Saturday, March 01, 2014

3/1 2nd Birthday Quickie

*Happy 2nd birthday to my swee' pea, Lucy. (Whew: The first two years of the third kid go MUCH faster than the first two years of either of the older kids.)

*Bummed to be missing the fabulous Sloan Sports Analytics Conference this year (here's my take on it from 2010), but thanks to GW's Sports Management program for letting me host a 1:1 conversation with Geoff Reiss, head of Sports for Twitter.

*Steph Curry remains in the Top 3 most must-see players in the NBA (LeBron, Durant). FWIW, Kevin Love is No. 4. I'm ready to put John Wall in the Top 5. (Anthony Davis is his main comp.)

*My father-in-law is in town from Gainesville today for Lucy's birthday, which means we'll get to watch the Gator basketball game together -- he's a die-hard fan, and that's always a treat.

-- D.S.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

2/25 Trout Dirk Kansas Quickie

*Mike Trout is a bargain at $30M a year. And Trout is loving life to be hitting free agency at age 28. (Expect the Nats to pay Bryce Harper something similar -- without the free agency at his peak. If they have to pay a premium to tack on a few extra years, so be it.)

*That Dirk shot was awesome.

*Do you buy Kansas as a Final Four contender? Absolutely. There are 7 teams in the KenPom Top 30 for both adjusted offense and defense: Louisville (17/7), Florida (9/10), Kansas (5/27), Wichita St (16/13), Villanova (8/20), Syracuse (22/9), Pitt (25/22). (Arizona is JUST on the outside: 32nd on offense, but No. 1 on D.)

If I had to pick 8 teams with the best shot at the Final Four, Kansas is among them -- along with Florida, Wichita St, Syracuse, Arizona, Louisville, Michigan State (13/34) and either Wisconsin (6/40) or Virginia (43/4).

UVA feels too nouveau riche this season and will eventually run into a superior defense that they can't score on. Still: Would a Hoos fan really turn down a trip to the Sweet 16?

March starts in just a few days....

-- D.S.

Monday, February 24, 2014

2/24 Monday Quickie

*Jason Collins' return to the NBA -- this time as the first openly gay player in the history of major pro sports leagues -- is the biggest sports milestone of the year (and one of the biggest ever).

*Jadeveon Clowney running a 4.4-whatever in the 40 is so ridiculous that for all the talent at QB (and Sammy Watkins might be the most talented WR to see the draft since Calvin Johnson) that you have to put him in the mix at No. 1 -- whether or not he fits the Texans' needs, he is the most talented player in the draft.

*The Jim Harbaugh/Browns thing is fascinating. Bill Barnwell has the best analysis.

*So long, Sochi. Perhaps more than any other sports event, the Winter Olympics are a fun little quadrennial blip. It was enjoyable in individual moments, with the US hockey failures completing things on a down note.

-- D.S.