just happen to deal with the consequences of their poor work. It's a travesty what's happened here. Kevin (Willard) didn't handle it the right way. No one's arguing that. But this goes beyond Kevin. Coaches are tired of not getting what they need in order to compete and, more importantly, recruit athletes to play at the school. Maybe Buzz can help fix that. He won't settle for second best from what I hear."

Alas, there is another Williams in town. He's Buzz Williams, the former coach at Texas A&M, who jumped at the chance to take the Maryland gig once Willard rolled up I-95 North to Villanova.

The rumor was three candidates presented themselves immediately at Maryland; Steve Blake, Duane Simpkins and Juan Dixon. All three, obviously, are former Maryland players.

The school wasn't interested in any of those three, although Simpkins did get some modest support from one well-known alum in the D.C. area.

There was internal interest in Chris Collins at Northwestern, but there was apparently concern that Collins might not accept the deal and the school thought that could be a bad look for them.

Chris Mack of College of Charleston was also presented as a potential candidate but he gained very little traction from any alums who might have been able to push him through.

It was always going to be Buzz Williams, as long as Steve Blake didn't rally a group of wealthy, important alums to fly his flag to the administration. Blake was an "interesting name" given the school's concerns about 2024-2025 attendance issues and the possible need for someone with deep Maryland ties to come back home and help get the market enthused about the basketball program once again.

In the end, the Terps went with tried-and-true in Buzz Williams. More important than anything else: He'll bring players with him from the transfer portal. His name alone will attract others. And Maryland's NIL money, which Williams will now manage within the basketball program, will also get them a couple of top guys looking to cash in on big '24-25 seasons.

Whether he's as good as the other Williams -- Gary -- remains to be seen. Those are big, size 16 shoes to fill, after all. But unlike Willard, who reportedly suggested to some at Maryland that his stay would be short two months into his three year tenure, Williams really wants to be in College Park.

Whether the school takes what happens with Willard and uses it to get better is a whole other story. There are rumors that a number of high ranking school officials are being questioned about the Willard saga and how much responsibility goes to the athletic department and how much goes to the school's administration.

Willard tried to directly blame Damon Evans. A situation the Maryland source we spoke with called "unprofessional in so many ways."

"Damon operated under the guidelines given to him by the administration," the school's athletic source told me. "I'm not judging the job Damon did. He's at SMU now. That's water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned. But what Kevin did to him was unprofessional in so many ways. The athetic department has to get support from the school and the Board in order to be efficient. This is not just about the athletic department. The school needs to decide how important they want all of the sports to be here."

The Terps were in a jam given the timing of Willard's exit.

Could they have done "better" than Buzz Williams with more time and space to interview and "recruit" a coach that was a better fit for their long term plans? Maybe.

But with the transfer portal in full gear and players moving around the country like Lightning McQueen, there was no time to waste. Once Maryland got wind of Willard's likely move last week while the team was in San Francisco, the wheels were in motion to snag Williams after yesterday's April 1st buyout from Texas A&M went from $2 million to $1 million.

Whether Buzz is the right Williams -- or, another right Williams, we should say -- remains to be seen, but he was really the only viable candidate given how everything went down.

Like him or not, he's here.

Let's hope it goes a lot better than the Kevin Willard era did.

Alex Ovechkin scored a goal in last night's Caps 4-3 win in Boston and now needs just 3 goals to tie Wayne Gretzky and 4 to set the all-time goal scoring record.

Ovi has eight games remaining to get this done in '24-25, or he'll have to return next season to polish off the goal scoring chase.

The early season leg injury has turned this into a "possibility" instead of a "definite" this season. Without missing those five weeks, Ovi would already be in the 900's and we'd be zeroing in on the Caps and their playoff situation.

Instead, there's eight games remaining and Ovechkin needs three to tie and four to break.

His next chance is tonight in Carolina. A goal or two tonight means Ovi could tie or break the mark on Friday night at home vs. Chicago. The Caps are then on Long Island this Sunday to take on the Islanders before returning home on Thursday, April 10 to face Carolina.

One potentially interesting dilemma the Caps are facing is this: What if Ovi needs a goal to tie the mark or break the mark on Sunday in New York and the Islanders pull their goalie late in the game? Do you put Ovi out there to score the record-tying/setting goal into an empty net or do you hold him off for the Thursday home game in hopes he scores a "real" goal in front of the home fans?

The Caps are not in a position where a win really matters to them.

It's a question of history and how Ovi gets remembered for his 894th or 895th goal(s).

It would be different if the Caps needed a win on Sunday and that situation presents itself and you want Ovi out there to potentially help "seal the deal".

But without needing a win, do you hold Ovi out in that situation and hope he does the deed in front of the home crowd with a goal he'll be proud to show the rest of his life?

Oh, one more thing.

The Flyers are on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs. Again. It might happen by this Friday.

Don't worry, you'll know when it happens.

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10 on our list was former PGA champion Jason Day. #9 was Sepp Straka.

#8 Will Zalatoris -- Everything about Zalatoris's very brief history at Augusta National suggests he might very well win this golf tournament someday.

He's played in the Masters three times and has never finished outside of the Top 10.

Zalatoris went 2nd (2021), T6 (2022) and T9 (2024) in his three appearances. The course clearly fits his eye.

He's having a nice start to his '25 campaign, with 7 cuts made in 7 starts and 3 Top 25 finishes. True, he only has one career win. And, yes, he hasn't been able to close when given the chance. But he gets lots of chances. Could one of those finally be converted next week at the Masters? Maybe.

There are no secrets about the golf game of Will Zalatoris.

He does everything well except his putting is lousy.

And always remember, when I say someone on the PGA Tour does something "lousy", that's "lousy" in relative terms. Zalatoris ranks near the bottom of putting stats on the PGA Tour, which contains the best 150 of the best 160 golfers IN THE WORLD.

But make no mistake about it, Zalatoris doesn't win more because he isn't a great putter. But if he has a weekend where he putts great...watch out.

He drives it fine. He hits his irons as well as anyone in the world. His "numbers" are all wildly impressive from tee-to-green, although his driving distance isn't in the top 30% on TOUR. But if there's one place where length isn't that big of a deal, it's at Augusta National.

Where you hit your approach shots is what matters most at Augusta, which explains why Zalatoris has played the tournament three times and has three top 10 finishes to his credit.

If he putts well next week, he's a real threat to win.

At +4500, snag him now for Top 30 and Top 10 wagers, along with that "win" wager.

We're very secretly (well, not so secretly now, since roughly 9,000 of you are reading about him here today) very high on Zalatoris next week. Shhhhh.....don't tell anyone else.

Tuesday April 1, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3872

we don't need those cheating bats

Even a visit from the injury bug couldn't ruin Opening Day in Baltimore yesterday.

If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times. Closers are just relief pitchers who happen to be in there in the 9th inning of a close game. Anyone can get three outs.

And you can't be overly shocked about the news that Felix Bautista is out for a minimum of 4 months with an elbow strain. With all due respect to Tommy John, that surgery ain't for the meek of heart. There's always the possibility that a torn UCL is the beginning of the end for some.

Bautista will be replaced, just as he was a year ago. I know the general reaction around town overnight was one of horror and "well, there goes our World Series", but I just don't subscribe to that line of thinking.

They'll cobble something together like they did a year ago, and this time it won't include Craig Kimbrel.

But don't be distressed or fooled by the Bautista news. The Orioles aren't suddenly going to tumble down the A.L. East standings because they don't have their closer. They'll just keep scoring 7 or 8 runs a game, that's all.

As for yesterday's thriller in front of packed crowd on an 85-degree March day, it quickly became the Tyler O'Neill show, as the erstwhile Red Sox outfielder went for 4-for-4 to help the Birds ease past Boston, 8-5.

O'Neill moved over to left field in place of the injured Colton Cowser (out 6-8 weeks with a broken thumb) and Ramon Laureano went to right, but it wasn't the kind of home debut Laureano was looking for, unfortunately. He went 0-for-2 at the plate and was eventually replaced by Dylan Carlson.

Only two players in Major League Baseball have 10 RBI thus far in the 2025 campaign.

One of them is Aaron Judge.

That's understandable, right? Judge already has 4 home runs and 11 RBI in New York's first 3 games of the season.

The other guy hitting the cover off the ball with runners in scoring position?

Oh, yeah, that would be O's centerfielder Cedric Mullins. He has 2 HR and 10 RBI in 5 games thus far.

Judge and Mullins, early leaders for the A.L. MVP award, just like you figured.

I need to re-establish a ground rule for the rest of 2025 and I want it to be clear why I'm doing it. It's admittedly a "fine line" and I'll most certainly try to be as fair as I can be about it moving forward.

The post I removed last night about an afternoon 105.7 show (co) host was simply not a contribution worth having here. Two sentences were about his (the host's) miscalculation on the productivity of the O's off-season moves and the other 15 sentences were about the host's weight, his politics and his employment record in sports media.

If you're taking issue with someone in the media here, it's fine. That's part of being in the media. You nip at athletes, coaches and so on, and you occasionally get nipped at by the people you're talking to or writing to. It's all part of the game.

If you're a 105.7 listener and you don't like something a show host says, they're fair game here. Plenty of you read this website and don't agree with stuff I say and you break out your keyboard and "have at it" with me. It is what it is.

But I'm not going to have this be a place where you buzz in and blow someone up because of their weight or their appearance or their political affiliation. It's just not what we do here.

A few times a year, I have to set a ground rule that might not fit with your agenda. If you don't like that or agree with that, I'm sorry. But that's the way it's going to be. You can either roll on out of here and take your talents to another website or you can follow the rules.

Now...back to baseball season.

The Kevin Willard saga is still the talk of the town, as Maryland tries to pick up the pieces and start again after Willard and his Mayflower vans journeyed up I-95 to Philadelphia.

What's becoming more and more apparent now, as the timeline for Willard's departure starts to clear up, is just how maliciously he "played" Maryland, the administration and the players throughout the month of March. He knew the entire time he was going to Villanova. He just had to put all of the pieces into place to make it look like it was Maryland's fault that he left.

Everyone has the right to better themselves, as we've noted here previously.

If you're making $100,000 and somehow you can make $200,000 doing practically the same thing, you're almost always likely going to take the $200,000 and move on.

Even if $35 million at Villanova isn't much different than, say, $30 million at Maryland, there's still an argument to be made about which of the two schools offers a better "basketball job". We're all big boys. Villanova has certainly been more successful than Maryland over the last 20 years. That's fine.

It's not about leaving.

It's about the way it happened and the character reveal Willard authored.

He, of course, did the exact same thing at Seton Hall when he bolted from there three years ago and took the gig on Route 1.

It was ugly then and it was ugly, again, in 2025.

What's more important, now, though, is who gets the job at Maryland?

Willard's a creep. And he's gone. We get that. Let's move on.

Who next?

How does Maryland's administration make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again in, say, 2028?

I know Steve Blake threw his name in the ring early on. The ex-Terp has no real basketball coaching experience, save for some assistant coach roles in the NBA.

Former Terp Duane Simpkins just re-upped at American University, but contracts can easily be bought out.

Those are two names familiar to College Park hoops fans who will at least receive consideration from Maryland administrators.

This might be a story for another day, but it's worth at least putting out there to let it marinate until we tackle it again later in the week.

I think we all (mostly) agree on this: Something's "missing" at College Park when it comes to basketball.

We've opined here regularly about the Big Ten move and all that stuff.

That could be some of it, sure.

But there's something else not right down there.

Could it be there's a general lack of connection between the school and the fan base that has something to do with the coaching situation since Gary left?

I don't know. But the answer might be "maybe".

And if the answer is "maybe", the Terps have to get this coaching search right, even if it means bringing on someone like Blake or Simpkins and taking a step back for a year or two in an effort to build a better basketball program with the -- very important note -- right people in charge.

Does the next Maryland basketball coach need to be a Maryland grad? I think that's a very fair question to ask. And the answer might be "maybe".

Kevin Willard wasn't "right people".

The next guy Maryland hires needs to be.

Just so no one gets their feelings hurt or their feathers ruffled, the part about Felix Bautista being out for 4 months is an April Fools joke. He's not out. He wasn't very good yesterday, but he's not out for 4 months. Carry on. Happy April 1st to you all.

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10 on our list was former PGA champion Jason Day.

#9, Sepp Straka -- If you're a regular #DMD reader and follower of my golf thoughts, you can't possibly be surprised to see Straka's name. I've been "on him" for two years now.

Straka is making his 4th appearance at Augusta Natinoal this year. He's 3-for-3 in cuts made, which means he's played 12 competitive rounds at the course plus whatever practice rounds he's had since 2022.

It's right about now where Straka is probably starting to feel comfortable with the golf course and where he can take his chances and where he needs to play safe.

It takes a few years to really learn the nuances of Augusta National.

Last year's T16 finish shows that Straka is starting to figure the place out.

Straka is off to a crazy good start in 2025. He's played 10 events, with 9 cuts made, and has a win and 3 top 10 finishes as well.

His metrics are off the charts good. He's 8th on TOUR in shots gained, 5th in shots gained: approach and 56th in putting. If he puts those numbers together at Augusta National, he can win there.

I love his chances next week. I could even see him as a first round leader and 54 hole leader, heading into Sunday with a chance to win the Masters.

Sepp Straka is a great player that is getting wildly undervalued next week at +8000. Scoop him up at that price right now.

Monday March 31, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3871

monday q & a

Happy Opening Day.

I know, I know. "Opening Day" was technically last Thursday in Toronto. But today is the "home" Opening Day, in Bawlmer, against the Boston Red Sox.

These are always special, no matter the outcome.

Baseball is back. For the next 6 months, give or take 25 odd days/nights here and there, we'll always have baseball to lean on.

Football is great, don't get me wrong.

But it's 60 minutes, once a week, and you pretty much spend Monday and Tuesday rehashing the previous game and Thursday and Friday getting amped up about the next game. You spend more time being enthusiastic than you do being a real fan of the games.

Baseball is (almost) every day.

Didn't win today?

They'll be back at it tomorrow.

Over a friend's house for burgers?

The game is on TV.

Getting in a late Sunday afternoon 9 holes?

The game is on the radio.

The game is always on, somewhere.

If you're like me, baseball is always on in my house. Sometimes I'm watching. Sometimes it's just white noise. But it's always on and I generally take time to get locked in at some point during the nine innings.

Football might be your passion.

But baseball...is your friend.

Even if your team stinks, baseball is still always there to hang out with you.

We have 81 of these at Camden Yards this season. Enjoy them all!

Editor's note: I know you are aware already, but the start time for today's game has been moved to 2:35 pm due to weather concerns.

Bart asks -- "Which of these would you rather do, personally? This topic came up with my golf group last week and I thought I'd ask you. You can either, A) Shoot 59 once, B) Play Augusta National, C) Play 18 holes with Tiger Woods, D) Make a hole in one at #17 at TPC Sawgrass on a trip with your buddies."

DF says -- "Wow, this is a good one. 18 holes with Tiger and the hole-in-one at #17 at Sawgrass are fine, but they're not the winners here. Nothing against Tiger or Sawgrass, but the other two options are FAR more interesting to me.

I've been to Augusta as a spectator on numerous occasions. I think it would be great to play, of course. But seeing it a dozen times over the last 20 years is more than enough. I don't need to play it to have immense amount of respect for how difficult the course is at the Masters every April.

The answer here is "shoot 59". You would have to hit some incredible, memorable golf shots to shoot 59. You'd have to make a bunch of putts, too, which is always fun. And, best of all, you'd obviously be playing a large portion of the back nine knowing that 59 was within reach and you somehow don't crack under the self-imposed pressure of shooting golf's "magic number".

Yes, I'll take shooting 59 out of those four options. Really good question, Bart."

Doug B. asks -- "Is there some sort of benchmark accomplishment you think we might see from Shohei Ohtani this season? Last year it was 50 HR's and 50 steals. What is it this year?"

DF says -- "Another good question. I guess the next obvious "big moment" for Ohtani would be 60 homers in a season. He hit 54 a year ago. I assume 60 is within reason for him.

I have no idea when he's going to pitch again, but it would seem reasonable to think he'll make a dozen or so starts this year. Would it be out of the question to have him throw a no-hitter or perfect game in 2025? I mean, he is Shohei Ohtani. He can pretty much do it all.

I'll stick with 60 homers. I think that's his most realistic personal milestone this season."

Craig asks -- "What's your realistic expectation for the Capitals in the playoffs?"

DF says -- "Well, I've said since the beginning of the season that the one part of their team that worries me is the goaltending. Not that Lindgren and Thompson aren't capable. They both very much are. I just don't see one of them "taking over" in the post-season and being that goaltender who backstops his team to a Stanley Cup title.

I like the pick-up of Beauvillier at the deadline, but I also wonder if the Caps will be able to score 3 or 4 goals a night in the post-season.

Defensively, they're fine, although giving up 8 goals to Buffalo yesterday wasn't great.

In the end, I guess I don't really have any legitimate "expectations", other than to say I don't see them making the Stanley Cup Finals because I just assume something will go haywire in the second or third round. I do think they're going to win at least one series, maybe even two.

Alas, they're the Capitals. Save for 2018, they always do something goofy to disappoint the diehards like me every April or May."

Marty asks -- "We're all getting Masters fever at Greystone! Can you rank these five guys from 1 to 5 with the #1 guy being the one with the best chance to win the Masters and the #5 guy being the one least likely to win out of the five I give you. Thanks, Drew! Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Keegan Bradley. And if Bradley wins and makes the Ryder Cup team would he play and captain or give the playing spot to someone else?"

DF says -- "I don't see any way Bradley plays and captains the team. It's just too difficult to do. As for the rankings, here goes:

5. Bradley

4. Johnson

3. Fleetwood

2. DeChambeau

1. Spieth

I think Spieth could actually win this year. His golf is coming around and he seems healthy again. He has played the golf course very well in his career, with a win (obviously) and a couple of other brushes with victory on top of it.

It also seems like the kind of place where DeChambeau could win. And Fleetwood as well, although I'm not sure Tommy is a good enough putter to stay "in it" for four days.

Any former champion within the last 10-15 years could pop up and win again, so you can't discount Dustin Johnson. But I don't see him beating all of those TOUR players again.

Keegan Bradley just doesn't "feel" like a Masters champion. I could see him winning the British Open, maybe. That's his kind of style. Augusta National doesn't suit him."

R.C. asks -- "You enjoy doing these sort of "trades" so here's one for you. The Caps win the next two Stanley Cup championships but the Ravens have to get rid of Lamar or the Orioles have to get rid of Gunnar in order for that to happen. Would you agree to it?"

DF says -- "No, I would not. I might consider it had the Caps not won in 2018. I will say that.

But, no, not now. I don't want to see the Ravens lose Lamar or the O's lose Gunnar."

Ed in Parkton MD asks -- "Gilman grad here so I'm always interested in what Gavin Sheets is doing. What are your thoughts on Sheets in San Diego? Good fit?"

DF says -- "So far, so good. He went 2-for-4 yesterday. Padres are 4-0 to start the season. He homered in his first at-bat as a Padre (as a pinch hitter) last Thursday.

No one likes getting fired (released), but in Gavin's case, it might have been the best thing for him. The White Sox were (are) a disaster of a franchise. He was hoping he might catch on with the O's or D.C. and I know there were some discussions with both organizations, but San Diego wound up being the best fit for him.

And now he's getting a chance to play regularly (mostly against RHP's). So far he's off to a good start, which is great to see."

Mike K. asks -- "Who are the next three Ravens Ring of Honor guys in your opinion?"

DF says -- "First of all, I had to go back and look to see who is already in. I've lost touch with it a little bit. OK, so I thought Suggs and Yanda were the most recent two inducted in and I was right.

Well, the Ravens used to have a rule (not sure it was written anywhere but it was a rule nonetheless) that a player had to be selected to an All-Pro at least once in his career -- in Baltimore -- in order to be selected for their Ring of Honor. If I recall, that's why they never inducted Derrick Mason.

And please, let's not bring up Earnest Byner in any way when discussing the Ring of Honor and who gets in and who doesn't get in. He doesn't count in terms of "formal" inductees into the ROH. It was a friendship gesture from Art Modell. Nothing more.

Anyway, there was no one inducted in 2024. I assume they'll try to find someone to put in this year. Maybe Sam Koch? It would be a nice nod to the punting/kicking department with the Ravens, which has been so good over the team's history.

Koch was never a first-team All Pro, but he did make 2nd team once and was a Pro Bowl punter in 2015.

Joe Flacco will obviously get in after he retires from the NFL.

I would have previously said Justin Tucker was a lock. Now, who knows...

I think there will an internal push from some people to have Jacoby Jones inducted, but I don't think he played in Baltimore long enough to warrant it. Yes, he was important to the Super Bowl win in 2013, but it wasn't like he was an offensive powerhouse or anything like that.

There are lots of people from the current team who will someday get in. Lamar, Stanley, Flowers (assuming he stays in Baltimore for most of his career), Andrews, Humphrey, and maybe even Roquan Smith if he finishes out his career as a Raven.

I always ask myself this when the topic of a Ring of Honor or team "Hall of Fame" gets brought up.

Does the group already in somehow get watered down if they induct XXXX?

I know most people don't consider Sam Koch a "real" football player but I don't think anyone in the ROH would object to him being inducted.

He was a very valuable weapon and an outstanding performer at his position for a long time.

I'll take a guess and say they induct Koch this year.

Flacco is next in. A few years after he retires he'll get the call.

I assume Tucker will get in. It might take a while for the story to simmer down. But notwithstanding the events that have been publicly bandied about this year, he's as automatic as a 44 yard field goal was throughout his career.

My "official" guess: Koch, Flacco, Tucker."

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10, Jason Day -- OK, so here we are in 2025 and Jason Day does NOT have a Masters title. 12 years ago, I would have thought that to be almost impossible.

Then he got hurt, fought a bad back, and went into a bit of a black hole for a few years. But now he's back, playing well, and I think he's primed to win something "big" again in the next year or two.

His track record at Augusta National was GREAT prior to getting injured in 2020.

Day finished in the top 5 at the Masters FOUR times between 2011 and 2019. Since 2020, he's 2/4 in cuts made, but did play the weekend both in 2023 and 2024.

He's having a solid season thus far, with 7 cuts made in 7 events and a pair of Top 10 finishes in '25.

His numbers are fine, even if the driving and putting data are a bit "off" compared to what you might want to see from someone who has a chance to win the Masters.

But the one key stat for him, ball striking, is plenty good enough.

He's in the 50's in the shots gained and shots gained: approach categories.

You don't have to drive it dead straight at Augusta National. There's no real rough there to worry about.

But you do need to hit it close to the pin and take advantage of the par 5 holes. Iron play is not a problem for Day. If he drives it decently at Augusta next week/weekend, he can reach the par 5's and make some birdies.

We're going to hedge a bet that he drives it well enough to contend. We like his chances for a big finish. Could he win? Sure. Is it a better bet that he's in one of the final two groups on Sunday and then posts 71 on the final day and finishes T6? Yes, probably.

But at +7500, Jason Day is a VERY good investment for the 2025 Masters.

Sunday March 30, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3870

kevin's scarlet letter

Look, here's the good news about Kevin Willard's departure for Villanova, which was basically made official overnight with a press conference slated for either later today or Monday afternoon in Philadelphia.

We'll beat him up here today for a bit. And you're welcome to chip in via the Comments below if you have something you'd like to say.

And then he'll say something in the press conference about Maryland, how much he "regrets the way it all went down", or he'll disparage enough folks in College Park that we'll be pressed into writing about that one final time as well.

We, very fortunately, only have two days left to worry about Kevin Wlllard.

And here we thought Mark Turgeon went out in a bad way four-plus years ago. Turgeon's mid-season departure looks like Dorothy Hamill in the Olympics compared to this bizarre, embarrassing mess authored by Willard.

Make no mistake about it: Willard's exit from College Park will be his scarlet letter.

And he will always wear it.

"Hey, who was the bald guy that coached Maryland 15 years ago? They had a good run under him. Damn, what was his name?"

"Oh, you mean the guy who quit on the team in the NCAA tournament and then lied about it and left for Villanova? That was Kevin Willard."

"Right. That's right. Kevin Willard. Now I remember."

Willard will not be remembered as the guy who inherited a semi-disaster in 2022 and guided Maryland back to prominence in just three short seasons. No, no, no. He's going to be remembered for the way he butchered his departure and lied to everyone for a week while his team played for their life out on the west coast.

Maybe he did Maryland a favor by helping chase Damon Evans out of College Park and down to SMU. That remains to be seen. But in the end, not only did Willard blow up the basketball program at Maryland, he also laid waste to the athletic director's career in College Park as well.

What a weird two weeks it has been.

And before people (around here, anywhere) start whining about how Kevin Willard, like anyone else, always has the freedom to take a new job, make more money, blah, blah, blah, please check your emotional self at the door. This is NOT about someone taking a new, "better" job. We all have the right to do that.

This is about the way it was all handled by Willard, who, apparently, pulled pretty much the exact same stunt at Seton Hall when he left for Maryland in 2022.

"Graceful exits" aren't something Willard handles very well.

People are going to ask the obvious question: "How should he have handled it?"

Well, this might be hard to believe, but Mike Locksley actually got it right last week when he made a throwaway comment about Willard's sniping at the school's administration. "Those things really should stay in the family. Within our own house and not out in public."

Willard's first mistake came prior to Maryland's tournament opener against Grand Canyon when he sounded off about Maryland and what they need to do to turn their basketball program into one of the elites in the country.

His only focus at that point should have been the basketball game in front of him.

Period.

"We have a very good Grand Canyon team on Friday."

If pressed about his future, Willard would have been much better served to steer everything back to the only thing he apparently knows well -- basketball.

Instead, he went off on a tangent about the school and how they need to do more for him and the players and, well, he's just not sure what this all means for his future. But he has let the school know what he needs and now it's up to them to return serve.

That was mistake #1. When you let the media beat you, you're really lowering the bar. I mean, very few members of the press were ever Rhodes scholars.

Then earlier this past week in San Francisco, Willard couldn't help himself again. This time, he authored the famous line we'll all remember with not-so-great-fondness.

"I haven't talked to my agent at all. I haven't even talked with my wife about this."

Yeah, I'm sure.

If only there were celluar, mobile phones you could carry around with you, huh? And if those phones had some sort of platform where you could type out messages instead of actually calling and talking, that would even better. Maybe someday, huh?

Kevin Willard had the chance to be a "lifer" in College Park.

Now, I'm not even sure he gets to do a 5-second cameo on the scoreboard when they show distinguished alums of the basketball program say, with great enthusiasm: "I'm Kevin Willard......and I.........have MARYLAND PRIDE, BABY!"

If Maryland ever puts Willard in that video series, there's a 101% chance he gets booed.

Make it a 110% chance.

He will always wear the scarlet letter in College Park.

On his way out, he was deceitful, dishonest and, worst thing of all, he let his own situation get in the way of what could have been a wonderful Terps run in March Madness.

See ya down the road, Kevin.

We probably won't hear from you again until you take that Kentucky job in 2029.

Enjoy your scarlet letter.

Like Hester Prynne, you've certainly earned it.

I ventured down to Maryland Live! Casino last night for John Rallo's Shogun Fights and, like always, had an incredibly entertaining evening watching a 12-bout card of MMA fighting.

I've said it here numerous times. I'm not a "UFC guy". I've never watched one fight of UFC on TV, which is saying somethihng, because you can probably watch some sort of live event every weekend if you're into it that much.

But I've now gone to Shogun Fights four times and it's a wild, fun event to see up close and personal.

Rallo, a Dundalk guy who once fought professionally before getting into the MMA on the business side, has done a remarkable job of creating a program for "up and comers" who are taking their MMA careers seriously and would someday like to be on the big stage with Dana White's UFC promotion.

Last night's final fighter, Mahamed Aly, was being "scouted" by UFC folks in the building. He improved to 5-0 with a 3-round unanimous decision victory over a very game competitor, Jared Gooden. Aly, 31, is a Brazilian who is poised to make some noise in the world of MMA and Rallo is one of the guys who knows well enough to get him on his fight card while he can.

There were a number of outstanding fights last night. Too many to count. The venue is awesome, the event itself is VERY well run and you feel like you're right there in the ring with those guys as they go at it.

Shogun Fights will return to the Casino (it's actually in the hotel part of the complex) in October. You should attend. I'm telling you, it's a great night.

Alex Ovechkin's goal-scoring chase has now officially entered crunch time, as the Capitals have just 10 games remaining in the regular season and Ovi needs 6 goals to pass Wayne Gretzky as the NHL's all-time leading goal getter.

The Caps have Buffalo at home today.

Then they're at Boston (Tues) and Carolina (Wed) before returning home to face Chicago on Friday.

Next Sunday, they're on Long Island to take on the Islanders.

Then, on April 10, they're home against Carolina.

That's the game a lot of people have circled for a while as the one where Ovi might wind up netting career goal #895.

Ovechkin's going to break the goal scoring record. There's no two ways about that.

The only looming question is: when?

Will it be this season?

Or could he stall at 892 or 893 and give the Capitals, the NHL and their two marketing departments an entire summer to plan for the big occasion early next season?

Oh, and here's the other question.

The Caps final four games are against Columbus (2), the Islanders and Pittsburgh. If those four teams are all eliminated from the playoffs, is there a chance, late in the game, that any of them "ease off" of Ovechkin in an effort to give him an extra goal scoring chance or two?

I'm just wondering...

Sort of like Cal's home run at Oriole Park on the night he broke Gehrig's record.

Would Columbus, the Islanders or Pittsburgh "groove one" for Ovi?

Saturday March 29, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3869

saturday quick hits

Welcome to Maryland, or what we call around here The Land of Pleasant Living.

Where it's 55 with 20 mph winds on Wednesday and 82 and sunny on Saturday.

Don't fret it, though. If you like the 55 and 20 mph winds stuff, it will be back next week.

I "do" outdoors every spring in Maryland as part of my high school golf coaching duties and I can say, without question, this is is the windiest (I assume that's a word) early spring I can remember.

Thanks a lot, Trump.

Enjoy 82 and sunny today, at the very least. It's going to be gorgeous outside.

It's not, however, very gorgeous down in College Park, where everyone is ripe and ready to lay waste to Kevin Willard as soon as the announcement comes later today or tomorrow that he's moving on to Villanova.

Rumors were swirling late Friday night that the Terps (men's) basketball coach had been seen in Philadelphia, which is one of those "put two and two together" kind of deals. He definitely didn't just slide up there for a cheesesteak.

This has become such a fiasco that Willard probably can't return to coach at Maryland even if he wanted to, somehow, at this point.

That's when you know you've really messed things up. When the place that adored you two weeks ago is so disappointed in you that they wouldn't take you back, you know you've handled it wrong.

And, look, I don't know that anyone is ever going to be able to come along and do for Maryland basketball what Gary Williams did, both on the court and as part of the fabric of DMV sports, but Willard, I thought, had that sort of look about him if he could have stuck this thing out for 15 years or so.

Alas, (still only) assuming he's leaving, he exits as a villain. Strange times, indeed.

One coach in the area who isn't leaving anytime soon is John Harbaugh. The Ravens picked Friday of all times to announce that Harbaugh has agreed to a new 3-year contract extension.

That makes it a total 4-year deal for the longtime Ravens coach, who had one season remaining on his current contract before Friday's announcement was made public.

Very predictably, the internet blew up with anti-Harbaugh rage within minutes of the news.

"Welcome to 3 more years (sic) of mediocrity!"

"Bisciotti!! You're so stupid!!"

"Oh good, we get more of the same; 10 penalties per game, bad clock management and losing to Buffalo in the playoffs"

"We'll never win with him but whatever."

And those were the tame Twitter replies that I just posted.

Others were, let's say, a bit more direct. And ugly.

I assume, like the Charlie Morton news I'll handle below, that you're just feigning surprise if you act shocked that Harbaugh got a contract extension.

He was in the final year of his contract. When the Ravens didn't part company with Harbaugh in January, he was always getting some sort of new deal to remain in Baltimore. No one can (effectively) coach on a one-year contract.

The issue facing Steve Bisciotti and the fan base is similar in nature, but both sides attack the ultimate conclusion in different ways.

Bisciotti likely asks his top front office folks who help make football operational decisions, "What has John done to deserve to get fired?"

Ravens fans counter and say, "What has John done to deserve to stay on board as the head coach?"

The answer in both situations is obvious: "All his teams have done in Baltimore is win and (mostly) make the playoffs."

Have they won enough championships to satisfy people? No. And, if you gave Harbaugh the Meet-The-Fockers-Truth-Serum-Needle-In-The-Neck, he would agree with that. He has one of the best three quarterbacks on the planet playing for his team and he has yet to win a title with him.

I'm sure Harbaugh expects to win at least one with Lamar, if not more than one.

Thus far, he's 0-fer with Lamar. That said, Lamar plays a role in that as well. He's also "0-fer".

But the reality is, no matter what people at the end of the bar say (haha), Harbaugh has done nothing at all to warrant being dismissed from his position in Baltimore.

He's a winning head coach of one of the more successful franchises the sport has seen over the last 20 years.

His critics will always figure out a way to give credit elsewhere; "Ray and Ed Reed carried him", "Flacco's miracle run in January of 2013 saved his job", "Lamar is the only reason the team wins now". That's part and parcel of being a fan. You remember the stuff that fits your agenda and forget the stuff that doesn't.

In the end, John was always staying. Whether he sees the next four years through to its completion is another story. But for now, at least, the John Harbaugh era rolls on in Baltimore.

As it should.

The internet, speaking of "lighting up", was filled with Orioles naysayers on Friday night as Charlie Morton got dinged up in his debut in orange and black.

Morton made it to the third inning but was in the shower when the O's hit in the top of the 4th. He gave up 7 hits and 4 earned runs in 3.1 innings of work before Brandon Hyde mercifully brought his night to an end.

Everyone went nuts on Twitter.

Mind you, Albert Suarez and Cionel Perez weren't much better in their brief stints but Morton's 10.80 ERA was the talk of the evening.

I don't understand why people get agitated with one game like that.

He's a 41-year old pitcher who is a stunt-double for Eddie Harris in the movie "Major League". He's just hanging on, enjoying the big leagues for as long as he can. And despite what you saw from him on Friday evening, Morton will, for sure, have an impressive start or two (or six) for the Orioles this season.

Alas, he's also a 41 year old pitcher in the early December of his career and you had to know going in this was potentially going to be what you get out of him a dozen times a year.

And it's not like the O's offense gave him a lot of breathing room, either.

They went from Hall and Oates on Thursday in the opener (14 hits) to the Beatles on Friday night (3 hits). When you have 3 hits and you score 2 runs, your starting pitcher is going to have to be Bob Gibson in order for you to have a puncher's chance of winning the game.

Morton and the two aforementioned relief pitchers didn't help their own cause, obviously, but let's not pretend like the O's bats were on fire again in an eventual 11-8 loss.

Three hits and two runs ain't doing it, guys.

As for Morton, he is what he is. He's Eddie Harris from "Major League".

There's room for the "crafty veteran" in every clubhouse, I'm guessing. I mean, there are only roughly 250 men in the country capable of being a pitcher in Major League Baseball (some of them are in the minors with "major league stuff", let's say) and Morton is certainly one of them, still, despite getting blistered on Friday night in Toronto.

Let's not do the "world is falling apart after one game" thing around here. Not this season. Pinky promise?

Now, if five or six starts into his 2025 season Morton is still sporting an 8.50 or higher ERA, we can chat. But let's give him April, at least, to get his chakras in line.

Deal?

Friday March 28, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3868

a laughable effort (including the coach)

Now that, sadly, was an all-time egg-laying-half-of-basketball by a Maryland team that was supposedly ready for the big moment on Thursday night in San Francisco.

Florida outscored, outgutted and outplayed Maryland by a mile in the final 20 minutes, cruising past soon-to-be Villanova head coach Kevin Willard's team 47-33 in the second half en-route to a walk-in-the-park 87-71 victory.

Basketball coaches don't often agree on much when it comes to tactical stuff on both ends of the court, but one thing is almost universally looked upon as gospel. Rebounding is mostly about "heart" and "want to", to use the fancy basketball term.

The team with the most heart usually wins the rebound battle.

Florida had 42 rebounds last night and Maryland stumbled into 20, somehow. The Gators were active. Maryland looked, well, if we're allowed to be honest, very soft under the basket.

Maybe that's because Maryland's best player has one foot out the door.

Maybe that's because some of of Maryland's other top players had their nose in the transfer portal website on Thursday afternoon instead of watching game tape on Florida.

Maybe their head coach asking anyone in the hotel lobby if they know anything about the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood in Philadelphia had something to do with it.

Whatever it was, the second half of last night's game featured one of the more uninspired efforts Maryland basketball produced all season. For a second I thought Mark Turgeon was still coaching and these were the Terps of 2021.

In the end, though, what was Maryland's true undoing was what most folks assumed would be their undoing. It wasn't "heart" as much as it was "depth". The Terps bench accounted for a grand total of 3 points, two of which came from the always-dangerous DeShawn Harris-Smith. Florida, meanwhile, got 29 points from their non-starters.

As Charley Eckman would often say: It's a very simple game.

There's no telling at all how this week's fiasco involving the team's one-foot-out-the-door head coach impacted the performance of Maryland on Thursday night. Some players manned up. Derik Queen had 27 points in his final game as a Terp. Ja'Kobi Gillespie carried Maryland for most of the first half and finished with 17 points.

Julian Reese and Rodney Rice both had 12 points.

Selton Miguel, who spoke openly about "giving the players their bag" earlier in the week should repay Maryland's athletic department for the hotel room and food he ate this week in exchange for his ZERO point output in the 16 point loss to Florida.

Florida was just better. Period.

Whether the Terps were distracted by the nonsense with Kevin Willard is anyone's guess.

Whether Willard was distracted is also anyone's guess.

If the stories out of San Francisco are true and the head coach really wasn't at Wednesday night's team dinner, it's fairly obvious Willard wasn't "all in" while he was out there with his (current) team.

It's all done, now, though.

This Maryland team will never be together again. And, despite the miracle win over Colorado State and their trip to the Sweet Sixteen, there's very little doubt that the season ended on a very sour note.

If they fight and bite and scratch and lose to Florida, 81-78, that's a whole other story.

Sure, Maryland's win last Sunday was a bit of a fluke, but a Sweet Sixteen berth and a nailbiter loss to perhaps the eventual champion wouldn't be an awful way to put the 2024-2025 season to bed.

Instead, their head coach is apparently leaving and knew he was leaving throughout the week leading up to the game and the team's performance on the court in the 2nd half wouldn't have earned them a spot in the CAA final, let alone the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.

At the post-game press conference last night, Willard looked stressed when he said, "I don't know what I'm doing. I haven't talked to my agent. I haven't talked to my wife. I've been focused on this game."

I have to assume some or all of that is a fib. You haven't talked to your agent? Really? Or your wife? Come on man.

Anyway, we'll let this one marinate a little more and wait for the inevitable "official announcement" that Willard is heading to Villanova before we pile on. Chick Hernandez, as connected to UM sports as anyone in the D.C. market, confirmed on Thursday evening that the Terps have already started their head coach search.

Hernandez would never be saying that kind of stuff unless he knew something.

Now, that said, Rodney Rice said after last night's loss that Willard told the team all week that he's staying put in College Park and is working hard to get some fundamental changes made to the way Maryland runs its basketball program.

So there's that. While numerous reports in the D.C. area are indicating Willard's leaving and Maryland is already evaluating the team's next head coach, players in the locker room are saying Willard has told them he's staying at Maryland.

We'll wait to hammer him until we see Willard in a dark blue track suit with the white "V" on the left chest, talking about how "This is one of the most coveted jobs in all of college basketball and I'm proud to be here in Philadelphia helping Villanova get back to the top of the mountain."

I'm hoping there is no hammering or piling on and Willard sticks around. I think he's done a nice job, this week's embarrassing charade notwithstanding.

What a difference two weeks makes, huh?

When February turned to March, Kevin Willard was Moses, walking on water throughout the streets of College Park.

Here we are a few days from April and Willard is public enemy #1 with the school's fan base.

Sports, man.

The Orioles pounded 6 home runs on Thursday in Toronto on their way to a 12-2 romp over the Blue Jays on Opening Day 2025.

It was a fun day at the ballpark for the Birds, who did their deeds in front of one of music's all-time greats, Geddy Lee of RUSH. Lee is a diehard Blue Jays fan and, like he was yesterday, is often stationed behind home plate in seats a few rows up from the field.

As one of Canada's all-time greatest natives, I'm hoping the G.O.A.T. doesn't actually have to pay for those seats. Alas, maybe he's that much of a supporter that he doesn't mind forking over big bucks to see the Blue Jays get roasted like that on opening day.

Everything went right for the Birds on Thursday.

Adley Rutschman silenced his critics with a pair of dingers and newcomer Tyler O'Neill homered on opening day for the SIXTH straight year. Remember that tidbit on next year's opening day HR parlay card, OK?

The O's produced 14 hits in their opener (which seems like the same number of hits that were on the great RUSH album, Moving Pictures), with every starter except Ramon Urias and Colton Cowser picking up at least one base hit. The visitors scored three runs in three different innings to help support a solid 6-inning start from Zach Eflin.

I assume the Birds aren't going to put up a 12-spot every night, but it sure was good to see the (Baltimore) bats on fire on opening day.

Most of all, it was good to see that version of Adley Rutschman once again. It's only one game, yes, but he was swinging the bat like Johnny Bench on Thursday afternoon.

Gunnar who?

faith in sports

With the passing of boxing great George Foreman last weekend, I thought today would be the perfect opportunity to show you one of his final public appearances last year when he agreed to a long-form interview with Sports Spectrum.

We're showing you the "best of" 11 minutes from that interview, which focuses on Foreman's faith and how he discovered Jesus Christ after a crushing boxing loss.

George Foreman was an incredible human being. From boxing champion to entrepreneur to the pastor of a successful church in Houston, Foreman became one of the more interesting, famous people in the world of sports.

In this interview, he's open and honest about his career and how he grew closer to God through the highs and lows of both sports and business. Please give 11 minutes of your day to George Foreman. You'll be happy that you did.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our Friday "Faith in Sports" segment.

Thursday March 27, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3867

don't spoil opening day, kev

Geez, Maryland's in the Sweet Sixteen tonight, playing for a potential trip to the Final Four if they can dispose of Florida, and their program smells like my Aunt Betty's feet at the annual family picnic in mid-August.

It shouldn't be this way. Not tonight, anyway.

And, granted, it's not "their program" that smells. But Kevin Willard does.

Reports started to swirl on Wednesday night that Willard is bolting for the vacant Villanova job.

They're just "reports", of course, and no deal is done until one of the two parties confirms it, but that's what was circulating in certain corners on Wednesday evening. A number of Terp-centric websites and social media platforms with ties to the school say Willard is leaving.

On Tuesday during a local radio appearance, Willard offered the not-binding comment about his future at Maryland: "As of right now, I'm staying here."

"Staying here" sounded great.

"As of right now" didn't sound so great.

We'll wait for the official announcement -- if one comes -- before we slap Willard around. There's no sense in doing it today. We're holding out hope he doesn't bolt and this will all be one of those "remember when Kevin Willard was all set to leave for Villanova and decided to stay?" kind of conclusions.

But if he does leave, it ain't gonna be pretty around here. I can promise you that.

This would probably be a great career move for Willard. But it would also speak volumes about his character and the way he's gone about the whole process.

Some folks in the DMV already think he's a rotten egg for the way he muscled the athletic director out of town. But that's a story for another day.

Let's hope Kevin Willard isn't leaving. He's done well by Maryland and the school has certainly seen the basketball program start to take shape under his guidance.

But this thing has become a public mess, some of which has been fueled by the media, no doubt.

As for tonight's tilt out west, I called it ten days ago and I'm sticking with it now. Terps win 77-72 to advance to the Elite Eight on Saturday.

Yes, it's opening day of the baseball season and our Birds are up north, at the home of one of music's all-time-greatest-bands, RUSH.

In fact, there's a good bet the G.O.A.T., Geddy Lee, will be in the stadium in Toronto for this afternoon's 2025 kick-off battle between the O's and Blue Jays.

Opening day is just one of 162, I know, but it would be nice to get a win up there and open the season on a good note.

If nothing else, let's hope Anthony Santander doesn't hit a two-run jack in the bottom of the 8th to give Toronto a 5-3 win. I don't mind losing, but I don't want to lose to that defector.

By the way, next Monday's home opener vs. Boston is nearly sold out. Of course, we know the O's have a long history of fudging attendance numbers, so we'll wait until Monday to see what really happens, but after last October's complete playoff embarrassment at the gate, it would be a nice bounce-back to sell out the ballpark on opening day.

As for the rest of Major League Baseball, here's how we see things in 2025.

American League --

A.L. East -- Yankees

A.L. Central -- Royals

A.L. West -- Rangers

Wild Card teams: Red Sox, Tigers, Twins

National League --

N.L. East -- Phillies

N.L. Central -- Cubs

N.L. West -- Dodgers

Wild Card teams -- Mets, Padres, Brewers

NLCS: Dodgers beat Padres, 4-games-to-2

ALCS: Royals beat Tigers, 4-games-to-3

World Series: Dodgers beat Royals, 4-games-to-1

I'm sure you're thrilled to see the Dodgers win again. I mean, what did you expect? How are they going to lose?

I'm serious, other than injuries -- which no one can predict -- how are the Dodgers not going to walk away with another title?

When the new indoor golf league, the TGL, started back in January, I was an open and admitted skeptic.

I referenced that I'm not a "gamer" and video competitions just aren't my thing. That said, "video golf", if you want to call it that, does have its benefits from a data-collection standpoint.

Every player on the PGA Tour now lugs around a "launch monitor" that provides him with instant data and statistical information about his golf swing. That same launch monitor was what the TGL used -- with some expensive twists -- to serve as the functional arm of their competition over the last three months.

The question, though, was whether "video game golf" would catch on enough to be a TV sport. The entire premise of the TGL was to give "funny money" to the TOUR players who eschewed the free payday of LIV Golf and stay with the PGA Tour product. Any contention otherwise is just flat out wrong. Rory and Tiger both could have collected a gazillion dollars from LIV. Instead of taking dirty Saudi money, they rolled up their sleeves and created the TGL.

And then they handed millions out, with the TOUR's blessing, to guys like J.T. and Fowler and Cantlay and Xander and the rest of the stars who didn't take LIV money.

As a business practice, TGL was a definite success. Rory and Tiger got SoFi to pony up $25 million, so they were never going to lose a dime no matter if 10 million people watched or 150 people watched.

The product itself was OK. It had some great nights and it had some snoozer nights. They tweaked the rules midway through the season to allow for more "hammer throws" and that seemed to help keep matches closer in score. I don't know that the players figured out how to chip and putt on the synthetic green until about mid-February. All in all, I thought the product was fine. Nothing great. But certainly not terrible, either.

As a "TV show", which is what it was, really, it was also "OK". Frankly, it should probably be trimmed down to 90 minutes instead of 2 hours. Maybe play just 12 holes instead of 15? The in-match banter that was promised never really materialized. Golf is just not a sport where there's a lot of needling or tom foolery when there are millions of dollars on the line.

I had this discussion with some friends at my club who were bemoaning the fact that no one was "chirping" during the matches and the events were usually tension-free.

"They're playing for millions of dollars," I told my friends. "To them, it's real golf. You guys get agitated when someone jiggles change in their pocket while you're trying to avoid losing a $10 nassau. Imagine what it's like to have a putt that could win you $1 million and one of the guys is clanking his clubs together on purpose to distract you."

Anyway, I thought the "TV show" portion of the product was fine. But, again, it might need to be tweaked for 2026.

All in all, I think the first year of the TGL was a success. It wasn't really my cup of tea and I probably only tuned in 5 or 6 times in total, but I did make it a point to have the TV on earlier this week when the Finals were played and I watched most of Tuesday's Game 2 in its entirety.

Their TV numbers were decent enough, ranging anywhere from 300,000 to 1 million for a match.

I assume it went well enough to bring it back again in 2026. After all, SoFi is forking over all of the operational expenses and guys like Arthur Blank and more than willing to keep throwing money into it because it gets him close to guys like Rory and Tiger and he can tell his friends he has J.T.'s cell number.

It's probably not a good idea to offer much commentary on the transfer portal in college basketball given the tension in the air about Kevin Willard's possible (imminent?) departure for the Villanova job.

I'm already agitated enough, in other words.

But the NCAA has somehow managed to do the one thing I thought might be impossible. They've somehow even screwed up the Wild, Wild West.

These schools are all handing out millions of dollars to basketball players and the NCAA has butchered the whole thing. It's unreal.

The premise of players being compensated for their Name, Image and Likeness is not at all inappropriate or misguided.

But the NCAA went from paying a player $5.00 whenever a jersey with his name and number is sold in the book store or at the arena/stadium to giving a guy $750,000 to play basketball. And they're doing it all pretty much on a handshake, with the promise that you can leave every March if you just feel like leaving.

It's beyond stupid.

Should a college basketball player be compensated for a replica jersey sale or in some way receive a portion of the TV money he helps generate? Sure, there's logic to that.

But where's the value in the education these kids are (supposedly/hopefully) receiving? One of the reasons why schools like Maryland can fully fund the football program with 90 scholarships (example) is because they're getting $52 million in Big Ten TV money.

The value of the college education has been forgotten by the "student" athletes.

Compensated? Absolutely.

Be able to jump around from school to school and peddle themselves to the highest bidder? Outrageously dumb.

And it's not the kids' fault, either. They're only doing what the rules allow them to do.

If you tell a kid that the rules say he can play for TWO schools during the basketball season, he'd play for two schools. They don't really care where they go to college. They just want to play and make money. End of story.

The most insane thing of all is allowing the transfer portal to be open now, while the season is still ongoing. They do the same thing in football, remember. The transfer portal opens in December and there are still 40-some teams playing in bowl games.

Just when you thought the NCAA couldn't do anything more stupid, they go and do this...and totally DO NOT redeem themselves.

(That's a line from Dumb and Dumber...)

Kevin Willard's departure from Maryland is seemingly tied into this whole mess of NIL money and paying kids to play basketball. Maryland is potentially losing him because, as Willard noted last week, "there are fundamental breakdowns" in the way Maryland handles their NIL and revenue shares.

Look, coaches want the best players. Once upon a time, schools acquired their players by recruiting them. Now they acquire them by paying them.

Oh, and "recruiting" also included giving them some things under-the-table, let's not overlook that. But in those days, a kid might have received $25,000 and 10 airline tickets for his parents to watch him play on the road. The other schools offered him $28,000 and 12 airline tickets. It wasn't enough to leave, plus you had to sit out a year.

Now, Maryland gives me $400,000 but Villanova offers me $750,000. I'm going to Philly, baby.

The idea of letting these kids roam around the country willy-nilly and playing wherever they want is the dumbest thing the NCAA ever did.

And they've done some dumb stuff.

Compensate the players in some way. No problem there. But they can't jump from Georgia Tech to Maryland to Kansas State like they're working for Little Caesars Pizza.

Make them sign up for 3 years and graduate their money accordingly. $150,000 in year one, $250,000 in year two and $350,000 in year three. If they decide to stick around for a 4th year (you know, to get that highly sought after college degree) then give them $500,000 in year four. If they transfer after 3 years, they have to play for the paltry sum of $250,000 again.

I'm just spitballing there, of course.

You figure out what the real numbers are.

All I'm saying is college sports needs to come up with a happy mix between "playing for the name on the front of the shirt" and "playing for the name on the back of the shirt".

Right now, these kids couldn't care less about the front of the shirt.

Come to think of it, Kevin Willard doesn't care about the name on the front of the shirt, either.

So maybe that's where the problems start in the first place.

Wednesday March 26, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3866

as ian eagle once said...

I should do a Phil Jackman'esque "Reading Time: 15 minutes" today. There's so much going on in the world of sports, I don't know even know where to start.

The Terps are back in action on Thursday when they take on Florida in the Sweet Sixteen. That's the "men's Terps", for those that don't know. Maryland would then face the winner of Texas Tech (#3) and Arkansas (#10) on Sunday for the right to go to the Final Four if, of course, they handle business vs. the Gators tomorrow night.

The Dodgers are going to the White House and they're calling it a "great honor". I have something to say on that, but maybe I'll let that story marinate for a day and then dig into it tomorrow or Friday.

The TGL (indoor golf league) finished their first (successful?) season last night with some pretty riveting golf in their championship final, won by Atlanta, 2-games-to-0. I followed my January vow and let the first season play out in its entirety without making any kind of real, formal judgment on the whole thing. I'll have more on the TGL tomorrow or Friday as well.

Tom Izzo had a remarkable 1:30 response to the college basketball transfer portal being "opened up" during the playing of March Madness. If you haven't yet seen it, I'll try to have it posted here tomorrow or Friday and offer some poignant commentary on Izzo's statement, which was about as good as anything you could have possibly heard from a college basketball coach.

These are very interesting times in major college sports, where the players have assumed almost all of the leverage and the coaches are pretty much left to serve as team bus drivers and travel coordinators. It's become an incredible farce. Like just about everything we do in this country, the change to the college sports landscape has been done in "extremes". Enough said on that for now. Check back on Thursday or Friday for more on what Izzo had to say.

Alex Ovechkin is closing in on Wayne Gretzky, but he's running out of time, too. Ovi scored a goal in last night's 3-2 OT loss to the Winnipeg Jets in what might have been a Stanley Cup Finals preview. And he now trails Gretzky by 6 goals in an effort to reach 895 for his career. The Great 8 needs to score 6 goals in his team's last 11 games. It seems reasonable, but it's going to be very, very close.

While the Caps are on the verge of clinching the President's Trophy for the best regular season point total, the Flyers are just about set to be eliminated, officially, from post-season play. You'll be reading all about that sometime next week, don't you worry. Another year of "Flyers Fail in Philly" is always a triumph.

Our Masters Top 12 starts soon, as the greatest sporting event of the year takes place at Augusta National starting two weeks from tomorrow. With Scottie Scheffler off to a tepid 2025 start and none of the sport's big guns doing much -- except for Rory -- early on this year, the Masters is officially wide open. We'll tell you now, just to pave the road in advance: We have an interesting and potentially surprising top 3 to reveal in the next two weeks.

Speaking of golf, we've been getting close to a big hit with our weekly PGA Tour picks and this week's event in Houston gives us an opportunity to hit on a few semi-long-shots for Top 20, Top 10 and "winner" selections.

Scottie Scheffler (7-2) has to break out of this mini-slump at some point soon and it very well might be this weekend. A win is better than a loss, so if you throw a few bucks on Scheffler and he wins, you're in the black on that wager. We're not playing him, though.

Davis Thompson (45-1) had a solid outing at The Players two weeks ago and is starting to look like a guy ready for his breakthrough season on TOUR. He won a year ago and should win somewhere this season as well. The wide open, non-penal rough in Houston is perfect for him. Love his chances to win this week.

Tony Finau (45-1) is a better version of Thompson with more winning experience. His occasionally balky driver won't impact him that much this week in Houston as the course is not very punishing off the tee. If Finau does manage to hit more fairways than not, his iron game -- always a strength -- should put him in contention on Sunday. What could be his undoing is the same thing that always seems to snag him: putting. With a good week on the greens, Finau could be dangerous.

Thomas Detry (50-1) already has won this year, so asking him to do it twice in three months might be a lot. But this kid is a tremendous player and a wonderful driver of the golf ball. On a week where accuracy won't matter all that much, it could open the door for him to just blast it all over the place and make a ton of birdies. We've been "on" Detry for the better part of a full year now and you're going to see him scattered throughout our four major championship previews in 2025. He's the real deal.

Maverick McNealy (66-1) is coming off the Florida swing in fine form and is ready to break through with a big 2025. There are guys who "look the part" but can't close the deal, and McNealy has moved closer to that description than he probably likes. That said, he's also one of those guys who simply does everything well and just needs a week where he makes a few more putts than usual and he's right there on Sunday.

Nicolai Hojgaard (100-1) is our "longshot of the week" who could net you a huge return on even a small investment. We love his style of play and his 2025 data-to-date and Houston seems like a perfect course for him to take advantage of his length off the tee. He's a little bit of an unknown here in the U.S., but that won't last much longer. We like to give you a longshot every week. A couple of weeks ago at The Players we handed you Akshay Bhatia. This week's it's Hojgaard. You can thank us on Sunday night.

Randy Morgan's Orioles preview for the 2025 campaign can be found below. Tomorrow here at #DMD, I'll have my full MLB "Predictions Edition" and tell you who wins the World Series this year. As if you don't already know yourself, right?

But I'll dive into some Orioles stuff this morning in honor of Randy's excellent work over the last two days getting us all primed for another season of baseball here in Bawlmer.

Once upon a time, the great Ian Eagle of CBS Sports made an epic comment during an October Ravens/Raiders game in Baltimore when the sky camera caught an empty baseball stadium.

"And there's Oriole Park at Camden Yards," Eagle said. "They used to play baseball in October in that ballpark...but not any longer. And that's not a low blow. It's...just a fact."

It's one of the all-time great lines ever authored on live TV.

Painfully "great", unfortunately. But still great nonetheless.

Sadly, the same will be said this October.

The Orioles won't be playing meaningful October baseball in Camden Yards, I'm afraid.

The playoff streak stops at two.

It's an 85-77 campaign for the O's that eventually leaves them three games out of a wild card spot in the American League.

What happens? Injuries, only a "decent" starting rotation, and "off" seasons from Mountcastle, O'Hearn and O'Neill contribute to the first empty stadium in October in three years.

An 85-77 record is still acceptable enough and the O's will be in the race until the last week of the season, but a slump in August where they lose 14 of 20 games will be their ultimate undoing.

As I like to say here: I hope I'm wrong.

	"Randy On The O's"
Randy Morgan takes #DMD readers through the recent week in Orioles baseball as the Birds try to earn a third straight A.L. playoff appearance.

2025 orioles preview

Baltimore Orioles -

2024 Record: 91-71

Additions: Tyler O’Neill (OF), Felix Bautista (RP - injury), Gary Sánchez (C), Charlie Morton (SP), Tomoyuki Sugano (SP), Andrew Kittredge (RP)

Subtractions: Corbin Burnes (SP), Anthony Santander (OF), James McCann (C), Danny Coulombe (RP)

Average Projected Wins: 86.23 (89.07 in 2024)

Odds to win Division: +270 (+205 in 2024)

Starting Rotation: 5th

Bullpen: 1st

Catchers: 1st

Infield: 1st

Outfield: 2nd

Depth: 1st

Strengths: Talented young core, solid offense, bullpen upside

Weaknesses: Unproven rotation depth, lack of true ace, early-season injuries

The Orioles enter the 2025 season with a clear strength in their young and talented core of position players. Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser and Jackson Holliday represent a dynamic group that is expected to drive the offense.

The addition of Tyler O’Neill softens the loss of Anthony Santander, which should help the offense remain near the top of the league.

The massive question is the starting rotation, where a gaping hole remains with the loss of ace Corbin Burnes and the early season injury to his potential replacement Grayson Rodriguez.

Veterans Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano and Kyle Gibson will help stabilize the rotation but none of them has the top end talent to carry the team or serve as a dependable game one starter in the playoffs. The good news is the bullpen has the potential to be one of the best in the league with the return of Felix Bautista at the back end.

The projections suggest that despite a lackluster offseason, the O’s remain one the of the top contenders for the division, even if that is mostly due to bad injury luck for the Yankees.

The division appears to be more wide open this season than in recent years. The Yankees and Orioles remain the favorites but significant improvements from the Red Sox and Blue Jays and the return of multiple key starting pitchers for the Rays could make it a tight race.

The win projections for both the Yankees and the O’s are lower than they were to start 2024. PECOTA specifically highlights the AL East as potentially the closest division in all of baseball.

The best thing to happen to the Birds all offseason was Juan Soto leaving the Yankees for the cross town Mets and the subsequent season ending Tommy John surgery for Gerrit Cole. Were it not for those developments the whole division would have been looking up to the Yanks.

Instead, those departures along with injuries to Luis Gil and Giancarlo Stanton have brought the Yankees back to the pack even with the acquisitions of Fried and Bellinger.

As Buck Showalter once said, “I like our guys.”

I’m excited to see Gunnar, Adley, Westburg, Cowser and Holliday try to take the next step and push this team over the playoff hump. I’m also excited to see The Mountain back to shutting down the ninth inning.

However, I’m not optimistic about this team’s chances compared to the past two seasons. The front office and/or new owner have failed the fans and the core of the team this offseason, allowing the roster to lose ground to almost every division rival.

Anyone who has paid attention to baseball the past few years could have predicted one or more starting pitchers going down with injuries, most notably the flame-throwing Grayson Rodriguez. Yet the organization decided on taking fliers on cheaper veteran alternatives rather than spending big money for a true ace like Burnes, Fried or Snell.

Nevertheless, the accumulating injuries for the Yankees provide a glimmer of hope that the Orioles could recapture the division. While they don’t seem as well-positioned to win this season if they do get in the playoffs, we all know you just need to get in the tournament and anything can happen.

So, with all that being said, I hope the team proves me wrong and Mike Elias ends up looking like a genius because Sugano or Morton beat back Father Time with an outstanding year, or Povich or McDermott make a leap, or they pony up for a true ace like Cease or Skubal in a midseason trade.

Maybe Kyle Bradish returns at the top of his game late in the season to lead the rotation into the playoffs. The Orioles will need more things to go right this year than they have the past two, but with one of the best young offenses in baseball, they should remain in the playoff hunt until the end of the season.

My Projected 2025 Division Standings -

New York Yankees

Baltimore Orioles

Boston Red Sox

Tampa Bay Rays

Toronto Blue Jays

Tuesday March 25, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3865

orioles magic, feel it happen

OK, we won't tell you if there will be any "magic in the air" in Baltimore until tomorrow's edition of #DMD.

But baseball is (almost) back!

Our intrepid baseball man, Randy Morgan, takes you through the A.L. East in today's piece below, giving you sharp insight into who made improvements, who took a step back, and what to expect from the O's rival division squads in 2025.

It's certainly not the best of starts for Brandon Hyde's team, what with the team's best pitcher (GrayRod) and hitter (Gunnar) not able to play on opening day in Toronto this Thursday. Injuries happen, of course. Just ask the Yankees, who get about 843 of them every season.

But you don't want to start developing a rash of injuries before the campaign even begins if you can avoid it. Alas, the O's apparently can't avoid it. So here they are.

We'll dive deeper into the Birds tomorrow here, along with our predicted finishes for the rest of MLB and our World Series participants as well.

Here, though, are five pressing questions that might very well determine the O's fate in 2025.

Will the renovated and shortened left field wall add offensive production to the Baltimore lineup in '25 or will it be one of those things where it basically just creates more runs for the O's and the visiting teams?

Does Tyler O'Neill come close to equaling the power production of Anthony Santander from the '24 campaign? Something in the neighborhood of 30 HR, let's say.

Will Jackson Holliday have the kind of season that's expected of a #1 pick? He's expected to be a every-day-player in 2025. What's a good campaign for him, statistically, and will he meet those numbers? Can the O's get 20 HR's out of him?

Does the 1B platoon of Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O'Hearn continue to "work" or do the O's need to start thinking about a full-time first base replacement for those two in 2026?

What happens with Heston Kjerstad in 2025? Is he relegated to playing on Sundays when Cowser needs a rest and occasionally filling in as a lefty DH? And if those are his two roles, does he have a decent year offensively and help ease the pain of Santander's departure?

There are other questions, of course, but those are more general. Is the starting rotation efficient, how does Felix Bautista look, is Adley Rutschman the Rutschman of the first half of '24 or the second half of '24?

But those five questions seem to be the ones that will "tell the tale" of the O's in 2025.

They moved the wall back to help get free agent pitchers to sign in Baltimore and no one of any ilk did that, so now they're moving it in to produce more runs and perhaps encourage free agent hitters to consider Charm City.

O'Neill is a big piece. The O's didn't do much of anything in the off-season. He needs to come through.

So, too, is Holliday. A lot is/was expected of him.

Mountcastle and O'Hearn, individually, are just "OK" players. But if together they can give you 40-45 HR's and drive in 100-110 runs, that's just like having a real first baseman over there for 162 games.

Kjerstad could be the odd guy out if his bat doesn't come around. He's no good with the glove, not yet at least, so he needs to make up for that with a sizzling, productive bat. Coby Mayo is waiting around to pounce on available playing time if Kjerstad isn't good in 2025.

If everything goes right for the Birds, they can challenge for the division title in 2025.

But they need to have their chakras in line for six months, I think, in order to capture the A.L. East. More than anything, I just don't know that their current starting rotation (when GrayRod is healthy) is good enough over the long haul.

But I do know this: Baseball is back!

The Masters starts in a few weeks.

A month from now, we're knee deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The next 90 days are going to be fun, fun, fun in The Land of Pleasant Living.

"Something magic happens...every time you go."

	"Randy On The O's"
Randy Morgan takes #DMD readers through the recent week in Orioles baseball as the Birds try to earn a third straight A.L. playoff appearance.

2025 AL East Preview

Opening Day looms, and the Orioles return with something to prove. After another swift playoff exit, hopes are high that their young core, now more battle-tested, can finally deliver a deeper run in 2025.

But the road through the AL East won’t be any easier. The Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays all made aggressive offseason moves to gain ground.

The O’s enter the season with injury concerns, most notably to Grayson Rodriguez, but they’re not alone. The Yankees are already dealing with several major losses, while Boston and Toronto have lingering uncertainty around the readiness of key players heading into Opening Day.

This preview takes stock of the division landscape, evaluating each team by their average projected win totals (ZiPS, PECOTA, DraftKings), betting odds to win the division, and rankings in six categories: Starting Rotation, Bullpen, Catchers, Infield, Outfield, and Overall Depth, based primarily on FanGraphs WAR projections.

New York Yankees

2024 Record: 94-68

Additions: Cody Bellinger (OF), Paul Goldschmidt (1B), Max Fried (SP), Devin Williams (RP)

Subtractions: Juan Soto (OF), Gerrit Cole (SP - injury), Gleyber Torres (2B), Nestor Cortes (SP), Clay Holmes (RP), Giancarlo Stanton (DH - injury)

Average Projected Wins: 86.97 (91.9 in 2024)

Odds to win Division: +135 (+165 in 2024)

Starting Rotation: 4th

Bullpen: 2nd

Catchers: 3rd

Infield: 3rd

Outfield: 1st

Depth: 2nd

Strengths: Power-heavy offense, star driven, strong bullpen

Weaknesses: Rotation depth without Cole, aging core

Summary: The Yankees lost one of the game’s best hitters to the crosstown Mets, then saw ace Gerrit Cole go down with season-ending Tommy John surgery in Spring Training. Adding to their pitching woes, Luis Gil, a promising young starter, is expected to be sidelined for at least three months due to a lat strain. On the offensive side, veteran infielder DJ LeMahieu is not expected to be ready for Opening Day because of a calf strain, and the status of slugger Giancarlo Stanton is a major concern due to severe elbow issues that might require season-ending surgery.

These losses have set the stage for a tight division battle. Nevertheless, the Yankees went all-in this offseason to replace the outgoing talent, adding Bellinger and Goldschmidt to keep their offense potent.

Fried will slot into the ace role vacated by Cole’s injury, but the lack of depth behind him will put pressure on Carlos Rodón and Marcus Stroman. The bullpen remains strong, especially with Williams at the back end, but overall, the team’s depth will be tested.

The Yankees possess an undeniably potent offensive lineup, headlined by the reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge and significantly strengthened by the additions of Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt.

The midseason trade acquisition of Jazz Chisholm Jr. brought an exciting element of athleticism and potential to their middle infield. Furthermore, the addition of Devin Williams provides a lockdown closer at the back end of their bullpen, and the signing of Max Fried bolsters their starting rotation with a proven frontline arm.

However, there are question marks in the lineup beyond the stars. The team will be relying on young players like Jasson Domínguez and Austin Wells to perform at a high level in key roles, which introduces a degree of risk.

Overall, the Yankees have the talent to be serious World Series contenders in 2025. However, their ability to navigate the early-season injury crisis, especially within their starting rotation, will be absolutely crucial.

If their remaining starters can provide consistent quality innings and their key offensive players can stay healthy and productive, the Yankees will remain a formidable division contender.

Tampa Bay Rays

2024 Record: 80-82

Additions: Shane McClanahan (SP - injury), Shane Baz (SP - injury), Drew Rasmussen (SP - injury), Danny Jansen (C), Ha-Seong Kim (IF), Joe Boyle (SP)

Subtractions: Jose Siri (OF), Jeffrey Springs (SP)

Average Projected Wins: 81.83 (84.87 in 2024)

Odds to win Division: +750 (+600 in 2024)

Starting Rotation: 2nd

Bullpen: 3rd

Catchers: 4th

Infield: 4th

Outfield: 4th

Depth: 4th

Strengths: Deep pitching staff, defensive flexibility

Weaknesses: Lack of star hitters, bullpen depth concerns

Summary – The general consensus among the projection systems is that the Rays will be in the mix for a Wild Card spot in the highly competitive AL East. The Rays remain an enigma, always competitive despite limited payroll.

The return of Shane McClanahan, Shane Baz, and Drew Rasmussen gives the rotation a boost, but workload management will be key. McClanahan already appears to have suffered a potentially severe arm injury.

The Rays enjoy a characteristically deep and talented pitching staff, even with some early-season injury concerns. Their organization has a strong track record of identifying, acquiring, and developing young talent, which serves as a significant advantage.

Offensively, Kim and Jansen add much-needed depth, but Tampa will rely on young bats like Junior Caminero to step up.

However, the Rays' offense might lack the consistent power found in some of the division's other top teams, especially with Ha-Seong Kim sidelined to begin the season. Their reliance on several young and relatively unproven offensive players could also lead to some volatility in their run production.

Overall, the Rays are projected to be a competitive team with a decent chance of securing a playoff berth in 2025. Their pitching staff is expected to be a major strength, and the performance and development of their young offensive players will be key factors in determining their ultimate success in the challenging American League East.

As always, expect them to overachieve compared to projections, but they’ll need a lot to go right to push for the division crown.

Toronto Blue Jays

2024 Record: 74-88

Additions: Anthony Santander (OF), Andrés Giménez (2B), Max Scherzer (SP), Jeff Hoffman (RP)

Subtractions: Jordan Romano (RP), Spencer Horwitz (IF)

Average Projected Wins: 82.3 (87.47 in 2024)

Odds to win Division: +1300 (+400 in 2024)

Starting Rotation: 3rd

Bullpen: 4th

Catchers: 2nd

Infield: 2nd

Outfield: 3rd

Depth: 5th

Strengths: Veteran rotation, infield defense

Weaknesses: Injury risks, bullpen depth

Summary – The Toronto Blue Jays have made notable efforts to improve their team during the offseason, adding offensive firepower in Anthony Santander and bolstering their pitching staff with Max Scherzer, Jeff Hoffman, and the return of Yimi García.

Their lineup, featuring established stars like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, has the potential to be potent.

The Blue Jays are hoping Santander’s bat reinvigorates an offense that underperformed last year. Scherzer is a big-name addition, but at 40, it’s unclear how much he has left.

The rotation remains decent with Kevin Gausman and José Berríos, but injuries (Alek Manoah’s absence) and bullpen inconsistency could be issues. If Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette return to form, they could push past expectations, but the margin for error is small.

There are still questions surrounding the team's overall upside. Beyond Kevin Gausman and José Berríos, the starting rotation lacks dominant arms. The health of key players like Daulton Varsho and Alek Manoah presents additional concerns.

Ultimately, their success in 2025 will depend on their key offensive players performing consistently, their veteran rotation staying healthy and effective, and their revamped bullpen proving to be a reliable strength.

Boston Red Sox

2024 Record: 81-81

Additions: Alex Bregman (3B), Garrett Crochet (SP), Walker Buehler (SP), Aroldis Chapman (RP)

Subtractions: Tyler O’Neill (OF), Danny Jansen (C)

Average Projected Wins: 83.76 (78.6 in 2024)

Odds to win Division: +350 (+1600 in 2024)

Starting Rotation: 1st

Bullpen: 5th

Catchers: 5th

Infield: 5th

Outfield: 5th

Depth: 3rd

Strengths: Top of rotation, power bats

Weaknesses: Rotation durability, bullpen questions, top-heavy lineup

Summary – The Boston Red Sox engaged in a substantial offseason overhaul, making several key acquisitions aimed at addressing critical areas of need within their roster. Recognizing the need for a frontline starter, the Red Sox made the move many Orioles fans pined for acquiring left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet in a trade with the Chicago White Sox.

They further bolstered their pitching staff by signing veteran right-hander Walker Buehler as a free agent and adding left-handed reliever Aroldis Chapman to their bullpen.

On the offensive side, the Red Sox made a major splash by signing All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman as a free agent, adding a significant bat and veteran leadership to their lineup.

Boston’s aggressive offseason suggests they’re trying to push back into contention, but questions remain. The lineup improves with Bregman, but the pitching staff is already dealing with injuries to Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello.

Crochet and Buehler are high-upside gambles, but neither is a guaranteed frontline ace. There is also some awkwardness around Bregman pushing established star Rafael Devers into a pure DH role. If the rotation holds together, they could surprise, but they seem more like a .500 team than a true contender.

The pessimistic projection from PECOTA, placing them at the bottom of the AL East, suggests that some models anticipate their weaknesses still outweighing their improvements. While FanGraphs and the DraftKings over/under offer a more optimistic outlook, the range in projections underscores the uncertainty surrounding their potential success in 2025.

Ultimately, the Red Sox's ability to overcome their early pitching woes and for their key acquisitions to perform at a high level will be crucial factors in determining whether they can make a serious push for a playoff spot or if they are destined for another season outside of contention.

Tomorrow here at #DMD, Randy takes an in-depth look at the Orioles and offers his 2025 A.L. East predicted order of finish.

Monday March 24, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3864

maryland's march travels continue

OK, let's handle the important stuff first.

I don't think that was a travel on Derik Queen when he lofted a soft-buzzer-beater to dispose of pesky Colorado State on Sunday night.

But I'm willing to concede that it was close enough that had Colorado State made the same shot, I'd be joining in with a lot of you howling about the traveling call missed by the game officials.

However, here's the thing. And no matter what team you rooted for yesterday, you have to admit this is true.

There's no referee in the sport (college or pro) calling a travel on that play. That same play can happen ten different times to ten different players and there's simply no game official blowing the whistle for a travel there.

In 2000 or 2005? Yeah, maybe they would have called that.

But it's 2025. It doesn't get called any longer.

It's exactly the same thing as a police officer on I-95 shooting radar up there in Churchville and zeroing in on your car as you come over the hill and he gets you in the crosshairs before you have time to react. His gun gets you at 59 MPH. The speed limit is 55 mph.

Are you speeding? Well, by the law, you are, yes.

But no police officer anywhere is hitting the lights and the siren to snag you for going 59 in a 55 mph zone.

Maybe -- and that's the key word, "maybe" -- Derik Queen took three steps (or a "gather" and two?) on that final bucket. But no ref is blowing the whistle there. It's just too close to call.

You're not getting a speeding ticket for going 59 and you're not getting called for a travel on that play yesterday.

Colorado State fans can cry about it all they want, but basketball officials stopped making that call about 20 years ago.

There's no telling what is going to happen to this Maryland team in the remainder of the tournament, but that Derik Queen shot saved Kevin Willard from a wrath-filled off-season, particularly in light of the way he strong-armed the school's former athletic director out of town last week.

I was definitely ready to pile on. The headline was already written.

"Maybe SMU took the wrong guy from College Park"

Alas, Willard got that elusive second win of the weekend, which means he's probably "safe" from getting overly criticized, even if the Terps flatline against Florida and lose this Thursday night (7:39 pm projected tip off).

One play, one basket, one win. That's what Willard needed from his high priced future NBA draft pick. Whatever they're paying Queen ($1.2 million is the rumored number, which seems kind of crazy until you see him hit that shot yesterday), he's been worth every penny of it in the '24-25 campaign.

Big players make big plays, the saying goes.

Give Willard credit. When Queen said in the huddle, "Get me the ball", Willard didn't bat an eye. He didn't try to outcoach the player and say, "I got this one, buster. Let me do the X's and O's. That's what they pay me to do, you know?"

Instead, Queen said "I want the ball" and Willard did the smart thing and said, "Let's get the ball to Derik."

That might seem trivial to some folks, but a coach's knee jerk reaction to that sort of thing is to say, "No, I'm drawing up a play that I think will work, thank you very much."

A good coach would draw up a play that wins his (her) team the game.

A great coach lets his (her) players win the game.

I don't know that Willard's a great coach. He hasn't won anything of note in his college career to warrant the "great coach" label. But if he did acquiesce to Queen in the huddle and allow his star player to "call his own number", that was, at the very least, a "great piece of coaching".

And, depending on what Willard's Terps do vs. Florida and thereafter, it could be a memorable moment in the storied history of Maryland basketball.

In addition to the big bucket, Derik Queen was also involved in a funny moment in the press conference following Maryland's instant classic win over Colorado State on Sunday night.

When asked by a media member why the Terps enjoy playing for Kevin Willard, Queen smiled and said, "Well, first of all he's the guy that gave us the money."

Everyone laughed.

The times sure have changed, huh?

10 years ago, Queen would have been suspended a year for accepting a free leisure suit and $200 gift card from Chipotle from a snooping, entreprenurial sports agent.

Maybe even 5 years ago.

Now?

He can sit at the microphone and openly admit "(Willard) gave us the money."

Now, we all know that's not true. Right?

It was Maryland's sports business collective that doled out the big bucks to the star freshman from Baltimore. Kevin Willard didn't give Derik Queen the money, the school's NIL group did.

Alas, we also know Willard was/is directly involved in who plays for him, how they wind up getting there, and what kind of funding is needed to get him to College Park.

A fact Derik Queen confirmed for us on Sunday night.

The times sure have changed.

As far as surprising but important wins go on the PGA Tour, that was a big one yesterday for Viktor Hovland, who picked up his 7th victory sorta-kinda out of nowhere by winning the Valspar Championship by one shot.

Hovland had dropped into golf's frequently visited abyss over the last 18 months. In other words, he went from top of the world (winning the FedEx Cup Championship) to not knowing where his golf ball was going.

He switched swing coaches.

He switched nutrionists.

He switched trainers.

And, of course, he changed his golf swing two or three times as well.

Hovland was a top player three or four years ago. He had a terrific college career at Oklahoma State, won on TOUR right away, and then went on to be the FedEx Cup champion in 2023.

Last year, he missed the cut in 3 of the 4 major championships and compiled just two top 10 finishes in 2024.

His game was gone.

Yesterday, it showed up again.

To be clear, it showed up for all four days at the Innisbrook Resort, and Hovland held off Justin Thomas to win by a shot.

Golf is the craziest of all the crazy games.

You have it this year. Next year you don't.

You have it this week, next week you don't.

You have it today, tomorrow you don't.

You have it on the front nine, but on the back nine it disappears.

Of all the guys who could have won yesterday, Viktor Hovland is probably the most surprising of them all.

The question, of course, is obvious: Is he back? Or was that an outlier?

Was the win a gift from the golf gods or has Viktor Hovland found it again?

I don't know.

But now you can throw his name into the mix of "interesting possibilities" at Augusta National next month.

Sunday March 23, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3863

nobody's perfect

No one is perfect.

Once upon a time, a 33 year old guy named Jesus was perfect. We all know that story. Alas, that's not what I mean when I say "no one is perfect".

I mean, "no one will have a perfect March Madness bracket."

But wait.

There are still reportedly 6 perfect brackets floating around out there, believe it or not.

That's 40-for-40. 16 games on Thursday and Friday and 8 games on Saturday. That's a new modern day achievement.

ESPN reportedly has 3 perfect brackets remaining out of 24 million entries.

And the NCAA platform also has 3 perfectos still hanging in there -- out of 34 million entries.

There's no word on whether those 3 are the same bracket entered into the both contests or if they're six different people, somehow.

I don't know about you, but I think it's pretty amazing to have 6 people who, through Saturday's games, still haven't missed one. That's a remarkable feat all on its own.

In case you're wondering, it's never been done. Not "on the record", at least.

The closest anyone had ever come was back in 2017 when someone went 39-for-39 before finally making the wrong call. That mark is now gone with yesterday's slew of games that were correctly picked by 6 people.

I filled a bracket out for a charity contest being hosted by Glenn Clark but I honestly have no idea how I stand or what teams I have my remaining. I know my Final Four and Auburn vs. Tennessee championship game are still alive. But that's about it.

I used to be a "bracket nut" just like everyone else. But over the years, as my interest in college sports waned due in large part to it no longer actually being "college" sports, I just didn't care all that much about who won and who lost.

So my interest in the bracket contest(s) also diminished.

We'll be driving back from Virginia tonight when Maryland gets going vs. Colorado State at 7:10 pm. So I won't even get to see much, if any, of that 83-68 Terps triumph.

I do hope your bracket is doing well. Let us know in the Comments section how you're doing at the 40-game mark.

The Orioles are fighting the pitching-injury-bug early in the season, as you might have already heard.

With Grayson Rodriguez (elbow) unavailable at the start of the regular season later this week, the O's went out and brought back 37-year old Kyle Gibson and his rocking chair to help get them through the first month of the campaign at the very least.

The O's bullpen is also going to be missing Andrew Kittredge (knee) for at least two months if not longer.

With Gibson now (back) in the fold, the O's starting staff looks like this, in some order: Zach Eflin, Dean Kremer, Charlie Morton, Kyle Gibson, Albert Suarez, Tomoyuki Sugano and Cade Povich.

Suarez will likely start the campaign in the bullpen.

So that leaves 6 guys to get the ball as part of the starting rotation, which seems like one too many, right up until you realize one of those 6 is probably going to get hurt or "feel a twinge" at some point in April or May.

Eflin is solid. We all know that. He's a top 15 starter in the American League when his chakras are in line. Maybe closer to Top 10. If the O's get 32 starts out of him and he's in the 18-9 range with a 3.50 ERA, they have themselves the makings of an "ace" by most of today's baseball standards.

Kremer is solid. Then he's not solid. Then he's solid again. And then off again. But I tend to think he's more hot than cold for the most part. I'm a Dean Kremer fan, overall.

Charlie Morton can share the rocking chair with Kyle Gibson and bring the pudding on team road trips. Morton's "fine", which is a nice way of saying he'll serve the team well for the $15 million they had to overpay to bring him to The Land of Pleasant Living. You're going to get out of him what you'd expect. 160 innings in 30 starts with a 12-10 record and a 4.45 ERA.

Gibson will give you something a tick off of those numbers, but the bet here is he doesn't celebrate 4th of July with the team. If Gibson pitches the entire season in Baltimore, something went really wrong along the way. For the time being, though, he'll give you 4.2 innings per-start and give up 4 earned runs per-9-innings-pitched or something around there. You're never going to mistake him for Max Scherzer, but he'll be productive every 4th start.

Sugano is the Japanese import who has been very good in spring training. There's no telling what he might do in 2025. But early returns on him are very favorable, with the caveat, of course, that he's doing "this" when the games don't count at all. It's like a wide receiver catching 2 touchdowns in a pre-season football game. That said, his stuff appears to be more than Major League caliber.

And Povich gives the team at least one left-handed arm, which seems like something you'd want in your rotation. I'm not going to press him into "replacing" Corbin Burnes, because that seems more like the role Eflin will inherit whether he likes it or not, but Povich stepping up with a big campaign would certainly help ease the pain of Burnes bolting for Arizona in the off-season.

I realize the O's turned into the Beatles at the end of last season and couldn't produce a hit if they wanted one, but this 2025 club is going to hit. And score runs. They lost Santander, yes. But they'll get similar production from a group of two or three outfielders and DH types and Santander won't be overly missed.

I don't think offense is going to be the issue for Brandon Hyde's team.

The pressure is on their starting rotation to perform well. Maybe even over-perform.

I'll save my official prediction for Wednesday's edition of #DMD in advance of Thursday's opener in Toronto, but I think you'll be paying close attention to the games in September. Let's leave it at that for now.

Saturday March 22, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3862

florida better be ready

Maryland's blowout win over Grand Canyon was so in-hand and a done deal that even DeShawn Harris-Smith got in the game last night and somehow managed to score 9 points.

I have no idea if the Grand Canyon kids were thoroughly bummed about getting roasted in their tournament opener or whether they got on the bus, laughed and said, "At least we got there..."

But letting Harris-Smith score 9 points on you should result in the whole team doing push-ups and wind sprints back at the team hotel.

Anyway, after a sluggish first 8 minutes or so, the Terps looked like a team on a mission, pounding overmatched Grand Canyon, 81-49, to earn a Sunday encounter with Colorado State.

Once Maryland and Florida both win on Sunday, it will set-up an encounter next week in the Sweet Sixteen between the #1 ranked Gators and #4 ranked Terrapins.

As you might have seen last week here at #DMD, I have Maryland advancing in that one, 77-72.

We've been saying this here in The Land of Pleasant Living for the better part of two months now and last night and over the next couple of weeks, the rest of the country will be seeing what we already know.

This Maryland team is very good and capable of a lengthy tournament run.

Their only drawback, potentially, is the lack of quality depth on the bench. But if they keep winning by double digits, they won't have to worry about that flaw in their roster composition.

Heck, if they keep winning by double digits, even the head coach might wind up looking like a rock star.

If you listed the most difficult things anyone can do in golf, we had it happen within our golf team twice in one week, including this past Thursday when we played a non-conference match at East Potomac GC in Washington D.C.

Last week, we had a player, Brooks Manning, record back-to-back eagles at Country Club of Maryland. He drove the par 4 3rd hole and made a 15 footer for a "2" and then promptly hit his 2nd shot on the par 5 4th hole to 10 feet and made that putt for eagle.

Back-to-back eagles. That's a golfing rarity for sure.

I've had two eagles in a nine hole stretch (on par 5's) on a few occasions, including once in the Baltimore Publinx two decades ago when I eagled #12 and #18 in the final round at Pine Ridge.

But I've never done the consecutive eagles thing, a fact I mentioned to Brooks on the 5th tee.

"You've done something that almost every golfer who ever played hasn't done nor will they ever do..."

That's why golf is so great. 30 years from now he can still people, "I made back to back eagles once."

Then, this past Thursday, another player, Ashton Gallo, made a double-eagle on a par 5, hitting his second shot from 250 yards into the hole for a "2".

In golf lingo, that's called an "albatross". And here's the thing: It's MUCH harder to make an albatross than it is a hole in one.

I have six holes in one. And only one albatross. I made mine on #12 at Mountain Branch. All the golf I've ever played in my life and I've made one "2" on a par 5 (or a "1" on a par 4).

Ashton now has an albatross on his career scorecard, which is really cool. Some people go their entire golfing life without a hole in one or albatross. Ashton has one of those out of the way already.

Oh, and here's a fun fact about a hole in one. See what you think and tell me, honestly, would you consider it a legitimate hole in one?

Five years ago or so, I was playing in the superintendent's revenge at Eagle's Nest. That event is one where the superintendent "tricks up" the course and puts the pins in wacky places on the greens, puts golf carts in the way of your approach shots into the green, and creates various other "challenges" designed to frustrate the golfers.

It's a fun, lighthearted tournament, almost always done at the end of the golfing season.

On this occasion, at the par 3 6th hole, the superintendent put the flag (and a cup, as if it were a real hole) in the front left bunker and then watered the entire bunker down and used something to tamp down the wet dirt to make it basically resemble a green. It was almost "clay like" and you could actually putt the ball on the muddy surface.

Anyway, I hit my tee shot into the hole.

In the bunker, yes. But into the hole. With a flagstick in there and everything. A "hole in one".

Should I claim it?

For the record, the (then) head professional said he called the National Hole In One Foundation and they told him, "Yes, it counts."

That said -- I do not count it.

I always tell people when the subject of holes in one comes up that I have "six with an asterisk" and then I explain that I have six real ones (Mount Pleasant #6, Grandview #4, Clifton Park #14, Mountain Branch #14 (on New Year's Day, even!), Regents Glen #3 and Oakland GC in Western MD (#9) and I have an "asterisk hole in one" on #6 at Eagle's Nest.

#DMD reader John L. sent an e-mail on Friday that I thought I'd publish here and hopefully have it resonate with all of you.

Drew: I have a suggestion regarding comments made by other readers. Why is it necessary to downgrade and be so critical of those who participate in providing opinions? Our country in general has communication issues. I suggest that you warn those who post not to belittle comments made by others. Everyone of us have opinions and just because someone has an opinion that is different does not make that individual an idiot. This is like watching news commentators who insist that their voice is factual. You turn the channel and you hear the opposite. Oh well, the state of mind we are in.

So, there you go.

Do with that what you may.

It goes without saying that I support John's attempt at civility here.

Please adhere to it if it's within your capabilities. I realize some of you do come here just to troll and stir up trouble. That's just a fact of life in an internet-based product.

We'll do our best to continue to weed out the trolls.

But for those of you who are good-hearted people who come here and occasionally get your feathers ruffled by something someone else posts, please do your best to communicate with passion but also kindness.

Thank you.

Friday March 21, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3861

reading time: roughly 4 minutes or so

It seems appropriate on this morning after yet another Capitals win over the Flyers that I provide you with one of Phil Jackman's all-time best efforts -- "Reading Time".

Jackman, like me, would be howling at the Flyers and their ineptness in 2024-2025. Last night's loss in D.C. didn't put that notation next to their ranking in the standings that we all crave (X - indicates eliminated from playoffs), but we're closing in on that moment within the next couple of games.

There are certain days on the sports calendar that are more special than others. The first day of the Masters is my own personal holy grail, along with baseball's opening day and Sunday at the U.S. Open golf championship. But one of the more special, heart-warming days of the entire year is waking up and looking at the NHL standings and seeing it right there in high definition.

(X) - Philadelphia Flyers

Hang in there friends. It won't be long.

With that note, let me address one thing I noticed in the comments section last night.

I am traveling with my golf team and didn't get a chance to look at the comments until very late on Friday evening. I immediately removed the comment.

Please know that if you weave my dislike for the Flyers into an attack on Christianity, your comment will be removed. End of story. If you don't like that, you can kick rocks. I'm not going to have that sort of stuff on my product. Thank you. And have a nice day.

Oh, and as always, if you're the party who posted that comment and you'd like a personal explanation from me, please feel free to reach out via e-mail (18inarow@gmail.com) and I'll happily explain it to you.

I get a lot of e-mail from folks asking about the golf swing and how they can play better. I've come up with a new way of helping them understand it, I think.

My Calvert Hall team is in Williamsburg, VA this weekend for our final pre-season tune-up before the MIAA season starts next Thursday. On the way to Virginia yesterday we played a match at East Potomac GC against St. John's of Kevin Plank fame.

Sadly, a thunderstorm halted the proceedings just as we were (hopefully) about to close out a victory on the last two holes.

That said, I got the privilege of watching two St. John's players up-close-and-personal for 11 holes yesterday. Their names were London and Hannah.

If you want to learn how to swing the golf club, create outstanding tempo, and use your body the right way in the swing, find yourself two very capable junior female golfers and enjoy your lesson.

Both of those young ladies were sublime ball strikers from tee-to-green and both were outrageously impressive off the tee. Every time they hit a tee-shot, it bounded down the fairway 240 or 250 yards. And from the red tees they played, they were a very difficult match-up for my two seasoned Calvert Hall players.

The stark contrast between the way a young man swings a club and a young lady swings a club is very interesting to watch if you're someone who studies the golf swing like I do. Both "theories" have their benefits. Men hit the ball a longer distance because they apply more force and power and those two elements provide greater clubhead speed. But women flush the ball in the middle of the club almost on command, which is why it travels straighter.

If you're looking to get better at golf, watch some old YouTube highlights of Annika Sorenstam. Or find a young, female junior golfer in the area who is adept at golf. You'll see what the golf swing is all about time. Timing, tempo and the desire to hit it straighter, not longer.

Maryland's quest for something memorable in March Madness 2025 starts tonight when they take on Grand Canyon. The Terps should roll past them and would then get the Memphis/Colorado State winner on Sunday.

#DMD regular "PLB" sent me an e-mail on Wednesday asking if there was any way Kevin Willard's job status should be reviewed if the Terps somehow get beat tonight.

In case you've missed it, there have been some rumors floating around that Villanova could be interested in Willard to fill their coaching vacancy.

"If Maryland loses on Friday, why not just let him go to Villanova?", PLB asked in their e-mail. "If Willard can't be Grand Canyon, maybe UM needs a change themselves. Thoughts?"

First of all, Kevin Willard's not going anywhere.

He's not only perfectly situated in College Park, I'd say the coaching gig at Maryland is better than the coaching gig at Villanova. Maryland's basketball program is getting funded at heights never before experienced. There are a lot of schools that used to cheat and win and a lot of schools that refused to cheat and couldn't beat the cheaters.

Now that every school can cheat. It's the wild, wild west. And Willard and the Terps are positioned perfectly for the future.

Willard isn't going anywhere.

That said, PLB asked if Maryland should consider replacing him if, in fact, they stub their toe tonight.

I don't think so, no.

I realize his March track record isn't all that great heading into this year's edition of March Madness and a loss to Grand Canyon tonight would be defined as "stunning" for sure. It would certainly not be a Wikipedia insert you'd be proud of, losing to Grand Canyon (whatever that is) in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

But firing the coach over it? I don't think so.

Oh, and for the naysayers out there who think coaching criticism is something we don't do here, I think Willard screwd up the final five seconds of the Big Ten tournament loss to Michigan.

Or, at the very least, his players screwed up and one of two things happened: Either Willard, A) told them to guard the inbounds pass, which was the wrong thing to do or, B) Willard told them not to guard the inbounds pass and set up their perimeter defense instead and the two Terps didn't listen to him.

If the players screwed up, that's on them.

But if Willard didn't instruct his two players (I think it was Rice and Gillespie who chased the Michigan kid down the court?) to leave the inbounds pass alone and set up at midcourt to meet Michigan there (with 5 seconds left), then Willard botched that one.

That said, firing the coach if they lose tonight isn't the answer.

Alas, they won't lose tonight but it will be closer than a lot of us want it to be: Maryland leads at the half 40-32 and wins "somewhat comfortably", 81-71, although Grand Canyon does cut it to 6 points with about 5 minutes left in the game.

"We're on to Memphis (or Colorado State)."

This is really more of a public service announcement than anything else. And maybe you do this somewhat regularly and what I'm about to write doesn't pertain to you.

Do you/we realize just how privileged and fortunate we are to live so close to Washington DC?

There is so much great stuff in DC. As we drove to East Potomac GC yesterday, we passed the Pentagon. The golf course itself is situated very close to the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial. On the drive into town we saw the Museum of the Bible off to our right.

At 5:00 pm yesterday, while we were playing our match vs. St. John's, there was a bugle salute from the Navy Yard and in the distance, you could hear the Star Spangled Banner being played. Every day at 5:00 pm, they play the Star Spangled Banner at the Navy Yard.

Washington DC is a really special place.

I feel like we're so close to it that we don't soak that in enough.

And I'll give a shameless plug to the Museum of the Bible. If you've never been -- and you're a believer in God and all of His great works -- it's a "must see" place at some point in your life.

faith in sports

Well, I've found another awesome video that's too lengthy to embed here, so I'm going to once again link the entire video and ask tha you go watch it.

I love learning about athletes that I didn't otherwise know much about and this one, this week, is a very eye-opening,impressive introduction to Tampa Bay QB Baker Mayfield.

I always thought of Mayfield as kind of wild kid.

And maybe he was at one point (like a lot of us, right?)

But he's a changed man and a humble man and a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

He talks about his journey to college football and how he "didn't know who I was" until he met at a pastor who changed his life.

If you've never really heard Baker Mayfield talk before, please give this a watch today and, I promise, you'll come away very impressed.

Thank you, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their support of #DMD and our Friday "Faith in Sports" segment.

To watch the Baker Mayfield video, click here.

Thursday March 20, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3860

o's say "hold the mayo"

Coby Mayo was sent back to Norfolk on Tuesday and he wasn't exactly thrilled about it.

Some folks on the internet tried to make a big deal out of Mayo's comments and his reaction to starting the season in Triple A, particularly in light of what he did in Florida this spring, which wasn't much of anything.

In 17 games in February and March, Mayo hit a robust .190 for the O's.

Now, to his credit, Mayo was a solid Triple A hitter in 2024. In 151 games with the Tides last season, he hit .279/.376/.543 with 34 home runs.

That, more than anything, sparked his frustration on Tuesday.

"It definitely is difficult," Mayo told reporters as he gathered up his equipment. "It obviously sucks because you feel like you've proven everything you've needed to. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it's quite enough. Obviously, you go back there and if you have success, it's: 'Oh, he's supposed to have success because he's already proven it,' and if he doesn't have success, it's, 'Oh, well, obviously he's fallen off.' It's kind of a lose-lose going to Norfolk."

Mayo is right. He has displayed, for anyone interested, that he can hit Triple A pitching. He has not yet produced that same skill level in the Majors, though. His brief 17-game stint with the O's last season didn't remind anyone of Rod Carew, that's for sure.

That said, nothing about his commentary on Tuesday was all that outrageous.

There's really not much else he can do in Norfolk. He was spot on there.

Unfortunately, his play this spring didn't force the Orioles hand in any way.

So he has to go back and bide his time the way most rookies do.

He'll return to Norfolk and (likely) hit the cover off the ball. At some point in 2025, Mayo will get the call from Baltimore and this time, unlike 2024, he'll need to be a lot more productive than he was a season ago.

But I can't imagine there's any bad blood between the O's and Mayo, despite the caustic nature of Brandon Hyde's comments on Tuesday when he was asked about Mayo's return to Norfolk.

"That's what happens when you have good teams. Good teams option players that they like," Hyde told the media. "More reps at Triple A, we feel like that's what he needs right now."

Nice work there, skip.

Maybe a little more complimentary next time, huh?

You know, the standard, stock line about Mayo having a high ceiling, all the tools, a bright future, and so on.

Perhaps Hyde was perturbed by Mayo's comments. At first blush, they might have appeared to be disrespectful.

But he's a kid, remember. A 23-year old trying to squeeze his way into the life of chartered planes, $115 a day of per-diem and pretty girls loitering around the front of the hotel at 11:00 pm.

You're the manager. You've been there, done that. A morsel of empathy might have been in order from the boss, especially knowing you're dealing with one of the team's prized minor league possessions.

But you do it your way, Mr. Hyde.

Here's hoping the O's won't be holding the mayo for much longer.

The worst franchise in the history of professional sports is visiting D.C. tonight. Yes, you guessed it. The Flyers are in town to take a drubbing at the hands of the first place Washington Capitals.

It's been yet another dismal season in Philadelphia. The Flyers are in definite danger of finishing dead last in the Eastern Conference. Wouldn't that just be a shame?

Buffalo is currently in last place with 60 points, but they've only played 66 games.

The Flyers are just above them with 64 points, but Philadelphia has played 69 games.

I'd love to see the season end with Philly at the very bottom of the East. Wouldn't that be special?

People often ask me if my disdain for the Flyers is real or just a running gag that I don't want to end for whatever reason.

Here's how real it is.

If the sports fairy came around and offered me this scenario right here, I'd 100% sign off on it:

The Yankees win the 2025 World Series.

The Steelers win the 2025 Super Bowl.

The Orioles go 70-92 in 2025.

The Ravens go 5-12 in 2025.

And...Duke wins the NCAA basketball title both this year and next year.

But in exchange for all of that, the Flyers go 0-82 next season. That's right. They play 82 games and lose them all.

I'll sign off on all of that stuff in exchange for the Flyers going 0-82.

I'll even double down and say that if it was the Capitals who beat the Flyers in Game #82 (with Philly leading 3-0 heading into the 3rd period before the Caps rally for 4 goals to win, 4-3) to finalize their season at 0-82, I'd let the Steelers win back-to-back Super Bowl titles.

I'm serious, by the way.

Nothing in sports would ever be better than seeing the Flyers go 0-82.

A 7-2 Caps win tonight would be nice, too, though.

J.R. asks -- "Now that the Ravens have given Mark Andrews his $4 million roster bonus, is he staying or being traded?"

DF says -- "There are still tons of rumors floating around about a pre-draft trade to either the Panthers or Chargers.

L.A. makes the most sense, of course. There's Greg Roman getting reunited with one of his former playmakers in Baltimore and a Harbaugh helping a Harbaugh as well.

I could see a pre-draft trade and then Eric DeCosta taking a tight end fairly early in the draft. But I also know the organization is very close to Andrews. And, unlike the fan base, they're not going to hold a couple of plays against him in the Buffalo playoff game when he's done so much other good, including 11 touchdowns in 2024.

I guess I'd lean 60/40 that he'll be traded before the draft, but it wouldn't shock me at all to see him still with the team next season.

Sorry to fence-sit like that, but this is a case where there's definitely no real hard-and-fast answer or expectation.

For all I know, the Ravens might be saying, "If any team offers us a 4th round pick or better, we'll trade him. Otherwise, he stays."

That's sort of the way they do business. If some team out there gives them value for him, they'll take it."

Dan in Columbia asks -- "Red Sox win the A.L. East. Dodgers finish 2nd in the N.L. West. Angels or White Sox make the 2025 playoffs. Which of those three has the best chance of happening?"

DF says -- "Well, there's ZERO chance the White Sox or Angels can make the playoffs in 2025. Whatever "beyond zero" is, that's their chances. Can't happen.

The Dodgers could certainly finish 2nd if four of their best players get hurt in June and each miss 40-50 games. I mean, they're a 115 win team if they stay healthy. If they get the normal number of injuries, they'll win 100-105 games. And if they got absolutely hammered with key injuries, maybe they only win 93 games and the Padres win 95.

But the one option of those three with the best chance would be the Red Sox somehow winning the A.L. East. If the Yankees and Orioles both win 90 games and the Blue Jays win 86, it stands to reason the Red Sox could somehow cobble together 91 or 92 wins.

I don't see it happening. But you asked which of the three options has the best chance of happening?

It would be Boston winning the A.L. East."

Ramey asks -- "I am in a Masters draft and just found out I have the 4th pick. I'm sure Scheffler and Rory will go 1-2. I have no idea who #3 will be, but I'm wondering what you think I should do at #4. Thanks, Drew! Go Hall!"

DF says -- "OK, let me say this right away. If it comes to you at #4 and either Scheffler or Rory are available at #4, you absolutely take one of them. Scheffler first, Rory second. That said, I agree that both of those guys are likely going to 1-2 in some order.

I'm guessing either Bryson or Schauffele goes at #3.

Here's what I'll suggest: If Ludvig Aberg is available at #4, I think you go with him. If somehow it's Scheffler, Rory and Aberg going 1-2-3 (in whatever order), then I would suggest you take Hideki Matsuyama. He's won there before, he's putting up great ball striking numbers, and his putting has really improved over the last 5 years.

If Aberg's there, grab him. If Aberg's gone, take Hideki.

By the way, for the first time, I think, in forever, I really believe Rory has a great chance to win at Augusta this year. This could be his time, finally."

Wednesday March 19, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3859

the art of the...sandbagger

OK, so I'm going to set some ground rules for this one today and if you don't follow them, your entry will be dismissed.

I'm not naive. I know that's going to be a challenge given the nature of today's content. If you stick to the storyline and don't veer off into personal attacks on the President of the United States, you'll do just fine.

If you want to comment about his golf game -- as I'm about to do -- then you're welcome to stick around and opine.

Like many of you, I saw the President's social media message over the weekend where he claimed to have won "another" club championship at his club in Florida.

I don't know where to begin with this so I'll just start here.

For an 80-year old man, President Trump swings the golf club very well. He has swing flaws given his age and lack of flexibility, but when you look at his golf swing on video, in slow motion, it's very efficient.

Number 47 is not a bad golfer. In fact, again, considering his age, I'd label him a "decent" player. He is, for sure, a terrible putter, though. That's also very apparent on video.

Now, much has been made (here) about his golf game, the story by a celebrated sports author about the President's penchant for not always being honest on the course, and the handicap he maintains.

It's all low hanging fruit given his status and your particular alignment on his 2nd term as President. If you're a fan, you brush it off and say "who cares?". If you're not a fan, you point to his golf game and say, "If you cheat at golf, you cheat at everything else in life, including being the President."

Let me set it all straight for you.

I would say roughly 80% of the people who play golf aren't honest about their scores or their handicap.

I know guys who claim to be a 2.2 handicap who couldn't shoot 76 with $50 on the line and I know guys who say "I'm a 12" and then proceed to fire a 79, giggle, and say, "I haven't played this well all year!"

The reason the 2.2 can't shoot 76 on command is because the only time he actually does shoot that number is when he, A) Takes a breakfast ball at #1, B) gets four putts of 3 feet or more knocked back to him in the round, and, C) casually says, "Put me down for a 5 on that last one" when, in fact, it was actually a 6.

If he had to play "real" golf and post a legit number, he'd be a 6.4 handicap who can generally shoot somewhere around 80 give or take a shot or two. And, don't get this twisted, a score of 80 in real golf, where you play by the rules and count every shot, is VERY GOOD golf. People have no idea how hard it is to shoot 80.

And the reason the "12" suddenly fires a 79 and cleans you out of $30 via a $10 nassau is because today's round of 79, last week's round of 78, and his two rounds of 77 and 80 from a month ago never found their way to the scoring computer. But that 85, 83 and 88 he shot earlier in the month somehow got logged in the computer.

Weird how that works, huh?

So, that gets me to the President. There is ZERO chance he's a 2.8 handicap golfer. I don't care what the numbers or the Florida state handicap system claims he is, he is simply NOT a 2.8 handicap golfer. He might have been one, once, but there's simply no way he's shooting 75 or thereabouts, on command.

That said, establishing a handicap is eye wash. There's nothing to it. You go on your phone, log into the state handicap system, type in a round of 37-38 (75) and you are then (thereabouts) a 3 handicap golfer. You don't even have to actually play the round of golf. The computer doesn't know if you really played or didn't play. It just knows you typed in 37 for the front and 38 for the back and it then takes into consideration the course "rating" and "slope" -- both of which measure the difficulty of the course against other courses -- and you then have a handicap.

The weird thing about what are called "vanity" handicaps in golf is they generally do you almost no good. A few years ago, I played in a member guest tournament where both players in our first match of the event claimed they were 1.5 to 2.5 handicap players, presumably in order to get into the championship flight. We beat them by four holes in a 9-hole match and when they were finished with their 5 matches in our flight, they lost 4 and tied 1.

They paid (roughly) $1,000 to play in the member-guest, had the wrong handicap, then promptly got clobbered. Where is the value in that?

I have no idea why the President claims to be a 2.8 handicap. "Vanity" is probably the optimum word, as that's generally why most people say they're a "2" when they're really a "6".

But there are actually thousands and thousands of golfers who say they're a "2" when they're really a "6". Are they all "bad people" and "cheaters" and "the worst kind of person"? No, they're not. They just don't have an accurate golf handicap, that's all.

I know some great men who love golf. Community leaders. Corporate icons, if you will. I've played with them. I caddied for them once upon a time at Caves Valley. And their handicaps aren't correct. They're either 12's who claim to be 7's or they're 10's who say they're 16's.

But they are fine, upstanding human beings.

Now, the issue of how someone like President Trump gets to be a 2.8 handicap is also worthy of discussion. Does he "rake back" every 5 footer he faces and then counts that putt as "made" on his scorecard? Maybe.

Does he occasionally hit two drives on a hole and willfully disregard the first one he hit out of bounds? Maybe.

Do Secret Service agents kick his ball out into the fairway when it's buried in two inches of rough? I have no idea, but that's certainly possible.

Do all of those things represent "cheating" in golf? Well, by the book, yes. But, again, thousands of people playing golf today will rake back a 5-footer two or three times. They'll also take a mulligan somewhere over the 18 hole round. And they are more than likely going to kick their ball away from a tree root if hitting that shot could injure them or their golf club.

How they enter their score afterwards is totally on them. It can't be controlled by anyone except the person doing the scoring.

Now, about those club championships the President claims to have won.

He very well might have won "another" club championship, but there's almost no chance he won his club's "championship flight" club championship unless every man in the field is like him...80 and broken down, physically.

You're telling me at President Trump's club in West Palm Beach that there aren't 20 or 30 players who are all 30 years old and carry handicap indexes of 1 or 2? And they establish that handicap from the men's tees, either middle or back. They lost to President Trump in the club championship? I don't believe that for one second.

Now, President Trump might have won the Super Senior Club Championship for players 70 and older or something like that. I could certainly believe that. I think, given what I've seen of his golf swing, that President Trump could probably shoot somewhere around 80 on a 6,000 yard course layout.

And 80, for an 80 year old guy, is really good.

I can see the legitimacy of President Trump winning his club championship in some sort of senior division. But he's not beating "real" 1 handicaps at golf. He's just not.

Now, what you make of him and his golf is your call. But to somehow intertwine his golf with his ability to govern the country is kind of silly, in my opinion.

I know a lot of guys who run gazillion companies and do it very well who aren't "on the up and up" with their golf scores and their golfing accomplishments and the two have nothing at all to do with their ability to successfully run a business.

There are certainly a lot things to nip at when it comes to the President.

I think you'd be living under a rock to not be willing to admit that. He's one of the more polarizing figures in the history of our great (and I hear we're trying to make it even greater...haha) country.

But his golf game has no real bearing at all on his ability to run the country. It just doesn't.

Our annual #DMD Bracket Challenge is up and running and you're invited to join us.

If you've played before, you know our contest is a bit different.

We have 10 questions for you to answer. Please e-mail your answers using the example below.

E-mail your entry and answers to: dmdscore@gmail.com

1. How many games will Maryland win in the tournament? (15 points if you're correct)

2. How many games in the first two rounds will go to overtime? Less than 1.5? More than 1.5? (5 points)

3. Will a number 1 or number 2 seed lose in the first two rounds? Yes -- No (5 points)

4. Who will be the first #1 seed to lose in the tournament? (10 points if you're correct)

5. Will a team seeded 11 through 16 make it to the Sweet Sixteen? Yes -- No (10 points)

6. Will a player from any team score more than 35 points in a game in the tournament? Yes -- No (10 points)

7. Will there be a game in the tournament with exactly a 10-point scoring margin as its final score? Yes -- No (5 points)

8. How many points will Maryland score in their first game vs. Grand Canyon? More than 81.5 Less than 81.5 (5 points)

9. List your Final Four (10 points for each correct team)

10. Who wins the championship? (15 points if you have the right team)

Tiebreaker: How many points will the winning team score in the title game?

Please e-mail your entry so it looks like this:

1. 3 games

2. Less than 1.5

3. No

4. Houston

5. Yes

6. Yes

7. Yes

8. More than 81.5

9. Auburn, St. John's, Arizona, Tennessee

10. Auburn

Tiebreaker: 80

We'll have prizes for the top 5 finisher's from our friends at High's and Carroll Fuel.

First place is a $100 gift card!

Only one entry per-person/e-mail. If we find you used multiple e-mails to submit multiple entries, you get ejected from the game.

Send in your entry before 12 noon on Wednesday. Anything after 12 noon on Wednesday doesn't count.

We're starting to heat up a bit with our golf picks, but we've yet to hand you a winner yet this season. We're hoping that changes this week with the Valspar Championship just outside of Tampa Bay.

There are a number of guys who interest us this week and nearly all of them come at a decent price. We, as usual, also have a longshot or two to throw in there. There for a while last week, our Akshay Bhatia longshot pick was looking pretty daggone good.

Will Zalatoris (+4500) -- I wish Zalatoris would have one really good tournament where he finishes top 5, so I can start trying to figure out how much to play him at The Masters. I love his chances this week at Innisbrook. He can chew up the par 5's there. I think he's headed for a big week.

Michael Kim (+3300) -- We're going with two Kims this week, as you'll see below. Michael Kim is playing the best golf of his career this season. And it now looks like he's going to break through at some point and win. It might be this week, in a field that's "good" but not "great".

Alex Smalley (+7000) -- He's been in the Top 21 in six of seven starts so far this season and was in the hunt at The Players last week before a ho-hum final round caught up to him. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him hanging around again this week and perhaps even winning.

Tom Kim (+2800) -- Kim led The Players in strokes gained (approach) last week, which means he was hitting his irons great and finding a lot of greens. That same recipe will come in very handy this week, where the Innisbrook greens are smaller and less challenging than what he found at TPC Sawgrass.

Davis Riley (+17000) -- Smalley is our "medium-length longshot" and Riley is our "super longshot" this week. Keep your eye on him and throw a few bucks his way and see what comes of it. He's a very good driver of the ball and a nice iron player. Putting holds him back, but that doesn't mean he can't putt well this week. If he does, watch out.

Tuesday March 18, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3858

copycat

Marianne Skarpnord is a 39-year old professional golfer on the Ladies European Tour.

If you haven't heard of her, don't fret. And don't be embarrassed, either. I follow golf and I've never heard of her.

That said, she is making big news these days.

Skarpnord apparently putts with two different putters. In the same round. Sometimes, even, on the same hole. And here's what's really tricky about it. One of the putters is left-handed and the other is right handed.

It's hard enough to master the art of putting, imagine trying to figure it out by putting from different sides of the ball in the same round of golf.

Me?

I'm not impressed.

Why not, you ask?

Because I did that 15 years ago.

Now, before you think I'm bragging, I'm most certainly not. Bragging about having to putt from both sides of the golf ball would be like bragging about having to close your eyes to make free throws. It might work, but the mere idea that you have to do it that way means you have some serious problems.

Alas, once upon a time I was so convicted about fixing my putting woes that I did exactly what Skarpnord has been doing. I carried 12 "regular" golf clubs in my bag and two putters, a lefty and a righty.

To make it even more crazy, the right handed putter was a long, broomstick style putter and the left handed putter was a short, "normal" putter.

True story here. I once made 5 birdies in the second round of the Maryland Open at Fountain Head CC in Hagerstown. I made 3 of them with the right handed (long) putter and 2 of them with the left handed (short) putter.

Longtime area golf professional Dennis Winters was in my group that day and when we walked off the 18th hole after my round of 73, he said, "I've seen a lot of stuff in 25 years of playing professional golf but that, today, was pretty incredible to watch. I don't know whether to be impressed that you did it or depressed that you made two more birdies than I did."

Like I said, you can't really brag about being such a hot-and-cold putter that you resort to using two different putters in the same round in an effort combat your woes with the flat stick.

But that wasn't the only goofy stuff I did with the putter.

For roughly two years, I used an old bulls-eye putter that was basically the exact same putter no matter if you putted with it left handed or right handed. So, that's what I did.

If I got to a putt that broke right-to-left (a "hook putt", I call them), I putted right handed because I vastly preferred putts that broke from right to left over putts that broke from left to right.

And, so, when I faced a putt that broke left to right, which didn't meet my eye when I putted right handed, I'd merely turn around and stroke that putt from the left side and it would become a hook putt for me from the left side.

I know what you're thinking: How on earth did you play competitive golf like that?

I don't know how I did it. Sometimes, it was actually "fun" to be that weird and odd with the putter. And, in the beginning at least, I was a better putter when I was doing something unconventional like putting with two different putters or putting from opposite sides of the ball depending on which way the putt broke.

Over time, though, putting with different putters or switching from right handed to left handed became a chore that wasn't yielding any real, tangible positive results.

I putted left handed exclusively for a season or two even though I swing a golf club right handed. That wasn't wildly out-of-the-norm for me because I could hit a baseball left handed, I played hockey left handed and I can throw a football "reasonably well" left handed.

So, putting left handed was somewhat "easy" for me, even if it looked unconventional to my friends and playing opponents.

I putted 9 holes of the Eagle's Nest club championship with my sand wedge back in 2015. Again, that's not really something to brag about, even if I did make 2 birdies and a long, 15-foot par putt using my sand wedge on the greens.

When you're putting with your sand wedge, you're pretty close to rock bottom.

All that said, the one thing I can brag about is the fact that I never gave up on the idea of becoming a great putter.

There are lots of ways to putt. It's a "feel" thing, after all. And even though I've never considered myself a great putter, I definitely do still have days or tournaments where I putt great.

There are guys on the PGA Tour who are afflicted with something similar. Corey Conners isn't a great putter, but he has days where he putts great. Same with Tommy Fleetwood. Not a great putter, but capable of putting great today or tomorrow.

But back in the old days, circa 2010, I'd immediately be searching for a new way to do it if, for example, I played two or three tournament rounds and putted poorly in that time frame.

I even once played a month or two of tournament golf "not trying to make anything" outside of 10 feet. Seriously.

If I had a putt outside of ten feet, I'd intentionally stand over the ball and say, "I'm going to hit this right at the hole and not even worry or care if it goes in. In fact, I'm actually not trying to make this putt. I don't want it to go in. I want it to stop short or miss to the right or left."

I told you I was goofy.

If the putt was inside of 10 feet, I'd hunker down and study the line and try hard to make that putt.

But outside of ten feet? I didn't care.

And guess what? For maybe a month or two, it actually worked. I made more 10 and 15 footers trying not to make them than I did when I tried to make them.

Eventually, though, like all quick fixes and gimmicks, that ploy ran out of gas. As quickly as it snapped into gear and started working it slipped out of gear and stopped working.

But I was never afraid to try something new.

Just like Marianne Skarpnord, apparently.

I just hope she knows it wasn't really her idea in the first place.

West Virginia was one of the college hoops teams that got snubbed when the March Madness field was announced on Sunday night and the Governor of the state wants a full investigation.

I know you're laughing at that one. So was I when I saw him ranting and raving on Monday.

West Virginia put together a nice regular season at 19-13 and had 6 of those highly-sought-after "Quad 1" wins, which sorta-kinda means they beat six other really good teams during the '24-25 campaign.

But then they lost to Colorado in their Big 12 conference tournament opener and that, among other things, was enough to label them as the "last team out", meaning the Mountaineers were basically the team that got removed from the field first when someone had to go.

And then the whining commenced.

"West Virginia deserved to be in the NCAA tournament," said West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey, standing at a lectern with a sign reading 'National Corrupt Athletic Association'. This was a miscarriage of justice and robbery at the highest levels."

That's a nice teaching moment, huh Guv?

If things don't go your way because you lost a game you shouldn't have that might have kept you out of the tournament, just resort to pointing out how corrupt things are instead of saying, "We should have won more games, then we wouldn't have this issue."

Then again, that's why he's a political official and not a basketball coach.

It doesn't help matters that North Carolina got a tournament bid despite only having one of those Quad-1 wins and their Athletic Director is on the committee who finalizes the 68-team field.

"This stinks at the highest level. This doesn't pass the smell test," said Morrisey, who referenced reported incentives that Cunningham would receive by the Tar Heels making the tournament. "I want folks to let that sink in for a moment. Any way you slice it, this thing reeks of corruption."

The West Virginia Attorney General even got in the act on Monday.

"What we are asking for is a level of detail and a level of transparency, level of accountability, so teams like West Virginia can plan in the future and say, 'What are we supposed to do to get into the tournament?'" JB McCuskey said Monday. "We need to know what they are looking for."

You'll have to excuse McCuskey. He clearly doesn't know how basketball works.

What they're looking for, sir, are wins. A lot of them. Your team had 19 of them in the season and other teams that got in the tournament had more than 19.

It's only corrupt when you don't get in.

It's "a thorough, comprehensive process" when your team is one of those that makes it.

Bellyaching about West Virginia not making it was a good look for the Governor and the Attorney General with the citizens of their state, but it surely didn't teach the kids on the basketball team anything.

Or, maybe it did, actually.

The lesson?

You're going to find out in life that things don't always go your way.

Get ready for it.

Our annual #DMD Bracket Challenge is up and running and you're invited to join us.

If you've played before, you know our contest is a bit different.

We have 10 questions for you to answer. Please e-mail your answers using the example below.

E-mail your entry and answers to: dmdscore@gmail.com

1. How many games will Maryland win in the tournament? (15 points if you're correct)

2. How many games in the first two rounds will go to overtime? Less than 1.5? More than 1.5? (5 points)

3. Will a number 1 or number 2 seed lose in the first two rounds? Yes -- No (5 points)

4. Who will be the first #1 seed to lose in the tournament? (10 points if you're correct)

5. Will a team seeded 11 through 16 make it to the Sweet Sixteen? Yes -- No (10 points)

6. Will a player from any team score more than 35 points in a game in the tournament? Yes -- No (10 points)

7. Will there be a game in the tournament with exactly a 10-point scoring margin as its final score? Yes -- No (5 points)

8. How many points will Maryland score in their first game vs. Grand Canyon? More than 81.5 Less than 81.5 (5 points)

9. List your Final Four (10 points for each correct team)

10. Who wins the championship? (15 points if you have the right team)

Tiebreaker: How many points will the winning team score in the title game?

Please e-mail your entry so it looks like this:

1. 3 games

2. Less than 1.5

3. No

4. Houston

5. Yes

6. Yes

7. Yes

8. More than 81.5

9. Auburn, St. John's, Arizona, Tennessee

10. Auburn

Tiebreaker: 80

We'll have prizes for the top 5 finisher's from our friends at High's and Carroll Fuel.

First place is a $100 gift card!

Only one entry per-person/e-mail. If we find you used multiple e-mails to submit multiple entries, you get ejected from the game.

Send in your entry before 12 noon on Wednesday. Anything after 12 noon on Wednesday doesn't count.

Monday March 17, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3857

who are you taking?

OK, so who do you have in the big March Madness showdown?

And I'm not talking about Maryland vs. Grand Canyon on Friday (4:35 pm) or Maryland vs. Memphis on Sunday. We already know who will win those two games.

I'm talking about Maryland vs. Florida in the Sweet Sixteen game.

Florida looked awfully strong down the stretch and they dismantled some really good teams in winning in the SEC tournament.

That one's going to be a doozy.

But I'll go with Maryland 77 - Florida 72.

We'll get to the other three games Maryland will have to win at a future date. For now, though, book it: The Terps get past Grand Canyon, Memphis and Florida. On a roll...

What's your bracket look like?

If I'm being completely honest, I haven't filled out a bracket in 3 or 4 years. I don't see it in the cards this year, either, although I have a weird feeling we're looking at a Final Four of Auburn, St. John's, Arizona and Tennesse.

If you press me for a winner, I'll take Auburn to beat Tennessee in an all SEC title game.

All of that leads me to...

Our annual #DMD Bracket Challenge.

If you've played before, you know our contest is a bit different.

We have 10 questions for you to answer. Please e-mail your answers using the example below.

E-mail your entry and answers to: dmdscore@gmail.com

1. How many games will Maryland win in the tournament? (15 points if you're correct)

2. How many games in the first two rounds will go to overtime? Less than 1.5? More than 1.5? (5 points)

3. Will a number 1 or number 2 seed lose in the first two rounds? Yes -- No (5 points)

4. Who will be the first #1 seed to lose in the tournament? (10 points if you're correct)

5. Will a team seeded 11 through 16 make it to the Sweet Sixteen? Yes -- No (10 points)

6. Will a player from any team score more than 35 points in a game in the tournament? Yes -- No (10 points)

7. Will there be a game in the tournament with exactly a 10-point scoring margin as its final score? Yes -- No (5 points)

8. How many points will Maryland score in their first game vs. Grand Canyon? More than 81.5 Less than 81.5 (5 points)

9. List your Final Four (10 points for each correct team)

10. Who wins the championship? (15 points if you have the right team)

Tiebreaker: How many points will the winning team score in the title game?

Please e-mail your entry so it looks like this:

1. 3 games

2. Less than 1.5

3. No

4. Houston

5. Yes

6. Yes

7. Yes

8. More than 81.5

9. Auburn, St. John's, Arizona, Tennessee

10. Auburn

Tiebreaker: 80

We'll have prizes for the top 5 finisher's from our friends at High's and Carroll Fuel.

First place is a $100 gift card!

Only one entry per-person/e-mail. If we find you used multiple e-mails to submit multiple entries, you get ejected from the game.

Send in your entry before 12 noon on Wednesday. Anything after 12 noon on Wednesday doesn't count.

And......go!

Mama, don't teach your kids to be baseball players, golfers, or basketball players. No, no, no. Don't do that.

Instead, teach them to be back-up quarterbacks in the NFL.

Somehow, Cooper Rush put the squeeze on the Ravens to the tune of 2 years/$12.2 million to come to Baltimore and hold a clipboard for Lamar Jackson in 2025 and 2026.

You read that right. It wasn't a typo.

I know you probably read it quickly and thought, "$1.2 million seems reasonable for a two year deal for a back-up quarterback."

Read it again.

$12.2 million. Twelve. Point. Two. Million.

I get it. No one needs a back-up until they need a back-up. And if that moment does come along, your back-up better be decent enough to get you through a few weeks at the very least.

But he's also a back-up for a reason. And my general rule of thumb is, "Once the starter goes down for the season, it's probably just not your year, anyway."

That's what happened to the Cowboys in 2024, of course. Dak Prescott went down and in came Cooper Rush and, well, the Cowboys didn't do anything with Rush at the helm. And that might not have been all his fault, of course. He threw 12 TD's and 5 INT's in '24. It's not like he was dreadful in place of Prescott.

But giving a dude $12.2 million who, A) Isn't all that good and, B) Probably isn't going to help you all that much, anyway, seems kind of crazy to me.

Alas, back-up QB's get $12.2 million for two years because that's what the market bears and that's what teams are willing to pay them.

It's bizarre. Beyond bizarre, really.

By the time lunch rolls around today, we're going to have a great story from the Players Championship.

It's either a win by one of the game's top players and fan favorites, Rory McIlroy, or a career-changing win for a relative unknown from California named J.J. Spaun.

Those two finished at 12 under par on Sunday to work their way into this morning's 3-hole aggregate score playoff at TPC Sawgrass.

McIlroy had a 3-shot lead in the middle stages of the back nine before he stumbled with a bogey at #14 and then missed a pair of relatively simple birdie putts at #15 and #16 to give Spaun some late life.

Spaun, with one career win, birdied the 14th and 16th, then coaxed in a tense 3-footer at the treacherous 17th hole to stay even with Rory.

McIlroy had to sneak in his own 4 foot putt at the 18th hole to stay at 12 under and then Spaun nearly won it outright with a 22-footer birdie attempt at the final hole. It came up 3 inches short.

And, so, they'll start this morning at 9:00 and the winner will get $4.5 million and the loser will say, "I was this close..."

Spaun's career changes immediately if he wins today.

The Players winner gets $4.5 million. More importantly, he gets a 5-year TOUR exemption. For McIlroy, that's not a big deal. He has no problems keeping his card and he's already made $95 million playing golf.

But for Spaun, $4.5 million and a 5-year exemption would be everything.

The Players winner also gets a 3-year exemption into all four major championships.

McIlroy's play gets him into every major championship no matter what happens today.

But for J.J. Spaun, knowing he can play in the Masters, PGA, U.S. Open and British Open for the next 3 years...that's a game changer for a journeyman like him.

So, yeah, as you can tell, I'm pulling for Spaun this morning.

The odds are against him, of course. Rory is bound to do something special in the final three holes and the moment is likely going to wind up being too big for someone like J.J. Spaun.

But it sure would be cool to see the golf gods smile down on the journeyman this morning.

Sunday March 16, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3856

gut punch

OK, so that one hurt.

I'm not talking about the Orioles getting shellacked by the Pirates, 15-5, yesterday.

Maryland basketball.

Losing.

On a wild, last second-buzzer beater.

That's what I mean.

It was, sadly, an "instant classic" that won't be remembered favorably for fans of the Terps (men's) basketball program.

Maryland was all set to lose, then got gifted a weird foul call that resulted in Derik Queen hitting a pair of foul shots with (roughly) five seconds remaining. All the Terps needed was a stop, up 80-79, and they would be advancing to make easy work of Wisconsin in Sunday's Big Ten title game.

Someone just needed to cover Tre Donaldson.

Except no one did that.

So, Donaldson drove the length of the court and scooped in a tough angle shot with four-tenths of a second left to give Michigan an improbable 81-80 win.

It probably doesn't change much for Maryland. Maybe they would have been a "3" seed with a Big Ten tourney win and perhaps now they'll slide back to a "4" by failing to beat Michigan and Wisconsin. But it's not like they dropped from a "3" to a "6" with yesterday's loss. They'll still get a favorable draw when the bracket is released early this evening.

That said, the Terps losing to a Michigan team they just beat recently shouldn't sit well with Kevin Willard. The Terps were outrebounded 48-17, which, most coaches say, is a testament to a team's "want to" and desire. Michigan secured 48 of the game's 65 rebounds. That's a crazy stat.

Michigan built an 11-point lead in the second half and were leading by that margin with just over 10 minutes remaining. Then the Terps exploded for a 14-0 run and it looked like a "W" was in the books.

The game flipped back and forth until the final 30 seconds. The Terps trailed by 3 after a Donaldson three-pointer with 28 seconds remaining, but Maryland rallied to cut the lead to one at 78-77 after a bucket of their own.

Michigan then missed a foul shot with 12 seconds remaining and Maryland hauled in the rebound and called timeout. Then came the inbounds throw to Queen, who stumbled and looked out of sorts before the refs called a ticky-tack foul on the Wolverines that sent Maryland's star freshman to the line.

Queen hit both shots to give the Terps the lead with 5 seconds left, but then he and the rest of the team failed to keep pace with Donaldson, who whisked his way right up the middle of the court and hit an off-balance shot that somehow found the bottom of the net to finalize the scoring at 81-80.

Maryland's dream to win the Big Ten title for Queen ended a game too soon.

And now the Terps will wait to see where they land in next week's NCAA first and second round.

Maryland was just another team in the first half of the season, but you'd be hard pressed not to put them in the sport's Top 10 over the second half of the campaign. They beat everyone that came their way except Michigan State and that Sparty win required a desperation half-court heave at the buzzer.

They beat both teams playing for the conference title today (Michigan away, Wisconsin at home), in fact.

It's been a very good regular season for Kevin Willard's team. A conference title would have elevated that definition to "great", perhaps.

But now comes the real deal.

Willard's track record in March Madness isn't all that great. He knows that, of course.

And this Maryland team, while not the deepest roster in the country, has enough quality in its starting five to beat a lot of teams over the next three weekends.

Let the madness begin.

It's going to be a wild and wet Sunday at TPC Sawgrass, where a very peculiar leaderboard has been assembled for the final round of The Players.

The weather is going to be so lousy down there later in the day that the final round has been moved all the way up to a 10:00 am start in an effort to get it all in today.

J.J. Spaun is the 54-hold leader at 12-under-par, with Bud Cauley (6 under 66 on Saturday) in second at -11. Alex Smalley and Lucas Glover are next at 9-under, followed by a trio of players at 8-under; Rory McIlroy, Corey Conners and Akshay Bhatia.

Spaun has one career win, back in the '21-22 campaign, but has put together a very nice run over the last year, including 7 cuts made in 8 events in 2025 that includes a pair of Top 10 finishes.

A win for any of the top three would be career changing; Spaun is 34 years old with "only" $14 million in career earnings, Cauley, 35, nearly died in a car accident seven years ago and has battled his way back to form over the last 12 months, and Smalley is a former Duke University golfer who is the 133rd ranked player in the world at age 29.

The moment should wind up being too big for any of those three, given the exemptions, money and legacy that's at stake in today's final round.

But don't count any of those three out. They're all high quality players. And, for one of them, at least, this week might be the one they've been waiting for throughout their career.

If they are going to be chased down by someone from behind, you'd expect it to be McIlroy or Conners doing the deed, although Conners himself doesn't yet have a massive, signature win on TOUR despite being a world class player from Canada.

There was other big news out of TPC Sawgrass on Saturday and it didn't have anything to do with the golf tournament itself, but did feature one of the game's top players nonetheless.

Collin Morikawa has been embroiled in what has now become a bit of an ugly spat with former TOUR player and now Champions Tour regular Rocco Mediate and Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee after Morikawa failed to meet with the media in the aftermath of last Sunday's final round defeat at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Morikawa surrendered a final round lead to Russell Henley and battled a balky putter throughout the final round. TOUR sources say Morikawa was "ticked off" with the way his putting was negatively highlighted during Saturday's 3rd round from Bay Hill and felt it was best to not face the media after Sunday's final round.

Instead, the 2-time major champion retreated to the autograph area and signed autographs for 20 minutes before going to the locker room to clean up and depart.

Mediate, on a national podcast earlier this week, called it "horse-s**t" that Morikawa ducked out on Sunday evening without taking questions from the media.

“Mr. Palmer told me one thing that stuck with me," Mediate said on the podcast. "[He said,] ‘You know what, Roc, it’s real easy to go in and talk to somebody when you won or when you’ve played well, but can you do it when you don’t? That’s the key.' Obviously [Morikawa] can’t, okay, so stop talking to me about, ‘I didn’t wanna talk to anybody.'”

He continued, “Your job is to tell people what happened. I don’t give a sh** about your workout in the morning and all that other crap. Tell me what happened. You lost? You lost. You got beat? That’s what happens. Guess what? Golf’s hard.”

Morikawa did make comment on it this week at The Players, saying, “Yeah, [I was] just heated. Just pissed. Like, I don’t owe anyone anything. No offense to you guys, but for me in the moment of that time, I didn’t want to be around anyone. Like, I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t need any sorries. I didn’t need any ‘good playings.’ Like, you’re just pissed.”

That wasn't good enough for Brandel Chamblee, who also lit into Morikawa during Players Championship coverage on the Golf Channel.

"You have a responsibility," Chamblee said. "Not to me, not to Rocco, not even to the media. You have a responsibility to the fans, your fans, the people who paid to come out, to answer questions so they know what you're thinking and what happened. When you don't do that, you have failed them. It comes across as a certain sense of entitlement."

Morikawa doubled down on Saturday at The Players, saying he owed nothing to anyone and explained that in lieu of facing the media last Sunday he signed autographs for kids instead.

In the end, everyone's a little bit right and everyone's a little bit wrong in this one.

Collin Morikawa is most certainly not a bad guy or a TOUR demon. He's one of the more well liked players out there, in fact.

What looks "off" in this scenario is that Morikawa would have been front-and-center, for sure, had he won the event. We all know that. Heck, Morikawa himself knows that.

That he signed autographs for 20 minuntes in the wake of a gut-wrenching loss is commendable.

But skipping out on a 10 or 15 minute Q & A with the media is not commendable.

So, there it is.

He's not a terrible human being. And I'm not even sure it's an "entitlement" thing that Chamblee brought up.

I think Morikawa was tired of talking about his bad putting and decided to skip the post-round interview. It really was that simple.

But Mediate, who was a little too harsh with his opinion, I thought, was also right to say, "When you win, you're right there to talk, so you have to be there when you lose, too."

That much is true.

I remember very vividly Chris McAlister of the Ravens pulling that stunt circa 2005 when he would get nicked a few times a game by Chad Johnson or Plaxico Burress. If McAlister's man scored a touchdown or two on him, he was nowhere to be found in the locker room after the game.

"Chris is getting treatment," the P.R. guys would say when a media member asked about McAlister's availability.

But if the talented cornerback had a great game and his man was held in check, McAlister would be holding the door open for the media after the game.

"Here I am, guys..." he'd practically be saying.

So, yes, when Morikawa shoots 66 and wins, he's more than happy to chat.

When he shoots 72 and loses, he might not want to do it, but he still has to make himself available.

That said, it's a professional golf nothing-burger in my opinion.

Rocco Mediate needed content for his podcast and Morikawa was low-hanging fruit.

Chamblee never avoids a touchy subject or controversial story, so this was right up his alley as well.

The golfer was wrong for skipping out on the interview, but the whole thing went from molehill to mountain overnight.

It really should have stayed a molehill.

Don't forget, I'll be doing double duty today, on what appears to be a yucky, rainy Sunday in Bawlmer.

Our FCA Maryland Golf "Discount Day" at Golf Galaxy in Towson runs from 12-4 pm. Come on out and get up to 20% off of your purchase just by saying "I'm with FCA Golf" at the register and also participate in our Closest-to-the-Pin contest in one of the simulator bays in the back of the store.

We'll have prizes for top finishers in the contest.

I'll be skipping out about 3:20 pm in order to make it over to the radio station in time for "Fairways and Greens" on 105.7 from 4-6 pm.

One of the unfortunate-but-fortunate by-products of Maryland's loss yesterday is that I get to do two hours of golf talk on the radio today.

Please come out and see us at Golf Galaxy from 12-4 pm and then tune in to Fairways and Greens from 4-6 pm!

Saturday March 15, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3855

how high should our hopes be?

So, the big news from Tiger Woods on Friday definitely had the sports world reeling.

I'm kidding...

I just wanted to see how many of your heads exploded out there.

No Tiger news to report. You can stay here and keep reading.

OK, so this is starting to get very interesting with the Maryland (men's) basketball team. Like, as interesting as maybe it has been in two decades.

Am I right?

I guess along the way Gary Williams had a team or two post-championship that was "scary good" like this one we're seeing right now, but I don't remember ever watching a Maryland team in the last 15 or so years and saying, "This team...wow...could go a long, long way in the NCAA tournament."

Towson already let us down earlier this week with their loss to Delaware.

Should we be getting our hopes up for Maryland as well and risk that same emotional crash?

They're on the verge of facing off against either Michigan State or Wisconsin in the Big Ten final on Sunday and, depending on how the last two days of conference tournament play finish up, Maryland could potentially be a 2 or 3 seed in March Madness.

But should we get our hopes or just stay level to the ground?

I mean, what if the Terps somehow don't get past Michigan this afternoon? Frankly, I'm not worried about it at all. But it would be a total bummer to see the Wolverines beat the Terps after the way we saw Kevin Willard's team completely embarrass and dismantle Illinois last night, 88-65.

For the record, by the way, I don't see a Maryland stumble today. I see a 17-point win.

So...just how far can this Maryland team go starting next week?

There are a lot of basketball folks around the country saying the Terps have "the look" of a Final Four team. And they're not just saying it to say it, either. Maryland is playing "championship basketball" right now, for sure.

We've dealt with a heartache in The Land of Pleasant Living over the last 14 months or so.

The Ravens gagging away a Super Bowl trip in January of '24 after getting home ice in the playoffs and losing to the Chiefs in the AFC title game.

The O's enjoying another outstanding regular season and facing an inferior Kansas City team -- at home, no less -- in the A.L. playoffs, only to pull "a Beatles" in the post-season and have, like, 5 or 6 hits in two quick losses to the Royals.

And then the Ravens going on an awesome late season run to surge past the Steelers and snag another AFC North title before losing a heartbreaker to the Bills in Buffalo to once again come up short of the Super Bowl.

Throw in Towson's untimely and (sort of) unexpected loss to Delaware last Monday night if you want a cherry on top.

It's been a while since we've had something to really celebrate in these parts.

A great Terps run through at least the first two full weekends of the NCAA tournament would be awesome, indeed.

I'm going all in and banking on it. I don't know about you, but I'm thinking this Maryland team is on the verge of doing something special.

This is setting up to be an "instant classic" at The Players Championship, this weekend, as 28 players start today's third round within 6 shots of the 11-under par lead shared by Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia.

Among those situated in a nice spot off the pace are Rory McIlroy (-9), Collin Morikawa (-9), Will Zalatoris (-8) and Tommy Fleetwood (-7).

Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who still doesn't have a win this season, is still in the hunt, too, at 5-under through 36 holes.

The big news from Friday came from Justin Thomas, who posted a 6-over 78 on Thursday and almost certainly made plans to spend the weekend at home and tune up his game for Augusta National next month.

Instead, he shot a record-tying 62 on Friday with 11 birdies and, while probably not quite "in the hunt" at 4-under par, he stands to at least have an opportunity to move up the leaderboard with another solid round today.

Thomas needed a par at the last hole to shoot 61 on Friday after a great birdie at the 17th, but he had to scramble for a closing bogey after his approach shot found the water to the left of the 18th green.

Still, a 62 at TPC Sawgrass is something special. That golf course is hard, to say the least.

If you're someone prone to the occasional "weekend wager", a quick look at the tournament's history will give you some tips.

Rory and Collin Morikawa have to be the favorites right now at 9-under par. Min Woo Lee (a co-leader) is legit, don't get me wrong, but until he wins something that matters, I'm not sure he can win something that matters.

Does that make sense? I think Min Woo Lee is an awesome player. And he could definitely piece together two nice rounds and win. But I'd sit idle on him until he actually does win.

TPC Sawgrass has a history where a couple of guys you wouldn't otherwise expect to be there are, in fact, "there", throughout the weekend and into Sunday.

Last year it was Sahith Theegala, Maverick McNealy and Nate Lashley hanging around on the weekend only to see Scheffler sneak past them.

Back in 2022, it was little known Anirban Lahiri giving Cameron Smith all he could handle over the last 36 holes.

For some reason, TPC Sawgrass always gives us a couple of guys we wouldn't otherwise think about.

The 2025 Players will apparently not be much different.

We gave you Akshay Bhatia (+11000) back on Wednesday here at #DMD and we're still thinking he's a solid choice to hang around over the final 36 holes.

J.J. Spaun is also a very underrated player who isn't all that familiar with a lot of people, but he's a very solid ball striker and this is the kind of event that serves him well. He's an under the radar guy that should be worth a dollar or two of your investment today.

Will Zalatoris (-8) and Sepp Straka (-7) are the other two to watch. Zalatoris is coming off a two year battle with injuries and is just now starting to round back into form. If you're looking for a Masters "longshot" to throw a few bucks on today, before he (might) wins The Players and his odds shift, Zalatoris would be that guy.

Sepp Straka, as any of you who follow me here and on the radio show know, has been my "breakout player to watch" all season long. Straka is extraordinarily underrated. Thus far in 2025, he has a win and finishes of T5, T7, T11 and he's threatening again this week at The Players.

Given their respective pedigrees, I suspect Rory or Morikawa will be in the final group on Sunday. And then someone like Bhatia or Spaun will be the other guy making up the final twosome.

This really is golf's 5th major. It's played on a remarkable golf course where players can shoot 62 or 78 within 24 hours of one another.

I hear they even have a great 17th hole.

A couple of quick programming notes for those of you who are interested.

A reminder that tomorrow, Sunday, March 16, I will be at the Golf Galaxy store in Towson from 12-4 pm for "FCA Golf Day", where you can receive up to 20% off of your purchase just for coming in and saying, "I'm here with FCA Golf".

Come on back to the simulator area and we'll have a "closest to the pin" contest set up (we have clubs, don't need to bring yours) with prizes for top finishers.

Also, should Maryland win today against Michigan, there will be no "Fairways and Greens" tomorrow on 105.7 as the station will be airing the championship game of the Big Ten tournament.

So, you get a treat no matter what happens today with the Terps and Michigan.

If Maryland wins, they're in the final.

If Maryland loses today, you get 2 hours of golf radio tomorrow from 4-6 pm.

Either way, you get a "W".

Friday March 14, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3854

we lost a g.o.a.t. yesterday

So, that John Feinstein news hit me like a ton of bricks on Thursday afternoon.

I think Glenn Clark and I just talked to him on Glenn's show maybe two months ago. The brilliant author and noted golf enthusiast was 69 years old.

As I wrote on Twitter yesterday, in all of my 12 years on the radio in Baltimore -- and thereafter doing various other media-related shows and what not -- Feinstein was my all-time favorite guest.

John could talk about anything in the world of sports and turn it into a great interview. He loved covering and conversing about the mercurial athlete, in part because he, himself, was somewhat mercurial. It opened up doors for him to not only write about a fascinating character or story, but it gave him a chance to do the subject "a solid", as he would often say.

Feinstein, for example, really liked former O's and Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina, a bit of an acquired taste himself, eventually even dedicating a book to Mussina and Tom Glavine called "Living On The Black".

But he didn't care about Mussina because he was a great pitcher. He cared because he was an interesting student of the game -- we often use "interesting" instead of "mercurial" -- and someone who played with an edge, which is sorta-kinda a description of John Feinstein as well.

One of our funny behind-the-curtain jokes about Feinstein in the radio business was the fact that he disdained being on hold while waiting for an on-air interview.

Any radio show producer that ever worked with me -- Glenn Clark, Ryan Chell, Luke Jones, Ray Bachman -- can all attest to the fact that Feinstein simply despised being on hold for 30 or 40 seconds while waiting for a commercial to be played in advance of his appearance on the show.

They all learned their lesson the hard way. Feinstein would call back after the interview and say, "I know you're new at this. Please put it in your notes. Just call me when the interview is ready to begin next time."

We laughed about it back then and I'm sure Glenn and I will laugh about it again sometime soon when we discuss the late author's passing.

"Don't ever leave Feinstein on hold..."

In fact, it became a bit of a funny ritual at the station to not tell the new guy on the block about Feinstein's dislike for being put on hold.

The new guy would come in after the interview and say, "John Feinstein just called back and ripped into me..."

We'd all laugh. "Welcome to the club, kid."

So, yes, the author who brilliantly wrote about mercurial personalities was, at times, one himself.

John was always open, refreshingly honest, and a definite outside-the-box thinker.

Feinstein authored 42 books, 23 of which became New York Times best sellers.

He taught us all about Bobby Knight in "Season On The Brink", which was pretty much the first time a high-level coach of any sport allowed a sports author to have free and unlimited access during their entire season.

The Ravens did it two decades later, too.

When John Feinstein said, "Hey, can I hang around you guys for 8 months?" you didn't say no.

We talk all the time about the "greats" and "giants of the game" and "people who have no equal". Sometimes that's hyperbole. In John Feinstein's case, it is not.

He's the best sports journalist and sports author this generation has ever had. No one could touch him. Feinstein did it better than all of them for the longest period of time.

What I liked best about his writing was he tackled subjects no one else had the interest or angle to take on themselves. If you gave him an Under-12 girls soccer team and said, "Last year this same group of girls went 0-14 and this year they went 12-2 and won the league championship," he could write a 300 page book about their rise to the top that you couldn't put down while you were at the beach.

He wrote about the Army/Navy game, the Patriot League, the minor leagues of baseball, the U.S. Open and various other "off beat" topics that wound up being incredibly interesting because Feinstein knew how to write and he knew how to capture a subject better than just about anyone out there.

He loved basketball, tennis and golf.

He also loved Coach K and Duke. Well, no one's perfect, I guess.

Feinstein loved to break open the people he wrote about to see what really made them tick. He had access to Tiger Woods early in the golfer's life, but that quickly eroded once Feinstein wrote something uncomplimentary about the way Tiger's on-course emotional outbursts were "off putting to the old guard".

John was famous for saying he loved Tiger Woods until he got great, then disliked him vehemently once Tiger's world fell apart in 2009.

"No one should be that talented and then throw it all away," Feinstein would often say about Tiger on my radio show.

"I remember once asking him, point blank, on my show, "You don't like Tiger, do you?" and Feinstein shot back, "No, not at all. He's a jerk. He treats people terribly."

Maybe three years later, he took time during another interview I had with him to offer a mea culpa of sorts and even out his criticism of the great golfer. "Look, I still don't think Tiger is ever going to be Father or Husband of the Year, but I also now see some of the good work he does out in Southern California and South Florida," Feinstein said. "I need to do a better job of remembering that there's good in everyone if you look deeply enough at them. And as I age and I see how our world is changing, I understand more about the pressure these young athletes are under and how it can impact them."

He was a critic and staunch defender of former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian as well, once saying, "Look, what Jerry did was wrong, but he was only wooing those kids to UNLV the same way the Las Vegas convention bureau tried to get companies and businesses to use Vegas for their annual conference. With girls, booze and nightlife. How else was Jerry going to get them to play at UNLV?"

Feinstein loved to talk about sports. And he loved to share his opinion. He didn't care if you saw things differently. But he wasn't changing for you, that was for darn sure.

He was also incredibly friendly and genuine.

On the occasion I'd see him at a Ravens game circa 2010, we talked about something we had in common. Both of us became fathers late in life and our children are relatively close in age. Like me, John loved to talk about his kids to anyone who would listen. And I was always willing to listen as was he.

I've shared this story previously both here and on Twitter, but yesterday it really hit home once again.

In the winter of 2023, I want to say it might have been a December home game, I was at Towson University to watch the Tigers play basketball.

Feinstein was doing color commentary for some network, I don't recall who, exactly. I ventured down to courtside before the game to say hi to him.

He greeted me with a smile and an enthusiastic handshake. Then he said, "Hey, didn't your golf team win the championship? Congratulations on that!"

My Calvert Hall team did win the championship. But it was in the spring of 2023. In May, to be exact. Here we were, in December, and he remembered that occasion and brought it up to me.

I have no idea how on earth John Feinstein, who lived in Annapolis most of the time with occasional visits to a home he had in Manhattan as well, knew that Calvert Hall Golf won the 2023 MIAA championship. And, honestly, I had no idea he even knew I coached at Calvert Hall.

And I don't have any clue why he suddenly remembered that accomplishment in December, some seven months later.

But he did. And he made it a point to bring it up to me during a casual, two minute greeting at the Towson basketball arena.

Attention to detail, man. That was some serious attention to detail right there. And that's how he covered sports, too.

John Feinstein was a G.O.A.T. when it came to writing and opining on sports. He had "insight" into just about anything and everything he covered, whether it was the Olympics, the Masters, the NCAA basketball tournament or the NFL.

He is gone way, way too soon.

That news really hurt yesterday.

May God grant John Feinstein eternal peace.

faith in sports

So, we're going to do something a tad different here today, only because it helps us with the technical side of the website given that the video we've linked below is 30 minutes in length. It helps us to not embed the video here, but link it instead, because of the 30 minute duration.

But I think you'll love the video nonetheless because it involves (now) former Ravens defensive lineman Michael Pierce, who retired earlier this week.

This is the video of Pierce announcing his retirement this week on Sports Spectrum. It also highlights his faith and how it helped him navigate the 9-year NFL career he enjoyed.

Click here to watch the Michael Pierce interview in its entirety.

If you don't know about Michael Pierce, this is an incredible interview and unique look at his life from days growing up in Alabama to college and then into the NFL with the Ravens and Vikings.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our Friday "Faith in Sports" segment here at #DMD.

Thursday March 13, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3853

when is it the coach?

#DMD reader and occasional contributor Hal sent me an interesting e-mail yesterday.

It came in the wake of Towson's stunning loss to #12 seed Delaware in the semifinals of the CAA tournament on Monday night.

Others here in the comments section -- and folks on social media, too -- have wondered the same thing over the last couple of days.

Hal asked the question directly in his e-mail.

After yet another disappointing early exit from their conference tournament, isn't it time Towson took a hard look at their head coach to see if he's not a contributor to all of their tournament woes? Why does Pat Skerry get a free pass?

For starters, one would assume Towson's athletic department looks at everything associated with the basketball program on a somewhat regular basis.

And that would include, for sure, its head coach.

I will admittedly say right here for all to see that I don't follow Towson basketball nearly as closely these days as I did, say, 15 or even 10 years ago.

When I was on the radio full-time, I was actually the only person in town who gave a hoot about Towson, UMBC, Loyola, Morgan State, Coppin State, etc. I would have their coaches on my show regularly and even had visiting coaches on the show to highlight an upcoming game in Baltimore.

I loved supporting the local teams back then, even if the station owner thought it was silly.

I was on the air when Pat Skerry arrived in Charm City and befriended him right away. I liked his style then and still do, now.

But to say I follow Towson basketball closely enough to have an opinion on "what's wrong" with the Tigers would be a fib.

I know this: Pat was a good enough coach to get Towson to go 16-2 in the conference and earn the #1 seed, no small feat given the likes of perennial conference powers College of Charleston and UNC-Wilmington breathing down your neck.

I can't imagine his coaching style helped in the regular season but suddenly hurt them in the post-season. But, again, I wasn't a P-1 Towson hoops fan this year and don't know all the good and bad from the recent season.

And that's not to excuse him, either, because I'm sure he hasn't slept well the last few nights while he tries to figure out what wrong.

I guess there are people in town who do follow Towson basketball that are clamoring for a coaching change in the wake of Towson's early departure from the tournament. That's always the convenient thing to suggest.

We go through this year every with John Harbaugh and we've gone through it now for a season or two with Brandon Hyde. Those two guys oversee successful, winning teams, yet there are scores of folks in Charm City who believe both should be replaced.

My one take from all of this would be: Most people have no idea how hard it is to win.

We go through this all the time here at #DMD. When the team is winning, there's no real "reason" for it, other than Lamar played great, or Gunnar played great, or the offense was on fire or the hitters had an amazing series, etc.

But when the team loses, there has to be a "reason" for it that, strangely, doesn't work in reverse with the team that won. The Ravens didn't lose to Buffalo because Josh Allen made plays and the Orioles didn't lose last October because Kansas City's pitchers were outstanding.

The Ravens lost because Harbaugh can't coach and the Orioles lost because Hyde can't manage.

At least not in the playoffs, anyway.

I assume there's a lot of that going on with Towson these days.

In the regular season, they won because Tejada was awesome and Williamson was, too.

In the conference tournament, they lost because.....Pat Skerry.

And, look, before any nitwit says "So the coach doesn't get any of the blame, right?", the coach has to be factored into every result. I totally agree with that.

I also happen to think that no coach in any sport impacts in-game strategy more than a basketball coach. Most great coaching work gets done before the game, in preparation for the actual contest on the field, court, rink, etc.

But basketball is a different animal and coaching really does matter throughout the game itself.

So, yes, Pat Skerry mattered on Sunday night (win) and Monday night (loss). I don't think there's any way to get around that.

The question people hint at when they're at parties is: Can Towson win the big one with Pat Skerry as their coach?

That's really what folks like Hal are getting at when you dig beneath the surface. Is the reason Towson can't get over the hump because their coach can't get them there?

And I just don't see how that fits, logically.

Pat Skerry knew just as much about basketball on Monday night as he did on Sunday night. He didn't forget something about basketball between the win over Drexel and the loss to Delaware.

It's not a perfect science, either. Some teams match-up better with other teams and, occasionally, the "inferior" team just has something over the "superior" team, for whatever strategical reason.

I have no idea if that's true about Delaware-Towson from Monday night, but the Blue Hens did play Towson tough in both regular season encounters in 2024-2025.

But to suggest that Pat's not the reason they win but is the reason they lose is a weird bit, but people in town do that same skit every year when it comes to John Harbaugh.

"He only won a ring because of Ed Reed and Ray Lewis."

"If not for a miracle, once-in-a-lifetime throw from Flacco in Denver, Harbaugh still doesn't have a Super Bowl title on his resume."

"He was about to lose his job and then Lamar bailed him out."

No one talks about the winning, but they love to talk about the losing.

It is, of course, human nature to reflect on things in that fashion. Most people are, sadly, more prone to saying bad things than good things. I'm not a behavioral scientist so I don't know why people are wired that way, but a lot of folks just are for whatever bizarre reason.

The great Morrissey of The Smiths said it best: We hate it when our friends become successful.

More than that, though, people just don't respect how hard it is to win. They think it just "happens" out of thin air.

I hope Pat Skerry gets Towson over the hump next year and they finally get to play in the NCAA tournament. I'm certainly not giving up on him in that regard.

But the more times the Tigers fire and fail, the more the whispers in town are going to center on the head coach of the team.

That's just the way it is around here.

Just ask John Harbaugh and Brandon Hyde.

For those of you who are golfers and you need to get yourself equipped and ready for the 2025 golf season that's rapdily approaching, I have an awesome opportunity for you this Sunday, March 16 from 12-4 pm.

The FCA Maryland Golf program I help run is hosting a one-day event at Golf Galaxy where you will receive up to 20% off of items you purchase in the store just by mentioning FCA.

I'll be there from 12-4 pm along with some other friends from FCA Golf to work with you in the simulator, play a par 3 hole (with prizes) and tell you more about FCA Golf.

The event is free. It's actually better than free. You come into the store, buy something, and receive up to 20% off just for stopping in during that 12-4 pm time frame.

Please come out and say hi this Sunday! We'll have The Players final round on the TV's as well.

Wednesday March 12, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3852

ravens add a hop to their step

It worked with Derrick Henry, so I guess the Ravens figured, "What the heck, let's run it back."

Now, granted, Henry was at Labor Day on his career calendar when the Ravens signed him last year and DeAndre Hopkins is probably closing in on Thanksgiving, but the former Texans/Titans/Chiefs wide receiver might still have a good season (or two?) left in the tank.

And the good news for Hopkins is that he's not coming to Baltimore to catch 10 balls a game and put up 1,200 yards of receiving numbers. The Ravens didn't sign him to be the star of the offense. He's here to just be a guy.

There was a time, even as recently as a decade ago, when the Ravens were receiver-starved. 20 years ago a free agent wide receiver wouldn't even think about joining the Ravens because they didn't have a quarterback of any quality. Those days have changed.

True, the Ravens will probably also draft a receiver or two this spring because you simply have to do that in 2025, but Baltimore's receiving corps -- led by two 1st round picks in Flowers and Bateman -- has finally settled in for John Harbaugh and Todd Monken. Hopkins will simply give Lamar Jackson another convenient target.

And it's a one-year deal for very little money ($5M) for as well, so it's not like he cripples the team's salary cap in any way.

A slot receiver of DeAndre Hopkins' ilk? Yes, please.

A potential future Hall of Fame player that costs only $5 million? Yes, yes and yes.

And a longtime veteran of the NFL who has everything he could want except a championship ring? Well, that sounds like the Ravens might just have their guy after all.

Here's the good news about the Tiger Woods injury and the surgery he underwent on Tuesday to repair a ruptured achilles.

Wait, there's good news, you ask?

Well, sort of.

The good news, I suppose, is this: How many more injuries and surgeries can he possibly have?

Bad knee. Fixed by surgery.

Bad neck. Fixed by surgery.

Bad back. Fixed by surgery.

Bad leg. Fixed by surgery.

Bad achilles. Fixed by surgery.

I guess that leaves the shoulders, hips and hands, but everything else has been just about covered on the operating table over the last two decades.

The good news? Tiger's achilles should be fine. The injury and surgery were similar to what Bernhard Langer endured last year and he missed a total of 3 months of time on the Champions (Senior) Tour. That said, it's important to point out that Langer is permitted the use of a golf cart on the Champions Tour and Woods can not use one on the PGA Tour.

Tiger will almost certainly miss the Masters next month, which is a shame, but also not that huge of a loss for the event itself. And because he won the thing 5 times, he's exempt forever at Augusta National.

But the PGA Championship and U.S. Open don't extend long-term, lifetime exemptions for their winners. So Tiger's in danger of not being exempt for those in 2026 if he doesn't play in this year's 2nd and 3rd major and do enough to garner himself a spot in next year's field(s).

I'm not a doctor, but it would seem unlikely that Tiger can play at Quail Hollow (PGA Championship) in May. I mean, that's two months away, basically.

The U.S. Open in mid-June seems ambitious, but possible, I guess.

And then there's the British Open in late July. I suppose that one's much more feasible for Woods if, in fact, the surgery he underwent yesterday was "minimally invasive" as his doctor pointed out on Tuesday afternoon.

In the end, this is a nothing burger. Tiger had about 20% chance of competing well at Augusta National. He knows the course, yes. He can still hit the required shots there, yes. But he's not beating Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, et al, over the course of four days there.

It might rob the tournament of having the G.O.A.T. on their property all week, but that's it. Tiger wasn't winning the Masters next month and he wasn't going to be on the first page of the leaderboard on Sunday, either.

The Capitals rolled on last night with a 7-4 win in Anaheim, but Alex Ovechkin was kept off the scoreboard, which seems odd that his team scored 7 times and he didn't net one of those.

Newcomer Anthony Beuvillier scored a big goal late in the game to help send the Caps to their 5th straight win. Aliaksei Protas had the hat trick for D.C., who scored three times in the final six minutes of the game to snap a 4-4 tie with the Ducks.

Ovechkin still sits at 886 goals, needing 9 more to break Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal-scoring record 894.

The Capitals have now played 65 of 82 games. Wait, Flyers fans, do NOT rush for your calculators. We can do this together. 82 minus 65.......I'll give you a minute........yes!! Yes!! Good job. There are 17 games remaining. That's correct!

Ovi needs 9 goals in 17 games to set the mark. It's now starting to move into "tough to do" territory, I'm afraid. That said, if he can get one game of three goals, like Protas had last night, that would go a long way in helping shift the odds of doing it this season back in his favor.

Even two goals in two games over the next week would help. It's just going to be hard to do this season if you keep scoring one goal tonight and then don't score over the next two games, etc.

Privately, I'm guessing the Capitals hope Ovechkin falls short of the mark this year by a few goals.

That would give the league the opportunity to organize next year's schedule so the Caps host three or four games right out of the gate and they might even sandwich a road trip to Madison Square Garden in there early in the event he breaks the record in New York, which would get him added national attention, obviously.

And the Caps would love to have an entire summer to promote the record-breaking feat, I'm sure.

The Caps are in Los Angeles tomorrow night. A couple of goals for Ovi in that one would certainly help in his quest to set the mark this season.

The Players Championship starts tomorrow at TPC Sawgrass and the field itself and the stellar nature of the golf course definitely gives off that "5th major" feel in mid-March.

Scottie Scheffler is the 2-time defending champion of the event, but not only is his early-season form not great, Scheffler also received the dreaded "late/early" tee time window, which means his Thursday tee time is in the afternoon and his Friday starting time is early in the morning.

It might be something or it might be nothing, but 14 of the last 17 winners of The Players have come from the early (Thursday), late (Friday) tee-time draw.

It speaks to me, for sure, when I look at who I like this week. I was bullish on Tommy Fleetwood, for example, until I saw he picked up the late/early draw. Now, I'll probably stick with him, but not be quite as investing in him, if you know what I mean.

Since it's a major, basically, the names you expect to see on the leaderboard will, in fact, wind up there eventually. This is NOT a week where someone like Joe Highsmith or Karl Vilips will win. Vilips might win it someday, just not this week.

Anyway, four of the five guys I've listed are in the favorable early/late tee time draw. So, yes, I'm buying into that.

Shane Lowry (+4000) -- I was on him last week at Bay Hill and I'm on him again this week, too. He plays great in Florida and he's in excellent form right now. What's not to like? Lowry is a sublime ball striker who has an occasional scrap with his driver. If he hits the driver well this week, he'll be right there on Sunday.

Hideki Matsuyama (+3000) -- On a course that requires precision, who better to handle that chore than Matsuyama? His putting has improved greatly over the last two years, to the point where he's now a threat to win any event he enters. He could certainly win this week.

Ludvig Aberg (+2000) -- I mean, if he's playing, you should be wagering on him. It's really that simple. He does everything well. The only blip on his radar is the fact he still hasn't won a significant TOUR event yet. But that's coming, don't worry. Maybe even this Sunday.

Tommy Fleetwood (+3500) -- I'll stick with Fleetwood despite the fact that he's playing late Thursday and early Friday. I think the course sets up great for him and he's due to win something significant. Can he putt well for four days? That's always the question with the Englishman.

Wyndham Clark (+6000) -- My predicted winner is the 2023 U.S. Open champion. There is nothing at all about this guy's golf game to dislike. Nothing. He kills it off the tee, stripes his irons, has a wildly impressive and underrated short game, and can make birdies in bunches when necessary.

As always, I like to hand out a couple of longshots that would net you a nice return-on-investment if they happen to pan out in either Top 20, Top 10 or win wagers.

One of them is the familiar name of Denny McCarthy at +10000. He's off to a nice start in 2025 and, although they've lengthened a few of the holes at Sawgrass, I think his added length off the tee this year is going to help him hang around at The Players. It does work against him that he got the late/early draw, but his first round on Thursday is at 12:56 pm so he'll have plenty of evening to rest and get ready for round 2 at 7:51 am on Friday.

The other longshot got the early/late draw and that's Akshay Bhatia at +11000. He's just the kind of guy to hang around for four days and threaten to win the 5th major. Hits it plenty far enough off the tee and his iron play is very solid. His putting has been known to come and go, but if he's solid with the flat stick this week, he can win.

Tuesday March 11, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3851

tigers left feeling blue (hens)

When you go the entire basketball season without receiving one e-mail about the Towson Tigers and then you get three within 40 minutes of one another, I guess that can mean only one thing.

The Tigers, again, failed to come up big in their conference tournament.

This one was especially tough.

It's one thing if they advance to the CAA final and lose to someone like College of Charleston or UNC-Wilmington. Both of those programs have a winning conference pedigree. They have, as they saying goes, "been there, done that".

Towson, sadly, has not been there, done that. Not since 1991, anyway.

And last night, they didn't fall to one of the perennial CAA favorites. They lost to the 12 seed University of Delaware, 82-72.

Those Blue Hens had 5 conference wins in the regular season. And they were playing their 3rd game in 3 nights as well.

But none of that mattered on Monday evening in D.C., where Towson's season ended with a thud.

Delaware, despite finishing a woeful 5-13 in conference play, will take on #3 seed UNC-Wilmington for the title tonight. It is what it is and all, but it would be a terrible look for the CAA to have a 12th place regular season team win its conference title.

Oh, and the Blue Hens are bolting for Conference USA this July, which, I'm sure, means the entire administration of the CAA is rooting hard for UNC-Wilmington tonight to avoid the embarrassment of having a school that's leaving the conference be its basketball champion.

Anyway, back to Towson and their conference tournament woes.

The three e-mails essentially asked the same proverbial question: When will the Towson athletic department decide this (not winning the CAA conference tournament) isn't good enough?

I don't have that answer, but you certainly can't disregard a 16-2 regular season, no matter what happens in the tournament where a hot-shooting team (Delaware) pours in bucket-after-bucket in the second half and hangs on to win.

The Tigers didn't have all their chakras in line last night, at least not from a shooting standpoint. They simply were no match for the Blue Hens in the offensive end of the court. Delaware made everything. Towson made "some" things.

It's certainly not the way the #1 seed Tigers wanted their March Madness hopes to end. But they knew going in they needed one more 3-game winning streak in order to make it to the big dance and they couldn't pull it off.

I say this all the time in sports about being the hunter and being the hunted. It's VERY difficult to play the role of the "hunted". You're everyone's Super Bowl.

I referenced that in the Super Bowl last month when I said I thought the Eagles would beat the Chiefs. Three straight years of being "hunted" is very tough to stand up to, no matter how good you are or who your quarterback is, even.

"Why can't Towson be Delaware one year?" e-mailer Kyle asked me. "Why hasn't Towson been able to be a 10 seed or 12 seed and go on a miracle run?"

I don't know.

They've had bad regular seasons and not been the upstart that raced through the bracket and won the CAA tourney.

They've had decent regular seasons but couldn't parlay that into a trip to March Madness.

And they've had great regular seasons that we all thought would culminate in a NCAA tournament appearance, only something always seems to happen in the CAA tournament.

It hasn't mattered since 1991.

I don't know what to say. The other team tries, too, I guess.

This edition of Towson basketball really appeared to be different, though. The 2024-2025 Tigers were "something special" as we hear from time to time.

Unfortunately, they weren't quite special enough on Monday night.

The Ravens lost four players on Monday (as of 10:50 pm) as free agency officially commenced, but none of the four will be sorely missed by John Harbaugh's team.

Offensive lineman Patrick Mekari signed with Jacksonville.

Brandon Stephens joined the New York Jets.

Chris Board is also going to a New York team -- the Giants.

And Malik Harrison inked a deal with the Steelers.

All four players had good moments in Baltimore, with Mekari probably outshining the other three.

That said, none of the four are catastropic losses for the Ravens. I can't imagine anyone thinking about betting on the Ravens to win the AFC North saw those four defections on Monday and said, "You know, maybe I should wait a while before I place that wager."

That the Ravens didn't really make any free agency noise on Monday isn't a shock. Eric DeCosta learned his lesson with the Earl Thomas deal five years ago. Don't rush into anything. Every time a team signs a free agent, it's likely they also have to let someone go as well.

There will always be good football players available throughout the spring and summer months.

With those three defensive players leaving, it probably does sew up the Ravens general direction at next month's draft. Sure, they might have an interest in a wide receiver and an offensive lineman or two, but you can bet DeCosta will be working hard to rebuild the team's depth on defense through the draft.

Meanwhile, the Jets and Steelers probably both think they're getting a "steal" from the Ravens when, in reality, DeCosta was happy to see both of those guys head off to "other" pastures. Stephens was very hot-and-cold in the defensive backfield and Harrison did manage to have a fairly productive 2024 campaign but, for the most part, had been a disappointment for a 3rd round draft pick.

#DMD commenter MFC chimed in recently with a take on PGA Tour player Denny McCarthy, essentially predicting McCarthy isn't going to win anytime soon on the TOUR due to his inability to close the deal.

"Right now I’m not sure that Denny McCarthy has the “stuff” to win a PGA event. I know everyone on this site wants him to win and roots for him but he’s missing something. Ever since he had that chance at the Memorial it seems as if something is holding him back. We all know he can putt, but is he long enough, is his short game good enough, can he handle the mental strain?"

OK, enough with the Denny hate. I know it's not "hate". But you know what I mean.

He's won at every level of golf he's played.

When he was a teenager, he beat everyone's brains in throughout the state of Maryland and won the Maryland Open three times before turning professional.

He was an All American at Virginia and won at the college level, which is getting increasingly harder to do over the last 20 years.

He was a U.S. Amateur semifinalist and came within a whisker of making the U.S. final and getting to play in the Masters as an amateur.

He won the Korn Ferry Tour Championship event, which is essentially what sparked the early days of his PGA Tour career.

He's come close several times on the TOUR and lost twice in playoffs over the last two years, once to Viktor Hovland and then, last year, to Akshay Bhatia.

Denny McCarthy is a top 60 player in the world. He's actually ranked 38th right now, but that's largely due to the LIV players falling out of the world rankings because of the lack of points they receive from LIV events.

Still, Denny is a top 60 player in the world, for sure.

The world, you might know, is a pretty big place. I have no idea how many people play some level of "professional golf" in the world, but it's easily in the 5,000 range.

And out of those 5,000 people, roughly only 59 people on the entire planet are better at golf than Denny McCarthy.

It's true he's not one of the TOUR's longer hitters off the tee, but he's actually picked up almost 10 yards on his tee ball over the last 3 years. He's now averaging 297 yards per-drive according to the TOUR's latest updated statistics.

He's not hitting it 330 off the tee, but he's also not powder-puffing it out there 275 or 280 yards, either.

McCarthy is plenty long enough off the tee. What's hurting him a bit this year is his inability to get the ball into the fairway off the tee. He was sniffing around the leaderboard at Torrey Pines a few weeks ago but his driver totally left him on Sunday. The length was there, but the accuracy wasn't.

His putting is actually off a tick so far in 2025. He's 68th in Shots Gained: Putting and 104th in Putts Per-Round. Those numbers represent a decline in putting for the former University of Virginia star.

Do I think McCarthy is going to win on the PGA Tour? I absolutely do.

Heck, I think he's a trendy, sexy pick to play well this week at The Players Championship. Fred Funk won The Players and he couldn't hit it out of his shadow off the tee.

If Fred Funk can win a semi-major like The Players, so, too, can Denny McCarthy.

It's going to happen soon enough, I think. I don't know when he's winning, but Denny is going to be in the winner's circle at some point in 2025.

And once he breaks through and wins once, who knows what lies ahead?

Monday March 10, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3850

reading time: 3 minutes (or thereabouts)

Now that was a busy Sunday in sports.

Must have been the influence of the clocks moving forward, huh?

There were no less than 10 significant stories in sports on Sunday. And no, the Orioles getting throttled by the Phillies, 12-2, wasn't one of them.

Funny enough, the Flyers losing at home to the Devils and temporarily doing further damage to their playoff hopes wasn't even big enough to earn a sport here in #DMD today.

Well, on second thought, maybe it was big enough. Did you hear the Flyers lost at home yesterday to the Devils, 3-1? And that loss further damages the Flyers already (somewhat) slim post-season hopes? Such a shame, isn't it?

My old friend Phil Jackman would love to see the Flyers in the midst of a losing streak when the games really matter. That in and of itself seems like a good occasion to put forth a special edition of "Reading Time: 3 minutes" today.

I noticed a couple of weeks back that someone was whining about the fact that "Reading Time: 3 minutes" actually takes longer than 3 minutes to read.

I don't know, this one might take 5 minutes to read today. 7 minutes, maybe even 10, if you're a Flyers fan.

Grayson Rodriguez has been shut down for at least 7 days with inflammation in his right elbow. The O's announced on Sunday he had received a cortisone shot to help reduce the swelling and expedite his recovery time.

I'm not an expert on much, admittedly, but I'm sadly an expert on elbow tendonitis, having dealt with it for 2 years starting in 2005.

It started out innocently. A weird, dull pain in my elbow when I was playing golf. I then realized that after about 3 or 4 holes, it would go away, only to be even more weird and dull the next morning when I woke up.

Two months later, it would take 9 holes for it to simmer down. Those first 9 holes included excruciating pain every time I hit a shot.

Elbow tendonitis is terrible in either arm, but, for a golfer, having it in your left arm is the worst of the worst.

I battled it all season and into the fall before finally giving in just before a big amateur golf event at Congressional CC that I was fortunate to qualify for.

I went to see a local hand/elbow specialist -- whom I saw a number of times thereafter as part of his Ravens team doctor duties -- and he did about 30 seconds of tests on my elbow and said, "Garden variety tendonitis. Nothing to see here. I'll give you a shot and you'll be good as new."

Then he said the words that I'll never forget.

"In about 5% of the cases, surgery is required. The other 95%, cortisone does the trick."

That was in October. The following April, I was back in his office again.

"Sometimes you need two shots to calm it down," he said, as he prepared the needle and slid it into my elbow.

Roughly seven months later, I was on the operating table.

"Five percent of the time, huh, doc?" I said as he prepared to surgically repair the tendonitis.

"I was hoping you weren't going to bring that up," he replied. "You're one of the few. I'm sorry."

Fortunately, surgery took care of the issue and other than an occasional flare-up here and there, especially when the humidity rapidly changes from one day to the next, I've had no problems at all since the procedure.

Let's hope Grayson Rodriguez is in the 95% and not the 5%.

The Capitals picked up their 4th straight win yesterday, this time by the final of 4-2 over Seattle. And, yes, Alex Ovechkin scored another cheapie into the empty net, giving him 886 career goals. He now needs 8 to tie Wayne Gretzky and 9 to become the NHL's all-time leading goal-scorer.

This is all setting up to be one of two things for the Caps: They're either going to celebrate Ovechkin's glorious record-setting season and then have themselves a whale of a playoff run or Ovi will somehow come up one or two goals short and then the Caps will flame out in the first round of the playoffs to the Rangers (?) in a wild, back-and-forth series, losing Game 7 at home, 2-1.

I've seen the Capitals play hockey since 1974.

I already know how it goes. Washington wins Game 1 at home, 4-1, but drops Game 2 in overtime, 3-2.

They go back up in the series in Game 3 at the Garden, 5-2, then drop a heartbreaker in Game 4, 3-2, after being up 2-0 midway through the 2nd period.

In typical Caps fashion, they lose Game 5 at home, 4-3 in OT, then bounce back two days later in New York and stave off elimination with a 3-0 win.

And, of course, Game 7 goes to the Rangers -- in DC -- by the final of 2-1, as the Caps have 17 shots on goal in the 3rd period but can't score.

It's either that or the Caps beat Winnipeg in the Stanley Cup Finals, 4-games-to-2.

The Caps are always going to either fail in dramatic, mind-boggling fashion or win when no one expected them to win.

There's no in between with them.

Myles Garrett was done, finished, kaput in Cleveland. Remember? He was never, ever playing for the Browns again.

Yesterday he agreed to a quad-trillion dollar contract that makes him the highest paid non-QB player in NFL history.

All the sudden, Cleveland's A-OK with Myles Garrett after all.

The Browns got better by keeping one of their own while the Steelers might have improved by acquiring talented wide receiver D.K. Metcalf from the Seahawks.

Seattle, by the way, is selling off every good player on their roster, it seems. I have no idea what they're doing. I'm not sure they do, either.

The Steelers certainly helped themselves on Sunday by obtaining Metcalf, but who will wind up throwing the ball to him? Russell Wilson? LOL. Justin Fields? LOL.

It's fine to have a great wide receiver on your team but he can't throw it to himself. So color me "unconcerned" about Metcalf going to the Steelers.

Garrett, of course, is a game changer for the Browns. But always remember this: They're the Browns. Garrett's getting rich but he's never playing in a Super Bowl in Cleveland.

Towson almost pulled, well, a "Towson", on Sunday afternoon, narrowly escaping Drexel in the CAA quarterfinals. The Tigers won 82-76, but it was 77-76 in the final minute of the game before Pat Skerry's team hit some big foul shots down the stretch.

Towson moves into tonight's semifinals against Delaware, who blew out #4 seed William and Mary, 100-74, yesterday.

Seems like William and Mary needed more Williams and less Marys, huh?

Editor's note: That wasn't an original. Lou Holtz authored that one. But it still draws a chuckle...

The Tigers are going to have their hands full tonight. The Blue Hens boast the CAA's rookie-of-the-year, Izaiah Pasha and John Camden, who was an all-conference 2nd team selection, poured in 36 points in the win over William and Mary on Sunday.

While Towson did manage to handle Delaware twice in the regular season, both games were "battles" for Pat Skerry and Company, winning by 10 up in Newark and then by 5 at home a couple of weeks ago.

And, much like the aforementioned Capitals, the Tigers have a propensity for blowing a gasket in the CAA tournament. Granted, they've never been the #1 seed, but there have been plenty of other years where Towson navigated their way to the semifinals and then couldn't get the job done from there.

Tonight is a huge test for Pat Skerry's team. A win this evening and they get what everyone has wanted to see; the Tigers taking on either #2 seed UNC-Wilmington or #3 seed College of Charleston in tomorrow night's final.

It was never going to be easy for Towson. They barely scraped past Drexel yesterday and Delaware figures to be another tussle this evening. And then, tomorrow, if they win tonight, they have "1991" staring them in the face (the last time they made it to the NCAA tourney) and one of the CAA's top programs confronting them in the final.

Buckle up Tigers fans.

Occasionally, a really good guy (or gal) wins something big in sports and it reinforces that God is, indeed, GREAT.

Russell Henley is a really good man. And he won yesterday.

Henley captured the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando, finishing one shot better than Colin Morikawa, who couldn't get anything going with the putter in the final round.

It was Henley's 5th career win and, by far, the biggest of his career. His chip-in for eagle on hole #16 on Sunday was the difference, but it was two putts -- one from about 7 feet on #17 and one from 3 feet at #18 -- that sealed the deal for him.

A few years ago when the BMW Championship was played at Caves Valley, we held a "golfer's forum" at Martin's West and four TOUR players came out for the night to do a meet-and-greet and Q & A session with over 500 people who were there in part to support our FCA Golf program in the state of Maryland.

Russell Henley was one of the four who gave us 3 hours of his time on a busy Tuesday afternoon/evening to share his faith and testimony with those in attendance.

He talked openly about his life and how he came to be a Christian and was almost overwhelmingly everyone's "favorite" from the evening. There was just something about the way he shared and spoke about his faith that showed you he was authentic.

So, it was especially gratifying for me last Fall when he was added to the Presidents Cup team. And then, yesterday, seeing him knock in that 3-footer on the last hole to win was really special.

I'm a huge Russell Henley fan.

I think yesterday's win semi-seals a spot on the Ryder Cup team for him. It's not a done deal yet, but I know Keegan Bradley is also a big fan of his and Bradley's the captain. And Henley acquitted himself well at the Presidents Cup in 2024 and would be a GREAT Ryder Cup member this September at Bethpage.

So...Russell Henley is getting what's due to him. I love to see good things happen to good people.

Sunday March 9, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3849

terps and towson? maybe?

Maryland's basketball team knocked off visiting and always pesky Northwestern yesterday, 74-61.

In the process, they secured either the 2nd or 3rd seed in the upcoming Big Ten tournament and the coveted double bye in that event.

The Terps are officially not only on a roll, but they will most certainly be a trendy pick in a lot of brackets by the time they start getting printed and utilized, no matter what Kevin Willard's team might do in the Big Ten tourney.

We're excited around here, of course, as it seems as if this is Maryland's first "real" chance to make some March Madness noise since the '19-20 squad that got shutdown by Covid-19.

This team...maybe...can do some damage.

They aren't without flaw, though. The starting five are solid and one guy off the bench is generally reliable. But deep, they are not. There have been countless games this year where Maryland's starting five players accounted for 90% or more of the team's points, sometimes higher.

Earlier this year, Maryland clobbered (?) Iowa at home, 101-75. In that game, Terps starters scored 95 points and one other player off the bench scored 6. No need to rush for your calculators Flyers fans. 95+6 = 101.

It would stand to reason that play like that -- where it's all the starters contributing and no one off the bench helps out -- will eventually fizzle out in a March Madness game where the pace is frentic, more fouls are called and, in general, more in-game strategy comes into play given the close nature of many of the games.

But Maryland's starting five on any given day is as high-quality as just about anyone else in the country, save for a few of the top 5 schools.

Maryland's other issue is the relative lack of success their coach has attained his NCAA tournament career. Kevin Willard has done an outstanding job in his short 3 seasons in College Park. The infusion of tens of millions of dollars to help support the corrupt direction of college basketball is going to be huge for him and the Terps program in the future.

Alas, Kevin Willard has never "done it" when the lights shine the brightest in March.

That's not a low blow. It's just a fact.

Willard needs to have a good tournament this time around, which, of course, is simply saying "Maryland needs to have a good tournament." Players play and coaches coach. Willard is a great coach if Maryland 3, 4, 5 or 6 games. And he's a lousy coach if Maryland wins 1 or 2 games.

That's how people around here are going to look at it, in the same way they call for John Harbaugh's head every January after the Ravens go 13-4 or 12-5 again and then fail to get to the Super Bowl because other teams in the AFC are also really good at football and sometimes it's your tight end who can't catch a pass thrown to him from 3 yards away.

Maryland's tournament seeding fate will lie in what they do in the Big Ten "dance". If the Terps get to the finals, win or lose, they could be as high as a 2 seed in March Madness. Anything less than that and they're probably a 3 seed or 4 seed. If I'm a betting man, right now, I say Maryland slides in as a 3 seed when it's all said and done.

March Madness is one of those events where it's really fun if your school, the one you cheer for and support, is in the tournament. It's only "just fun" if, for example, Maryland doesn't make it. But if the Terps are in, the tournament takes on a whole other look.

Oh, and don't look now, but the Terps might be joined in the tournament by a school 40 miles away who hasn't been to the big dance since 1991.

The Tigers are in the quarterfinals of the CAA tournament by virtue of their top seed in the conference after finishing an impressive 16-2 in the regular season. They'll face Drexel today at 12 noon down in Washington DC in their CAA tournament opener.

Towson got a bit of a break yesterday when Drexel knocked off Elon. Elon just handed the Tigers one of their two conference losses back on February 20.

Alas, Drexel won't be a walk in the park, either. The Tigers did handle them by 11 up in Philadelphia back in January, but the visiting Dragons nearly upset Towson back on February 1, losing 55-54 after a controversial buzzer-beater-finish got turned away by the officials.

And if you think Maryland's NCAA tournament history is "meh" over the last 20 years, Towson's program makes the Terps look like UCLA of the 1970's. The Tigers last made March Madness in 1991 and, honestly, haven't been all that close to getting in since then. They had a couple of decent teams a decade ago but flatlined as "semi-favorites" in the conference tournament in Baltimore.

This is, by far, Pat Skerry's best team ever at Towson. The Tigers -- at least under Skerry -- have always been a hard fighting, discipline, scrappy team with the occasional outstanding player who keeps them in most games. Towson basketball has always been known for its inability to produce quality shooters.

Those days are gone.

At least for this year, anyway.

This edition of Towson basketball can score points. Lots of them.

They have three players (Tejada, Williamson and Tarke) who all average double figures in scoring per-game...as guards.

The Tigers have five players who shoot 30% or better from the 3-point arc and all 8 of their players who play at least 15 minutes per-game are averaging over 35% in field goal shooting percentage.

For once, Towson is more than just a team that likes to bruise you up in order to win a game.

The Tigers are legitimate.

What they lack is the one thing that will be their quick death knell in the NCAA tournament should they get there. Towson has no size at all, or, we should say, not the kind of size you need to pull off a #1 vs. #16 upset or #2 vs. #15 seed upset.

But if Towson does get in and happens to get matched up with a team that also doesn't have a ton of size -- the Tigers are not a team to overlook.

Look, I hope Maryland makes a long run. They have the "guts" of a very good team, lack of depth notwithstanding.

But if you said to me, "Towson makes it to the tournament, finally, but Maryland loses in the 2nd round to (insert team here)", I'd probably say, "Sorry, Kevin Willard..."

I like Pat Skerry. He's a good man. I realize he's paid well to be the basketball coach at Towson and that, perhaps, is the best "fate" he could have. Job security is important in any occupation.

But I'd really like to see him finally guide the Tigers to the NCAA tournament. If there's a coach in the area who "deserves" a good hand dealt to him, it's Skerry. A better man you'll be hard pressed to find.

There's 18 holes remaining at Bay Hill in Orlando and, once again, the tournament is producing a great leaderboard and "difficult" scoring because they made the course tough to play instead of a walk in the park.

Editor's note: I'll be on the air today at 105.7 from 4-6 pm for "Fairways and Greens" if you're interested in hearing some good old fashioned radio "golf talk".

Collin Morikawa -- who should be on your early-betting-slips for Augusta National, by the way -- has a one shot lead over Russell Henley through 54 holes. Morikawa's 10-under score included a 5-under round yesterday, where he jumped past the likes of Shane Lowry and Wyndham Clark to roll into the lead.

Canadian Corey Conners (-8) is also right there, looking for the biggest win of his career. Conners could also be a potential "off the radar" Masters pick next month if his putter behaves. He's one of the best ball strikers in the world. He also happens to be one of the more inconsistent putters on the PGA Tour.

Jason Day (-7) is also right there and Australians have a history of playing Bay Hill very well. Day is another guy -- this sounds familiar, I'm sure -- who has the goods to be a threat at the Masters in April. After battling a back and wrist injury for a couple of years, his performance over the last two seasons looks a lot more like the player we thought he would be in the early stages of his career.

Rory McIlroy (-3), Scottie Scheffler (-2) and Wyndham Clark (-2) might also be Masters favorites, but their putters have betrayed them this weekend in Orlando.

When the rough is up and the greens are firm and fast, Bay Hill has the look of a "mini-major", hence the 10-under score for three rounds thus far. The best players always seem to rise to the occasion when these "regular events" take on the look and feel of a major championship.

Next week's Players Championship promises more of the same.

Saturday March 8, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3848

questions from the crowd

Before we get to some Q & A on this final day before EDT begins, I'll share that this is always one of my favorite days of the year.

The clocks change tonight.

And, yes, we lose an hour of sleep. Big deal. We get an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day, starting tomorrow.

So, this afternoon, when it's 6:07 and the sun is just starting to disappear, take solace in the fact that tomorrow at 7:07, the sun will just be starting to disappear.

I have no idea why we don't just stay on Daylight Savings Time, 365 days a year. I know the general reason we revert back to "Standard Time" has something to do with daylight in the fall and winter and kids going to school in the dark and all that stuff. I've always thought was a lame reason to change everything we do, but whatever.

I also think there was a story about farmers needing more sunlight at the beginning of the day or something goofy like that.

Anyway, tomorrow, we get an hour of extra daylight at the end of the day. Golf practices can now stretch out from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm or even later. Your kids can play outside in the sunlight for longer. You, yourself, can do more fun stuff in the daylight.

It's the only way to live. Heck, if I ran the country (insert your funny quip here), I'd make Daylight Savings Time two hours different. If we can change Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, we can certainly shift the clocks forward TWO hours tonight instead of one. What's it matter?

Alas, I'll take the one hour tonight and be happy about it.

Brett asks -- "Hey, Drew, happened to get invited to a Blast game a few weeks at the Towson University arena. I was a bit of a regular in the 1990's when you were the Spirit though a work connection that sponsored the team. I was shocked at the low crowd at the game at Towson. I think they had maybe 1,500 people there. What has happened to the Blast and their attendance?"

DF says -- "The short answer is "I don't know." There are really only 2 or 3 people left in the organization that I know, personally, and I don't really keep in touch with them all that much. I get out to one game a year, maybe two, but it's just not on my radar screen any longer.

Attendance at the Towson building is a tricky thing. It's obviously smaller than a traditional "big time" arena like the one in downtown Baltimore. That said, it also has the advantage of parking your car right there, free, and walking into the building within a few minutes.

I always thought the move to Towson was a curious one, but they clearly had economic reasons for doing it. I have no idea if they regret doing it or look back on it now and say "That was the best thing we ever did." But I'm sure they didn't decide to go there without giving it a lot of thought.

Their attendance has certainy diminished at Towson, but perhaps their revenues are up? The building itself is awesome, even if it's not necessarily a great (traditional) fit for indoor soccer.

I don't think their attendance numbers are much different than those around the league, from what I can tell. Everyone's in the same boat, mostly, drawing between 1,500 and 3,500 per-game. I realize that's low. Some college soccer games in the area draw that many people. But the main thing is...Are teams making money? If they are, that's all that really matters in the end."

Adam asks -- "Hey Drew, I have a question about your golf picks that you make every week. I've been following along for a whle and you do very well with them for the most part. I won't get into what I've wagered and what I've won but you have definitely helped me out. I'm just wondering if there's one secret you have or something you look for every week when you list your favorite players? Thank you."

DF says -- "That's good to hear. I hope you're on my Shane Lowry pick this week! At least for now, anyway. Let's see what the final two rounds hold at Bay Hill.

Honestly, the only secret I generally put a lot of stock in is past performance at the course where they're playing mixed in with their current form. Lowry has played well at Bay Hill recently and is always a decent bet to be in the Top 20 every week, which then means it just comes down to putting over the four days.

The same with Sepp Straka. He's playing great golf over the last two years. I think he could be this year's version of last year's Xander Schauffele. If he's in the event, you can't go wrong playing him, especially because Vegas doesn't seem to respect him very much.

I usually just go with past performance at the course, mixed in with current form. And then I'll also mix in a small amount of "feels like this could be a good week for him" as well. Like, this week, I felt like J.J. Spaun (very underrated and in great form) was a potential outsider who could play well and perhaps win, sort of like Kurt Kitayama did a few years ago. Spaun did make the cut, but at 75-71 I don't see him having a chance to win.

Anyway, that's really all I do. I look at some variables for the course they're playing (especially par 5 birdies, which is a huge stat on TOUR) but mainly it's just "horses for courses" kind of stuff."

Ramey asks -- "What's your gut tell you on what the Ravens are going to do with Ronnie Stanley and Justin Tucker?"

DF says -- "I think Stanley is going to sign elsewhere. In general, Eric usually locks those guys up early and/or quickly. I think he still has some leverage around the league with teams who are desperate for a veteran left tackle to protect their prize commodity and franchise player.

I think they're going to cut Tucker. It's a hefty cap hit over the next two years, but I don't see how they can bring him back and look the fan base in the eye with a straight face. I realize a lot of what happened with him was almost a decade ago and I do think that's important to note. It's not like this stuff happened in 2023 or 2024.

That said, it might have also been different if he were 28 and in the absolute prime of his career. At 37 and in the November of his career now, it's much easier for the Ravens to say, "You gotta go..."

My guess is he gets cut next week when the new season begins."

C.J. asks -- "If you were teaching a 12-year old how to play golf and they asked you, "What's the most important thing about the golf swing?" what would you tell them? I have a 10-year old son who swings some of my old clubs in the yard (he's a lacrosse player right now) and I think he might take it seriously some day down the road. Thanks Drew and go Hall!"

DF says -- "That's a very broad question. The most important thing about the golf swing is understanding how your body works to help get the club into the right position at impact. Physics and science were not my thing growing up, for sure, but the golf swing is a leverage-and-power combination that is mostly propelled by speed and your ability to control the tempo of the movement.

That's FAR too complicated for a 10 year old. Heck, it's sometimes too complicated for a 50 year old!

How do you do that? That's the real question. Once it's described to you, how do you make it work? To me, I've seen a lot of just OK players with weird or "non traditional" grips on the club. I do think your grip is important. I've fixed a lot of bad grips in my day and the student/player suddenly finds Eureka! because of that one small change to their grip.

I've also seen people with "off" grips play great golf.

I've also seen people upright swings make that work and I've seen people with flat swings make that work. Those two are relative to your posture. The more upright and tall you stand, the more likely your swing will be upright. The more you "hunch over" and bend from the waist, the more flat your swing tends to be. Both of those can work.

So the answer is...

I would tell your 10-year old son that the most important "early learning tool" is his stance. Everything needs to be square (parallel) to the target he's aiming for. If your feet are aimed way right, that's not good. If your feet are aimed way left, that's not good. It's hard to get the clubface to meet the ball square and in the direction of the target when you're not aimed the right way.

You aim the club in proportion to where your body is aimed.

Golf, like darts and bowling, in particular, is an "aim" sport. A lot of beginners are never told that. You have to aim properly in order to hit the ball in the direction you want it to go."

Friday March 7, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3847

friday stuff

I guess it was always a no-brainer that Adam Jones was someday going to be in the Orioles Hall of Fame.

But seeing that news yesterday really made my (cold and windy) day.

If you're of my age, you probably have three distinct eras of Orioles baseball that you've followed throughout your life.

I was a teenager in the mid-to-late 1970's when Brooks was all but done, Frank was a thing of the past, and Jim Palmer was still high-leg-kicking-it at Memorial Stadium.

Cal and Eddie were two of my favorites in the early 1980's, as was a steady-and-occasionally-spectacular right handed pitcher named Mike Boddicker.

When I was knee-deep in my administrative soccer career, I lost a little bit of touch with the Orioles. This would have been throughout the 1990's, right around the time the O's were in the midst of challenging for the American League title in successive seasons.

From 1998 through 2008 or so, the O's were a laughingstock franchise. I only followed them at that point because I was on the radio five days a week and had to follow them.

The team was terrible. The front office treated people like they were second-class citizens. And, in general, the franchise was a collosal joke.

Adam Jones showed up in February of 2008 and things started to change. Not right away, mind you. But there was a change in the air when #10 started patroling centerfield on the regular.

I've said it before and will say it here again, today. Adam Jones is my favorite Oriole of all-time.

I didn't really see Brooks Robinson play. Sure, I've seen the highlights. And the back of his bubblegum cards. "The human vacuum cleaner" and all. He was great, no doubt. But he wasn't in my "era" of O's fandom.

Eddie Murray was my favorite Oriole for a long time. Mr. Cool. Mr. Casual. The way he rested that bat on his shoulder, as if to say, "I'm not sure if I'm going to swing at this pitch or not...I'll decide when it's thrown...but if I do decide to swing at it, you're in big trouble."

"Ed-die, Ed-die, Ed-die, Ed-die..."

Those were the days.

But Adam Jones, man. He was my kind of baseball player. He gave no quarter and didn't ask for any, either. He showed up, every day, hard hat on, ready to go to work.

He was an outstanding player. He wasn't a Cooperstown-kind-of-outstanding, but for my money, he could have squeezed his way into the Hall of Very Good if there was a lean year with the voters.

More than being an outstanding player, Jones was an outstanding representative of Baltimore sports.

How a guy from San Diego can wind up loving Baltimore as much as he did is beyond me. Usually it's the other way around. The Baltimore guy moves out to San Diego and winds up infatuated with that place.

Jones fell in love with Baltimore. He fell in love with the Orioles. He fell in love with Mo Gaba. And Joe Flacco. And the Ravens. And anything else that had "Baltimore" on it, for that matter.

Adam Jones is a Hall of Fame "Baltimore guy" in addition to being named an Orioles Hall of Fame player in 2025.

The other two guys who are getting in this year -- broadcaster Tom Davis and erstwhile O's jack-of-all-trades Joe Orsulak -- are deserving of their honor.

But Adam Jones? He's the man. My all time favorite. One of the best to ever wear the orange and black, in my opinion.

And later this year...an Orioles Hall of Fame inductee.

This must be "coach's week" or something, because I've now received five different e-mails on the subject of coaching or high school sports in general over the last three days.

Today's question comes from Robert, who asks a question about creating leadership within the team.

Drew, I've been glued in the last two days to your coaching columns and can't thank you enough for sharing your expertise. I am an assistant varsity coach for a fall sport in BCPS and wanted to ask you about leaders within the team and how you cultivate them over the course of a season. We are in need of some good leaders in our program and are having trouble identfying them. Any help you can give in that area would be appreciated.

There are few things in team sports as important as leadership within the actual team itself. Coaches are the ultimate "leaders", of course, but within the team, there need to be players who carry the coach's message without being looked at as "the coach's best friend".

Leadership is something that can be taught, but it's best served naturally or, "organically", if you will.

Some kids are leaders. Some kids are followers. It just is what it is. And those who follow are better at following when the leaders within the team are strong and fair and worthy of their respect as team leaders.

I do think that's important to remember: Some kids are followers and that's OK. The goal should be to make them the best followers they can be and, you never know, that might turn on the "leader light" in them someday down the road, far after they've left your team and gone on with their life.

A leader is someone who is willing to do anything to make the team's "life" easier and/or better and, always, someone who leads by example him/her self.

"Someone needs to bring in the lacrosse goals."

"I'll do it."

"Someone needs to talk to Rickie about coming to practice late twice this week."

"I'll do it."

"Someone needs to tell the coach we're all running on empty and could use a day off tomorrow."

"I'll do it."

One of the things we do in my golf program is treat the freshmen like seniors and the seniors like freshmen.

In most sports, it's always the freshmen who get the short end of the stick.

It's the freshmen who carry the water jugs from the dugout to the storage trailer. Or the freshmen clean out the bus after an away game. Or the freshmen put the dirty laundry in bags and take it to the trainer to be throw into the washing machine.

We're the opposite. The seniors in the golf program do the "grunt work" -- for lack of a better term -- and the freshmen get to enjoy their time as first hear high school students.

I want the seniors to lead by doing the stuff they (probably) think someone else should be doing. "I'm a senior, why do I have to go out and bring in the tee marker signs?"

Answer: "Because you're a senior and that's how we do it here."

I personally think the freshmen see that and think, "That's pretty cool that he is willing to do the dirty work even though he's a senior."

So, if you're trying to "cultivate" leaders in your team, try finding guys who understand the value of being a good teammate. They don't have to be the best players.

In fact, often times good leaders aren't the best players.

A good leader is easy to identify. He or she "gets it". And you can just tell, by the way they conduct themselves on and off the field, if they have the basic qualities of a good leader.

You can win games, matches, championships without great leaders. I do believe that's true.

But you can't win games, matches and championships with bad leadership in the locker room.

It just doesn't work.

Your goal next fall should be to watch, very carefully, who does whatever is asked of them on and off the field.

They're the guys on your team who can lead others.

faith in sports

It's been an interesting week here this week at #DMD, what with a number of you reaching out about high school sports as the spring seasons start throughout the area.

The title of this video below is perfect for the high school athlete in your family. "The weight of perfection". So many student-athletes are burdened by that weight. The weight to be perfect on the field or court or course. The weight to win. The weight to make the team. The weight to play and not ride the bench.

Shawn Johnson felt the weight of perfection in her Olympic career. "If I failed at being a gymnast, I failed at being a human being."

It's up to us, as adults, coaches, etc., to make sure our children don't carry that burden with them. No one should have to deal with that for one reason: It's simply not true.

This is an awesome 7 minute video. I urge you...if you have a high school athlete, please sit with them and watch this video together. And remind them afterwards: You are who you are because God made you that way and He is always proud of you no matter what happens.

Thank you, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our "Faith in Sports" segment here every Friday.

Some Friday videos are more important than others. This is one of those "more important" ones. God is great, indeed.

Thursday March 6, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3846

numbers

The Maryland (men's) Terrapins basketball team...a #2 seed in the NCAA tournament?

For a team that couldn't win a Big Ten road game under Kevin Willard, that would be a pretty massive step forward, don'tcha think?

The Terps won yet another conference road game last night, this time in Ann Arbor, beating Michigan 71-65 and moving firmly into the race for the coveted "double bye" in the Big Ten tournament.

If you put any stock in what basketball-bracket-nut Joe Lunardi says, the/our Terps are going to be a sexy, trendy pick when folks start filling out their brackets in two weeks. In fairness, Lunardi has been "on" Maryland for a while now, as far as back as when they beat Wisconsin in College Park in late January.

Lunardi says a #2 seed is definitely not out of the question for Maryland, but their run in the conference tournament will ultimately decide their fate. It would appear, no matter what they do next week/weekend, that at worst the Terps will enter March Madness as a top 5 seed.

Of course, Kevin Willard would probably prefer to not land that pesky 5-seed spot and face the challenge of fending off one of the historically-quirky 12 seeds, but you play who they put in front of you and move on from there.

But for a team that lost road games earlier this season to Washington and Oregon and gagged away a 17-point lead at Columbus in a loss to Ohio State, this Maryland squad no longer breaks out in hives when they're playing away from College Park.

And, since no March Madness games are played down on Route 1, winning away from home is something Maryland will need to do a lot of in March if they want to take advantage of their excellent 2024-2025 campaign.

Alex Ovechkin has it down to single digits now, as he trails Wayne Gretzky by just 9 goals after scoring the 885th goal of his storied career last night in New York.

I peeked in and out of the game last night on TV while I was doing other stuff and it hit me for the first time, I think.

Not only is Alex Ovechkin of the (my) Washington Capitals going to hold hockey's most coveted individual record, he's likely going to hold it for a long, long time.

Cal Ripken Jr. of the (my) Baltimore Orioles is a record holder in one of baseball's most talked-about accomplishments.

And, now, Ovechkin and the Capitals will be of that same ilk. "Hockey's all-time leading goal-scorer" isn't Wayne Gretzky or Gordie Howe, both of whom were considered "the greatest goal scorer ever" in their respective eras.

The records will reflect that Gretzky was great. And Howe was great. But Ovechkin? He's greater.

For a guy who grew up watching the Capitals lose 7-3 every night for the better part of 10 years, it's incredibly cool to know that sometime in the next month, Alex Ovechkin will do something that NO OTHER HUMAN BEING HAS EVER DONE. And that he's a Washington Capital is wildly mind-boggling to me.

Then again, they call him "The Great Eight" for a reason.

Miles chimes in today with a question about high school athletes getting cut from their sports and asks how to handle it at home.

Drew, on the heels of today's (Wednesday) column in the Dish about coaching, I have something to run by you. It doesn't involve my son, but it involves the son of a close friend of mine who just got cut from his H.S. baseball team this spring as a junior. My friend says his son has gone into a deep funk over this and we were both wondering, from a coach, are there any magic words to make the situation better for him?

Well, the short answer is, "No, there aren't any magic words that will change the outcome...but there might be some magic words to help him cope with it."

I have no idea how or why your friend's son was cut. Hopefully it was done with grace and professionalism and he didn't just go to the gymnasium wall and see a handwritten list of kids who made it and kids who got cut.

That is, of course, how it was done in the past, mostly because coaches themselves were afraid of "manning up" and talking to the players they cut face-to-face.

"Tomorrow afternoon at 2 pm, the list will be up on my office door. If you're on the left side, you made the team and we have practice at 3:30. If you're on the right side of the list, you didn't make it."

That was a horrible, horrible way to cut a kid from a sports team, but it's all we knew for a long time.

The players trying out for your (any) team deserve the respect of hearing it from you, directly. They put themselves out there for this level of possible rejection. You owe it to them to explain why you think the way you think about their performance. It's not only the humane way to handle it, but it's your responsibility as a coach to be honest with them.

That said, what I find, personally, is that parents want more of an explanation these days than the kids themselves.

Most of the time, kids understand. We've gone through a series of roster moves within the golf program recently and anytime I have to talk with a student-athlete, I always start off with the same question: "Are you happy with your golf game and the results you've produced this spring?"

In almost every instance, they're honest. "No, Coach, I'm not..."

And then we start from there and I can try to help them understand where they need to improve and how they might be able to work their way back into the program someday down the road.

The kids usually get it, even if it's hard to understand in the moment. A lot of times the parents simply think there's something else to it rather than just the fact that their child's level of play just isn't good enough for that particular team in that particular year.

And, look, as the father of a son who got cut from a high school sport, I totally get it. We love our kids more than anything in the world and all we really want for them is happiness. So, I get it.

Alas, getting cut or not getting the job you wanted or having a relationship-partner break it off with you is part of life.

The "magic words" I'd suggest for your friend's son are nothing more than this. "It's high school baseball. 40 years from now when you're married with 3 children and you're running a successful business in (insert city here), this will be a blip on the radar screen of life for you. You might not realize it now, but trust your Dad...this is a nothing burger in the grand scheme of things."

We all know what the problem is, though. It's not a "nothing burger" to your friend's son's friends, all of whom are likely ridiculing and needling him on social media for getting cut.

And therein lies probably the biggest issue of all.

It's not the getting cut part that's the problem. It's the fact that his self-esteem takes a major hit and his friends show him almost no grace at all. That's where it gets sticky.

So, the real magic words for your friend to tell his son? "I love you. And nothing about the baseball team will ever change that. I don't care if you hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 7th to beat Spalding or Dulaney and I don't care if you strike out in the bottom of the 7th with the game on the line. And I don't care if you're the star player or a bench warmer. And I don't care if you make the team or don't make the team. I love you."

That's what I told my son when he got cut from his high school team as a freshman.

"I don't care what the coach thinks of your skill level. I love you. Go be a kid and have fun and don't worry about the (xxxxx) team. I love you."

It's hard, for sure, to see your child get the cleat-of-reality. It's hard, too, to be the coach who delivers that news.

That said, it's part of life's journey. And to borrow one of the great passages from the Bible: This too, shall pass.

Wednesday March 5, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3845

wednesday q and a

I get a lot of questions sent to me here at #DMD.

I think I've mentioned this previously. The stats aren't precise, but they're close enough.

80% of the questions I get are legitimate. And worthy. And, in a lot of cases -- like the one today -- well worth my contemplation.

10% of the questions are so "in the moment" that I have to answer them that day, or within a day or two, or they're no longer suitable.

And 10% of them are troll attempts. Once in a blue moon, when I'm bored, I'll even throw in a troll-provided-question here just for the giggles of it.

But I mainly stick with the 80%'ers.

Anyway, "J" sent me a question over the weekend that I wanted to dive into today. I've removed the school where he'll be coaching for obvious reasons, but this September he'll be taking over as the new boy's soccer coach at a Baltimore area high school. It is, he says, his first full time coaching position at the high school level but he does have previous coaching experience at club soccer and junior varsity assistant duties.

For any of you in coaching now or thinking about getting into it, his question is an important one.

Drew, I'm reaching out today for some guidance and I also thought you could use this for a rainy day at The Morning Dish. I've been hired at (XXXXXX) as their boy's soccer coach starting this fall. I've coached in the past at the club and JV level but I've never had my own team and this is a little overwhelming for me at my age (40), so I hope you can help. What's the biggest challenge I have to overcome and what's the one "best practice" you think I should bring to the team right away? Thanks, Drew.

One of the first things I'll point out when I answer his question(s) is that the age of the children you're coaching is always important to consider.

Coaching 8 years olds is different than coaching 12 year olds and coaching 12 years old is different than coaching a high school team.

For purposes of this entry, I'm focusing solely on coaching high school age players (in any sport, really). By the time they're in high school, boys and girls are both "grown up enough" to understand the need for discipline and teamwork and how it helps fit them into the team's eco-system, if you will.

So, here's the answer to both questions. The answers are short but the explanations have some depth to them.

Your biggest challenge as a new coach is to make the players understand that you're with them, not against them.

I know that sounds easy and also sounds dumb and also sounds simple. But it's probably the biggest challenge any coach faces, new or old, but it's especially important for a new coach.

Right from the start, you have to make the kids understand that all you're trying to do is get the best out of them. And you have to do that by telling them that, constantly. And by reminding them that the very reason they're on the team is because you want them on the team.

Do you know how many times a kid gets in the car after a practice or a game and talks to his or her parents about their playing time (or lack thereof) and the parent says, "Well, the coach obviously doesn't like you."??

It happens all the time.

As soon as something goes wrong, parents, friends, teammates -- they all say the same thing. "The coach doesn't like you."

It's important to remind the players, several times over: "If I didn't like you...you wouldn't be on the team."

It really is that simple, especially at the high school (or college) level where the coach has reign over his or her roster.

Kids get poisoned very easily, whether that's through social media, conversations and so on.

Someone will say to your kid, "Well, you're much better than that other kid that's playing, so the coach just doesn't like you."

Meanwhile, that "someone" hasn't been to practice every day and has no general idea of what is going on within the team. They just figure, if you're not playing or not playing enough, the coach has it out for you.

Convincing your players that all you want is the best for them and that you're with them and never, ever against them is supremely important.

I've been blessed at Calvert Hall over the last 13 years to have very, very few parent-coach flare ups, but on the occasion when I've had a parent engage with me about their son, I've said almost the same thing to each of them: "Do you think it's in any way productive for me to make your son's golf experience a negative one? Do you think I wake up in the morning and say, "Hmmmm, you know what I think I'll do today? I think I'll ruin (insert name here) day at practice so he plays poorly and isn't a good golfer."??

If you're looking for one "best practice" in coaching at any level, it's this: Help the players understand the value of both positive feedback and warranted criticism and then deliver both of those in the right way.

Conflict within the team is inevitable. How you manage that is important. But nothing is more important than the way you handle individual player performances in practices and games/matches.

"Warranted criticism" is a term I've used for a long time. There are occasions when, as a coach, you have to dole out warranted criticism in order to make a player see where he or she can improve.

It's also very important to distribute positive feedback as often as you can, far more than you distribute warranted criticism.

Sometimes, as a coach, you have to look for "positive" and pick out something small, just to show you're actually paying attention.

A few years ago, I had a player on my golf team at Calvert Hall who was generally our 10th or 11th player out of 12. He rarely played in the matches. He loved golf and was a decent, 7 handicap golfer, but that team of mine, that year, was very strong and shooting 80 wasn't going to garner him any playing time.

In particular, he had trouble playing the 7th hole at CC of Maryland, which is, on its own, a very difficult hole in the first place.

His 9 hole scores would routinely be in the low 40's for 9 holes, but he'd almost always make a bogey or double bogey on that hole in practice.

There was a 3-day stretch of practice where he really played poorly and gave him no shot at making the playing roster for the next series of matches on our schedule. He shot 42, 44 and 45 for 9 holes.

But, oddly enough, he went birdie, bogey, par on #7 in those three days.

When I sat down with him at the end of the week and delivered him the news he knew was coming -- "You're not in the lineup next week" -- I was quick to point out that he had "mastered" #7 over the last three days. I had even gone back into my practice stats to see if he had ever played #7 in "even par" for three consecutive days since joining the program and it had only happened one other time in two previous years.

So I made sure to bring that up to him. "You know what you did this week? You did something you've only ever done ONCE before in your three seasons with me. You played #7 at even par over three straight days. That's how you get better!"

Now, he obviously had trouble on some other holes that week, but at least by reinforcing to him that he had a good week at #7, it showed I was paying attention to his play and it also gave him something good to think about when I started handing out "warranted criticism".

I wanted him to know I'm on his team and I'm "with" him even if he's not playing.

As adults, we went kids to think like us, even though they don't have the same life experiences and wisdom that we do.

We need them to believe in us.

Editor's note: This is where seeing that absurd display of behavior at the SOTU address last night is maddening. You have one half of the room sitting there on their hands for 2 hours acting like they just had their kickball taken from them at recess. Talk about "sore losers". And then we ask our kids to "act like adults" when we, ourselves, can't do it. There was a kid in the room with cancer who was introduced and half the room sat there and didn't move a muscle. And then we bark at our kids to "grow up!" when they do something juvenile and childish. No wonder kids think adults are all crazy. Any teenager that watched that last night must think the whole country is nuts.

So, that's my best piece of advice "J".

Be honest and open with the team and tell them as often as you can -- and show them, too -- that you're with them and not, most certainly, against them.

It never behooves the coach to be against any player on the roster. What good would that possibly do?

Tell them you're with them. You're one of them. You go as far as they take you, not the other way around. You can be the best coach in the world but if the players don't want to play hard for you, they won't. And you won't win, either.

I hope it goes well for you this season.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational starts tomorrow at Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Florida and it's once again a "Signature" field where only the top 70 players get to tee it up for a shot at $4 million.

Bay Hill has been a bit of a "horses for courses" layout. Tiger won there 8 times and three players (Scheffler, Els and Every) have two wins each at the API. The layout will resemble a "mini-major" of sorts, with higher-than-usual rough and green speeds approaching 13 every day.

There is the threat for rain in Orlando throughout the tournament, so soggy conditions might wind up lowering scores, particularly if they have to play lift-clean-and-place.

We were in the hunt for a longshot-hit last weekend with Ben Griffin, who did garner us a nice return on a Top 10 nonetheless.

There won't be many longshots in this week's field, though. You have great players to choose from and then, greater players to choose from and then, the best players in the world to choose from.

Would it shock me to see Scheffler win? Of course not. He's due, for starters, and he's played VERY well in Florida and in March throughout the last few years.

It never hurts to wager on Scottie Scheffler, even though you know going in your ROI won't be very high.

I'll throw four names out there that interest ME this week. Your mileage may vary. But if you decide to go my way, sprinkle in a win wager, top 10 wager and even a "first round leader" wager if you have a few extra bucks to hand over.

Sepp Straka -- I think Straka could be a 3 or 4 time winner this year and you're going to see me leaning heavily on him nearly every week, including the majors. He's a top five most underrated player on TOUR right now. He's a cash making machine which, in turn, means he can help you make some as well if you stay with him every week. What's amazing is you can get him at +7000 to win this week. Get on it...now!

Min Woo Lee -- He's going to win something big this year. And I think it's coming sooner rather than later. It could be this week at the API or next week at The Players. This dude is a remarkable player. He's the new version of Xander Schauffele. Once he gets that first big win out of the way, he's going to starting really rolling. He's +8000 this week. Another very wise investment.

Shane Lowry -- You're going to see this man's name a lot in my predicted fields this year. I think Shane Lowry is set up to have a monster season and it could start this week at the API. He's also a nice investment at +5500. He's had some very nice finishes at Bay Hill recently, as well.

J.J. Spaun -- I said there weren't any real longshots this week and that's true in that every guy in the field is a Top 70 player, but Spaun is definitely a longshot pick at +9000. That said, he's coming off another solid ball striking week at The Cognizant and he reminds me of a former API winner, Kurt Kitayama. Steady off the tee, nice iron player and very underrated putter.

Now, if you're someone who truly looks for that grand-slam-in-the-bottom-of-the-9th, here we go. Chris Kirk (+20000) and Eric Cole (+35000) will both get a little piece of the pie from me this week, just because I love their numbers and they both strike me as a guy who could come out of nowhere and win this week. If I throw $10 on them and they hit, I'm rolling. If I throw $10 on them and they lose, it's just like losing the front and back of a $10 bet at the course.

Tuesday March 4, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3844

the end...is it near?

So the dispute between the Orioles and Nationals is, finally, over. It took a while, but everything was officially settled yesterday, with the D.C. baseball team reaching a settlement agreement with the O's (and MASN, in tandem) that will make the upcoming 2025 campaign their last season with MASN serving as its TV broadcast rights holder.

This move not only paves the way for the Nationals to move their games to a different TV partner -- likely the Monumental Sports Network -- but it also sets up a possible sale of the team in the near future.

The Orioles lost a decade-long court battle last December and now owe the Nationals $320 million for unpaid TV rights for a five-year period, 2022 through 2026. One would assume, given yesterday's news of a settlement and 2025 serving as the final year of MASN owning the Nationals' TV rights, that some portion of that $320 million will not have to be paid in exchange for the D.C. baseball franchise being a "TV free agent" after this season.

So the saga between the Orioles and the Nationals is finally over. Is it possible that MASN, too, might be nearing the end of its run as well?

It sure looks that way.

MASN was originally birthed by the Orioles back in 2007 after Major League Baseball gave then-owner Peter Angelos full automony for TV broadcast rights of both the O's and Nats in exchange for Angelos allowing the Nationals into "his" market in Washington D.C.

MLB also gave Angelos $75 million for his troubles.

With Angelos owning the TV rights and agreeing to pay a yearly fee to the Nationals, it crippled the D.C. team's ability to maximize their media revenues, particularly in and around 2019 after the Nationals surprisingly won the World Series.

It also didn't help the Nationals that the Orioles didn't pay their bills, either. A decade long lawsuit worked its way through various stages of litigation, with the two sides bickering about rights payments and percentages of revenues.

Now, with the news of yesterday's settlement and the Nationals "free agent" status, it's almost a done-deal that MASN (and by extension, MASN "2") will lose 160 (ish) pieces of TV inventory to sell, which should effectively put the network in shutdown mode given the decreased revenues over the last 5 years.

15 years ago, the "secret" to owning a baseball franchise was to either sell off your TV rights for a massive amount of money to a Regional Sports Network or simply build and operate your own RSN and reap the profits yourself.

The Orioles were the latter model and it was all set to work well right up until they started stiffing the Nationals. It all started to fall apart from there.

It's fair to point out that MASN and the Orioles aren't the only "failure" in the TV sports world.

With the government tightening its mandates on cable providers and more and more people "cutting the cord" from traditional cable TV, the money simply is no longer there and the notion of a RSN is losing its appeal -- quickly.

Teams are now realizing that the future for broadcast opportunities is tied directly to the internet and streaming. They no longer need a "network" to air their games. They can simply put them on the internet and you, the consumer, will find them somehow. And you'll also pay the club a fee for the privilege of finding said games on the internet.

In the past, you were indirectly paying the Orioles a monthly fee on your cable bill for the "right" to watch their games on cable TV.

In the future, you'll simply pay the Orioles, directly, for access to their product on the internet.

The good news? You'll be able to watch the Orioles anywhere there's a personal electronic device of yours within reach; TV, computer, iPad, cell phone, etc.

The bad news? If you don't pay the Orioles, you won't be able to watch their games. Period.

The settlement between the Nationals and Orioles and D.C.'s eventual departure from MASN paves the way for the eventual closure of the TV network. Whether it makes it past 2026 remains to be seen, but the odds are it won't be around by the time this decade comes to an end.

Ben asks -- "What do you think of the Tampa Bucs reinstating Jon Gruden into their team Hall of Fame? Seems a bit hypocritical to me. What about you? They kicked him out for all of those racist e-mails he sent and now they're putting him back in?"

DF says -- "It does seem kind of weird, I agree. I don't follow Tampa Bay Buccaneers football anywhere closely enough to know what went into the decision, but it does look odd on the surface.

It would be akin to the Terps announcing in five years they were renaming their football stadium "Byrd Stadium". You changed the name because Byrd had a history of racism and then, suddenly, it's OK to call it Byrd Stadium again? That would also be weird.

So, I don't know. If you kicked Jon Gruden because of racist e-mails and other nefarious behavior, why are you suddenly letting him back in? Seems strange to me."

D.J. asks -- "Hey Drew, got into a little first-tee debate with my foursome at Woodlands on Saturday and told them I would turn it over to you. The over/under on how many tournaments Scheffler wins (amongst our group) this year was 4.5. Are you taking the over or under on that one?"

DF says -- "Well, it's March and he has zero thus far. He has to win a tournament a month, basically, to get to 6. He has two favorites coming up, Bay Hill and The Players, where he has three wins combined in the last two years. He has Augusta coming up in April where he has two wins already.

I assume he's going to win at least once between now and the end of the Masters. Maybe he wins twice. But he'll win one of these next three or four he plays.

5 tournament wins in a season is really strong. Some guys play their entire careers and don't win 5 times.

You have to remember, he won 9 times last year but one of those was the Olympics, which sorta-kinda doesn't count.

I'll take the under 4.5 wins for 2025. I think he'll win 4 times, actually. But this is a really good question because if he winds up winning another major, somehow, he probably wins 5 or 6 times.

If you made me bet it, I'd bet the "over" because he's Scottie Scheffler. If we're just standing around yapping and I want to be able to say "told you so", I'll take the under 4.5, but that's mainly because we're already into March and he's at zero wins so far.

BTW, there was just a segment on Golf Channel last week highlighting his play in 2022-2023-2024 and his 3-year tee-to-green ball striking numbers and stats (fairways hit, length off the tee, greens hit in regulation, proximity to the hole and birdie average) for that three year period were better than any three year period Tiger ever had.

Tiger outputted Scheffler in his heyday, by a lot, but purely from a ball striking standpoint, from the tee until they reach the green, Scheffler's last three years were superior to Tiger's best three years. Kind of fascinating."

Dan Handley asks -- "What constitutes a successful season for the Maryland men's basketball team? (my opinion is one win in Big 10 Tournament and one win in NCAA would be extremely successful.)"

DF says -- "I don't see any way that a win in each tournament can be deemed "successful" for this team. But that's just me. A "successful season" would be to reach the Big Ten semifinals at a minimum and then win at least two games in the NCAA tournament. Anything less than two March Madness wins is not a successful season, to me."

Conway asks -- "Who is your surprise MLB team in each league in 2025? I'll put $100 on them to win the World Series and if they win, I'll give half of the winnings to your FCA Golf program."

DF says -- "That's very nice of you. Thank you. So now I have to come up with someone "legit" but, yet, a little bit off the radar screen so I can get the best odds possible.

I have no idea what either of these teams are, odds wise, when I write this. I'll go with Kansas City in the American League and the Chicago Cubs in the National League.

Now you've given me reason to gently pull for each of those teams in 2025! Thank you very much."

Mark in Perry Hall asks -- "If you want to answer this in your Q&A on the site you can or you can just e-mail me the reply in private, but how do you explain all of the trolls in the Comment box on a daily basis?"

DF says -- "This is an early candidate for "Weird Question of the Year", but I'll take a stab at it. How do you explain how many stars are in the sky? How do you explain how pigeons always find their way back home, no matter where they're released? How do you explain why we have parasites like ticks, which apparently serve no kind of valuable purpose whatsoever?

The explanation: Because God made them and put them here.

I can't explain why people troll on the internet. I don't get it. The amazing thing is people who troll are using energy, time and space to do it when they could be making actual contributions by doing the exact same thing (using energy, time and space).

Someone yesterday complained about the lack of Baltimore Catholic League coverage here and said "If Calvert Hall played in it I bet there would be coverage." (paraphrasing). The truth is, I didn't really follow the Catholic League this year, even though Calvert Hall did play in it.

But the (just guessing here) 3 minutes that person used to whine about no Catholic League coverage could have been used just as easily to simply write: "Hey, for anyone interested, here's what happened in the Catholic League tournament over the weekend." And they could have written 50, 100 or 200 words about the Catholic League and I would have said, "Hey, that's really cool."

When George, for example, wanted to write about the croquet match between the Naval Academy and St. John's, he didn't troll about it and say "Why don't you write about the big croquet match?" He just wrote about the croquet match and I published it.

Anyway, that's a very small example. And I'm not angry at the Catholic League guy for posting that. He's welcome to post whatever he wants. All I'm saying is instead of trolling, just publish something useful and meaningful for the good of the group if it means that much to you.

Unless you're just in it to troll and be a nuisance. And if that's your thing, "have at it", as Brian Billick would always say.

But the answer to your question is: "God made everyone and everything. He has a reason for all of it and all of us."

Ron B. asks -- "I saw a "professional" corn hole tournament on television over the weekend and did some quick research and found out that almost 400,000 supposedly watched it. And that got me to wondering, is there a sport of some kind that isn't on TV but if it were organized and well run people would watch it? One example I'll give is water polo. Thanks and Go Hall!"

DF says -- "Yes, Go Hall! indeed. I definitely have a sport that fits this profile. I actually have two of them. And in my next life, I'm going to make one of them a reality.

I definitely think indoor (street) hockey could work as a spectator/TV sport. It would be very similar to what happened with outdoor soccer and indoor soccer.

In indoor/street hockey, you play it on a smaller rink, in arenas, and only four guys and a goalie play at one time (on each team).

The other sport would be kickball.

We all played kickball as kids. Heck, there are still a lot of social leagues in this country with organized adult kickball leagues, even.

Kickball could be a TV sport for sure. I mean, look, with no disrespect intended to cornhole, if people will watch cornhole on TV, they'll watch paint dry on TV. Kickball would work on TV. Maybe in my life after my next life I'll tackle the "USKBL" -- the U.S. Kickball League."

Monday March 3, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3843

"could a new station compete?"

#DMD reader Hal sent me an e-mail last night and asked what I thought was an interesting question.

"Drew, nice job on the radio today, you sound like you never missed a day. While I was listening, I got to wondering about something. Do you think a station could pop up in the Baltimore market and be a competitor to 105.7? I'm interested to know what you feel about it since you were with the rival station to 105.7 for 15 years. Could you start a new station and compete against them?"

For accuracy and clarification, I was on another station in town for 12 years, not 15.

Do I think another station in town could serve as a solid, functional all sports entity? Sure.

Could that station beat 105.7 in the ratings and "overtake" them as the area's sports radio leader? I don't think that's possible.

Our zenith at the former Baltimore AM station where I worked came at a time when we were really the only thing in town, sports radio wise.

I mean, WBAL had some nightly sports talk shows circa 2004, but none of those shows were riveting or entertaining or compelling in any way. They were just "cookie cutter" shows.

"The phone lines are open tonight. What do you think of the Ravens chances this week against the Steelers?"

That's what I mean by "cookie cutter".

So, when the AM station where I worked was hitting on all cylinders 20 years ago, there was also no one else in town to provide us with any competition.

If you wanted to listen to sports talk in Baltimore, we were the only option.

But when 105.7 was born, we were immediately in trouble. Their signal was great. Our signal was terrible. They had corporate advertising money flowing in, we were beating the streets trying to make as many $10,000 ad sales as we could.

I bring all of that up to help answer the question. "Could a new station in town pop up and compete with 105.7?"

And the answer is, "I don't think so..."

Editor's note: I realize someone will likely point out that the AM station where I once worked is, actually, still on the air and functioning in some ways as a sports radio station. But the reality is that the station is no longer a "sports radio station". It's a radio station that includes some sports talk in its format. That's not to say the format is terrible. The format is the format because the owner wants the format to be like that. But it's no longer an "all sports" station in some ways because of the dominance of 105.7. I wouldn't say 105.7 put the AM station out of business back in 2014, but it certainly forced the AM station to duck out of the all-sports format and re-evaluate its position in the marketplace.

I just think the niche nature of sports talk radio is so unique that, for the most part, there's only room enough for one all sports stations in a city the size of Baltimore.

New York, Philly, Boston, Chicago...they might be big enough to have two or three all sports stations.

Baltimore, for sure, is not big enough.

Now, like I mentioned, could you create a new all sports radio station and perhaps turn it into a successful business venture? Maybe, yes.

That said, I think even that dream might be hard to accomplish. There's only so much media money to go around these days and a lot of companies are turning their attention to digital marketing over "traditional" media like radio and TV. 105.7 has done a great job over the years of bringing in local advertisers, but they're also big enough that national money comes their way as well.

So, yes, you might be able to start a new station and make a few bucks, but you're not ever going to make enough to buy a place in West Palm Beach for you and your kids and their kids as well.

And there's no way you could start something today and usurp 105.7 in the market. They're too good and too strong and too entrenched in the community.

I also hear they have an awesome golf show on Sunday from 4-6 pm.

Golf is such a crazy sport that a guy nobody thought could win, wound up doing just that yesterday, as former Pepperdine star Joe Highsmith carded a 7-under round of 64 to roll past a bunch of others on the leaderboard and win the Cognizant Classic at PGA National in West Palm.

Highsmith is a terrific young player, but with only 14 cuts made in 33 PGA Tour starts, he wasn't on anyone's short list of "longshots to watch" heading into last week's tournament.

He was a very good college player at Pepperdine, though, and his win yesterday wasn't a shock in the grand scheme of things. I think everyone who follows college golf knew Highsmith could win at the TOUR level. I just don't think anyone suspected it would be yesterday.

Heck, he needed to make a 5-foot putt on the final hole on Friday just to make the cut at the Cognizant.

For guys like Highsmith, in their first year or two on TOUR, making the weekend and guaranteeing themselves some kind of paycheck is their first and, most of the time, biggest goal of the week.

Once you make the cut, you can breathe a little and try to make as much money as you can.

That's why, as we've said here before, LIV Golf is useless. Everyone just shows up for a 3-day money grab and hits-and-giggles it around the course for 54 holes.

Joe Highsmith had to make a 5-foot putt just to be able to eat a filet at the Grand Hyatt on Friday night instead of Taco Bell on the way out of town after cleaning out his locker on Friday.

Once he made that putt, he went to work, although I highly doubt he knew he was about to go 64-64 and win his first ever TOUR event.

I don't think Joe Highsmith is "this guy", but I've said for the last few months that someone we're not thinking of is going to win a couple of tournaments this year and either stun everyone with a win at a major or have enough of a high finish at a major (or two), coupled with their wins, that they're going to sneak onto the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Before his collapse on the 11th hole yesterday, a guy like Jake Knapp would have been a prime candidate for that distinction. He is a VERY underrated player and a great one, too, despite that fiasco he authored with the tournament title in his sights.

Luke Clanton could be that guy, too, although I don't see him getting into either the Masters or the PGA, which would definitely hinder his chances of those points I referenced. That said, if he makes the U.S. and/or British Open and does something magical there, he could be a surprise Ryder Cup consideration.

Clanton, in my opinion, is the best American college player and the most ready to compete right now that we've seen since Bryson DeChambeau. He is better than both Matthew Wolff and Collin Morikawa were when they came out of college in 2019 and they both won right away on TOUR.

Anyway, Highsmith, like his former Pepperdine buddy Sahith Theegala, is ready to move to the next level on the PGA Tour. The field wasn't great at the Cognizant, but a win is a win, as they say. Remember the name: Joe Highsmith. He's going to be hanging around the TOUR for a long time to come.

Something dawned on me on Saturday night in the aftermath of #2 Maryland's instant classic 11-10 win over #1 Notre Dame in lacrosse on Saturday in Atlanta.

If Maryland football was ever really good, the little school down in College Park would have one heck of a sports resume.

Think about it.

The men's basketball team is on the upswing for sure. Things have to fall in place for them, of course, but they could be a team playing for the right to go to the Final Four later this month. They're that good.

The Lady Terps are a perennial top 20 program with occasional flirtations with the final four.

The men's soccer program is almost always a fixture in the top 10 and they, too, have the occasional shot at winning a title or at the very least getting to the final four.

Women's field hockey has won eight national titles and made 21 final fours.

And the lacrosse programs in College Park are on fire. The men's team is locked and loaded for another possible championship run in 2025 and the women's team is currently 9th in the country.

I get it, the only college sports anyone really cares about are football and basketball.

No one's running around saying, "I know (insert school here) is having a down couple of years in football and basketball, but, man, their baseball and softball teams are great and no one can beat their golf team!"

So, yes, Maryland lacrosse and soccer are both powerhouse sports at the school, but they're merely supplements to the big two: football and men's basketball.

Alas, football at Maryland just doesn't move the needle at all, as we've discussed here a lot over the years.

Imagine if Maryland football was, like, just as relevant in the market place as football is at a place like Michigan State or Vanderbilt or Texas A&M. In other words, not a national title contender, per se, but a good enough program to generate huge crowds year after year and be a "staple" of their local community.

Maryland -- little old Maryland -- would be a prominent college athletics hub if football could just get its act together.

Sunday March 2, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3842

back in the saddle again

Every time someone these days asks me about a possible return to the radio, I say the same thing.

"Nah...the only way I'd do radio every day again is if I just got to talk golf for a couple of hours."

I just don't have the time, energy or interest -- any longer -- in getting behind a microphone every day for two or four hours and talking about the Ravens, Orioles, Terps, Caps, and so on. It's not from a lack of interest in those teams and their respective games and leagues. I publish this website every day because I'm interested in them.

It's just not something I want to go on the radio and talk about every day.

But golf...

Golf, I would certainly talk about every day.

Well, as it turns out, today is that day. It's not every day, mind you, but that's fine as well. Today, however, is when "Fairways and Greens" airs on 105.7, The Fan.

This afternoon from 4-6 pm and every Sunday until the start of football, I'll be on 105.7 talking golf. I hope you tune in.

I have two great guests lined up for today. Bob Harig of Sports Illustrated and Sirius XM joins me at 4:30 pm and Ryan French, the man behind the awesome social media platform on X, "Monday Q Info", checks in at 5:30 pm.

In and around those guys we'll keep up with the Cognizant Classic, launch our 2025 edition of "Breaking 90", and answer a few questions that have already been sent to me this week about golf.

I hope you get the chance to tune in.

So, unless something wacky happens over the Capitals' last 22 games, Alex Ovechkin is going to break the NHL's all-time leading goal scoring record this season.

Prior to the year, there was a lot of speculation centered on Ovi's chances to score 42 goals in '24-25. That seemed like a lot of goals to score for a player in the early December of his career. Then he got off to the great start, only to get injured in November and miss 5 weeks of action.

But yesterday, in yet another (concerning) home loss, Ovi scored his 31st goal of the season. He needs 10 more goals to tie Wayne Gretzky's record and 11 to break it.

It's happening, folks.

Unless something odd occurs, he's scoring 11 goals in the team's final 22 regular season games.

While on a recent golf trip, one of the team dads asked me where the goal scoring record ranks among all-time "major sports" records that are likely unbreakable.

I don't see anyone ever playing 2,632 consecutive baseball games. Cal's record seems like it will last forever.

I don't think anyone will ever get a base hit in 56 consecutive games, either. DiMaggio's mark seems safe.

Jack's record of 18 major championships also seems unlikely to break, but you did have someone (Tiger) come along and get to 14 by age 32 who looked destined to shatter it until personal trauma and turmoil derailed him.

I wouldn't say Jack's record is impossible to break. It just seems unlikely. That said, these kids who are coming up through the junior golf and college ranks can really play. Their might be someone like a Karl Vilips or Blades Brown who turns professional and just blazes through everyone for 10 years like Tiger once did and then stays healthy and injury free for another 10 years and wins 20 majors.

There are other marks in sports that likely won't be challenged. I never thought we'd see someone score 895 goals in hockey, either, but Ovechkin is obviously a very rare talent indeed.

895 is 45 goals per-season for 20 years, basically. Some players have "career years" where they score 45 goals...once. Ovi has scored the equivalent of 45 goals per-season for 20 years. It's unreal.

And it's doubtful he's retiring after this season, remember. He's probably going to play at least one more full season, if not two.

Either way, Ovechkin is going to be well over 900 career goals when it's all said and done.

I wasn't sure he'd do it this season. 42 goals at his age is tough. Alas, he's almost there.

Now, if he can also get the Caps straightened out while he's busy breaking Gretzky's mark, that would be great.

Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is apparently considering reinstating Pete Rose and removing him from baseball's ineligible list, ESPN reported on Saturday.

Jeffrey Lenkov, a Los Angeles lawyer who represented Rose prior to his death at age 83 in late September, said he filed a reinstatement petition after he and Fawn Rose, the oldest daughter of Pete Rose, met with Manfred and MLB spokesman Pat Courtney in the commissioner's office on Dec. 17.

"The commissioner was respectful, gracious, and actively participated in productive discussions regarding removing Rose from the ineligible list," Lenkov said of the one-hour meeting in the commissioner's office. Lenkov said he is seeking Rose's removal from MLB's banned list for betting on baseball "so that we could seek induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which had long been his desire and is now being sought posthumously by his family."

Everyone with half-a-brain assumed this is the way it would go down once Rose passed away.

Giving him the "glory" of being in the Baseball Hall of Fame while he was alive would have been the wrong message to send.

But after his passing, Rose's spot in Cooperstown comes with far less fanfare, discussion and financial windfall for Rose himself.

I'm sure his family has figured out a way to monetize Pete's entry into the Hall of Fame, if it happens. I assume he signed thousands of baseballs that are stored somewhere or, perhaps he only signed one with something like, "Thanks for finally putting me in the Hall of Fame!" and that ball could fetch the family millions.

I was one of those in the camp of "he should never get in" due to the fact that he gambled on baseball games in which he was the manager of one of the teams. I know, over time, there were fewer and fewer of us who stood firm on that issue, but I always thought it would be wrong to induct Rose into the Hall of Fame.

I still feel that way now, but I certainly do understand that his induction, now, carries far less weight and impact than it would have had they inducted him in 2015 instead of 2025.

I'm fairly certain Manfred and MLB are going to let him in at some point soon. Fair enough. I don't think it's right, but go ahead and get it done.

	NOTES & COMMENT George McDowell
George McDowell is #DMD's foreign correspondent. His international reports are filed from a hardened outpost just across the U.S. / North Carolina border. He writes on sports topics that interest him that he feels might also interest some segment of the wildly esoteric #DMD readership. George has been a big fan of DF and his various enterprises since the last century, and for several seasons appeared as a weekly guest on his Monday evening radio show, Maryland Golf Live, delivering commentary as The Eccentric Starter. George also donates his time and talents to the less fortunate, and currently volunteers as secretary of the Rickie Fowler Fan Club.

ho, hum

Would you pay $80 to watch Lucy yank the football away from Linus just before he attempts to kick it this year, knowing exactly what's going to happen because you've seen it for forty-some consecutive years in the past?

On Saturday, April 3, the 41st playing of what is now called the Annapolis Cup will be held on the lawn of the front campus of St. John's College. The United States Naval Academy courageously accepted the challenge of the St. John's College croquet team for a friendly in 1983. But for two years during the Covid pandemic, the match has been played annually since then. The first match was watched by no more than 50 midshipmen, Johnnies, faculty members and curious civilians. The match has evolved into the most important event of the Annapolis spring social season. It has even attracted a sponsor – PNC Financial Services Corporation. Attendance has been capped by the Annapolis Fire Department at 4,000 spectators.

The croquet gods have been cruelly unkind to the Naval Academy in this series. Unlike the Army – Navy football game, in which the Middies have about an even-odds chance to win each year, they are hopelessly outclassed playing the eggheads whose campus is just across King George Street from the Academy grounds. The Middies have won only eight matches while the Johnnies have prevailed in 32.

In fact, the rivalry DIDN'T start from a bar fight, but from a friendly conversation between a St. John's freshman, Kevin Heyburn, and the superintendent of the Academy at the time, Vice Admiral E. C. Waller, at the Little Campus, a restaurant on Maryland Avenue now called Galway Bay. The superintendent stated categorically that the Academy could beat St. John's at ANY sport. Kevin asked, "How about croquet?" Kevin recruited Johnnies to play on a hastily-constituted croquet team, and a few days later issued the challenge. The Academy's acceptance was immediate. A few days later, the St. John's team won a resounding victory.

In preparation for the matches, both St. John’s and the Naval Academy play the Ginger Cove retirement community Croquet Team. They have met a few weeks prior to the Annapolis Cup match each year since 1992. The day before the matches, the Johnnies have lunch with the Midshipmen at the Academy mess hall, where the Imperial Wicket for the Johnnies formally challenges the Midshipmen to a match. The match opens with music: the St. John’s Freshman Chorus sings and the Naval Academy Trident Brass Band plays. The Johnnies emerge in their surprise uniforms. Then, the ceremonial first ball is struck.

There are refreshing traditions in this rivalry. Trash talking is unheard of, and would be considered gauche. Players do not hit balls in anger or throw mallets. Profanity is not used. Four Naval Academy plebes wearing dress mess uniforms serve refreshments to the players, generously supplied by the SJC Alumni Association. After the match and supper there is a rock party in the college boathouse and a waltz party in its Great Hall.

The Navy's precision-flight team, the Blue Angels, puts on an aerial demonstration each year during the Academy's Graduation Week. The pilots, almost all Academy grads, make it a point to fly low and hot over the St. John's College campus, perhaps in good-natured revenge for the slaughter its croquet team almost perennially endures. Or perhaps it's in retaliation for something that happened after that first lopsided match. Just before sundown, a 40-year-old Taylorcraft – a two-seater with a 65-horsepower engine and ironically painted in Navy blue and gold colors – chugged low over the superintendent's residence on the Academy grounds while performing a slow barrel roll before flying out over the Severn River and off into the sunset.

Saturday March 1, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3841

sights and sounds

If you follow me on Twitter and you checked out my timeline yesterday, you saw a video I posted from a golf course in York, Pennsylvania.

It featured a train rumbling directly through the golf course -- Briarwood -- as I crossed over from the 8th green to the 9th teebox.

I remarked on Twitter, "Is there anything else better in golf? Besides shooting 59."

I don't know why it is that I love trains so much, but I do. And there's just something magical about a train making its way through a golf course that gets me giddy.

We all have our lifetime dreams. One of mine is to hop on the back of a "working" train someday, like the one I see all the time up in York, and just take it all the way through its journey for the day. And then, hop back on it and take it back to where I first caught it earlier in the day.

I play almost every Friday morning up in York during the winter months and that train rumbling through the course is something I look forward to as soon as I get on the first tee.

Yesterday, as I strolled along the back nine of Briarwood, I thought about other "sights and sounds" of sports that have intrigued me throughout my life.

Do you have any?

One of mine isn't a sight or a sound. It's a smell.

I absolutely love, love, love the smell of a fresh sheet of ice on an ice rink.

It seems weird to say "ice has a smell" -- since water generally doesn't give off an odor -- but it most definitely does. And as that Zamboni machine cleans off the ice and lays down a new sheet, there is a very distinctive smell. And it doesn't matter what ice rink you're at, either.

You can be at Mount Pleasant watching a high school game or at the arena in D.C. watching the Capitals and the new sheet of ice smell is identical.

I love that smell.

As a kid, I used to love walking up the ramp at Memorial Stadium and getting that first glimpse of the baseball diamond or football field. I remember like it was yesterday.

I don't know if it stemmed from not seeing every single game on television. But there was something very captivating about walking up that ramp and getting to see that first glimpse of the green field at Memorial Stadium.

I've also always loved hearing the Star Spangled Banner at a sporting event.

I realize this is a touchy subject these days because a section of the population seems afraid of the national anthem and what it represents, but I've always found it heartwarming to hear it played or have someone sing it live at the venue.

In an odd twist, I'm not a huge fan of the song being "changed", if that's the right word, like it is at the Super Bowl, World Series, etc. Sometimes even at Ravens stadium I get itchy when the singer stands out there and takes two and a half minutes to finish it.

I just like a good old-fashioned military version of the song, frankly. We all know the words. We can sing it ourselves.

Alas, I'll take it in whatever form I can, though. I love the Star Spangled Banner.

Earlier this month I was at a local high school basketball game and the host school didn't even bother to play the national anthem before tip-off. Shame on them.

Anyway, hearing the anthem is awesome and it still remains a favorite part of sports for me.

I remember a long time ago at Memorial Stadium, one of the best sounds of a game occurred afterwards when we all stomped on the paper soft drink cups and it made that loud "POP!" sound, which echoed all over the lower deck.

Remember that?

I had a high school friend, Barry Blick -- sadly he just passed away last month -- who was able to make his cup pop louder than anyone else in the group of us at the game. Remember the friend you had in high school who could mysteriously whistle better than everyone else? Barry could stomp a cup better than anyone else. His cup always sounded like a gunshot.

A beer drinker I'm not. In fact, here's a fun fact to share, I went all of 2023 without once drinking a beer. I didn't do it on purpose or anything like that. I just got to about mid-June or so and realized, "Hey, I haven't had a beer all year thus far" and figured I'd just play it out for the rest of the year. And I did.

Last year, in 2024, I think I might have had six beers all year. Maybe four. I don't "dislike" beer. I just don't drink it all that much (obviously).

That said, there's something about the taste of a cold beer at the turn in a round of golf, particularly on a fall day. I play my friend Dale's member-guest every September and we'll almost always snag a beer after the 9th hole and I can't get over how good a beer tastes on a golf course on a nice, crisp fall day.

I'm not a summer beer drinker at all. Heck, I'm not even a beer drinker...at all. But I do like the taste of it. There's something about beer in September or October that I really like.

All of these tastes, sights, sounds, etc. were things I thought about yesterday while that train eased its way through Briarwood golf course.

God made us all different, of course. You might not be moved by a train, but you love 18-wheelers. Maybe you don't like the smell of clean ice on a rink but you love hearing sneakers squeak on a basketball court (that one, for me, not so much).

Feel free to share all of yours today. I'm excited to read what you like.

Oh, and one more I forgot to tell you.

I love the sound of the ball cracking off the bat at a live Major League Baseball game.

I never really cared for the aluminum bat sound. But that ball-to-wood sound? Glorious.

Especially when the sound is made by Orioles hitters.

And you? Please share...

Friday February 28, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3840

you have it all wrong, alan

There was an interesting story in the golf world on Thursday and #DMD reader Alan G. reached out to me for "insight and opinion" as notes in his e-mail.

"Hey Drew, I'm wondering what you think about Arnold Palmer's tournament leaving Ricky (sic) Fowler, Jordan Spieth and Gary Woodland out of the field and giving sponsor exemptions to other lesser known players? Doesn't that seem silly and won't it rob the tournament of ticket sales and TV eyeballs?"

For those who didn't hear, don't follow or, simply, don't care, here's the story in a nutshell.

The committee that helps run the Arnold Palmer Invitational solicited nearly 40 requests for sponsor's invitations to next week's event at Bay Hill in Orlando. Among those people they turned down were 3-time major champion Jordan Spieth, 2019 U.S. Open winner Gary Woodland, and longtime PGA Tour veteran and multiple Ryder Cup participant, Rickie Fowler.

Palmer's grandson, Sam Saunders, is on the committee that made the decision to bypass those three -- and others -- and offered explanations yesterday when the news was made public.

“What our team did was try to pick players that, you know, it's about protecting and growing the game of golf as a whole. And doing what's the most balanced and fair process," Saunders said. "Honestly, I think there was a lot of thought put into each and every player that was selected. At the end of the day, it's who's getting the ball in the hole the fastest that are the ones who get the opportunities. You can't make everybody happy with exemptions. So you try to just do it as fair and balanced as possible.”

One of the four sponsor invitees that erroneously broke the news of his selection last week was Tour journeyman Rafael Campos. While Campos has nowhere near the pedigree of players like Spieth, Fowler and Woodland, Saunders felt he was a reasonable and deserving selection.

“There are different levels of effort from each player. And I will tell you from what I've seen, I don't know that anybody's written a more thoughtful letter and put more effort into requesting an exemption than Rafa Campos did,” Saunders said. “He's genuine, he's kind. He's a steward of the game and that's something that mattered a lot to my grandfather.

“One of my granddad's final quotes was he considered himself to be a steward of the game and a caretaker of the game and I think Rafa Campos falls beautifully into that category. And you know, it's also providing an opportunity that maybe he wouldn't get otherwise, and certainly a well deserving player, and someone who embodies the spirit of Arnold Palmer quite well.”

Spieth was not a regular at the event throughout his career but Fowler was, serving as a somewhat "unofficial spokesman" of the tournament over the last decade.

“Rickie's one of my friends but it has to be non-biased," stated Saunders. "You try to make sponsor exemptions to be objective and not subjective. And I think that's what our team did quite well. I think every one of us wants Rickie Fowler to be playing in the tournament, we love him. He's been one of the best spokespersons on behalf of my grandfather and carrying on that legacy, nobody does it better than Rickie Fowler,” Saunders said.

“Rickie had gotten a couple of opportunities for exemptions in the elevated events already, and that was something that had to be taken into consideration. You want other players to get opportunities. There's a lot of players on the PGA Tour. And, you know, not everyone may be household names, but it's about trying to provide the best competition. We're further down the list or closer on the list statistically than the Rickies and the Jordans and Gary so the process was done very objectively and fairly, and, like I said, for the good of the game as a whole.”

So there's the story.

Would Orlando area golf fans and TV viewers rather see Jordan Spieth or Rafael Campos?

Rickie Fowler or Rafael Campos?

Gary Woodland or Rafael Campos?

I don't know that I can speak to that question, but I do know this.

The TV viewers and those in attendance would have had ample opportunity to see one, two or all three of those players if, in fact, their golf warranted it.

I do understand the value of marquee players -- in any sport -- and I can certainly see where the argument is "everyone knows Spieth, Fowler and Woodland and no one knows Campos", but that's really neither here nor there.

Those three could have played their way into the tournament and didn't do it.

No matter what those imposters who run LIV have tried to create, golf has always been and should always be about merit on the golf course.

Low score wins. Best players get to play in the best tournaments. Want to play in the U.S. Open? So does everyone else. You either get in with your golf or you....get in with your golf. No free rides for people who can't win or play great golf.

With all due respect to Spieth, Fowler and Woodland, they are not Tiger, Phil or Rory. Those three, of course, receive lifetime exemptions into just about any non-major tournament they desire to play in -- forever. They're the 3 best players over the last 40 years and "4th place" is 10 lengths behind.

Everyone else in professional golf is among the great unwashed. Yes, even Jordan and Rickie, two of the sport's most popular players over the last 10 years.

Their golf hasn't been good enough to warrant a spot in next week's field. You can make the same argument for Rafael Campos as well. I mean, there's no one in Orlando going to the Arnold Palmer Invitational to see him play because no one knows who he is. And that's because he's just another player who might finish T42 or T18 next week.

But that's not the point.

The tournament can choose four players to add to the field. If you put yourself in position to be one of those four to be added and your name doesn't get called, that's because you didn't get in the tournament the old fashioned way. By playing your way in.

Myles Garrett says he wants a trade and won't play for the Browns next season and the Browns say he's staying with them in Cleveland.

Who will be right next September when the 2025 season kicks off?

It's an interesting saga for sure. You have the player essentially telling the team what they're going to do with him, while the team apparently has no intention at all of agreeing to his demand.

The Browns are in a tough spot with this one.

On one hand, Cleveland only has 3 or 4 decent players on their team in the first place and Garrett, for certain, is the best out of that limited supply. If you get rid of him, then where are you?

But do you really want a malcontent on your team? A guy who clearly disrespects the organization and the people who run it?

Why keep someone around who obviously isn't interested in being part of the solution?

That said, no matter where you trade him to, Myles Garrett will almost certainly improve the roster of that team.

And, no, before you even suggest it, the Browns are not trading him to the Ravens, no matter how defensive-end-starved John Harbaugh's team might be. The Ravens could put together the trade-deal-to-stop-the-world and Cleveland's not sending him to a division rival to clobber them twice a year.

If you're the Browns, you are faced with making your own team worse and making some other team better if you do, in fact, trade Myles Garrett.

It's a sticky situation. Keep a jerk in the locker room or make your team worse by getting rid of your best player?

Me? All things considered, I don't see the upside in trading him.

For my money, he can whine and cry and complain all he wants. At some point, he either wants to play football or he's OK with sitting on his couch all winter.

If I'm the Browns, I treat him nicely over the off-season, but I also remind Garrett that you're the employer and he's the employee, no matter what his agent tells him.

Don't trade him. Just let him sit there. He'll come around eventually.

Aaron chimed in with his own version of "what's harder?" and I figured I'd entertain one more of these this week before we give it a weekend respite.

I definitely got Thursday's right. Treading water for 5 straight minutes is more difficult to do than fielding a ground ball and throwing the ball (accurately) to first base and treading water for 5 straight minutes is also more difficult than punting a football 40 yards.

Today's three options are interesting.

Aaron says: "Can I take a stab at a "Which one is easiest?" question? I have three solid ones to put in front of you. I'm interested to read your take. To make it interesting, you have to bet $500 that you can do one of the three successfully. Where's your money going?

Making a 3-point shot in basketball within 5 attempts.

Making a 20-foot putt in golf in 5 attempts.

Throwing 3 consecutive strikes in ten pin bowling (you have 10 total throws to get it done)."

DF says: "I assume you gave me the golf option because you assumed I'd just jump on that one right away. As someone who is around the Calvert Hall gym quite a bit and occasionally shoots baskets for 5 or 10 minutes, I'm here to say the 3-point arc is easy for basketball players and far from easy if you're not a basketball player.

Making a 3-point shot in 5 attempts with $500 of my own money on the line?

Not as easy as it sounds.

The 20-foot putt is intriguing because I'm assuming it's the same putt all 5 times? I don't have to move around. I put a coin down 20-feet from the hole and I putt the ball from that same spot every time?

The 3 consecutive strikes option is also interesting, but you really only get 8 throws because if you go 0-for-8, throws 9 and 10 don't matter.

Throwing a strike in ten pin bowling is not that difficult at all. I mean, even a novice bowler just going out for kicks and giggles can throw 4 or 5 strikes, easily, in 10 frames.

But can you throw three in a row? With $500 on the line?

I think my answer as to which one is the easiest is the 20-foot putt. Now, I'll acknowledge that someone who doesn't golf or has little golfing acumen would probably NEVER take that option. I get that. And if I were a bowler, I'd probably take the 3-strikes-in-a-row for $500.

I'd bet $500 I could make a 20-foot putt within five attempts if I had to choose between those three options above.

As for the hardest of the three?

I think it's 3-strikes-in-a-row.

None of them are easy. All three could be failures.

But throwing three strikes in a row in bowling is not for the meek of heart.

Give me the 20 foot putt for $500."

And you?

Three pointer in 5 attempts, 3 strikes within 10 throws, or a 20-foot putt within 5 tries?

Let's hear it...

faith in sports

I think we all know there's a lot of good about the internet (this place, for example) and there's also some not-so-good.

One of the really good things about the internet is when people like the young man you see in the video below takes time to put together a piece of media content that spreads the truth about faith in sports.

Young adults these days are prone to admire what they perceive to be the "glory" of the world; fame, fortune, celebrities, social status, etc.

In the video below, you'll see celebrities, each of whom has fame and fortune. But the video highlights them in a completely different way.

It's 4 minutes long. While your coffee is brewing this morning, please give it a moment of your time.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our "Faith in Sports" segment here every Friday.

Thursday February 27, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3839

one in a...hundred? two hundred?

A few minutes after Tre Holloman launched a half-court buzzer-beater through the net to give Michigan State an improbable 58-55 win in College Park last night, my friend Chris texted me and said: "Dude couldn't hit that same shot again if you gave him a thousand tries."

I replied with a quick, "Right?" and hustled to the internet to watch the replay several times over.

And that got me to thinking. If you replayed that exact same scenario over and over and over, how many attempts would it take for Holloman to hit that shot that gave Sparty the instant classic win over a spirited Terps men's basketball team last night?

"A thousand tries" seems way too high. I realize Chris was just spouting off to spout off, but I think 1-in-1,000 is just way too high. It was a hard shot, sure, but it wasn't that hard.

So what is the right number?

I mean, statistically the answer is: "He could do it again on the very next shot." It could happen that way. Alas, in realistic terms, is that a shot he makes once every 50 attempts? 100 attempts? Or could he make it once every 25 attempmts?

We'll never know, obviously. But it was certainly a tough way to lose a game. And a big game, at that. Gillespie's three misses by probably 3 inches and then Holloman swishes it from Bentley's for the win.

I'm not sure the game tells us all that much about either team that we didn't already know. I mean, Michigan State is very good. Maryland also appears to be very good. If they play 5 times at College Park, there's no way Michigan State goes 5-for-5. But they won last night when it mattered.

Last night's loss doesn't put the Terps back on the "bubble" or anything like that. It would take a colossal flop on their part, like losing their last conference games and then getting ousted quickly in the Big Ten tournament, to miss out on March Madness.

But last night's defeat might have sealed their fate as something like a 4 seed or thereabouts, unless they make a deep conference tournament run after winning their last three games (at Penn State, at Michigan, home vs. Northwestern).

There's still time, though. Win at least 2 of their last 3 and a couple of conference tournament games and who knows where the committee might place them? They're not invincible, as we saw last night at home, but this Terps team isn't going to be a pushover in March. They're good.

Gavin Sheets is now with the San Diego Padres, so I've been following along with how he and they are doing in the early stages of spring training.

Yesterday, San Diego faced off against Gavin's old team, the Chicago White Sox.

While scanning the boxscore, I noticed Chicago's lineup included this: DH, J. Gallo.

I thought that was funny, given that a while back there was a once-relatively-decent-hitter in the big leagues by the name of Joey Gallo.

So, I clicked on the name to learn more about this "J. Gallo" who is playing for the White Sox and, come to find out, his name is also Joey Gallo.

Wait...it's the same Joey Gallo? It can't be. How old is he? 44?

Gallo played 6.5 seasons with the Rangers.

He played 1.5 seasons with the Yankees.

He spent one year with the Dodgers, which I one million percent don't remember at all.

He then played a season with the Twins.

And a season with the Nationals, too, in 2024.

That's 11 big league seasons. Joey Gallo just turned 31 last November.

He's probably in the November of his career, I'm guessing, but a 31 year old guy with 11 years of big league experience on the back of his bubble gum card is pretty impressive.

I swear, I thought Joey Gallo retired four years ago. And I thought he was at least 36 or 37 years old.

Good luck with the White Sox, there, Joey. They're 0-5 to start spring training.

As for the Padres, they won yesterday's Cactus League thriller, 3-1. Gavin went 0-for-2, for those keeping score. I'm hoping he makes the club so I can see him out there later this summer when I visit San Diego on a golf trip.

By the way, in case you've never been: San Diego's the best city in the U.S.

Eric G. reached out with a "what's harder?" question that I thought folks would be interested in tackling. Feel free to share your thoughts in the Comments section below.

Drew, I'm wondering which of these things you think is the hardest athletic endeavor to accomplish. Please consider the entire question as it's framed. Thanks and Go Hall! Have a great season on the course!

A 40-year old "normally athletic" male to do the following:

Punt a football 40 yards.

Catch a ground ball hit to you at 3rd base and throw it to first base in time to get a MLB player out.

Tread water in an 8 foot deep pool for 5 minutes.

DF says: "Geez, we're reaching deep for these things aren't we? I'm thinking there must be a trick question angle to this or something. These are three distinctly different scenarios.

Let's look at them one-by-one.

Punting a football 40 yards is very tough for a "normal" 40 year old to pull off. 40 yards is a long way when you don't actually kick footballs for any reason other than for fun at family picnics.

Catching a ground ball hit to you at 3rd base involves a lot of things. I mean, some ground balls are hit "neatly" to third base, meaning they bounce once off the bat and once 20 feet in front of you and the ball almost finds your glove for you. Now, throwing from third base to first base is NOT easy to do at all. That might be part of the trick question angle of this that you're trying to get me on.

Then there are scorching grounders that even MLB players have a tough time fielding.

So that question is a little murky, but for sake of answering your question, I'm going to say that the grounder that's hit to me is "neat" and "not that difficult to field".

Treading water in a pool for one minute where you can't touch the bottom is tough. It can be done, of course, but it's tough. Doing it for two minutes would be very difficult. Three minutes would be excruciating, I think. Five minutes? Practically impossible for a "normal" 40-year old man.

I think the answer here is the easiest of the three would be to punt a football 40 yards. I realize 40 yards is longer than people realize and I certainly know that kicking a ball 40 yards is not easy in the least. But of the three challenges presented, I think kicking the football 40 yards is the easiest to pull off.

The next hardest one is fielding the grounder and throwing the ball to first base from somewhere around 3rd base.

In fact, I think throwing the ball from third to first is more difficult than actually fielding the grounder.

And, so, the hardest thing for a "normally athletic" (your words, Eric) 40-year old male to do would be to tread water for 5 minutes without touching the bottom.

It's not impossible to do. But five minutes with your body in constant motion and nothing to support it is very difficult to accomplish.

I'm very confident that treading water for 5 minutes is the right answer."

They're playing the old Honda Classic this week in South Florida, which tells you the Masters is definitely right around the corner.

Honda's out so it's now called The Cognizant Classic, and the field isn't particularly strong this year given the PGA Tour has a couple of huge events coming up (Arnold Palmer Invitational, Players Championship) in advance of the Masters.

Without further adieu, we're making win and top 10 wagers on these five guys this week:

Cameron Young, 45-1: He has to win sometime soon. And while it could be that his first win is something crazy like the Masters or PGA, I'm thinking this week's benign field is a huge help to him. He just needs to putt well and he'll be right there on Sunday.

Daniel Berger, 25-1: Missed a lot of last year with an injury but he's back and his game is certainly on the uptick heading into the Florida swing and the Masters in April. His career record -- data wise -- is very good at PGA National as well. Love DB this week.

Shane Lowry, 20-1: I'm sorta-kinda hoping he doesn't win between now and Augusta National to help spike his odds at the Masters (where I love him to win this year), but this is a course that fits him well and he could definitely find the winner's circle at PGA National.

Sungjae Im, 20-1: It's admittedly not a great set-up for him, but when you hit the ball on the screws like Im does every single time, it's hard to not think he's almost a sure-bet for a Top 10 and a fair bet to be in the final two groups on Sunday with a chance to win.

Denny McCarthy, 40-1: I love Denny's odds a little more than I like his chances of winning. That said, like I referenced with Cameron Young, McCarthy has to win sometime soon. And this is a legitimate "home game" for him, as he lives 15 minutes from the golf course and has played PGA National a lot over the last five years. The tempered field quality helps him as well. This could be his week, finally.

And if you're someone prone to betting a longshot, how about Max Greyserman (60-1) or Ben Griffin (55-1). This would be the exact kind of tournament one of those guys would win.

Wednesday February 26, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3838

reading time: 3 minutes

Anytime I prepare this column I always think about my old Evening Sun friend, Phil Jackman.

As you probably know, Phil authored the popular, Reading Time: 2 minutes, which is where I got this idea in the first place and occasionally publish it here as a bit of an ode to my old friend who passed away in 2024.

Mentioning Phil today reminds me of his brother, Mark, who lived in Philadelphia and was an ardent Flyers fan, which always made those Capitals-Flyers clashes even more meaningful in the Jackman household.

I met Mark in D.C. a few years ago at a Capitals game, with Phil, and Mark told this hilarious story about his car getting broken into in Center City in downtown Philly.

He said he went to the same restaurant for dinner every Friday night with his wife of 30 years, Bonnie.

On one particular Friday night, he came back out to the on-street parking location and saw glass was shattered all around his vehicle.

He opened the door in horror, noticing his gym bag with a brand new pair of HOKA shoes was missing from the back seat.

"My CD's!" he said to Bonnie. He opened the storage compartment between the two front seats and, sadly, all 50 or so CD's he had in there were also gone.

He then remembered he had 4 Flyers tickets for an upcoming home game in the glove compartment. He quickly opened it up, but there they were, still there.

Something caught his eye, though. It was a sticky note, attached to the tickets. It read: "No thanks".

A month later, the exact same thing happened to him. He went to that same restaurant with his wife, and when they returned to their vehicle, glass was everywhere and another break-in had occurred.

Mark opened up the glove compartment, where he kept his Flyers tickets, and sitting there were his four tickets to an upcoming game, along with four more tickets with a note: "Please. Take these..."

The Ravens finally spoke publicly about Justin Tucker on Tuesday at the Combine in Indianapolis. They said what you'd expect they would.

"The NFL is investigating the allegations..."

"We'll wait to hear the outcome of their investigation..."

"The allegations are concerning and we take them very seriously..."

They said the same thing EVERY team in the league -- or professional sports, for that matter -- would say had the situation involved a player on their roster.

But Eric DeCosta said something very interesting that was news. He said the Ravens didn't know about "the story" involving Tucker until they were contacted for comment by the Baltimore Banner a day or so in advance of the January 30 story coming out.

That is significant, if true. If the Ravens didn't know about Tucker's issues during the season, that meant they assumed his kicking woes were attributed to....kicking....and not the story starting to bubble over.

That might be true. Perhaps the Ravens didn't know. But there were stories in the community about Tucker having "personal problems" in October and November. As I've written here before, someone told me Tucker was having "personal problems" but I didn't ask for details and basically didn't really think about it any longer or pursue the story in any way.

If word was buzzing around the community about "the story", how did the Ravens not know?

I'll take Eric DeCosta at his word. And the Ravens still have a problem brewing, no matter if they knew or not.

The Ravens knowing or not knowing has no bearing on anything moving forward. They have a decision to make. Unless the NFL makes it for them.

Georgia lost in basketball on Monday night and only scored 27 points, then last night they scored 88 points and won.

That's kind of a crazy stat, right?

On Monday night, Georgia lost to Texas, 56-27.

Last night, Georgia beat Florida, 88-83.

How is that possible? 27 points one night and 88 points the next night?

I'm sure there's a NCAA record book of some kind where we can find the record for point differential in back-to-back games. 27 on Monday and 88 on Tuesday has to be a record.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 30th goal of the season last night but the Caps fell at home to surging Calgary, 3-1.

Ovechkin now needs just 11 goals to tie Wayne Gretzky's career mark of 894 goals. The Caps have 24 games remaining in the regular season.

The issue of whether Ovi will break the record this season is now almost no longer in question. Unless something really wacky happens, he's going to score 11 (tie) and 12 (break) goals this season.

But there's an interesting sidebar brewing to the goal-scoring chase and it involves what the NHL is going to do as Ovechkin closes in on the record and whether or not the games will be aired by someone other than the Monumental Sports Network.

The Capitals normal TV broadcast team is Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin. Laughlin underwent heart surgery last month and is still not back in the booth, but hopes to be sometime soon.

The issue at hand involves what broadcasters the league and the networks will assign to games that are moved as Ovechkin inches closer to the record.

Three games have already been tweaked. On March 27, Washington at Minnesota will also air on ESPN+ and HULU alongside Monumental Sports Network’s originally scheduled broadcast. The game will start at 7:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. CT, after being originally scheduled to start at 8:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. CT.

Washington at Columbus on April 12 will air exclusively on ABC at 12:30 p.m. ET, after being originally scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET on Monumental Sports Network.

Washington at Pittsburgh on April 17 will also air on Monumental Sports Network alongside ESPN’s originally scheduled broadcast at 7 p.m. ET.

Beninati and Laughlin, remember, were not on the call in 2018 when the Caps won the Stanley Cup, because the team's local broadcast partner at the time -- Comcast SportsNet -- didn't televise the Finals. So Beninati and Laughlin were robbed, if that's the right phrase, of calling the Caps winning the Cup.

The same thing might very well happen with Ovechkin and the goal scoring record. If it happens on April 12, for example, Beninati and Laughlin will not be on the air that day as ABC gets the exclusive broadcast at 12:30 pm ET.

That, I think, would be a bummer. It's one thing to move the game off of the Monumental Sports Network. Most reasonable people can see where that makes sense for the league.

But here's hoping the league does the right thing and they allow Beninati and Laughlin to be the announcing team on the April 12 game or any other game they assign exclusively to a national partner in lieu of Monumental Sports Network.

In case you've missed it, the Dodgers are 1-5 to start spring training baseball. That. Is. Not. Good.

Maybe the World Series hangover-thing is real.

Maybe Ohtani is going to come back to earth after all and have a "meh" kind of season.

Maybe all the money they spent in the off-season is going to backfire on them.

1-5 in spring training might be a sign of things to come.

You know what they say: Winning and losing...they're both congatious.

Wouldn't that be something, if the Dodgers totally flatlined in '25?

Win the World Series last year. Go 77-85 the following year and miss the post-season entirely.

The early returns are NOT favorable.

.......

.......

.......

.......

I'm kidding. The Dodgers are going to go 111-51. I don't care if they go 3-22 in spring training, they'll clinch the West by September 10.

A #DMD reader who is the parent of a 10th grader trying out for his high school golf team sent me an interesting e-mail on Tuesday that I thought I'd share (with his permission).

Some of the e-mail I'll edit to preserve his son's anonymity but it mostly went like this: "My son shoots 45 or thereabouts for 9 holes almost every time we play golf at our club but at his team's 3-day tryout last week he shot 50-47-52 and was sent down to the JV team. He was really devastated by the whole thing and spent the weekend sulking around the house. Then on Monday he went out with this JV teammates at practice and shot a 40 for 8 holes (didn't finish because it got dark).

Is there any way at all to ask the coach for a mulligan on the tryout or is that bad form? My son will beat every player on his current JV team by 10 shots every time he plays. I'm not sure he's going to get anything out of JV golf. And one of his best friends is on varsity and my son beats him almost every time they play. I'm just asking for your opinion as a coach. Thanks."

I thought this was interesting because spring sport tryouts are in motion this week all over the Baltimore area and there are probably a number of stories like the one the reader shared with me in virtually every sport.

Your child underperforms in the tryout and doesn't make the team. Now what?

My direct answer to the parent/reader was: "I can't imagine there's a scenario where the coach would offer your son a "mulligan" on his his tryout unless, of course, he decided to offer every kid who didn't make it a mulligan, which seems sort of time consuming and against the grain, if you will.

The tryout is in place to see several things (in any sport), but I think the main purpose is to see how an athlete performs under the pressure of "making it" or "not making it" based solely on his or her performance.

I'll talk specifically about golf now but you can insert virtually any sport here and I'm sure it holds up: Anyone can shoot 45 for 9 holes while they're playing with their friends or their dad or their grandfather or by themselves, even. (And when I say "anyone", you know what I mean.)

Sometimes that 45 includes a mulligan off the first tee ("we all just got here, take a breakfast ball off the first") or a ball behind a tree that gets moved into the rough because, your grandfather says, "you don't want to get hurt out here on a Saturday afternoon" or three putts within three feet that get knocked back to you because, "you make those every time".

Then, when the lights are on and it's tryout time, every shot counts, the ball behind the tree has to get punched out into the fairway instead of kicked into the rough and all of those three footers you never putted before suddenly don't go in. Your casual 45 turned into a 50 "like that".

So, that's what happens in the tryout. The pressure gets ramped up because something is at stake. And because every shot counts, the player is more prone to letting his/her nerves take over.

I'm not saying that's what happened in the case of the reader's submission to me, but that's usually why someone underperforms in golf. And that goes for golfers of all ages, not just kids. There are a lot of guys at clubs all over the area who can shoot 77 on the weekend with the boys but when the club championship or a local qualifier rolls around, that 77 becomes 82 or 84.

What happens is simple: Competition happens.

When there's something on the line, that's when your true performance comes out. That's really who you are as a player, in any sport.

Anyone can stand at the foul line and make 10 or 20 in a row. But can you make those with 2.7 seconds left when you're down 54-53 and there are 400 people in the stands watching?

Anyone can make a 30 yard field goal or stand there at practice and nail 5 of them in a row. Can you do that when it's 20-19 with 4 seconds left and the crowd is roaring and you look over at the bench and all of your teammates are standing there with their arms interlocked, hoping you make it?

Anyone can shoot 45 right up until the coach says, "Anyone who shoots over 45 today goes down to JV."

I had a friend last summer who took his PAT (Player Ability Test) in an effort to reach a certain status level for his PGA schooling. The PAT is a one-day, 36 hole competition where the player has to shoot 155 in order to "pass". That can be any combination: 80-75, 85-70, 78-77, etc. The flags are all basically put right in the middle of every green and players play the standard white tees.

"Should be easy," my friend said to me when he told me was going to Clustered Spires in Frederick for his PAT.

When he walked away, I said to a buddy of mine, "Zero chance he shoots 155," even though just the week before with us on a Friday he shot a 76 without any difficulty at all.

He shot 83-80 and returned home with more excuses than Harris and Walz had in November. "The guys I played with were terrible and spent all day looking for balls," "the greens were lousy" and best of all, "I got some terrible breaks off the tee."

Editor's note: Anytime someone says, "I got some terrible breaks off the tee" I always ask the same question: "Who hit it there in the first place?"

Those three things might very well have been true, but that's not why he didn't shoot 155 or lower.

The biggest reason why I knew he couldn't do it? Because the number stares you in the face from the first swing of the day and that's not the way golf is ever played.

Golf is a sport where you have no idea what you need or have to shoot before the round begins. I've had tournaments where I shot 68 and thought I was a shoo-in to win and came in and the guy said, "There are already four guys ahead of you" and I've had rounds where I shot 72 and thought I'd finish 5th and I was the low round of the day.

You never know what you have to shoot in golf. You just know you have to try to shoot the lowest score possible.

As soon as someone says, "You have to shoot 155 for two rounds today", you're doing something you almost never do in golf.

The same thing happened, sorta-kinda, with our reader's son. The coach said, basically, "For the next 3 days, every stroke you make counts."

His son will improve and (hopefully) become a varsity golfer someday when he's able to take his practice golf and turn it into his tournament golf.

And like the great Bobby Jones once said: "There's golf...and then there's tournament golf...and in no way are those two at all similar."

Tuesday February 25, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3837

your questions, my answers

Just reading Randy Morgan's Orioles preview yesterday got me excited about the rapidly approaching spring season here in The Land of Pleasant Living.

Two things always tell me spring has arrived.

Baseball's opening day.

The Masters.

When I hear that Dave Loggins music and Jim Nantz usher in the beginning of Saturday's broadcast with something like this, I know, for sure, spring has arrived: "The Georgia pines are moving today as a breeze has moved into this masterpiece of a golf course called Augusta National, where Scottie Scheffler is also breezing through the front nine. Here he is, just minutes ago, for a 3rd straight birdie at the difficult 5th hole...(crowd roars)...and there it is, Scheffler moves to 8 under par and takes a 3-shot lead in the 3rd round of the Masters. Welcome, friends, to the first major championship of the year here at Augusta National."

This has been an unsually "wintery winter" here in Bawlmer. And to say we've endured a "tough winter" is, of course, all relative to what other parts of the country have endured a "real" winter. But we're almost out of it now, and those baseballs in the air at Camden Yards next month and the Masters in early April will my official signal, at least, that spring has arrived.

So, seeing Randy's baseball preview yesterday was especially heartwarming. Spring is on the way.

My Calvert Hall golf team practicing is also symbolic of spring on the horizon. We would typically have started our on-course preparations in mid-February, but mother nature wouldn't allow it this year. So we turned our pre-season four-week fitness program into a pre-season six-week program and then, yesterday, finally made it out to practice at Country Club of Maryland, our home course.

I know spring is here when we're seeing the same friendly, familiar faces at CC of MD. Lacrosse and baseball players hustling around the Calvert Hall campus also tell me spring is here.

Maybe we get one more snap of cold weather or even an occasional March snowfall, but the ground will be green again in a day or two.

Before you know it, we'll be bantering back and forth here about how scandalous it is for the Ravens to charge full price for pre-season football.

Questions have been piling up in the inbox. I apologize I haven't been able to get to them, either here or via personal reply.

I'll try to knock a bunch out today and again later this week.

Brad asks -- "Can you explain to those less experienced with professional golf how that Brian Campbell guy up and wins a tournament out of nowhere? I've never heard of him before. How does that happen?"

DF says -- "The difference between a top 50 player on the PGA Tour and the guys ranked 51-200, let's say, is so small and narrow you can't believe it. On the practice range, you can't even tell them apart, basically.

I'm sure my friend, the Stats Nerd, can come up with something data-wise to prove my point, but the putting numbers for the #50 guy vs. the putting numbers for the #150 guy are incredibly miniscule. Maybe the #50 guy makes 2.5 more putts every 72 holes or something like that.

Brian Campbell is an incredibly competent professional golfer. He might have played the exact same way as he did in the recent tournament 15 previous times in his career, but never managed to parlay that into a win, either because someone played better that particular week or he missed a big putt or missed a green coming down the stretch that was the difference.

He may never win again. Or he might win again in July. Golf is a very fickle game. For you to win that week, not only do you have to play GREAT but you have to beat other guys who are also playing GREAT. It makes what Tiger, Phil and now, Scottie, have done, all the more impressive."

Alan asks -- "What are the odds the Ravens trade Mark Andrews prior to the draft? It seems like a great time to deal him. It would save the team a lot of money on the salary cap and open up more space for Likely and Kolar as well. That Buffalo play in the end zone could have sealed his fate right?"

DF says -- "My guess is the Ravens were going to trade Andrews before what happened in Buffalo happened in Buffalo. It seems like the most logical move to make with him, no matter if he catches that 2-point conversion or not. The Ravens need that cap space and Andrews definitely still has value around the league.

Whatever they can get for him would be a plus, but I could see a team somewhere giving up a 5th rounder for him. Maybe the Ravens take that 5th rounder and another 5th rounder and get someone's 4th round pick? I don't know. I just know the Ravens love to pile up draft picks and then go to work from there.

I wouldn't be shocked if Andrews is back next year, but I'd be more-than-mildly-surprised, let's say."

Bart asks -- "The Masters is almost here and the Masters pools are starting to float around at my club in Delaware and online. I have a pool I'm entering where 4 of the 5 guys have to be players who haven't won the Masters before. And I have one where you just pick your best 5. Any help would be appreciated.

DF says -- "Well, if you're just talking about five favorites, I'd say those are pretty obvious; Scottie, Aberg, Rory, Schauffele (if healthy) and Matsuyama. All five of those guys have played great at Augusta in their careers.

The other pool is the one that's intriguing. Scottie would be the "one" you'd include as a champion. And then I'd say you go with Morikawa, Clark, Aberg and, if you want a real dark horse to throw in there, Shane Lowry.

We're still six weeks out, but I think you're going to see someone other than Scottie win. I love Aberg's chances. He's my #1 guy at this point. I also think Wyndham Clark has a great chance. And so does Morikawa. They're my top 3. I just worry about Morikawa's putting. He is sooooooo hot and cold with the putter."

Chris P. asks -- "Are you doing your golf radio show again this year on The Fan?"

DF says -- "I'm glad you asked! Yes, I am. Sunday from 4-6 pm on 105.7. And it starts this Sunday, in fact. It will be a little sporadic until the end of college basketball, but once April rolls around I'll be on every Sunday. There will be occasions during the summer when I am not available to do it live and it will be recorded -- and those shows will generally only be one hour in length.

But, yes, the show is back and it starts this Sunday. I hope you tune in."

T.J. asks -- "On numerous occasions this year, I've seen you comment about people standing up during the national anthem at sporting events. I know this is going to come across like a dumb question but why does that bother you so much? I hope you can answer this in one of your columns on the site as I think people want to know. Thanks."

DF says -- "I have no idea if you're a home owner, but for the purposes of answering you, I'm going to assume you own a home. It (likely) has a backyard of some sort. You get out there in the spring and mulch it and dress it up nicely in hopes of having a nice looking yard for the kids to play in and for you to entertain friends and family members during the summer.

You have it looking like you want it to look. And suddenly, one day, you notice an area in the back by the brick wall has started to erode. The soil has shifted and it's starting to leave small holes near the wall.

A year later, the erosion is worse. Your yard, it appears, is actually "falling apart". The erosion is worse and it appears like you can't stop it, despite bringing in a professional to look it over.

Something is happening. But you don't know what it is. You can just see the evidence of the erosion.

That's why I don't like seeing people being disrespectful during the national anthem. It's erosion."

Michael C. asks -- "My friends and I got into this debate last Sunday at the golf course and I told them I'd ask you to give us your opinion on it. What's harder to do in sports? Make a hole in one, bowl a 300 game (ten pins) or run a mile in four minutes?"

DF says -- "I assume you're asking that of someone who doesn't have the natural or "learned" ability to do any of those? In other words, if you asked me, I'd probably tell you a hole-in-one since I don't bowl and running a 4 minute mile isn't possible for me due to some physical limitations in my feet.

If you asked a bowler the same question, they'd say bowling the 300 game is easier.

This is a great question, because all three have incredible nuance to them. Some people play golf forever and never make a hole in one, but yet they've holed out a shot from the fairway from 150 yards away, which is sorta-kinda just like making a hole in one.

Bowlers can bowl strike after strike and get down to the very last throw and knock down 9 pins instead of 10 and there goes their chance at 300.

Running around a track in one minute four straight times is also difficult to do, but I think just about anyone in good shape at a reasonable age could pull that off without having to worry much about "luck".

Sure, you have to be able to run and tolerate some discomfort on that last lap while you're pushing yourself, but I think running the four minute mile is the easiest of those 3 things to do.

I don't think a novice can bowl a 300 game. There's just too much precision required to do that.

There are lots of 15 handicap golfers with at least one hole in one. They can't break 80, or even 90, but they can make a hole in one.

There's zero chance that a 15-handicap bowler can bowl a 300 game.

Your answer is: bowl a 300 game."

	"Randy On The O's"
Randy Morgan takes #DMD readers through the recent week in Orioles baseball as the Birds try to earn a third straight A.L. playoff appearance.

2025 orioles season preview, part 2

How Will the O’s Lineup Replace Santander’s Power?

The other significant offseason departure leaves a considerable power gap to fill in the O’s lineup. Anthony Santander averaged 35 homers per year over the past three seasons and the Orioles will now need to figure out how to replace that power production.

The most obvious choice is new signing Tyler O’Neill, who will likely replace Santander in right field. O’Neill has pretty significant splits for his career against righties and lefties, which were even more dramatic last season. In 2024 the only hitter better than O’Neill’s 215 wRC+ against lefties was AL MVP Aaron Judge.

Against right-handed pitching it was another story, with a below average 91 wRC+. This may suggest a platoon role for O’Neill with a lefty bat like Heston Kjerstad or Ryan O’Hearn, but the three year, $49.5 million deal the O’s front office gave to O’Neill implies they see him as more than a platoon fit.

O’Neill may represent a defensive upgrade over Santander as well, with Gold Glove awards in 2020 and 2021, though injuries may have sapped some of his range, as he finished with a below average defensive WAR in 2024 by both Fangraphs and Baseball Reference.

Aside from O’Neill, Elias and company will be looking to the young bats on the Orioles to take a step forward to fill any void left by Santander. Jackson Holiday is expected to make the Opening day roster after returning to the big leagues down the stretch last season.

The former #1 overall prospect has all the tools to be a difference maker, but the Orioles will need him to take a leap similar to Gunnar Henderson in his second season to secure an everyday starting job.

Additional pop may come from a trio of other young prospects looking to earn their way to more significant roles. Colton Cowser had a solid rookie season last year, just missing out on the Rookie of the Year award. He will be the starter in left field and look to build on his 24 home runs and .768 performance while providing above average defense.

Heston Kjerstad and Coby Mayo both put up eye-popping numbers in AAA Norfolk last season but saw limited opportunities in the majors. Many thought one of them or perhaps first baseman Ryan Mountcastle may be included in a trade to nab a top quality starter but none materialized and now the three will again battle for playing time.

Mayo could provide some of the right-handed power lost with Santander’s departure, but he doesn’t have a clear position in majors yet. It will be interesting to see if he gets any reps in the outfield during Spring Training or if the front office see’s him strictly as an infielder or DH.

Sorting Out the Outfield and DH Roles

The cluster of players mentioned above are another item to watch during Spring Training. With Cedric Mullins locked in at center and Colton Cowser the likely starter in left field, it leaves a lot of competition for right field, first base and DH.

While the day to day starters will likely be heavily dependent on pitching matchups, the spring may give a clue to how the pecking order sets up for the early season.

As mentioned above, O’Neill’s contract suggests he is viewed as more than just a lefty-masher, so he must be the favorite for the majority of the right field starts. Cowser will deputize for Mullins in center from time to time, allowing one of these players to slide over to left occasionally.

Mountcastle would appear to be the favorite for the majority of the first base starts, but we could see O’Hearn or Kjerstad spell him against some right-handed pitching. Meanwhile Coby Mayo has yet to establish a position and seems likely to start the year in Norfolk.

There is also journeyman outfielder Ramon Laureano, who the Orioles signed to a one year, $4 million deal late in the offseason. He profiles as a fourth outfielder or defensive replacement but has hit lefties fairly well in his career.

Another player on the fringe of the roster is Jorge Mateo, who will start the season on the IL but has consistently been valued by the front office when healthy.

Bullpen Pecking Order

The final spring storyline will be the shape the bullpen takes heading into the season opener. Star closer Felix Bautista is returning from Tommy John surgery and has thrown live in the bullpen, but hasn’t been throwing at top velocity yet. His status will be the key to the rest of the bullpen, but the team expects him to return to the closer role sooner or later.

Hyde will then need to determine where the rest of the arms fall in behind The Mountain. Gone are Jacob Webb and Danny Coulombe, who were both reliable arms last season, but Yennier Cano, Keegan Akin, Seranthony Dominguez, Cionel Perez, Albert Suarez and Gregory Soto all return, along with new signing Andrew Kittredge.

Dominguez assumed the closer role down the stretch last season after the organization tired of Craig Kimbrel’s repeated collapses. He showed good stuff but was prone to homers. He may get the first crack at the right-handed setup role.

That role could also go to Kittredge, who was effective last year in late innings and was brought in as a veteran arm. Cano has also had previous success in the late innings, especially setting up Bautista in 2023.

Keegan Akin was one of the Orioles more effective relievers last year and should be the favorite for high leverage lefty situations. Soto had a volatile start to his Baltimore career but did settle in as the season wound down.

Perhaps the O’s pitching staff can tweak his approach enough to make him an effective power lefty. Albert Suarez will likely start as the long reliever unless he impresses enough to start the season in the rotation. He was the surprise out of camp last spring, so there is always the possibility of a similar longshot making the roster again this year.

Outlook

With an exceptional young core in place and growing in experience, the biggest questions revolve around how the other pieces can fit together to get this group over their playoff hump. At this point there doesn’t appear to be an ace starter swooping in to lead the team like Burnes did last season.

Any hopes of an improved rotation will have to come from the lower stakes additions made in the offseason or through a midseason trade or a breakout from one of the young arms at Norfolk.

Though the owner has stated “I don’t have a financial limit”, the Orioles only modestly increased their payroll this offseason and have yet to sign any of their highly prized young talent to long term extensions.

The honeymoon period for Rubenstein and Elias will be rapidly closing this season. Making the playoffs two straight seasons is a long way from the mire this franchise languished in for the better part of a decade, but for fans that stuck with the team through thick and thin, a third straight season with no playoff wins would be a hard pill to swallow.

To this point, the excellent rebuild that Elias has pulled off has justified some of the darkest losing seasons, but if the team ends up with no hardware to show for it and stars like Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman finish their careers in Los Angeles or New York, it would be hard to look back on the tanking as a successful strategy.

The AL East isn’t getting any easier this year either. The Yankees lost crucial firepower with Juan Soto heading across town to the Mets, but they used some of the free cash to sign one of the top pitchers available in Max Fried.

The Red Sox and Blue Jays both splashed some cash in free agency to bring in star players, Alex Bregman for Boston and Max Scherzer and Anthony Santander in Toronto.

The Rays typically did not do anything flashy in the offseason, but seem poised for a rebound after an uncharacteristic down year in 2024 and several top prospects on the rise.

The Orioles have plenty of talent to compete with any team in the non-Dodgers division, but there are a few more question marks this season than there were last year.

Despite that, they remain among the favorites for the division and the American League, behind only the Yankees and the Astros in the betting markets.

As long as the team isn’t devastated by injuries they should be in playoff competition come the end of the summer, it’s just a matter of taking that next step when they get their opportunity.

Monday February 24, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3836

have we made it?

I realize this is probably tempting the weather-gods and all, and that's certainly not what I'm trying to do, but we're closing in on March 1 around here and the 15-day forecast is looking pretty favorable.

As a golf coach of a team that plays in the spring, weather becomes my favorite hobby until mid-May. I'm constantly looking at it to ascertain if we're able to practice or if matches will go off as planned.

Anything above 37 degrees and we're practicing/playing. Today's expected weather of 55 and sunny is a real late February blessing for us.

We were blessed to spend the last four-plus days in Hammock Beach, Florida (70 miles south of Jacksonville) at an amazing resort as part of our pre-season for Calvert Hall Golf.

On Thursday and Friday -- our first two rounds there -- the weather was unseasonably chaotic. It was "only" in the mid 50's both days and the winds were in the 20 mph range throughout each of the rounds with some gusts, according to the weather, recorded at 27 mph on Friday.

Anyway, after Friday's round, we were walking back to the hotel and two members of the club where we just played stopped us and asked about Calvert Hall.

"We've been seeing the young men in Calvert Hall clothing and we saw the bags on the range," they explained.

We told them about the school, location, etc.

The older of the two said, "You guys didn't play today, did you? In this kind of weather?"

I said, "Of course we did. It's an outdoor sport."

The younger of the two said, "It's only an outdoor sport when it's at least 70 degrees outside!"

It's amazing the perspective we have on weather based on where we live and what we expect it will be tomorrow.

For us, we were thrilled to get out of 30 degree temperatures in Baltimore and go somewhere warm, even if "warm" to us was 55 degrees and howling winds.

For those folks in Hammock Beach, there's no thought at all of playing in 55 degree weather. It will be 75 in two days, they think, and they'll just play golf again that day.

I didn't see it happen live yesterday, of course, but Alex Ovechkin's hat trick vs. Edmonton really spikes up the last 25 games of the Capitals season.

Ovi now needs 12 goals to tie Wayne Gretzky and 13 to break the all-time goal scoring record.

Once he gets down to with 7 goals, things will really start to heat up.

It's looking more like he's going to break the mark this year, but he needs another "chunk" of goals in a 3 or 4 game stretch to get within real striking distance. If he's within, say, 8 goals with 20 games remaining, he's going to break the mark this season.

What's also getting lost a bit in this goal-scoring pursuit is how freakin' good the Capitals are in '24-25.

This is not a fluke.

It's actually taking us back to the days a dozen years ago when they were among the perennial favorites every spring and then routinely flatlined in round one or two of the post-season. Back then, they were kicking butt and taking names in the regular season just like they are this year, but something always bit them in the playoffs.

This feels like that, but different, I think, in that they have won a Cup (albeit with only a few guys from that Cup winning team still on the roster today) and know what it takes to survive and thrive in the post-season.

Still, they are the Capitals, and post-season failures are part of their DNA. It would be very Capitals-like for them to finish with 110 points and cruise to the top seed in the conference only to fall to (insert team here) in the second round, 4-games-to-2.

I don't actually think that's going to happen. I have a good feeling about this edition of the Caps. That said, I also know they're very capable of a post-season blow up.

And speaking of spring, our friend Randy Morgan is back to guide us through the early stages of the Orioles pre-season down in Sarasota, Florida.

Playoff hockey, golf in 55 degree weather, baseballs in the air.

As the great Biz Markie once said -- "It's spring again."

	"Randy On The O's"
Randy Morgan takes #DMD readers through the recent week in Orioles baseball as the Birds try to earn a third straight A.L. playoff appearance.

2025 orioles season preview

A year ago, the Orioles entered spring training as a rising power, fresh off a surprising 101-win season. This time, they arrive in Sarasota as a team with unfinished business. After back-to-back early playoff exits, the challenge isn’t proving they belong among baseball’s best—it’s figuring out how to take the next step.

With key offseason departures, promising young talent, and new faces in critical roles, the 2025 Orioles have plenty of questions to answer before Opening Day.

The Orioles are coming off a 91-71 season, securing the top AL Wild Card in a second straight playoff appearance. Unfortunately, their playoff struggles continued as they were swept out of their first series for the second year in a row, this time by the upstart Kansas City Royals.

While in 2023 it was the pitching that led to their ultimate demise, last season the offense went cold in October, delivering another swift exit.

Now, after an offseason of key losses and strategic additions, the O’s are set to enter the third year of a title contending window with a mix of young talent and veteran reinforcements.

The 2025 campaign brings new challenges: Can they replace the loss of ace Corbin Burnes? Will the young hitters take the next step? And will this be the year they finally break through in the playoffs?

Key Offseason Moves

Notable Departures

Corbin Burnes, SP - Signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks (6 years, $210M)

Anthony Santander, OF - Signed with the Toronto Blue Jays (5 years, $92.5M)

James McCann, C - Free agent

The loss of Burnes and Santander is significant. Burnes was a true ace at the front of the rotation, and his absence creates uncertainty in a staff that had major durability concerns last year. Santander, meanwhile, provided power from both sides of the plate and the ability to carry the offense during hot stretches.

Key Additions

Tyler O’Neill, OF (3 years, $49.5M)

Gary Sánchez, C (1 year, $8.5M)

Tomoyuki Sugano, SP (1 year, $13M)

Charlie Morton, SP (1 year, $15M)

Andrew Kittredge, RP (1 year, $10M)

Felix Bautista, RP (returning from injury)

O’Neill brings right-handed power and some past defensive accolades but has had some injury struggles in previous years. Sugano and Morton are lower-cost gambles to help stabilize a rotation in transition, while Sánchez replaces McCann as Adley Rutschman’s backup.

Kittredge helps to fortify a bullpen that lacked some consistency last season. However, the most significant offseason addition will be the return of dominant closer Felix Bautista, for whom the Orioles never found an adequate replacement in 2024.

Spring Training Storylines to Watch

1. The Rotation Without Burnes – Who Steps Up?

The rotation is in flux following Burnes’ departure. With the arrival of new wealthy owner David Rubenstein, many fans expected the Orioles would either sign Burnes or sign/trade for a suitable replacement such as Max Fried or Dylan Cease.

Unfortunately no such deal emerged in the offseason, leaving the starting rotation as one of the biggest question marks heading into 2025.

Here is the current projected rotation on Opening Day:

Zach Eflin (RHP) – Steady and reliable, but can he be a true No. 1?

Grayson Rodriguez (RHP) – Huge upside, but can he develop into an ace?

Charlie Morton (RHP) – Veteran presence, but will age catch up to him?

Dean Kremer (RHP) – Solid innings-eater, but not dominant.

Tomoyuki Sugano (RHP) – The unknown factor.

Zach Eflin now becomes the de facto ace. He was spectacular after being acquired from the Rays last year, finishing with a 2.60 ERA and 145 ERA+ in Baltimore. However, his output prior to joining the Birds was merely league average.

So the question becomes whether Eflin can maintain the top of the rotation performance he flashed in Baltimore throughout the entire 2025 season.

Grayson Rodriguez had an up-and-down first full MLB season but showed flashes of dominance. He’ll need to stay healthy and take another step forward to become the ace-in-waiting he has been tapped to be.

Charlie Morton is a veteran workhorse but is entering his age-41 season. Over the last four seasons he has alternated between league average and above average outputs. Based on his track record he would appear to have a high-floor, but given his age the question is how much he has left in the tank?

Dean Kremer has been steady but unspectacular, proving himself a reliable back of the rotation starter but with limited upside. Last season saw him increase both his strikeout rate and his walk rate for the third year in a row. The Orioles may hope they can unlock some further development from the 29 year old to help him reach another level this season.

Tomoyuki Sugano is the wild card of the group. The Japanese righty dominated NPB last year and boasts several of the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young award. The question will be how well his stuff translates to MLB?

As a very late arrival to MLB on a short term contract, the Orioles will need him to adjust quickly to provide value and help the team contend. Sugano profiles similar to Zach Eflin, with exceptional control and a diverse pitch arsenal.

He also brings a wealth of veteran experience, albeit from Japan. The main concerns are his relatively low velocity and his durability at age 35.

The other wild card that could give the rotation a boost is the return of 2023 ace Kyle Bradish. The hard-throwing righty is expected to return sometime in the second half of 2025, but it's anybody’s guess whether he will regain the All-Star form he displayed two seasons ago.

Aside from Bradish, the O’s have a few potential reinforcements starting the season in Norfolk. Cade Povich, Chayce McDermott and Brandon Young all had success in the minors in 2024 and could push their way into the rotation. Povich fluctuated between brilliant and disastrous when he was forced into the rotation last season due to injuries, but he has intriguing upside.

McDermott will start the season working his way back from an injury setback, so may be further from the big league picture. While Young has a lively arm but isn’t seen as a high potential prospect.

Last year’s surprise of the season, veteran Albert Suarez could also factor into the rotation once again. Though he could prove valuable as a long reliever as well.

Part 2 of the spring training preview runs tomorrow with more “storylines to follow”.

Sunday February 23, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3835

who is the "mvp" of the last 30 years?

I know you're probably not ready for another MVP debate here in Charm City.

Didn't we just finish crying about Lamar losing out to Josh Allen? Now...we have to debate another MVP?

We do, yes.

We're looking for the "Most Valuable Person" in all of sports over the last 30 years.

Who is it?

A player?

A coach?

A team executive?

When I initially thought about this, I considered at least nominating and mulling over the people who created and starting the social media platform, Twitter. Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams started it back in 2006 and within six years, there were 100 million daily users.

The landscape for sports reporting changed almost overnight with the development of Twitter.

I considered Twitter as the "MVP", but the platform's current owner would draw too much ire and contempt, so I'm leaving it in the on deck circle. Make no mistake about it, though, Twitter has been incredibly important and relevant in the world of sports over the last three decades.

I thought long and hard about a player or athlete to serve as our MVP. I mulled over the usual suspects; Tiger, Brady, Serena, Shohei, LeBron, etc.

And then I gave careful consideration to the coach/executive category as well. League commissioners were evaluated.

How is Roger Goodell not the MVP? He has been at the helm of the most successful sports league, EVER. And while it's not all his doing, obviously, Goodell has been the central figure of the NFL for 20 years.

The best coach in the best league? It's been Bill Belichick, of course. But it didn't take Belichick leaving the Patriots to make them terrible. It took Tom Brady departing to send the Patriots to the bottom of the AFC East. And after a few years of losing, Belichick was no longer interested in hanging around New England.

Coach K? Sure, he took Duke basketball to "icon school" heights merely through basketball. The same for Nick Saban and Alabama football. They became a college football "brand" under Saban's tutelage.

There are lots of potential candidates, but this is a very wide reaching category as well.

Shohei Ohtani is a hero in both Japan and the United States. That's "MVP" stuff for sure. But he's only played in the big leagues for six years.

Barry Bonds owns the home run record, still, and chicks definitely dig the long ball, as the saying goes. But Bonds broke the record while being among the sport's most disliked people. Tough to give him his due based on that alone.

Our four "Honorable Mention" finalists are: Tom Brady, for taking a Patriots franchise from moribund to perennial title contender.

Nick Saban, for building a college football dynasty at Alabama, much the same way Bear Bryant once did a long time ago.

Roger Goodell, for his guidance of the NFL and moving the league into the European market and setting sports revenue records with TV and media packages.

LeBron James, for not only staying above the fray throughout his NBA career, but for winning titles with three different teams along the way.

Our "Most Valuable Person" since 1995 is UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma, who has won 11 national championships with the Lady Huskies, while also capturing two Olympic gold medals as the U.S. women's coach in 2012 and 2016.

The UConn women won 4 of 5 national championships starting in 1999-2000, then won four in a row once again starting in 2012-2013. From the 2013-14 season through the next three seasons, UConn's record was 116-1.

They played 117 games and lost one time.

Auriemma didn't invent basketball, of course. But it can largely be argued he built women's basketball. And the creation and success of the WNBA can be tied directly to him and the growth of the sport through the dominance of the UConn women's program.

Yes, women's college basketball was played prior to Geno Auriemma showing up at UConn. But no one really cared about women's college basketball in this country until Auriemma built the Lady Huskies into a powerhouse.

These days, when you see a 12-year old girl bouncing a basketball somewhere in this country -- or abroad, even -- there's a good chance Geno Auriemma and his basketball program somehow influenced that youngster.

And the best-kept secret about Auriemma is he has been willing to bring in the best players from all over the world and integrate them into his system and teach them how to play basketball together, which is easier said than done.

His critics will often say: "Of course Geno wins, he has all the best players."

That's not the easy-peasy stroll down the garden path you think it is.

It's hard to take great players and make them all fit in with one another. But Geno has managed to do that at UConn.

And now it's your turn. Who is your MVP in the world of sports over the last 30 years? Use the Comments section below.

Saturday February 22, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3834

nothing beats "that" moment

OK, so I suspect this category will be one that winds up being hotly debated here at #DMD today.

It's not a "Most Valuable" discussion but, instead, focuses on the "Best Sports Moment" of the last 30 years. Yes, that covers an incredible amount of territory, games, instant classic finishes and so on.

I started off with a list of about 10 candidates for this category. Along the way, I came up with a handful more that I considered.

There are a lot of them to think about.

Here's one clarification before I get to it. You can't say "Ravens win the Super Bowl" as your top moment. I mean, you can say that if you like, but it won't count. You know what I mean.

Now, if you wanted to say, "Justin Tucker's game winning field goal in Denver in overtime in the 2013 playoffs", that would count. It has to be something you can pinpoint and say, "that moment, right there..."

In order, here are my "Honorable Mention" final four.

Mark McGwire's 70th home run on September 27, 1998. I know he was on the juice. We all knew it then, too, but it didn't matter. McGwire's historic home chase of 1998 (along with Sammy Sosa) had the networks cutting into their regularly scheduled programming for his late September at-bats.

The David Tyree "helmet catch" in the Super Bowl on February 3, 2008 that helped the Giants shock the Patriots. It was 3rd and 5 from the NY 44 yard line. The Patriots were two defensive stops away from winning the Super Bowl. Eli Manning was nearly sacked, but still managed to get into position to make a downfield throw to try to keep the game alive.

Tyree was heavily guarded but somehow pinned the ball against his helmet on the way down to the ground and not only held on to the ball, but "completed the catch" in the same motion. The Giants would score a touchdown moments later and win the title, 17-14.

The Kris Jenkins buzzer-beater in the 2016 NCAA championship game that gave Villanova a 77-74 "instant classic" win over North Carolina. It was Villanova's second national championship. The Jenkins shot has been replayed thousands of times during March Madness ever since.

It's every basketball player's dream. The ball in his or her hands with a shot to win the title. And Jenkins nailed it.

Brandi Chastain's penalty kick goal that gave the U.S. Women's soccer team the 1999 World Cup. Sure, it's a kick from 12 yards out that virtually every pro soccer player makes 85% of the time, but this one, in particular, was more than "just a kick".

Chastain not only made it to win the World Cup for the U.S. women, it started a two-decade run of dominance for that program and also generated interest in women's soccer with millions of little girls all over America.

The top sports moment since 1995 is the Tiger Woods chip-in behind the 16th green at the 2005 Masters. It is, based on the moment, degree of difficulty and impact on the outcome, the greatest single shot ever hit in major championship golf.

I'll admit you have to be a golfer to understand the difficulty of the shot. If you don't play golf, you definitely don't get it.

But this shot was probably 1 in 500. Maybe even 1 in 1,000.

And those are numbers for Tiger Woods.

For you, me and the rest of the great unwashed, it might be 1 in 5,000.

Woods actually went on to bogey #17 and #18 to fall into a playoff with Chris DiMarco, which he eventually won anyway.

But that shot, where he went from likely making bogey-four instead of birdie-two, was the reason he even made it into the playoff with DiMarco in the first place.

It also helps if you've been to Augusta National and seen the layout of the hole to understand just how incredibly difficult the shot was in the first place. Then add on Sunday afternoon, Masters on the line, etc., and you get a much better feel for the shot.

Tiger's chip-in is the best sports moment of the last 30 years.

Friday February 21, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3833

u.s. hockey needed a better man

Well, that really was, by anyone's definition...an instant classic.

I'm talking about last night's hockey game between Canada and U.S., won by our friends from the 51st state, 3-2 in overtime.

Connor McDavid notched the game-winner for Canada after U.S. scoring star Auston Matthews had three unreal chances in sudden death but couldn't solve Canada's rock star goaltender, Jordan Binnington.

There's a saying in hockey about a goaltender who is playing out of his mind: "The goalie is standing on his head."

Binnington did that and more last night, particularly in overtime, when it looked like the Americans were going to put the game away. He robbed Matthews twice within a minute, including a remarkable save off of his right shoulder from close range followed by a terrific glove save from 20 feet out on the Maple Leafs' standout.

That all set the stage for McDavid to deliver the game-winner on a nifty pass from Toronto's Mitch Marner. McDavid ripped a shot into the upper left corner of the goal from about 15 feet away and Canada gained revenge -- and then some -- for last Saturday's 3-1 loss to the U.S. in Montreal.

Unlike that game, though, last night was just about hockey. The fans in Boston were were remarkably (surprisingly?) docile during the Canadian national anthem and there were no fireworks or tension on the ice at the outset. Canada went up 1-0, the Americans eventually led 2-1, and Canada tied it in the 2nd period on a goal by Sam Bennett.

There were chances in the 3rd period but no goals, paving the way for overtime and Binnington's outrageous play in net for the winners.

No one's All-Star Game really works any longer. There was a time, of course, when athletes played for equal parts money and pride and playing in an All-Star Game meant something to an athlete, no matter the sport.

Those days, sadly, are gone. All-Star Games are largely looked at as an obstacle, not a privilege.

Hockey, though, might have figured out something with the birth of the 4 Nations tournament. It wasn't an All-Star Game, on the record, but it was a de factor edition of one, minus the league's talented Russian players. And it worked, big time, but mainly because the U.S. and Canada worked their way into last night's final game in Boston.

You couldn't run the 4 Nations event every year, clearly, but you could run something similar to it every other year, perhaps.

Whatever the NHL decides to do moving forward, they know a mid-season multi-country event can work. The other sports would love to have that same level of confidence in their All-Star Game.

We're stepping away from sports today in our "Most Valuable" series we're running this week. As promised, this morning's content focuses on the "MVMA", or, the Most Valuable Music Artist over the last 30 years.

This one is probably going to one that yields the most discourse because, of course, music does that to people. There was really no debating Ray Lewis (Wednesday) or Tiger Woods (Thursday), but today's entry is likely to create some water cooler discussion.

That said, my #1 rule when evaluating the various artists and bands I considered in this category starts with this: I put a significant amount of stock in longevity.

Someone who has been in the music scene for 30 years immediately got more "points", if you will, then someone who has been in the industry for 15 years. Or 10 years.

I also put a lot of stock in what I consider "music that matters". What was the cultural impact of an artist's music? I asked myself that as I evaluated my final 6-8 candidates.

Record sales mattered. But only a little.

The sale of albums over the last decade is kind of like attendance in sports. It used to matter. It no longer does.

Concert attendance and tour revenues mattered, too, but those were not overly important. I mean, you can find 15,000 people in Washington D.C. to come out and see R.E.O. Speedwagon and they haven't been relevant for 20 years.

"Music that matters" is hard to define, but it generally connects mainly with song writing and lyrical content.

So, without further adieu, let's get to it.

The four Honorable Mention finalists are: U2, Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift and Eminem.

I don't think you need me to justify any of those four.

Swift would be the one you could pick apart and say, maybe, someone like Garth Brooks could be part of the Honorable Mention four and Swift would have to sit this one out.

While it might be true that several of Brooks' biggest hits actually came out before 1995, he remains the top selling solo artist in the history of music.

Alas, we went with Swift based mainly on both album sales and quality of her music, plus her incredibly successful world wide tour in 2024.

Swift's 15 year run is incredible.

U2, Springsteen and E have stood the test of time..

U2 and Springsteen have both made music that mattered for 30 years.

Eminem is, without question, a cultural icon who has also produced some of hip-hop's most memorable and important music over the last 30 years.

In case the headline of today's #DMD didn't give it away, Pearl Jam is our selection as the "MVMA" over the last 30 years.

Everything they've done since 1995 has been remarkable.

Album sales, tour revenues, "music that matters", incredible song writing and production. They have been the best of the best over the last 30 years.

And here's something that resonated with the committee (well, me) when I got down to the nitty gritty of picking the winner of this particular category.

Their two most recent albums have been exceptional.

It's very rare that a band or artist puts out better (or equal to) studio music as their career rolls on. Pearl Jam has done that.

Their 2024 album, Dark Matter, is as good as anything they've ever done. The song below, Scared of Fear, is the first tune on that album.

U2, Springsteen, Taylor Swift and Eminem have all "made a difference" with their fan bases and audiences all over the world.

So, too, has Pearl Jam. Over the last 30 years, no one has done it quite as well as they've done it.

faith in sports

In keeping with today's (mostly) non-sports theme, our "Faith in Sports" segment will spotlight Jim Carrey, the actor and comedian, who delivers an incredibly powerful 12 minute video (below) on how his life has been transformed through Jesus Christ.

The tag on the video says "Must Watch", which is kind of like seeing "New and Improved!" on dishwashing soap, laundry detergent, etc.

But this video with Jim Carrey is "Must Watch" content.

It's incredibly powerful to listen to Carrey talk about his struggles and how faith helped him get back on level ground.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our "Faith in Sports" segment every Friday.

Thursday February 20, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3832

the g.o.a.t. -- of them all

The term GOAT in sports is very touchy.

I mean, by definition, the GREATEST of all-time is singular, right?

For example, if Tom Brady is the quarterback GOAT, then Joe Montana can't be. Johnny Unitas can't be. Peyton Manning can't be.

Right?

But we throw that term around -- GOAT -- to pretty much say that he/she belongs in the discussion.

You might think Brady is the GOAT I might think it's Montana. But we'd both agree that Brady and Montana are viable GOAT candidates.

Right?

This one, today, was much more difficult to finish off than yesterday's "BMVA" award.

There are, honestly, five or six people worthy of discussion for the GOAT Of All GOATS.

Oddly enough, the only baseball player I might have considered as a finalist would be Mike Trout. Shohei Ohtani will eventually be considered a GOAT in MLB. No two ways about it.

But the only baseball player over the last 30 years who has been dominant enough to be even remotely mentioned as a GOAT would be Trout.

Alas, he's not an Honorable Mention finalist.

Over the last 30 years, there are really only two NBA players worthy of discussion in this debate. LeBron James and Stephen Curry.

In the NHL, you have Ovechkin and Crosby. McDavid is the current best player in hockey, for sure, but he hasn't played nearly enough to have the same stature as Ovi and Crosby.

NFL wise, there are a number of potential candidates. Brady, Peyton, Ray Lewis, Patrick Mahomes. Those five would be worth discussing.

In individual sports, there are numerous possibilities: Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic in tennis. Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky in swimming.

In golf, there's Tiger Woods. And Annika Sorenstam. Those two were head and shoulders better than everyone else in their respective sports.

So who are the four Honorable Mention finalists and who is the GOAT of The GOATS?

It would be easy to just throw Djokovic and Serena in there. They are the best of all-time, tennis wise. No two ways about it.

But in a tennis tournament, you're generally only beating six players to win a title.

We're not taking anything away from how great they've both been. Not in the least. Just trying to compartmentalize their greatness, that's all.

If there's one basketball player who deserves to be a finalist, it's LeBron. There isn't anything he hasn't done in his career.

Yes, that first departure from Cleveland and the whole "Taking My Talents To South Beach" saga was a bit cheesy. And not cool. But years later, LeBron acknowledged that was a bush league way to go about it.

Other than the Miami move, there was pretty much nothing else about LeBron's career you could criticize. He was a GREAT player in Cleveland the first time around, a great player in Miami, a great player back in Cleveland, and he's been great in Los Angeles, despite the shift in conference power throughout his Lakers tenure.

He's done it all. He might not be Michael Jordan. But he's LeBron James. And he's arguably the 2nd best NBA player of the last 50 years behind Jordan.

Tom Brady is also a "must" finalist. I mean, there's an argument he's the GOAT of all the GOATS, right? He won in New England. Forever. And then he went to Tampa Bay -- without Bill Belichick -- and somehow took the Buccaneers from the outhouse to the penthouse.

If he's NOT the best quarterback since 1995, who is? And if quarterback isn't the most important position in sports, what is?

When you're the best of the best, at the quarterback position, you're a friggin' GOAT.

Back to Michael Phelps for a second. He earns Honorable Mention status, too. 23 gold medals, a gazillion world records (most of which have been eclipsed, in fairness) and a dominance in the sport unlike almost anything else we've seen in ANY sport.

I ran this particular category past a very good sports-minded friend of mine that I trusted to give me unbiased commentary on six different names.

"Phelps was great," he said. "I'm not going to take away from what he did. But in a lot of cases, he beat the 2nd place finisher by less than a half-a-second. Michael was probably a total of 4 seconds away from winning 16 gold medals instead of 23."

"And some of his golds were relay events, don't forget," he concluded.

Fair enough. Those two objections were noted. I'm not sure they moved me very much, honestly, but they were fair observations about Phelps and his success.

There's three Honorable Mention finalists. Phelps, Brady and LeBron.

The fourth finalist is Patrick Mahomes. There will be arguments FOR Peyton Manning over Patrick Mahomes, but those arguments are quickly mitigated when you take into account that Mahomes has been to SEVEN consecutive AFC Championship Games, played in FIVE Super Bowls and has won championship rings in that time.

He's already done more than Peyton Manning did, winning wise, and Mahomes still has at least six good years left in his career.

Based on what you've seen, would you rather have Peyton Manning in his prime quarterbacking your team...or Patrick Mahomes?

And before you answer, please remember who Manning threw to (real receivers who were for their careers) and who Mahomes has thrown to (someone different every year except for Kelce).

I'll take Mahomes at the height of his career over Manning.

There are our four Honorable Mention finalists.

Brady, LeBron, Phelps and Mahomes.

When I first started thinking about this category, Tom Brady was the initial winner.

I was always going to consider Tiger and LeBron. And Mahomes. But Brady was the initial winner.

A day later, I also thought very hard about Phelps as the GOAT of all GOATS.

For a second or two (hours), I was trying to convince myself that it was Phelps.

Brady?

Phelps?

Either would be fine.

In the end, though, neither of them won.

The GOAT of all GOATS is Eldrick "Tiger" Woods.

The wins...82 of them.

The majors...15 of them.

The number of people around the world who took up golf because of Tiger? Millions.

On the course, no one in the last 50 years has sniffed what Woods did.

He won 3 straight U.S. Junior titles and then 3 straight U.S. Amateur titles. Never been done before -- never going to be done again.

He turned professional in 1996 and less than a year later he won the Masters.

From 1997 through 2008, no one could beat him. He won the "Tiger Slam" in 2000 and 2001 and won the 2008 U.S. Open on a broken leg at Torrey Pines.

His career from 2009 until 2014 was littered with injuries and surgeries and incomplete seasons. But he won 8 tournaments combined in 2012 and 2013. There are GREAT PGA Tour players who won't or didn't win 8 tournaments...in their entire golf career.

But the biggest push for Tiger comes from the 82 wins and the fact that golf tournaments often times feature fields of 100 or more players.

Sam Snead won 82 times. Tiger has won 82 as well. No one else has many wins as those two guys.

Tiger has more wins than Jack. And Arnie. And Hogan. And Nelson.

And...in order to win a golf tournament, you have to beat all 100 of those guys over FOUR days.

Winning a tournament on the PGA Tour requires almost error-free golf. Sure, you can make a bogey here and there. You can 3-putt from 20 feet once every four days. Maybe twice.

But you can't -- with very rare exceptions -- shoot 76 and win a golf tournament. All you need in professional golf is one bad round, which 76 is, and you're done.

Tiger beat everyone for the better part of 14 years in a sport where you just don't see that kind of dominance come along except two or three times every century.

And the guys who are beating him on the PGA Tour now? Tiger's the reason they started playing golf in the first place 20 and 25 years ago.

Scottie Scheffler? Because of Tiger.

Tom Kim? Because of Tiger.

Ludvig Aberg? Because of Tiger.

Patrick Cantlay? Because of Tiger.

Xander Schauffele? Because of Tiger.

Brooks, Bryson and Reed? Because of Tiger.

So Tiger's the GOAT of All GOATS.

The more I went through the list of candidates, the more obvious it became.

Tiger's the GOAT.

Of all of the best of the best, he's the best.

On Friday, we're going to shift to music. Who is the "MVMA" of the last 30 years? That is, the "Most Valuable Music Arist" since 1995. We've left this one open intentionally to inspire all of you deep thinkers. No, that doesn't automatically disqualify fans of the Beatles or the Flyers. You guys and gals can still join in.

Go through the albums, the songs, the shows, the tickets sold -- however you decide to judge it, it's up to you. Who is the "Most Valuable Music Artist" of the last 30 years? That's coming on Friday.

This Saturday, we move to iconic sports moments of the last 30 years. What is the very best "Sports Moment" you saw? Go through the memory bank and think about NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB, plus golf, tennis, and anything else in sports. Which one single moment stood out to you the most?

I have a list of about 10 I'm already considering. This one's a tough category.

And then, on Sunday, we'll wrap it all up with the king of them all, the "MVP" in sports over the last 30 years.

Except the "p" stands for "person", instead of "player". Who, over the last 30 years, has been the absolute top dawg, the #1 "person" in all of sports? Owner, player, coach, executive. That's a lot of folks to consider. Who is #1?

Wednesday February 19, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3831

was there ever any doubt?

As you're going to see over the next five days, I've put considerable thought into my various winners of this week's "Most Valuable" content here at #DMD.

Each category will include four "Honorable Mention" finalists, but I won't put them in order nor will I offer much explanation on how they got into the final 5.

I figure it like this: You're either going to agree with the Honorable Mention list or you won't. And I doubt you'll be swayed to change your mind if you read something from me defending my choices.

As always, you're welcome to provide your own finalists and your own winners below.

Today's entry is, honestly, probably the one I spent the least amount of time evaluating.

When I first created this particular contest -- Most Valuable Baltimore Athlete -- I had someone in mind from the start and said to myself, "Find someone to beat him, if you can."

I never found someone to beat him.

I'll explain my reasoning below. Your mileage may vary, but I'm assuming most of you believe the guy I have at #1 is the right choice.

Picking out five "MVBA" finalists since 1995 was more difficult than picking out the actual winner.

I had to consider Cal Ripken Jr. even though the bulk of his career came before 1995. He broke Gehrig's record in September of 1995, yes, but most of his greatness came before 1995.

In terms of "value", though, Cal Ripken Jr. certainly had a lot of that in his career and did maintain a level of it after 1995.

In the end, I didn't include Cal because his career ended in 2001 and I just didn't see enough value in that 6 years to include him in a 30-year window.

The four Honorable Mention finalists in this category are: Joe Flacco, Manny Machado, Lamar Jackson and Ed Reed.

Those four are tilted heavily in favor of football, obviously. The biggest reason for that? The Orioles were terrible for about 20 of the last 30 years and they really only had two great players in that 30 year period: Manny Machado and Gunnar Henderson.

Adam Jones was a great Oriole. So, too, was Nick Markakis.

But neither of those guys did more than Machado in his short stint in Baltimore, where he was part of the franchise's rebirth, if you will.

And even though Gunnar Henderson has only played two years in Baltimore, he's been far more valuable -- so far -- than Jones or Markakis ever were in orange and black.

Machado could do it all. He had a mercurial personality, sure, but he was a remarkably talented player in every facet of the game. Had he remained an Oriole throughout his career, he would have reached something short of Brooks status but bigger, probably than Eddie or Frank.

So there's our brief justification for Manny.

Flacco, Reed and Lamar need no defense or explanation.

The Ravens were annually a league-bottom feeder when it came to quarterback play. Joe showed up in 2008 and quarterbacking hasn't been a concern ever since, even though he hasn't been around since 2018.

Flacco is a Super Bowl champion. The current QB isn't, yet.

If Ray Lewis wouldn't have played in Baltimore, it's likely Ed Reed would be known as the city's best defensive football player ever.

And then there's Lamar Jackson, who is potentially going to wind up a Top 5 Baltimore athlete of all-time if his current pace plays out for another half dozen years.

He's likely going to be a first ballot NFL Hall of Fame selection.

It's one thing to make it. It's another thing, entirely, to get in the first time you're eligible.

Lamar is closer to being a first ballot guy than he is not being a first ballot guy.

So, there you go. There's your four finalists.

The winner of Baltimore's Most Valuable Athlete over the last 30 years is, of course, Raymond Anthony Lewis, Jr.

Who else was it ever going to be, right?

He showed up here in 1996 and retired in 2013 as perhaps the city's most warmly embraced athlete since Johnny Unitas and Brooks Robinson.

Ray Lewis was, in a word, a "winner".

Lewis took a moribund Browns franchise and turned it into an elite team in Baltimore within five years.

The 2000 Super Bowl team went five games without scoring an offensive touchdown. But Ray Lewis didn't mind. He pulled the defense together and the Ravens beat teams without needing to score many points.

The Ravens won two Super Bowls in his career and Lewis was widely regarded as the sport's most effective defensive player throughout the first 15 years of his NFL life.

He was a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection.

And there's even a statue of Ray outside of Ravens stadium.

Great players go into a team's Hall of Fame.

Historic players get their number retired.

Iconic players get statues.

Baltimore football has had two iconic players: Johnny Unitas and Ray Lewis.

There was never any doubt about this one. Right from the start, it was always going to be #52 as our Most Valuable Baltimore Athlete of the last 30 years.

Feel free to add your own discourse on today's topic below in the Comments section.

Tomorrow here at #DMD, we shift to the national scene. Who has been the "GOAT of All GOATS?" In other words, of those we all consider the "GOAT" (Greatest Of All Time), which one of them has been the best since 1995? You can throw in virtually anyone you want at that point, including Djokovic, Phelps, Tiger, Serena, Federer and then a number of guys in the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA.

Good luck with that one. Who is the Top GOAT of all the GOATS? I've already changed my mind 3 times on this one.

30 years is a long time. We've seen lots of individual greatness during that time frame.

Which one of the GOATS is the best of them all? We'll tell you tomorrow.

Tuesday February 18, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3830

maybe we jumped the gun?

OK, it's mea culpa time around here.

For me.

And maybe for you, too, if you're willing to do what The Fonz could never do and say, "I was wrong."

I'll do it today.

Or, at the very least, I'll say, "Maybe I jumped the gun..."

It happens. We're all in a world of hot takes and immediate-reaction and "tell me what you think, right now!" I don't know when this new social virus hit us, but we haven't found a vaccine for it yet, that's for certain.

Those vaccines, you know. They're tricky. You never know if they'll work. Or not.

Anyway...

No one likes to just say, "Man, I missed that one." Funny enough, even when you do miss one you don't have to admit that you missed o ne. The internet will be there to tell you that you missed one.

I see people on Twitter all the time pull up a "missed" or "wrong" tweet from 2017 from a reporter or analyst and say, "This aged well."

What loser sits around on the internet and does that? A loser, that's who.

But, as the great Bob Haynie likes to say, "I digress".

I've been wrong on a lot of things. I'd like to think I'm right more often than not, but I don't keep score.

Yes, I'm on a hot streak, having hand delivered you Ludvig Aberg last weekend at Torrey Pines, but I'm man enough to remind you that I thought the Ravens were going to beat the Bills in last month's playoff game.

I also thought the Orioles were going to win the A.L. East last year. But I failed to take into account their offense would collapse over the final 50 games of the regular season.

Now, I did tell you 3 years ago Tiger wouldn't win another golf tournament and would stay stuck on 82 for the rest of his career. So far, I'm bullseye on that one.

But I also thought the album Kings of Leon released in 2024 would contain their usual outstanding studio work and, man, was I wrong on that one. "Can We Please Have Fun" should have been titled, "Can We Please Find Three Good Songs On This Album?"

Editor's note: It really bothered me that there wasn't a question mark at the end of the album title. Shouldn't it be "Can We Please Have Fun?" I don't understand why there's no question mark on the end on the title. When you write, "Can We Pleave Have Fun" aren't you, in fact, asking me, if in fact, you're allowed to have fun? You know, "Can We Please Have Fun?" Anyway, it still irks me to this day.

Anyway, being wrong is part of the game.

Only Jesus has ever thrown a perfect game in life. If you're trying to be perfect, you only have one person who has ever attained that level of excellence and He is certainly a hard guy to beat.

Being wrong is part of life.

So...with that.

I might have jumped the gun on the TGL, the new indoor golf venture that Tiger and Rory created. I watched week #1 back in early January and thought it was very uninspiring.

I might have been wrong.

A month later, the TGL is starting to gain some steam. Sure, the TV ratings perk up big time when Tiger's involved, which is only natural since he's the biggest needle mover in the sport, still.

But the actual "golf", which is what I found to be very "meh" back in early January, has really picked up of late. Yesterday, taking advantage of the holiday, there were three TGL matches on throughout the day and early evening. I only saw the evening match in full, but all three of the competitions were...you guessed it...instant classics.

Maybe it just took the players two or three matches to get a feel for "indoor golf" played TGL-style.

Monday was spectacular. There were chip-ins, matches sent to playoffs with final hole heroics, a hole out from Tommy Fleetwood in the closest-to-the-pin sudden death scenario and a Wyndham Clark walk-off-eagle-for-the-win in the evening match between The Bay Club and Boston.

The golf on Monday was outstanding. The drama was intense. "Instant Classic" called and said, "Now those were amazing finishes!"

So, perhaps I was wrong.

I'm not rushing out to buy a replica Wyndham Clark Bay Club jersey or anything like that, but I have at least bookmarked the "TGL Apparel" page on my laptop.

Maybe I jumped the gun on TGL.

Tiger and Rory might be on to something.

When the Justin Tucker news first broke late last month, I thought there was a way the Ravens -- and Tucker, of course -- could soft-peddle their through the kicker's troubles and have him back in uniform in 2025.

That, obviously, was my position when we thought there were roughly "only" a half dozen women complaining about Tucker's behavior.

I figured Tucker would offer some sort of "generic" apology where he admitted to behavior he wasn't proud of and the Ravens would rally around him and highlight the incredible work he's done in the community over the last 5 years.

A day or two after the Tucker news broke, I thought the Ravens could figure out a way to keep him around if they handled it the right way.

It's apparent now that I jumped the gun on that one.

There's no way he can remain employed by the Ravens.

The 16 women don't deserve to have him trot out to the 37 yard line and be cheered and revered for kicking a football through the goalposts with eight seconds left against the Bengals next season.

The team's female fans and female employees don't deserve it, either.

Bringing Tucker back to the team in 2025 would be a direct slap in the face to every female who ever supported the Ravens franchise.

It would be offensive, potentially, to anyone -- male or female -- who has ever been the victim of sexual assault.

It's a shame Tucker's career in Baltimore has to end with this magnificent scarlet letter on his chest, but that's the way it has to be.

There's simply no way the Ravens can bring him back in 2025.

I was wrong on that one.

He has to go.

I'm not saying he should be kicked out of the league or anything like that. Time heals all wounds. And I'm sure another team in the league would be willing to employ him, as long as the league doesn't suspend him.

He just can't be employed by the Ravens.

When it comes to the Orioles, I'm pretty much an eternal optimist, which might say more about enduring a decade of despair than it does anything else.

When you've seen the O's wallow at the bottom of the American League for the better part of ten years, any success thereafter tends to be magnified out of proportion.

The arrival of Mike Elias seven years ago coupled with guys like Gunnar, Adley and Jordan kick-started a new wave of excitement in Baltimore. Then along came David Rubenstein to replace the Angelos family in the ownership box and everything was lining up perfectly.

I don't think I'm wrong about Elias. I do believe he knows how to build a baseball franchise from the ground up.

I still contend he's savvy when it comes to signing player "A" instead of player "B". I know this past off-season wasn't exactly headline-making stuff every week, but I'll trust Elias until proven otherwise.

That said, I might have jumped the gun on David Rubenstein.

I did offer a cautionary reminder when he took over last year: "Don't just assume he's going to be better than Peter Angelos."

But, deep down, I assumed he would be. I mean, how could he not be, right?

Well, I'm not convinced, yet.

For a guy with billions and billions of dollars who, as he told us, "will provide the resources necessary to build a championship team", I am starting to get skeptical that he's going to follow through on that prmoise.

This isn't so much about now. No, I didn't think, expect or even "want" the Orioles to be the high bidder for Juan Soto.

It's more about next year or the year after.

I'm just not sure Rubenstein is ever going to say to Elias, "Gunnar wants $600 million? Sure, give it to him. He's a staple in Baltimore and we absolutely can't lose him to the (Yankees, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Rangers)."

I might have jumped the gun on how great of an owner David Rubenstein is going to be.

Look, any owner is better than no owner. I get that.

But I think we all looked at Rubenstein like he was going to be the franchise's savior and I don't know if that's true.

I mean, eight months into his ownership tenure he approved a ticket price increase along with a benefits decrease for ticket plan holders.

What kind of friend does that?

I'd like to be wrong on being wrong. (Read that again, it will make sense).

But I'm starting to think I jumped the gun on David Rubenstein.

Monday February 17, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3829

odds and ends

It's hard for things in life to live up to the hype.

Everything has to hit on all cylinders.

I said last week there are only a few things I've encountered in the world of golf that lived up to the hype.

Augusta National definitely did. I haven't played it, but I've been there 11 times. However great you think it is by watching The Masters on CBS every April...you can double it.

Pebble Beach lived up to the hype.

So, too, did Bethpage Black.

Having children of your own, I say, lives up to the hype more than anything you can expect.

Jesus lived up to the hype. He was brought to Earth to live and teach and become the light of the world. That's a pretty tall task, when you think about it. But He lived up to the billing.

Last Sunday's Super Bowl halftime show was an obvious example of something falling short of the hype. Then again, you're putting musical artists in the awkward position of making them "up their game" on a one night basis. It's hard to do.

Anyway, your mileage might vary on things in your life that have either lived up to or failed to live up to the hype.

Last night's Saturday Night Live 50 Year Special was awesome. But only because it was always going to be awesome.

There was simply too much talent on hand to have it flop.

But, did it live up to the hype and the week of specials and interviews and guest appearances on late night TV shows? Maybe not.

To that end, SNL might have done themselves more harm than good by putting on the full court hype press over the last seven days. It almost became impossible for last night's 50 Year Special to ring the bell.

We got so amped up at the thought of a "Super Bowl of SNL" that it was destined to fall short of our expectations.

Alas, it was a pretty outstanding three and a half hours, with a bump in the road -- or two -- along the way.

Show organizers smartly waited until after 11:15 pm to have Paul McCartney sing. By then, most of the people watching had probably gone to bed, which, based on the way Sir Paul sounded, was apparently where he was until right around 11 pm.

Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard teamed up for a rousing rendition of "Nothing Compares 2 U", which in the moment seemed like a peculiar song choice for those two to tackle, particularly given Sinead O'Connor's controversial appearance on SNL in 1992.

Then you realized that Cyrus and Howard were singing a song about the very show they were appearing on and it all made sense. 50 years later, as it turns out, nothing in TV sketch comedy has ever been comparable to Saturday Night Live.

Last night's show had lots of memorable moments. Adam Sandler really kick-started it with his song just before the 10 pm break. As I wrote on Twitter, it was like hitting a grand slam with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th.

The first couple of hours were good, not great. Then Sandler stepped in and saved the night.

There were some very funny sketches. Plenty of them, in fact, including "Questions from the Audience", "Scared Straight" and Eddie Murphy portraying Tracy Morgan when Morgan himself was standing right next to him.

And, like SNL in real time over the last 50 years, there were some swing-and-miss moments as well. "Trying too hard" is a legitimate concept in comedy. Ask Jim Carrey. He's made a gazillion dollars in his career despite trying way too hard to make people laugh.

There was more news about Justin Tucker on Sunday, as the Baltimore Banner reported 7 more Baltimore area massage therapists have stepped forward with stories about Tucker and inappropriate behavior.

It certainly feels like the whole situation is getting more ugly with each passing week.

I have no idea if there's a magic number for Tucker to be terminated by the Ravens. Was it 5? 10? Is 16 the end of it?

But there's no way Tucker can come back and kick for the Ravens next season if he's not able to somehow prove these stories are false.

Tucker's attorneys continue to direct the media to the kicker's original statement on January 30 when he claimed the original story published by the Banner was "totally untrue".

So, the 16 women say Tucker did it and Tucker said he didn't.

I don't know about you, but now that we've heard from those two, I think it's time we hear from one other entity.

It's time for the Ravens to say something other than the obligatory, "We take all of these allegations seriously and will let the league take its course of action as they gather more details."

In the end, maybe there's nothing the team can say.

They can't cut Tucker yet. Not until after the new league starts on March 12, at least. Once that day arrives, they can let him go and eat $7.5 million of his cap hit over the next two years instead of cutting him before March 12 and having to absorb all $7.5 million of it in 2025.

So. perhaps the Ravens are "saying something" right now by not making any public comment at all.

But it would be nice to hear an official statement with some meat to it, if that's possible, given that the news about Tucker continues to go from bad to worse.

It's going to be very interesting to see if a team will sign him immediately after the Ravens let him go in March or will Tucker have to wait until a kicker gets hurt or stops making kicks in the '25 season?

Have you started thinking about our "Most Valuable" content that's set to run later this week? We need you to chime in throughout the week with your own suggestions and nominations.

This Wednesday, we kick it off with our "MVBA". Who has been our "Most Valuable Baltimore Athlete" over the last 30 years? We picked 30 for this five-day exercise because that's essentially when the Ravens came to town. The "MVBA" is solely intended for someone who played in Baltimore, which does leave out Michael Phelps, for those thinking of voting for him.

Start thinking about that one and chime in with your thoughts in the Comments section. In Baltimore, over the last 30 years, who has been our "MVBA"?

On Thursday, we shift to the national scene. Who has been "The Top GOAT of the GOATS?" In other words, of those we all consider the "GOAT" (Greatest Of All Time), which one of them has been the best since 1995? You can throw in virtually anyone you want at that point, including Djokovic, Phelps, Tiger, Serena, Federer and then a number of guys in the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA.

Good luck with that one. Who is the Top GOAT of all the GOATS? I've already changed my mind 3 times on this one.

On Friday, we're going to shift to music. Who is the "MVMA" of the last 30 years? That is, the "Most Valuable Music Arist" since 1995. We've left this one open intentionally to inspire all of you deep thinkers. No, that doesn't automatically disqualify fans of the Beatles or the Flyers. You guys and gals can still join in.

Go through the albums, the songs, the shows, the tickets sold -- however you decide to judge it, it's up to you. Who is the "Most Valuable Music Artist" of the last 30 years? That's coming on Friday.

This Saturday, we move to iconic sports moments of the last 30 years. What is the very best "Sports Moment" you saw? Go through the memory bank and think about NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB, plus golf, tennis, and anything else in sports. Which one single moment stood out to you the most?

I have a list of about 10 I'm already considering. This one's a tough category.

And then, on Sunday, we'll wrap it all up with the king of them all, the "MVP" in sports over the last 30 years.

Except the "p" stands for "person", instead of "player". Who, over the last 30 years, has been the absolute top dawg, the #1 "person" in all of sports? Owner, player, coach, executive. That's a lot of folks to consider. Who is #1?

	NOTES & COMMENT George McDowell
George McDowell is #DMD's foreign correspondent. His international reports are filed from a hardened outpost just across the U.S. / North Carolina border. He writes on sports topics that interest him that he feels might also interest some segment of the wildly esoteric #DMD readership. George has been a big fan of DF and his various enterprises since the last century, and for several seasons appeared as a weekly guest on his Monday evening radio show, Maryland Golf Live, delivering commentary as The Eccentric Starter. George also donates his time and talents to the less fortunate, and currently volunteers as secretary of the Rickie Fowler Fan Club.

then . . . and now

USGA official at 1953 National Open registration table: Name, please?

Hogan: William B. Hogan. My wife and my friend call me Ben. You call me Mr. Hogan.

USGA official: First time at the National Open?

Hogan: No.

USGA official: Have you recently played competitively at the championship?

Hogan: You decide. I won three of the last four in which I was physically able to play.

USGA official: Any other significant finishes at other events?

Hogan: I won the 1946 and 1948 PGA Championships and this year’s Masters. I’ve also won 36 other PGA Tour events since discharged from the Army after service in World War II.

USGA official: OK, I guess that gets you into qualifying for this year’s National Open. You and 298 others will play two rounds, one at Oakmont and one at the Pittsburgh Field Club. The top 156 will qualify to play in the Open.

Good luck, Mr. . . . Wogan, is it?

Hogan: That’ll do until you inscribe the trophy.

---

R & A official at 1953 British Open registration table: Name, please?

Player: William B. Hogan. I go by Ben. You call me Mr. Hogan.

R & A Official: First time at the Open Championship?

Hogan: It is.

R & A Official: I see. Have you competed in any significant professional events this year?

Hogan: Yes, I played in four so far: The Masters, the Pan American Open, the Colonial National Invitational, and the U. S. National Open.

R & A Official: And how did you place in those events?

Hogan: I won them all.

Official. OK. Those are sufficient to allow you to attempt to qualify for this year’s Open Championship. Please report to Burnside Links tomorrow at 5:30 am for your first qualifying round. If you make the cut in that round, your second qualifying round will be on the championship course, Carnoustie.

Good luck, Mr. . . . Bogan, is it?

Hogan: That’ll do until you inscribe the Claret Jug.

---

PGA of America official at the registration table for the 2021 PGA Championship: Name please?

Fowler: Rick Yutaka Fowler. Please call me Rickie. Would you like my autograph?

PGA of America official: No, thank you. Have you ever won the PGA Champinship?

Fowler: No.

PGA of America official: Have you won a major championship in the last five years?

Fowler: No.

PGA of America official: The Players Championship in the last three years?

Fowler: No.

PGA of America official: Where did you finish in last year’s PGA Championship? The Top 15 qualify for this year.

Fowler: Sadly, I was cut.

PGA of America official: Any wins in PGA Tour events in the last two seasons?

Fowler: No.

PGA of America official: Mr. Rick, do you get a sense of where this is going?

Fowler: Yeah, but hope springs eternal when you’re good for the game and great in the clubhouse. Please check the Special Exemptions List.

PGA of America official: Aha! Congratulations and welcome, Mr. Rick. Please give me your autograph on the official entry form. And good luck!

---

The modern trend of granting exemptions into what otherwise are events to which admission must by earned by the players using their clubs is beginning to rankle some PGA Tour players.

Some golf fans – such as this writer – also lament the fact that the modern Tour has become somewhat hybrid. Of course the cream of the world's best will earn invitations to the major championships and what are called signature events. These signature events have greatly-reduced fields and offer significantly greater purses and more FedEx Cup points than the usual tour stops.

But the inclusion of those golfers who haven't qualified waters down the events, and renders them as much exhibitions of popular players as highest-quality golf competitions. If forced to describe the process of selecting the fields for these events in philosophical terms, I'd call it Elitist Communism.

Last year little-known Tour player Dylan Wu courageously risked Establishment ire by calling into question the sponsors exemptions into signature events. He pointed out that multiple exemptions had been granted to several players who also held positions as Directors in the PGA Tour's Policy Board.

Wu pointed to Webb Simpson, a Director, who had already accepted sponsors exemptions into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and had accepted an exemption into the RBC Heritage. [Simpson also accepted a fourth exemption later that year, into the Wells Fargo Championhip at Quail Hollow.] Kevin Kisner, a Director on the Policy Board and then Number 541 in the World Golf Rankings, also accepted a sponsors exemption into the RBC Heritage. But coincidentally, Kisner was acting as the lead analyst on NBC's golf telecasts.

Wu said, "Sponsor exemptions going to the same players every elevated event doesn’t seem to follow the 'play better' admonition we hear incessantly. Seems like 'be more famous' or 'know the right people' would be better advice."

The four otherwise unqualified players to receive sponsors exemptions into this week's [2025] Genesis Invitational are Jordan Spieth (former Director), Gary Woodland (former Director), Justin Rose (former Director), and Rickie Fowler (former Director).

Rickie tried to warm up for the event by accepting a regular sponsors exemption into the American Express championship two weeks earlier, where he finished 10 shots behind the winner, Sepp Straka, and by accepting an exemption into the WM Phoenix Open, where sickness forced his withdrawal after a 77 in the first round. Spieth, Woodland, and Rose missed the cut at the Genesis. Fowler finished T39, 14 strokes behind the winner, Ludwig Åberg. Rickie also received a sponsors exemption into another signature event this year, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am where he finished T53, 15 strokes behind winner Rory McIlroy.

Having a maximum of four sponsors exemptions into signature events to award, the Directors faced a problem. Without question, Tiger Woods would receive an exemption into any event that he chose. Thus, the Directors would have only three exemptions remaining to award. So, to keep the full number of exemptions, yet another exemption was crafted, and this exemption applied only to one player – Mr. Woods.

Woods already has lifetime membership on tour because of his 82 career wins. But that status does not allow him to compete in the tour’s signature events, which have their own specific criteria for eligibility. Given the limited schedule that he plays, the only way for Woods to gain entry into them was to receive one of four sponsors exemptions offered into each event.

Rather than award one of these exemptions to Woods, which would be impossible to refuse, Woods now has his own personal invitation. Policy Board members approved the creation of a separate category of exemption for Woods alone into the tour’s eight signature events based on his “exceptional lifetime achievement.”

Dylan Wu lost his Tour card and is playing on the Korn Ferry Tour this year. He's played in three events so far, with a missed cut at the Astara Golf Championship, a T15 at the Bahamas Golf Classic, and he tied for second at the Panama Championship. I hope to see him in the U. S. Open this June.

Sunday February 16, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3828

"way to stand up, boys"

I'm the first one to admit that not much about this mid-season 4 Nations hockey tournament snagged my interest.

I love ice hockey. It's been a huge part of my life since the mid 1970's. I didn't cry when the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2000 or 2013, but I definitely shed a tear in 2018 when the Capitals skated around the arena in Las Vegas with the Stanley Cup held up in the air.

That said, I'm admittedly old school. The Stanley Cup is everything in hockey and stuff like the Olympics, World Championships and this, the 4 Nations Cup, just don't garner my attention all that much.

But I had this weird feeling last night's U.S. vs. Canada game was going to be different. "Different" as in, worth watching. "Different" as in, something might happen that makes the last week of the tournament memorable.

I was right.

And it turned out to be something out of the blue that made the whole night turn into one of the more memorable "meaningless" hockey games we've seen in a long time.

No, it wasn't of the same weight as Lake Placid in 1980. That one will always stand above everything else.

But the U.S. winning 3-1 last night in Canada and setting the stage for a potential epic rematch in Boston next Thursday was a huge night for American hockey on several levels.

Most importantly, the guys in red, white and blue stood up for their country on foreign soil.

That's how it started. And the friction that was evident from the opening whistle only enhanced the play on the ice, which saw the U.S. cling to a 2-1 lead throughout the 3rd period before salting away the game with a late empty net tally.

Prior to the game, the fans in Montreal booed the Star Spangled Banner when it was played. And it wasn't just a few knuckleheads doing it, either. It sounded like a significant portion of the arena participated.

And that led to the fights.

Right away.

As soon as the puck was dropped, the Americans went after the Canadian players. And these weren't baseball fights, either. It wasn't guys standing around yelling and pointing at each other like you see in the summer.

These were fist fights.

The U.S. players were not happy at all about their national anthem being booed.

They were particularly disappointed because recently on a national podcast, Canada's Brad Marchand took offense to a situation in Ottawa recently where fans booed the U.S. anthem during a NHL game.

"I don't respect that at all," Marchand said. "The anthems are there as a sign of respect because of our veterans and all that they've sacrificed. That's the reason we even get to play this game and have freedom. For them to be booing, that is disrespectful to the veterans, which I don't agree with at all."

One interesting fight out of the three was between Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett. Tkachuk is American and plays for Ottawa. Bennett is Canadian and plays for Florida. Tkachuk's brother, Matthew, is Bennett's teammate in Florida.

That should make for a few interesting plane rides and morning skates in the season's final two months.

After the three fights -- without 30 seconds of hockey played -- you could clearly hear one of the coaches on the American bench yell out, "Way to stand up, boys!", an obvious reference to the Star Spangled Banner being booed by 18,000 Canadians.

I'll admit, the whole thing kept me watching the game from start to finish.

The rest of the night was "just hockey", although there were several glass-shaking hits throughout the game and tensions ran high for all 60 minutes.

In the end, the hockey gods took care of things, as the U.S. pulled off an important-and-impressive win to advance to next Thursday's championship game.

The Star Spangled Banner has taken a beating over the last decade here in the U.S., whether it's from kneeling or some other sign of disrespect during the song.

I was at a high school basketball game recently where the host school didn't even bother playing the national anthem before the game. That's when you know you've lost touch with what's right and wrong.

"Just skip the national anthem before the game. We don't want to poison the young men at such an early age anyway."

The entire arena booing the national anthem last night was, of course, not about hockey, but rather about politics. We all know that. The U.S. and Canada aren't exactly sitting around the campfire sharing moscow mules these days.

But to boo another country's national anthem? Bush league called and said, "You guys have gone overboard."

Fortunately for the Americans in the Bell Centre last night, they were able to stand up for the old girl.

And it sets up a very interesting and potentially combustible situation in Boston next Thursday. If Canada beats Finland on Monday night, it will be a U.S.-Canada showdown for the title in Beantown.

There's no telling what the Boston fans are going to do when the Canadian national anthem is played. I think I know what they're going to do, but we'll see.

I'm hoping a few days of the U.S. players begging for "no booing" during the Canadian anthem will get the job done and the arena will remain silent and respectful while it's being played. That said, I can't imagine it's going to go like that.

Then again, Finland could spoil the party and win on Monday night and it wouldn't be U.S. vs. Canada on Thursday.

I'll admit it. I was proud to see our American guys throw the gloves off and get after it in the opening seconds of the game. I'm not huge on fighting in hockey, but it's been part of the sport in forever, for whatever reason.

But last night was like watching some nut-job burn the American flag. It just irks the living crap out of you.

And, so, the American hockey players did what they had to do. And I respect that of them.

Today is another huge opportunity for Denny McCarthy, as he sits one shot out of the lead heading into the final round of the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines.

McCarthy, in case you don't know, is our only "local product" currently playing on the PGA Tour. He grew up in Silver Spring, played his high school golf at Georgetown Prep, and later attended the University of Virginia before turning pro.

I've told this story here previously, but it always bears repeating. I played with Denny in the Maryland Open when he was 14 and after our round, I walked off the green and said to the other competitor in the group, "That kid will play on the TOUR someday."

You could just see it.

Everything about Denny, even at 14, looked like "professional golf".

The way he dressed, the way he warmed up, the way he hit the golf ball, the way he carried himself while he played. It was very obvious he was a different junior golfer.

McCarthy has been on TOUR for five years now and has never won. He did win the Korn Ferry Tour Championship a while back, but in terms of official PGA Tour wins...he has zero of them.

He's made a great living, though. No two ways about that. If his career ends tomorrow, he's in great shape.

But a win today would be career-changing for him, and that doesn't have anything to do with the $4 million first place check.

A win gives him almost 3 years of an exemption (the rest of this year and 2 more) plus he's in the four majors as well. As it stands today, McCarthy is not yet eligible for all four in 2025.

A victory could also launch him into the early discussion for this fall's U.S. Ryder Cup team. McCarthy once played for the "amateur version" of the Ryder Cup -- the Walker Cup -- while he was at the University of Virginia.

A win today would huge.

He's been close a few times in his career, including the 2022 U.S. Open at Brookline, where he was two shots out of the lead throughout the back nine on Sunday before eventually finishing T7.

Last summer, he birdied 8 of 9 holes on the back nine on Sunday to get into a playoff at the Valero Texas Open, but eventually lost to Akshay Bhatia. Two years ago at The Memorial, he fell to Viktor Hovland in a playoff.

Today is his latest-best chance. He's one shot behind Patrick Rodgers heading into the final round and Rodgers, like Denny, is looking for his first-ever win on TOUR as well.

It would be awesome to see McCarthy finally pull through and win.

A decade ago I watched him play and knew he was special.

Today he could prove just how special he really is.

Saturday February 15, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3827

just get us to...april

One of our chief antagonists around here and captain of the Troll Team, Billy, chimed in with some snark yesterday about the "dog days" here at #DMD.

I thought a funny memory of Greg Valentine on Valentine's Day was a good start, then we delved into the Ravens potentially facing off against Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers twice next year.

And then we wrapped it up with the feasibility of betting (wasting) $100 on Tiger Woods to win a golf tournament in 2025.

Three quality sports stories, if you ask me. That is, if you think wrasslin' is "sports".

Anyway, goofy Billy's take aside, we have entered a period of time where we reach a lull in hot-and-heavy sports action. Football has just ended and baseball -- and, no, the Orioles "B" squad knocking off Minnesota, 6-4, doesn't count -- doesn't start for another 6 weeks or thereabouts.

There's the NHL, which itself is even on a 2-week break right now, and any coverage we provide on that league is almost solely dedicated to the Capitals and, this year at least, Alex Ovechkin's pursuit of the all-time goal scoring record.

Ovi has to score 16 goals in the team's final 27 games to break Gretzky's mark. We'll be following it here, for sure.

We almost never write about the NBA here because, well, none of you follow the NBA either.

There is Maryland basketball and the Terps are on the fast track to either some March Madness excitement or the laying of a massive March Madness egg. We will be following the Terps hot-and-heavy over the next five weeks.

The period between the end of football and the beginning of baseball is always a "down time" in the world of sports. We like to think we don't let it get to us here, no matter what the trolls think.

So this is when we dig up fun, interesting things to (hopefully) keep you entertained at #DMD.

We'll keep you up to date on the PGA Tour, as we like to do. Two huge tournaments are in the offing; The Players in the middle of next month and then, of course, the best sporting event ever created by man, The Masters, in early April.

If something interesting happens to the Orioles, we'll be on it. Insert your own punch line there. They spent the entire winter actually trying their best not to be interesting.

Maybe we'll hear something about Justin Tucker's future with the Ravens. As I mentioned earlier this week, I'm hearing they're still "sorting through all the details" which -- who knows? -- could mean they're trying to figure out a way to soft-peddle this whole thing into keeping him around in 2025.

Ovi will be back soon and we'll cover his chase of the record. Someone asked me yesterday if I'd wager that he breaks the record this season now that he has 16 goals to go with 27 games remaining. It's going to be very close, barring injury. Unless something weird happens, he's going to score at least 10 goals in the team's next 18 games. That's my prediction, anyway.

Can he then score 6 in their final 9 games to break the mark this season or will he have to come back in '25-26 and do it?

If you gave me your $100 and asked me to bet it, I'd bet he comes up short this year, scoring 39 goals on the season to come up three shy of breaking the mark. The closer he gets, the more he's going to press, I think. The more he presses, the tougher the goals are to come by.

I'd love to see him do it this year, obviously. The Caps are having a remarkable season and could be a very tough out in the post-season.

Anyway, back to the dog days for a second.

It's time for you to put your thinking caps on. Flyers fans, find an extra one around the house and wear two of them if necessary.

Next week, on the heels of the highly controversial NFL MVP award, we're doing our own version of "MVP" awards, except we're doing it for the last 30 years.

We'll name one winner in each category and provide four "Honorable Mention" finalists as well. Come up with your top five and then chisel away at them until you come up with a winner.

On Wednesday, we kick it off with our "MVBA". Who has been our "Most Valuable Baltimore Athlete" over the last 30 years? We picked 30 for this five-day exercise because that's essentially when the Ravens came to town. The "MVBA" is solely intended for someone who played in Baltimore, which does leave out Michael Phelps, for those thinking of voting for him.

Start thinking about that one now. In Baltimore, over the last 30 years, who has been our "MVBA"?

On Thursday, we shift to the national scene. Who has been "The Top GOAT of the GOATS?" In other words, of those we all consider the "GOAT" (Greatest Of All Time), which one of them has been the best since 1995? You can throw in virtually anyone you want at that point, including Djokovic, Phelps, Tiger, Serena, Federer and then a number of guys in the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA.

Good luck with that one. Who is the Top GOAT of all the GOATS? I've already changed my mind 3 times on this one.

On Friday, we're going to shift to music. Who is the "MVMA" of the last 30 years? That is, the "Most Valuable Music Arist" since 1995. We've left this one open intentionally to inspire all of you deep thinkers. No, that doesn't automatically disqualify fans of the Beatles or the Flyers. You guys and gals can still join in.

Go through the albums, the songs, the shows, the tickets sold -- however you decide to judge it, it's up to you. Who is the "Most Valuable Music Artist" of the last 30 years? That's coming on Friday.

On Saturday, we move to iconic sports moments of the last 30 years. What is the very best "Sports Moment" you saw? Go through the memory bank and think about NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB, plus golf, tennis, and anything else in sports. Which one single moment stood out to you the most?

I have a list of about 10 I'm already considering. This one's a tough category.

And then, on Sunday, we'll wrap it all up with the king of them all, the "MVP" in sports over the last 30 years.

Except the "p" stands for "person", instead of "player". Who, over the last 30 years, has been the absolute top dawg, the #1 "person" in all of sports? Owner, player, coach, executive. That's a lot of folks to consider. Who is #1?

So there you go.

Start getting your lists together and give it some analysis.

We need your input on these over the next few days to help us sift through all of the names.

Oh, and just because it fits...a little video for all of you below makes a special announcement.

Friday February 14, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3826

a valentine's day special

Throughout my 17 years of travel in the indoor soccer business, we were constantly in the midst of professional wrestlers, whether that was in the airport or a hotel.

These days, I assume most of the big timers in the WWE travel by private plane. But back in the 1980's and 1990's, they traveled just like the rest of the great unwashed. I saw Randy "Macho Man" Savage in first class once. And the "Honky Tonk Man" as well. I remember walking back to the bathroom on a TWA flight and there was the "Iron Sheik", in the last row, zonked out with a blanket draped over him.

In honor of today, let me tell you about the time I met Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. A lot of my wrestling stories are memorable, but my chance meeting with "The Hammer" was epic.

When a wrestling show would be held at the Arena, most of the wrestlers would show up at some point during the day for a walk through with the competitor they were wrestling against that night.

It was their version of a musical group's "sound check", if you will.

Editor's note: The first time you see that, a mid-day "walk through", it's really kind of deflating. I mean, you always knew it couldn't possibly be on the up and up, but actually seeing those guys get in the ring and go through what they were going to do later that night was pretty startling.

On this particular night, Valentine was wrestling Don Muraco. I don't remember what was at stake, but "The Hammer" was a big deal in the late 1980's. If he was on the card, it was a huge event.

I was walking back through the arena on this particular Friday after being out for lunch. As I glanced to my right, there were several wrestlers milling around the ring. From my vantage point, I could make a few of them out. There was Greg Valentine, with his flowing blonde hair, in a normal, every day track suit.

I stopped for a second and watched them. No one said a word to me. Valentine hopped down out of the ring and started walking in my direction.

There was some chatter from the ring that I couldn't quite pick up, but I heard Valentine say, clearly, "I'll be back. We'll get it right!"

He walked in my direction. And I was fearful he was going to yell at me for snooping.

"Hey!" he said to me. "Where's the nearest bathroom? I need to take a s**t."

Most people would sort of gingerly walk up to someone they didn't know and say, "Excuse me, do you know where the nearest men's room is?"

Not Greg Valentine. He asked me in, let's say, a more direct manner.

And with that, I walked Greg "The Hammer" Valentine in the direction of the men's room. "It's just past that curtain, to your right," I said.

I went back to the area next to the stage, curiosity again snagging me as I watched Cowboy Bob Orton and some other guy toss one another against the ropes and practice their moves.

"You work here?" Valentine said as he approached me after his bathroom visit.

"Sort of," I said. "I don't work for the arena. I work for the indoor soccer team that plays here."

"The toilet paper in this place sucks," he growled. "My a** is raw. I would have been better off using sand paper!"

I laughed.

"It's not funny," he said. It was then that I realized he wasn't a wrestler in that moment. He was just a guy, with an awkward, apparently somewhat uncomfortable trip to the bathroom.

Valentine didn't say anything else. He turned and walked back to the ring -- anger in his stride -- a distinctly "careful" gait on display.

As he got back to the ring, I could hear his voice rise as he told the wrestlers about his trip to the bathroom and the unfortunate turn of events that occurred.

They were howling in laughter, bent over in sheer delight at "The Hammer" telling them how the toilet paper in the Baltimore Arena tore him apart.

That's how I met one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Greg Valentine.

There's no telling if the career of Aaron Rodgers ended yesterday when the Jets officially told him they weren't bringing him back in 2025.

If he is done, let's tip our hat to one of the best signal callers of this generation. His halcyon days in Green Bay were truly magnificient.

Rodgers will probably try to do what most athletes in the December of their career feel they have to do -- end it all on a positive note instead of a negative one.

But when you've been canned by the Jets, of all teams, where else can you go?

During my weekly stint on Glenn Clark Radio this past Wednesday, the show host brought up the idea that perhaps the Pittsburgh Steelers would be one of those teams willing to take a flyer on the future Hall of Fame quarterback.

I mean, it's not totally crazy, right?

Russell Wilson is a has-been.

Justin Fields looks like a guy who will best fit in anywhere as a back-up, nothing more.

If the Steelers trot one or both of those QBs out there next September, they're staring 8 or 9 wins in the face once again.

What about Aaron Rodgers in Pittsburgh?

Sure, they might go 8-9 or 9-8 with him, too, but if Tiger can win a Masters at age 44 after 119 surgeries, Aaron Rodgers can engineer the Steelers to 10 or 11 wins and a playoff berth.

Right?

There are other teams where he might also make sense. New Orleans is one of them. Maybe the New York Football Giants? Rodgers could keep his stadium parking pass if that deal worked out.

The AFC East is set, with the Jets looking for anyone but Rodgers.

The AFC South is set, although the Titans QB situation is anything but solid.

The AFC West is set except for Las Vegas. But there's no way Rodgers would go out there and finish 5-12 while losing 5 of 6 games to Kansas City, the Chargers and Denver.

If it's an AFC team, Pittsburgh appears to be the one with the most obvious need. The Steelers might be, honestly, the only AFC squad that Rodgers would actually entertain.

As Clark pointed out, the NFC should be Rodgers' only consideration.

It's like in the old days in baseball - before the National League caved into the Player's Association and went with the DH -- when a free agent pitcher was looking at possible new teams to join. The really good ones almost always wandered over to the National League where they faced a pitcher at the plate 2 or 3 times a game and the catcher or one other hitter was also usually pretty lame.

In the NFC, there's the aforementioned Saints who could be a decent fit, but they do have Derek Carr slotted in there for 2025 already.

The Falcons have been looking for a quarterback since the Steve Bartkowski days. I know Matt Ryan was OK and all. But, seriously, Atlanta could use someone reasonably competent under center in 2025.

Is Aaron Rodgers "reasonably" competent? That's the big question.

The NFC West is set.

The NFC North is set.

The NFC South has two possible spots and the Giants are a possible spot in the East.

And then there's the biggest question of all.

Will Aaron Rodgers play somewhere for $10 million? $5 million? Would he lower himself to playing for that kind of money?

No one is giving him $30 million or $40 million any longer. He's not good enough to warrant that sort of payday.

Have we seen the last of Aaron Rodgers?

If so, he'll go down as one of the best and most bizarre athletes of the last 10 years.

He's a Hall of Fame quarterback. Almost certainly a first ballot guy.

But he's also become a first ballot weirdo, too.

Covid-19 was a game changer for him.

The talk of the virus and the vaccine and what not turned him into an internet meme.

The trip to a reservation in Costa Rica to try alternative medicines was a real hoot. And here's the funny thing. It might have actually worked for him to some degree.

Whatever happens, whether he's back or not, Aaron Rodgers has been entertaining, at the very least, over the last few years.

And upon a time, he was a true star in the league.

Next season, he might be just another guy trying to latch on with a team in August.

Nick in Owings Mills checked in with a question about Tiger Woods and his chances of winning a major this year. I hope I'm saving Nick some money today.

Drew, I can get Tiger at 150-1 to win a tournament in 2025. Convince me I shouldn't put $100 down to win $15,000 if the Big Cat gets back in the winners circle. Tell me I'm wrong. Convince me. Or else I'm doing it.

Nick, you're wrong.

You told me to tell you that you're wrong.

You are.

He's not winning.

First off, it's not like he's going to play 10 or 12 tournaments. If Tiger was set to play 10 or 12 tournaments, $100 might not be a bad investment.

He's probably going to play 5 or 6, at the most. And 4 of those will be majors.

And of the majors, the only one he can definitely-maybe win is the Masters.

Everything would have to line up right for him there, like it did in 2019, when he played well enough for three days to hang around the leaderboard and then everyone around him vomited on themselves on the 12th hole on Sunday.

It happened once. It could happen again. One thing Tiger knows how to do and that's "close the deal". But he has to get into that position, first, and I think it would be tough for him to do. Alas, if there's any course where he could -- it's Augusta National.

He can't win the PGA. And he can't win the U.S. Open.

Those courses are just too long, too arduous, and the four day grind is just too much for him given the effort he'd have to put in just to walk the layout, let alone play great golf.

He maybe, maybe, maybe could win the British Open if the course is flat, his chakras are in line and there was a good/bad weather draw and he got the "good" end of it.

Look, I realize $100 isn't a lot of money. And $100 to win $15,000 is a pretty good deal.

And he is, still, (generously) Tiger Woods.

But you'd be far better served to take that $100 and sprinkle it on Leon Draisaitl, Artemi Panarin or Sam Reinhardt to score two goals for the Oilers, Rangers or Panthers one night soon when the NHL starts up again.

You won't win $15,000 on any of those three but you also have a way better chance of one of those three scoring two goals in a game than you do of Tiger winning a golf tournament in 2025.

Draisaitl is usually somewhere around +850 to score two goals in a game. Throw your $100 on him and win $850 (plus your $100 back).

Draisaitl might score two goals in a game five more times this season. Here's a tip: Take your $100 and throw $10 on him to score 2 goals in each of Edmonton's next 10 games. I guarantee you'll have more than $100 in your hand after the 10 games.

Heck, if that $100 is burning a hole in your pocket and you want to go out on a real limb one night when hockey returns, take any of these six players and bet three of them to score 2 goals in the same game (assuming they're all playing on the same night, of course); DeBrincat (Detroit), Draisaitl (Edmonton), Pastrnak (Boston), Panarin (NY Rangers), Reinhardt (Florida), Thompson (Buffalo).

If you pick the right three, you could win a really nice chunk of change on a $100 wager if all three of them score twice on the same night.

But, if you're just stuck on golf wagering and you're looking for a big return on your investment, I'd look for the odds on one of these four longshots to win a major in 2025; Maverick McNealy, Min Woo Lee, Ben An or Sepp Straka. They're all going to range from 60-1 to 100-1. And any of those four could win a major.

It's all more efficient than betting on Tiger.

I'm sorry to report it that way. But Tiger can't win.

Would I like to see him win? You bet. It would be, in my world, akin to the U.S. Olympic hockey team beating the Soviets in 1980.

But it's not going to happen. There are too many good players, for starters, and Tiger can't play enough golf to be sharp enough to beat them on the toughest courses on TOUR.

I'd love to be wrong about your $100. But I'm not going to be.

Bet it if you like, Nick. But your wagering slip will ultimately be nothing more than a souvenir of wishful thinking.

faith in sports

Like most of you, I watched the Super Bowl on Sunday and took note of the commercials. Most, I thought, were guilty of "trying too hard". A few were decent, like the early Dunkin' commercial with Ben Affleck, the one presented by Pfizer -- "kid beats cancer" -- and the Stella Artois spot with Beckham and Damon near the end of the game.

When you're spending $8 million or more on a TV commercial, "trying too hard" comes with the territory, I guess. For $8 million, you better make that thing the very best it can be.

The video below, 5 minutes in length, could have been made into a Super Bowl commercial. I wish it would have been, in fact.

120 million people watching 30 or 60 seconds of these Philadelphia Eagles players talking about their love of God...better than the game itself!

And the best part of all? FOX would have taken the $8 million and the ad would have aired!

Check out these Eagles talking about their faith at the Super Bowl. It's an awesome video presented by Sports Spectrum.

O's SCOREBOARD
Wednesday, April 2
Orioles 0	Red Sox 3
WP: G. Crochet (1-0) LP: Z. Eflin (1-1) HR: Story (1) RECORD / PLACE: 3-3, 3rd

SCOREBOARD
Wednesday, April 2
AT HURRICANES 5	CAPITALS 1
CAPS GOALS: Ovechkin (39) GOALTENDER: Thompson RECORD: 48-16-9 NEXT GAME: 4/4 vs. Chicago

#DMD Corporate Partners

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