March Madness (otherwise known as “The Dance”) is upon us and, I must say, the first round has produced a plethora of great games, all decided in the waning seconds by either a made shot or a spectacularly blocked shot.  On Thursday 5 games were decided by one or two points and today one other game pushed it to 6 of the 32 games ending in a one shot victory (loss) thus far in the tournament.  Parity is rampant in college basketball.  It is too bad that the same statement cannot be made about the National Basketball Association, where there are 6 great teams and 24 ordinary ones.  Let’s give a big hand to David Stern (the law) and the rest of the NBA czars for contributing to and encouraging this huge imbalance in team talent.  Someday soon this imbalance of talent may lead to the demise of this once fine league.

Speaking of demises, is it not spectacular just how much the stature of Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel has pummeled the last three months or so?  Now Tressel is trying hard to extinguish the flames of discontent that are blazing across the Columbus campus by VOLUNTARILY extending his Ohio State imposed two game suspension to five games, thus matching the number of games that the NCAA has suspended star quarterback Terrelle Pryor and four teammates for selling football memorabilia in exchange for free tattoos and other ghetto merchandise.  Do not think for a moment that Tressel is doing this out of respect for his players, it is rumored that the five players in question (and their parents) were more than a little upset that Tressel was only given a two game suspension and that Tressel wisely extended the suspension to appease them (since they all had promised they would not quit the team over the suspensions and would return for the remainder of the 2011 season).  Something tells me that this entire affair is about to get much uglier, and I would not be surprised if the NCAA forces Ohio State to ultimately fire Tressel for his infractions of NCAA regulations after they determine just how much of the matter he was aware of and did not notify the NCAA about…and we thought that Woody Hayes was a big black eye to the Ohio State program.  The sharks may soon be circling the OSU campus looking for blood.

We all know by now that the National Football League as we know it is a relic of the past, steeped in a protracted lockout, but that does not stop human interest stories about our favorite players such as Cincinnati Bengals star Chad "The Professor" Johnson popping up in our social media.  For those who have not been following his shenanigans, Chad changed his name back to his original name after tiring of Chad Ocho Cinco, which reflected his playing number of 05.  Almost lost in the hullaballoo of the name change is that Chad also changed his jersey number to 5, and has also decided that he be referred by his new nickname of  “Tres Mas Dos” (3+2)  for the rest of his career (if there is anything left of it).  This name change has been a boon to the careers of the Salsa rock group also named 3+2, and they have just released a new single to thank Chad for the added fame that he has brought to them.  As an added bonus, I now present this video to the readers of YouGabSports so that we all will know what this young Salsa group thinks of Chad and his name change.

I know that that last paragraph was a painful one to read and a huge stretch of the imagination, but I wanted desperately to introduce that fine video into this article, I must admit that I am totally enamored of the talents of this young group.  I found another obscure video of a Polish Choir singing “Wimoweh” that I feel compelled to show you today.  Not only does the choir do a magnificent job in singing this popular classic, the video begs to ask a lot of questions.  What are the professors doing sitting in front of the choir?  Are all Polish lasses so beautiful?  Will any comments about this video be added to this article that will compromise the sanctity of this religious choir?  We will soon see.

As the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament gets underway, the madness of March had already been in full swing at Brigham Young University weeks ago. A school founded by, and named after, a well known adulterer and bigot.

Brandon Davies was an important post player on the basketball team that was ranked third at one time. The school suspended Davies for a violation of an honor code the school claims they live by. Few members of the media questioned the ruling, and none even acknowledged who spawned these guidelines. Guidelines he hardly lived by while alive.

Students at BYU are required to "live a chaste and virtuous life." Students are also required to be honest; abstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee and substance abuse; and attend church regularly."

While no one has said how the school found out initially, Davies was suspended from the team for the rest of the season for having premarital sex with his girlfriend. Davies, who grew up in nearby Provo, future at BYU beyond this year is also in doubt.

His girlfriend is from Lindon, Utah. She plays volleyball at Arizona State University. Her private life has been exposed to the media now by a school who is crying this is all about an honor code. Other athletes have gone through what Davies has. Reno Mahe, who played in the NFL, also was once suspended for an honor code violation.

Brigham Young founded the school in 1875. He lobbied for the "Act in Relation to Service." This law made slavery legal in the territory of Utah. It also made it illegal that "any white person guilty of sexual intercourse with any of the African race," regardless of their being married, consenting adults."

The law was in effect in Utah until the 1960's. Young also once announced a priesthood ban which prohibited all men of black African descent from holding the priesthood. This rule stood until 1978.

Davies is, how Brigham Young worded it, from the African race. His girlfriend is a white person, It seems obvious that, though these laws were repealed 30-40 years ago, Brigham Young University still enforces them in remembrance of their bigoted founder.

This is a school that was amongst the first to tap into the Tongan and Samoan communities to get athletes to keep their programs competitive. Vai Sikahema was the first on 13 Tongan players to play in the NFL. In 1978, the same year the banning of black men from priesthood was repealed, Mekeli Ieremia joined Mosi Tatupu of USC to become the third and fourth of 29 Samoans to get to the NFL.

Davies had offers to play basketball at schools like Gonzaga, Utah State, Cal Berkeley, Washington State, Penn State and Santa Clara. It seems likely he decided to stay in Provo to stay close to his family.

The Church of Latter Day Saints were spinning expressions like BYU is "special." One On Faith panelist said, "I've always shared this with people, that it was probably one of the best things that had happened to me. I appreciate what BYU did to me. I appreciate the honor code and what it stands for. I appreciate that they enforce it. You get a lot of schools that say they have codes, but I don't think anyone enforces it like BYU does. It's a great school. It's a one-of-a-kind school."

Yet this is a code of conduct drawn up by hypocrites who rarely lived the code themselves. Let alone the dismal reality that bigotry is smeared all across the "honorable tradition". But hypocrisy didn't just start with Brigham Young.

Joseph Smith is the founder of the church that runs the school His son, Joseph Jr., took over when his father died. He was not the bigot that Young was, but he fathered children out of wedlock just as Young would later. When Joseph Smith Jr. was murdered, Young was named the successor and started calling himself "American Moses".

He started his school almost 30 years later. Young was also a rabid Polygamist, marrying at least 55 women in his lifetime. While he had 56 children with 16 wives, historians note he had children with women he did not marry. He was viewed as a autocratic ruler.

Young died in 1877, and his school seems still set in that year on many issues. Some think the school has views on interracial relationships much like Young did over 134 years ago. Davies has seemingly fallen from this point of view.

This hypocrisy BYU carries as a proud banner will now hopefully be noticed by future prospective students now that the school has shown their true colors. Those rules of "do as I say, not as I do" should have someone think twice.

Rules that may keep star basketball player Jimmer Fredette from at least duplicating the successes Danny Ainge had for the school in 1981. Though Fredette is not as tall as Ainge was, he can score at will seemingly.

Yet BYU has struggled since their moronic suspension of Davies. Losing the 6'9" power forward, on a team that wasn't rich with height and athleticism in the first place, has been a tremendous blow. The Cougars are young, with guards Fredette and Jackson Emery as the only seniors on the squad. They also have just three juniors.

Before the school somehow discovered Davies was doing what billions of people his age have tried, fans were excited about BYU's prospects. With opponents getting "Jimmered" with such regularity that whispers of comparisons went beyond Ainge to a certain player that Ainge had played with in the NBA.

In 1979, Larry Bird was a senior averaging over 28 points per game. Fredette is averaging over 28 points in his own senior year. Bird took a small school called Indiana State University to the NCAA Finals before losing.

Like BYU now, Indiana State was not full of talent. The only other player on that team who was drafted by the NBA was guard Carl Nicks. Nicks also happens to be, so far, the last player drafted out of Indiana State by the NBA.

Some scouts think Davies has the talent to play at the next level eventually. While Nicks helped Bird by chipping in 19 points a game in 1979, Davies was helping Fredette by leading BYU in rebounds while being third on the team in scoring.

If someone were to open a history book in front of the BYU elders now, perhaps Davies could be reinstated? Yet it appears the great season Jimmer Fredette has had will end up somewhere in the realm far behind a "Pistol" Pete Maravich as the great gunner who was never able to do all he was capable of.

Unlike Maravich, Fredette can look at the flawed hogwash of a small group of blind hypocrites in a leadership role as the reason his team is circumcised before they get started.

            Greetings from the Hoodwood, where everyone is so ready to dance.

I will have the postmortem and breakdown of the teams that made and didn’t the NCAA tourney selection shortly and the number of teams that I got right and wrong here in a bit but by and large, there were the usual shocks and snubs. Im still stunned that UAB and VCU both got bids. The former more so than the latter, no one saw the Blazers grab a bid since they lost their C-USA quarterfinal game. VCU was a bit of a surprise since unlike the Blazers they didn’t even have the benefit of having had at least won their regular season conference title. The teams that have the most beef Missouri State and St. Mary’s both teams that have 25 wins but nothing to show for it. Illinois and Penn State should really be apologizing to anyone who they talk to, both teams have 12 or more losses and played lukewarm down the stretch. I know, I know the Nittany Lions got to the Big Ten final but they played an absolutely horrid game in a win over the Wisconsin Badgers. The final was 36-33…that’s wasn’t the halftime score that was the final. That game was abysmal to watch, more bricks laid than a masonry. There are 13 teams with 11 losses, 7 with 13 and 5 with 14 losses the most in tourney history

            Now the whining begins, the so-called snubbed teams are crying foul saying that a BCS like computer is needed for the selection of the NCAA tourney. St. Mary’s coach Randy Bennett was a noisy advocate of changing the field. I think that the Gaels should have been in, they did get the shaft. No one would be brave enough from the big boy conferences to schedule the Gaels so they have too much to lose. But taking the “so-called” human element out is a joke. Bennett’s argument is flawed first because there is already a human element in the BCS…the polls are a factor in the BCS.

            Are you fuckin’ serious??? I mean really, are you drawing on some seriously strong sticky-icky? This is the ultimate case of sour grapes. The teams that got left out, like Va. Tech and Colorado can be mad cause they got left out. Hell they can even feel like they got the shaft. But it comes down to the undeniable fact, they didn’t win enough games and/or the games that counted the most. Yeah, the Hokies knocked off the then top ranked Duke Blue Devils on the 18^th. But after that they took bad losses to BC and GT and had already been swept by Virginia. They had too many bad marks to cover up. Colorado for their  had to answer for losses to Oklahoma and to Iowa State as well as a non-con schedule so weak that it made my alma maters powder puff non-con schedule look brutal. That proved to be a combo to ugly to cover up.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Dick Vitale. He is a great ambassador of the game and a genuinely good guy but I was annoyed by his carping and whining on behalf of Va. Tech. Did Dickie V forget that the Hokies needed a lengthy video review just to get to the ACC semis after they seemed to have lost their ACC quarterfinal to Florida State. Ive said it before, schedule the better teams and win and don’t take bad losses then you wont have to worry. I’ll look more in depth at the field here in a bit.

Phat Dap/ Head Slap

Phat Dap

To the Miami Heat who bounced back from a humiliating 30 point loss to the Spurs on national TV  as a nadir of a 5 game losing streak to rout the Spurs by 30 also viewed by a national auidence. But the ESPN crew was creaming themselves gleefully over this rout. You know ESPN love them some Spurs and to see the Heat spank their golden child team wasnt cool to them. Dap to the Heat for seemingly coming out of their funk...and their boo-hooing as of late. Make no mistake, Im no Heat fan. I still think Erik Spoelstra is a boob and Pat Riley is itching to bogart the job but he does deserve some credit for getting the Heat to play better as of late. 

Head Slap

To Jim Tressel of the Ohio State Buckeyes who will be serving a two game suspension for lying to NCAA investigators in the wake of Tattoo-gate. He claimed that he didnt know who to contact when he received an e-mail about the players involvement. Seriously, Tress? You strike me as a really smart guy, you aint that stupid. You knew. I can recommend some really good sports bars in the Columbus Area that you and Terrelle Pryor can watch the first two games of the 2011 season.  

The Field is Set…the final grades

Truth be told, I was stunned to see some of the teams get in. I think that Illinois, Penn State and Georgia should be apologizing for making the field. The Bulldogs lose twice to Alabama but they get in…someone needs to explain that. Ohio State fans are already crying that they got put in a loaded bracket with UK, Syracuse and North Carolina.

Lets break it down by conferences. Teams in bold are teams that I correctly speculated to qualify, teams that made the tournament that I did not selected are italicized. Teams that I picked that did not make the cut are on their own line.

AtlanticCoast

Projected Bids: 5

Actual Bids: 4

Qualifiers: Duke (auto)  North Carolina, Florida State, Clemson

Left Out: Va. Tech
Skinny on the ACC: Set three weeks ago, the Hokies got left at the altar…again. Left for dead three weeks ago. Clemson made the last four. They really don’t have to apologize for being in, but the bleatings of Dick Vitale notwithstanding. The Hokies did get the shaft. The losses to BC after the emotional win over Duke was the loss that hurt the most.

Atlantic 10

Projected Bids:3

Actual Bids: 3
Qualifiers : Richmond (auto) Xavier, Temple
The A-10 Spec is: Richmond took the longshot out of their bid, by knocking off a feisty Dayton squad. Though X & Temple didn’t make the final they weren’t in any danger.

Big East

Projected Bids: 11

Actual Bids: 11
Qualifiers: UConn (auto), Pitt, Louisville, Villanova, Syracuse, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Cincy, St. John’s, West Virginia, Marquette
Big East Skinny: Some wonks whined about the number of teams coming out of this conference, but find a team in this 11 that was undeserving…

Big Ten

Projected Bids: 5

Actual Bids: 7

Qualifiers Ohio State(auto), Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan St. Illinois, Penn St.
The word on the Big Ten is: Sparty gets in with 14 losses??? Illinois gets bounced in the Big 10 quarters and gets a 9 seed? Penn State and at large??? The Big Ten got 7 and truth be told only deserved 4.

.
Big 12

Projected Bids: 6

Actual Bids: 5
Qualifiers: Kansas(auto), Texas, Mizzou, Texas A&M, Kansas State
Left Out: Colorado
Skinny from the heartland: Kansas got a #1 seed to no one’s surprise. Colorado got left out to everyone’s surprise. I thought the coin flip was initially if K-State would get the call but it seems that the Buffs losses to Oklahoma and Iowa State were more damaging that initially thought

Conference USA

Projected Bids: 1

Actual Bids:2 (1 correct)

Qualifiers Memphis(auto), UAB

Left Out:UTEP
Oh Say can You C-USA Spec: Memphis vexed Joey Brackets by getting the auto bid, but UAB threw everyone for a loop. Everyone is squawking about Va. Tech and Colorado but where is the justice for UTEP???

Colonial

Projected Bids: 3

Actual Bids: 2

Qualifiers George Mason, Old Dominion (auto), VCU

Colonial Spec: The Patriots got the respect that they deserved with an 8 seed, the powers that be in the selection committee are making sure that there are no mid-major danger games by putting auto qualifier Old Dominion against Butler. VCU??? Where did they come from, they didn’t win their conference regular season title and was tourney runner up but they get an invite, albeit to the first four.

Horizon

Projected Bids: 1

Actual Bids: 1
Qualifier: Butler (auto)
Spec on the Horizon:  As usual, Butler gets the shaft. They got about what they were supposed to gegt with an 8, but face a mid-major in Old Dominion in the first round

Missouri Valley

Projected Bids: 2

Qualifier: IndianaState(auto)

Left Out:  Missouri State
Missouri Valley Skinny: The Bears were another team left at the altar wondering what they had to do to get an invite. This made no sense, 25 wins and nothing. The mid-majors cant get the power conferences to schedule them other than suicide games in their crib and cant get a visit. Ive been long a foe of the bracketbuster games and the Bears were a victim of it.

Mountain West

Projected Bids:3

Actual Bids: 3
Qualifiers: San Diego State (auto),BYU, UNLV
Spec from the Mountains: The Aztecs made a late move to garner the auto bid and a #2 seed. Despite losing their top rebounder and third leading scorer the Cougars snagged a #3 seed. UNLV will be a dangerous 8 seed.

Pac-10

Projected Bids: 4

Actual Bids: 4
Qualifiers:  Washington (auto) Arizona, UCLA, USC
Skinny from the Left Coast:  No real surprises here, though I did think that USC getting a bid for the first four. There were no shockers here.

Southeastern

Projected Bids: 5

Actual Bids: 5 (4 correct)
Qualifiers: Kentucky (auto), Vanderbilt, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia

Left Out: Alabama
Word is Down South: The Bulldogs made it, the Tide got left. I wasn’t too crazy about Tennessee making the cut but I knew that they would give the Vols the benefit of the doubt.

West Coast

Projected Bids:2

Actual Bids: 1
Qualifier: Gonzaga

Left Out:  Saint Mary’s
West Coast Spec: I was afraid that it was going to be a one-bid league. The selection committee apparently not impressed with the Gaels 25 wins. I feel the Gaels did get the shaft but Im not going with their coach’s BCS proposal.

Also making the field:

Amer. East (Boston U), Atlantic Sun (Belmont), Big Sky (Montana/Northern Colorado), Big South (Coastal Carolina/UNC Ashville), Big West (Long Beach/Cal-Santa Barbara), Ivy (Princeton), MAC (Kent/Akron), MAAC (Rider/St. Peters), MEAC (Bethune-Cookman/Hampton), Northeast (Long Island), Ohio Valley (Morehead State), Patriot (Bucknell), Southland (McNeese St/Tex. San Antonio), Southern (Charleston/Wofford),  Summit (Oakland), Sun Belt (North Texas/Ark-Little Rock) and SWAC (Jackson State/Alabama St) WAC (Utah State) That adds up to 68 teams.

The Final tally 53 correct out of 68 qualifiers (78%)

 Now to quote Kevin Bacon in Footloose “LETS DANCE!!!”

Until Next Post Fellow Sports Fans!

He can sink a shot from far away, well past the three-point line. He can drive past many of the power forwards of today for easy scores. He can post in the blocks and score on anyone in the game.

All those parts of his young game are still developing, but Kevin Love has always been able to gobble up rebounds by the bushel since he got on either an NBA, collegiate, or high school hardwood. On both ends of the floor with a steady consistency not seen for years.

After averaging over 15 rebounds in high school, Love stopped by UCLA for just one season. The 6'10" power forward was an All-American who was named Pac-10 Player of the Year after averaging over 17 points and 10 rebounds in 2007. He also had 23 double-doubles as the Bruins reached the Final Four before losing.

He seemed on his way to finding his name next to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, and Gail Goodrich on the long list of Bruin legends who are long considered amongst the best basketball players in NCAA history. Yet Love was looking ahead, so he eschewed his last three years of college in favor of the NBA.

Four NBA teams decided not to draft him in 2008. Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, O.J. Mayo, and UCLA teammate Russell Westbrook were chosen before him. While Rose is having an MVP caliber season right now, and Westbrook is an All-Star, both Beasley and Mayo have been traded and Mayo was almost traded again recently.

The Memphis Grizzlies selected Love, but wanted Mayo. They traded Love to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Mayo. While Mayo scores 16 points a game for his career, the Grizzlies were recently trying to trade the shooting guard, now coming off the bench, after he fought with teammates and was suspended for steroid use.

Beasley is now Love's teammate, having been a salary cap casualty of the Miami Heat's signings of LeBron James and Chris Bosh. With Love handling the post, the athletic Beasley is currently averaging a career high 19.2 points per game.

Beasley still gets his average of just over five rebounds per game, but the Timberwolves do not ask him to circumcise his game by staying in the blocks the way Miami did. On a roster were just two players are older than 25-years old, most are trying to find their niche under the guidance of head coach Kurt Rambis.

Love just broke a doubles-double record set by the incomparable Moses Malone, who set the record in his 1979 MVP season. Malone, who led the NBA in rebounds five times in his career, was coming off a 1978 season where he had an amazing career high of 1,444 rebounds. He was credited with 51 straight double-double games in 1979, the most since the ABA and NBA merged in 1976.

One of the 50 Greatest Players of All-Time, Malone was a 13-time All-Star who never fouled out of a game in his career despite being an upper echelon defender and unstoppable force on the offense end and all over the boards.

Love says his new record should be respected as far as the post-merger modern game, but he certainly understands the history of the game extends well beyond 1976. He understands his place as well.

Now Love has his eyes set on yet another member of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of All-Time. Elvin Hayes, considered by most the greatest power forward in the history of the NBA, had 55 straight games of double-doubles on 1973.

Hayes was a 12-time All-Star who led the league in rebounding twice and scoring once in his superb career. Though most might recall how no one could prevent the "Big E" from scoring his patented turn-around jumper that had him score 47 or more points five times in his career, Hayes was a great defender with seven games of 10 or more blocked shots as well.

The 1973 season where Hayes had his 55 games, he averaged over 18 rebounds a game. It is the third best average ever by anyone since Wilt Chamberlain retired. Hayes would take his teams to the finals three times in his career, winning once.

“Whether you put it as a modern-day or an ABA-NBA merger, I would say yes (his new record should be respected),” Love said. “But if you’re looking at the grand scheme of things, you’ve got to look at that 227. The Big Dipper. Wilt the Stilt. He’s something special. You’ve got to look at that. Why not go for Elvin then?”

When one tries to describe the greatest player in NBA history, words are not enough to encompass Wilt Chamberlain. Those 227 straight double-double games are a minimum mark that could be doubled, but there are some scorecard issues stretching back that far.

While fans quickly recall the "Stilt" scoring 100 points in a single game in 1962, some forget he averaged an astronomical 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds per game the season before. It wasn't an anomaly, because Chamberlain averaged 44.8 points and 24.3 rebounds per game in 1962.

The "Big Dipper" led the league in rebounding 11 times in his 15 seasons, including his last year. Chamberlain also led the league in points scored seven times. When people tried to say all he did was score, the legendary "Stilt" quieted critics by leading the NBA in assists in the 1967 season.

What set Chamberlain far and apart from any other fans choice for "Greatest Player Ever" is the fact the NBA desperately tried to stop him with a mountain of rules changes that were directly aimed at him in hopes of slowing Chamberlain down.

Love knows it is highly unlikely he will come anywhere near Chamberlain's 227 games, but passing Hayes on the double-double list would be amazing in itself. Unlike Hayes, Malone, or Chamberlain, Love is accomplishing his feat on a team with 16 wins in 66 games on a team that gets very little media coverage.

He is just 22-years old and in his third season. Love is on pace to get over 1,200 rebounds this year after averaging over nine and 11 rebounds per game in his first two seasons. He is the leader of a young team filled with talent that will only get better with experience.

Love has been playing on a sore knee, but it has not stopped him from trying to do his best. Love said,"Nothing’s really changed about how I feel about the double-double streak or the situation. I just go out there and play hard.”

Maybe when his career ends, fans will still be speaking of him in the same breath as Moses Malone and Elvin Hayes as they are now. Yet Malone and Hayes certainly have to proud of this youngster continuing the legacy of hard work that isn't seen much in the game anymore.

What Love has accomplished is historic, but the most impressive part is seeing a young man grounded in knowing his place and the trail-blazing players before him while not running around with the bloated ego of a pampered prima donna thinking his feces doesn't stink like so many have before him.

A young star who isn't a head case thinking he is the team. These are the players the NBA needs to promote. Especially one who understands, respects, and revels in the history of the game.

It's Wednesday again? What happened to last week? Well, since yesterday was Fat Tuesday, today must be Ash Wednesday. Since I grew up a Methodist, I did not know what Ash Wednesday meant until well into my adult years. I was fascinated to learn that you had to abstain from something that you really liked. My old boss gave up drinking for Lent. Another co-worker gave up bread. It was always interesting to me to find out what my Catholic friends gave up each year. If you want to share what you have given up this year, feel free to comment on this.

Here is a picture of Tom Brady and his "lady" celebrating this week in Rio de Janeiro. As you can see,, Brady has taken his hair to the next level. He has responded to complaints about his hair by saying simply..."hey, my lady likes it this way." While this hairstyle is not my cup of tea, it should be noted that Brady is in Rio de Janeiro mugging with Gisele Bundchen . What are you doing this week? I would have to say that Brady is "winning".

Here is another bit of odd news with Greg Proops: http://oddnews.yahoo.com/video-odd-news-24391978 

I am sorry, I love this stuff. Wedding dresses at Costco? What will they offer next? A college degree? That reminds me of one of my favorite silly movies...

Third base is often called the "hot corner". Balls hit to 3rd base are either screamers or dribblers...(there is a joke there somewhere). A 3rd baseman at least has the benefit of being set before the ball is hit. What about the pitcher who is much closer and is often left defenseless after delivering a pitch? What would you think about a helmet for a pitcher? I asked my soon to be 16 year old son and he scoffed at the idea. As a parent, I have a different thought. Why not protect young pitchers? We are so worried that batters and base runners must wear protective head gear, yet we leave the pitcher completely unprotected; until now.

Here is a photo of the Padres' Chris Young after getting hit by a line drive.

Here is a young pitcher that was hit by a batted ball off an aluminum bat. If this were your son, would you like him to have this on his head?

Another look:

While this may not have the style factor that young men want, I think that this will be something we see in the future...at least I hope so.

Here is a bit of the article:

If we're talking about seeing these in the major leagues, though, we're probably talking about a much longer path to being accepted. Those "Great Gazoo" batting helmets have been slow to gain approval in the bigs over the past year (David Wright(notes) was roundly mocked for wearing one) and pro ballplayers are notorious for refusing to adopt any changes that the player's union doesn't officially require.

But with a 100-mph line drive reaching the rubber in less than half a second and concussions having the potential to wreak havoc on a career (see Morneau, Justin), why wouldn't you seek to put an extra layer of protection over your noggin? 

In a word...absolutely!

In the offseason of MLB, there were several big time signings. Of course the Phillies signed Cliff Lee, but the Brewers signed Zach Greinke and the Rangers signed Adrian Beltre. Although it is early, the Brewers and Rangers have not tasted the fruit of their offseason labor. Somehow, Beltre's leg injury has prevented him from any spring action. Grienke had a few outings, but something was off. It turns out that Greinke has a broken rib suffered playing off season basketball. He will miss opening day and probably his first three starts...

I was not happy with the Beltre signing and I hope this is not a sign of things to come. The last big contract he signed did not work out so well.

Greinke's situation is a bit puzzling. He broke a rib going for a rebound. While there is nothing wrong with a bit of exercise; the Brewers have to be a bit steamed. Missing his first three starts is not the end of the world. But, spring training is used to develop arm strength and prepare for the season. Realistically, Greinke won't be full speed until May..at the earliest. At least Zack has someone to comfort him until he is healthy...

Greinke's wife...

Although it is not football season, I could not help but mention a word about Tiki Barber renouncing his retirement. Older running backs do not have a very favorable track record. I suspect that Tiki's comeback will be disappointing. Of course, now we will have another drama for the media to run with. I dread it already...

I am not a big NBA fan, but I had to share this video of Ron Artest this past week:

:

So many questions for this fan. Why are you drinking coffee at a basketball game? Why not sit in your chair to text? Too funny...

That's all I have for this week. I will leave you with a bit of Jack Handey to take with you...

"If you're an ant, and you're walking along across the top of a cup of pudding, you probably have no idea that the only thing between you and disaster is the strength of that pudding skin." 

"How come the dove gets to be the peace symbol? How about the pillow? It has more feathers than the dove, and it doesn't have that dangerous beak."  

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to comment...