The NBA playoffs, the NHL playoffs, the start of MLB, the NFL Draft, spring football games – it’s a very busy time in the sports world.
Here are a few observations from the past week:
– Kudos to Washington Huskies football coach Tyrone Willingham, who had his players attend career day in formal wear after a recent spring practice, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.
In an era when many college athletes’ sole intentions are to turn professional in the quickest amount of time possible, Willingham’s approach is refreshing. Hopefully more coaches will take notice.
“It’s important for our young men to have other options in their lives. The career fair can give them another option,” Willingham told the paper.
– A few NBA players made first-round playoff appearances in their former stomping grounds. Vince Carter probably had the toughest of any, though, as he returned to Toronto. Carter, now with the New Jersey Nets, spent the majority of his career in Toronto and heard it from the capacity crowd all afternoon. Many Toronto fans, upset with the way Carter’s career ended in Toronto with his constant injuries and eventually with him wanting out, wore baby bibs with Carter’s No. 15 on them.
But one fan’s sign, with a picture of Carter, took the cake: “Keep Toronto Beautiful. Send our trash to New Jersey.”
One newspaper even kept a “running diary of Carter’s day” and updated it every few minutes. Carter struggled by shooting 5 of 19, but still had 16 points in New Jersey’s 96-91 victory in game one.
– Grant Hill also made a return to his former home of Detroit to face the Pistons. Hill, now with the Magic, is one of the NBA’s truly good guys, but his career has been plagued by injuries. Shockingly, Hill also received a few scattered boos in Detroit despite at one time being the face of the franchise and one of the NBA’s top players. That’d be like Portland booing Clyde Drexler when he was with the Rockets.
OK, like that would ever happen.
On a similar note, is there a worse city, in terms of a love-hate relationship with its players, than New York? The once-hated Yankee Alex Rodriguez is now the most popular man in the Big Apple after his unbelievable start to the season. Make up your minds, Yankee fans.
You could make a case that Philly is worse than New York – after all, they booed Santa Claus once – but I’m not buying it after this A-Rod fiasco. They emotionally beat him down last year, likely part of the reason no one witnessed his amazing talents that are on display this season. A-Rod, if you want on a semi-contender with a group of apathetic fans, Atlanta would definitely welcome you.
– According to an Associated Press story floating on the wire, hip-hop performer Lil’ Romeo, the son of rapper Master P, will apparently accept a scholarship to play basketball at USC and join the incoming class in 2008. Percy Romeo Miller is currently a 6-foot-1-inch junior guard at Beverly Hills High School.
If his signing is true, can you imagine the insults Oregon’s Pit Crew will sling at the child prodigy when he visits?
– The great thing about sports is that it can serve as a unifying factor. We saw that after 9/11, and we are seeing that again in the wake of the tragic events at Virginia Tech.
Among many other positive gestures from teams and schools all over the country, we saw Boston Red Sox players wear a small VT logo on their sleeves, an idea manager Terry Francona and catcher Jason Varitek came up with, The Boston Globe reported.
We also saw Penn State’s Joe Paterno, one of the most loyal coaches in all of the country, don a Virginia Tech hat in a moment of tremendous grief.
“You get wrapped up so much in the little things, the details … you get caught up,” Paterno said. “Then all of a sudden you come to a day like today.”
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