Multi-Sport Potpourri

Hear it here!

 

Kudos to the National Hockey League for reviving the dying tradition of the All-Star Game.

It was once a mid-season gem that saw memorable moments performed by memorable stars who were proud to be selected and proud to actually play.

That all went away. It began with baseball. At one time, players wearing their team uniforms on the field together were out to try to win for their league.

The Home Run Derby, invented by ESPN and held the day before the game became more popular than the contest itself and as it turned out, also changed the way baseball has largely been played. It’s all about the home run……or as we now witness, all about strikeouts and pathetically low batting averages.

 

But this season, the NHL launched a tournament named 4 Nations Face-Off.

It proved to be a fiercely competitive and riveting round-robin.

The United States, Canada, Finland, and Sweden were represented by NHL players from those nations who played for their country.  Teammates from NHL teams were battling each other wearing the colors of their native nation. It was beautiful to watch.

With the added fever pitch due to issues outside of sports involving Canada and the U.S. the matchups took on added flavor. The American team defeated the Canadians 3-1 in their initial meeting, spiced by boos of the respective national anthems by the crowd.

The two nations faced each other in the final showdown, with Canada capturing a meaningful title, 3-2, on an overtime goal by perhaps the best all-around player in the game, Connor McDavid. It was a contest worthy of a seventh game of a Stanley Cup Final and a pride bursting forth that was equal or better than the best we have seen in the Olympics.

Compare that scene to the NBA version of the All-Star Game which has sadly become an outright joke. The game itself, which I was honored to broadcast for nine seasons on CBS, has diminished beyond recognition. It became such an embarrassment last season with the stars merely going through the motions, that a new format was adopted this time around. The 2025 abomination was divided into international, young stars and veteran stars teams. A winning Rising Stars team from their own tournament was also included. The first to score 40 points in those mini-games would win. Those contests went pretty fast. Everything now has been reduced to tournaments. After a while they all lose their significance. How many gimmicks are enough?

The Lakers’ LeBron James, still playing at a high level at the incredible age of 40, announced he would not participate so he could get more rest.

This isn’t solely aimed at LeBron, but star players in all the pro sports appreciate being cited as all-stars and all-pros, but they don’t want to extend themselves and perform before their fans. Can you spell selfish?

So we’ll end this diatribe the way we started. Hats off to hockey. They made the term “All-Star Game” mean something once again.

 

Here’s something earth-shattering. The New York Yankees will now be permitted to wear facial hair.  Stop the presses (an old-fashioned term that is long gone).

George Steinbrenner, who bought the Yankees in 1973, declared three years later that his players would be clean-shaven. No more mustaches, mutton chops, and beards of any kind. But times have changed (ya think?)

Now, George’s son Hal, the current owner, will allow well-groomed beards.

I’m so relieved. Perhaps someone in the know whispered to Hal that the Yankees were no longer able to sign prominent free agents because facial hair was disallowed.

I really don’t know.

So the 2025 version of the Yankees will have a new look.

 

UConn’s men’s basketball team entered this season seeking to win its third consecutive NCAA championship.

Dan Hurley, their vocal and often high-strung head coach turned down an offer from the NBA LA Lakers to stay at Storrs (Conn.) and try to win their third straight.

But it doesn’t look like it’ll happen. The Huskies are 18-9, having suffered three losses in a row after starting the season 4-0, They never have looked the part of a national championship contender. Hurley has had his troubles, often criticizing officials on the court and in post-game comments. He has also claimed he cannot coach this team as hard as he’s coached some of his other squads.

He told one official, “don’t turn your back on me, I’m the best coach in the sport”.

Two things. One, it seems Dan Hurley prefers to blame others instead of accepting responsibility. The second is that he’s not the best coach in the sport.

Rick Pitino is.

As I’ve said before, Pitino has had a checkered past, to say the least, when it comes to morals and circumventing rules. But as a basketball coach, there is none better.

Once a national power, St. John’s faced a decade of mediocrity before Pitino came aboard last season. He had won national titles at Kentucky and Louisville, and took Providence to the Final Four before that. He was the first coach to lead three different teams to the Final Four, and is the only coach to win it all at two different schools.

He was fired at Louisville amid a federal investigation involving bribes and recruits.

He was later exonerated of these charges and returned to coaching at Iona in 2023.

Last season, his first at St.John’s, not an easy school to recruit. He finished 20-13.

This season, the Red Storm lead the Big East, have a 24-4 record after beating UConn for the second time, and are ranked in the nation’s Top 10.

Pitino is a brilliant coach and there’s no telling how far St.John’s can go in the upcoming March Madness.

To put it simply, he’s the best.

Finally, the big NFL free-agent question? Where will Aaron Rodgers wind up?

I was skeptical of his signing with the Jets, which was borne out decisively.

It was a bad move then, and it would be a bad move now for a team to go with what is now a 41-year old future Hall of Famer, but a present day risk.

Again I ask, what is the upside for any team? Now, I believe there could be a market for Rodgers as a backup, in case of injury to a starter.  But there’s no way he’ll go for that.

Is there a chance Aaron Rodgers may decide to retire after it’s said and done?

I think yes.

Time will tell.