Hear it here!

Raise your hand if you think Bill Belichick’s image has changed?
Okay, you can put them down now.
Wow! Every hand went up!

Once upon a time, not that long ago, the former Patriots head football coaching great, winner of six Super Bowls, was a no nonsense, stern, serious leader whose mantra was, ‘do your job’, nothing more nothing less.

Of course away from the eyes and ears of the media he had no use for, he was much looser, even with a sense of humor most never knew he possessed.

But since his departure from the Patriots he has gone the full 180, perhaps minus the sense of humor. He’s a different guy in so many respects, even alarmingly, that folks are outright shocked at the new Bill Belichick.

It started with his going from a media hater to a media darling, working on as many as four TV football shows last season.

But that was nothing compared to what we see now.

The surprises started when it was revealed he was in a relationship with a woman named Jordon Hudson, who he met on a flight from Boston to Florida.

Belichick is 73, Hudson is 24.  Okay, that’s a 49-year age gap and that got tongues wagging.

People love gossip and they really loved this one.

But everyone has a right to conduct their lives the way they want and be left alone.

Except, it appears BB and Jordon didn’t want to be left alone.

They have relentlessly been public about everything . Bill became the head coach at North Carolina, a college job few thought he would ever accept. He then asked the University to include his girlfriend on all emails sent to him.

Now it’s become apparent that Jordon Hudson is more than the coach’s girl.

She is his representative, PR person, advisor, ‘muse’ as he himself puts it, and authentic co-partner in all his activities.

It all hit the fan when Belichick was interviewed on CBS, presumably to promote his new book about football and his coaching philosophy. But when the host asked him how he met Jordon, she vocally halted the interview calling the question off limits.

The interview was supposed to be strictly about the book. At least that’s what BB and J claimed.

But CBS insisted nothing was off limits.

As an aside, I can say from experience that the audience watching or hearing a book promo interview, even the book’s publishers, relish the sensational more than the subject matter of the actual book. That’s the bread and butter. The draw for people to buy. The rest is superfluous.

The one question I have is why she allowed him to wear a battered Navy sweatshirt with a hole for everyone to see for the interview?

What looked good about that?

Belichick has made it clear he doesn’t care what people think. That’s obvious considering what we’ve seen.

A high school friend of Jordon’s revealed she is acting in the same forceful, hands-on manner she’s always done.

BB’s girl is no shrinking violet and the reality is that the legendary coach has shown he has no problem with any of it.

There are also reports that his family is concerned with the turns the relationship has taken. Who knows if those reports are accurate? However, the worst case scenario would be if the ‘old man’ is being taken for a ride by the ‘young lady’.

So what now?

There’s no question that the image and perception of the iconic coaching legend is not the same as it was.

Okay. Who cares. If Belichick is good with it, nothing else matters.

Rest assured, any new, even dramatic developments be it a departure from North Carolina, a break up of the pair, or more of the same with added fireworks, the story will be revisited with vigor.

In the meantime, what we have are two people living their lives the way they prefer.

Raise your hand if you find anything wrong with that.

The post Who Expected This? appeared first on Dick Stockton.

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No one really had an idea.

No one had an answer.

No one could figure out why.

Everyone had opinions. Some of them could have made sense.

One was so absurd it made you shake your head.

I reached out to some professionals who might know, but no one could put their finger on it.

Why was Shedeur Sanders, one of the very top quarterback prospects ignored until the fifth round of the NFL draft when he easily could have been one of the first three players chosen in the very first round?

What Sanders went through, waiting painfully so long before he was finally picked, created a bizarre story that dominated the annual draft of college players.

Added to the mix were a couple of prank phone calls including one coming from the son of another team’s assistant coach.

Sanders had been the quarterback at Colorado under his father and head coach Deion Sanders, an NFL legend.  The Buffaloes experienced a revival the past few years and Shedeur was one of the major factors.

Now, he was slated to be drafted early by one of the many teams seeking young quarterbacks who would lead them out of the wilderness to victories, triumphs in the playoffs, and even a Super Bowl or two, making his team relevant for years ahead.

There have been many cases of highly-touted prospects who fell dramatically from where they figured to be selected. But no one has ever seen such a precipitous drop as we witnessed with Shedeur Sanders.

The big question became….why?

Not a soul really knew for sure, but they covered considerable territory.

On the eve of the draft there was a report by a team’s assistant coach describing a bad in-person interview with Sanders that put him in a negative light.

The coach accused the player of acting entitled, pointing fingers at his offensive line when the team lost, and generally presenting himself as anything but what teams want in their starter at that critical position, a leader.

Others fell back on his pure ability, insisting he was overrated and not up to the level of a potential quarterback to lead a franchise. Although one expert of note, ex-Alabama head coach Nick Saban says he has all the skills, and actually did have to perform with a sub-par offensive line in front of him.

Then there were those who pointed to his father, who has been a controversial figure wherever he’s been. Deion Sanders, a brilliant player with the Dallas Cowboys and the Atlanta Falcons in his day, nicknamed Prime Time, has also been a polarizing individual known for his brash, sometimes outrageous comments.

Shedeur seemed to carry some of his father’s traits, notably a level of confidence expressed in grandiose ways.

But the young QB also appeared to be strong in his faith, and as the disappointment grew with each empty moment of the draft, Shedeur kept calm, reserved, and in control.

Perhaps teams felt they would rather avoid the circus of choosing him and going through the possibility of dealing with a father and son who might not accept decisions that would prove negative, say, not becoming a starter, or worse, being benched for poor performances.

One outrageous charge, echoed by the loud, look-at-me commentator Stephen A. Smith, brought racism into the picture claiming owners colluded not to draft Sanders because he was black, similar to the failure of Colin Kaepernick, years ago, who would not find a team when he was available. He was deemed not good enough at that point of his career despite good success early on.

Smith has been around long enough, I would suspect, to know that owners do not collude. In the cut-throat business of the NFL, owners would do almost anything to get an edge over their rivals. And to bring up the tired old racism label is a joke considering a black quarterback was the #1 choice in each of the last three drafts, and teams traded up to add top African-American players to their roster.

All 32 NFL teams want to win. End of story.

By the way, the top pick in this year’s draft was Cam Ward, from Miami, by the Tennessee Titans. But no one’s talking about him.

Ultimately, the Cleveland Browns rose up and selected Sanders in the fifth round.

He was the seventh quarterback taken and the 144th player overall.

In fact, the Browns had already gone for another QB, Dillon Gabriel of Oregon in the third round.

Throughout the Shedeur Sanders drama there was an unsettling moment when he received a call earlier in the draft from someone who said he was Mickey Loomis, the General Manager of the New Orleans Saints. The voice indicated that Sanders would be drafted on the next pick, only to hang up. It was a prank. The one who called was the 21-year old son of the Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator. A cruel move considering the ongoing shock of what was unfolding for three days.

The NFL launched an investigation and discovered who made the unfortunate call.

Young Sanders handled the incident impressively. He never exhibited anger, instead he leaned on his faith. He even joked that sometimes childish things occur.

Perhaps Sanders matured and grew throughout the ordeal in a way no on anticipated.

Who knows how his father, Deion will handle his son’s new chapter with the Browns?

Will he make demands? Will he interfere in any way? Will it turn into a circus?

It’s now up to the Cleveland Browns to run their team. I know Shedeur will be playing for a good and respected head coach, Kevin Stefanski.

The young man expressed his desire to become a member of the team and work to get to where he wants to go.

If there ever was a case of a high-level player on a mission to prove people wrong, this is the one.

I have a hunch he gained a following, the support and maybe a rooting interest of people he didn’t have before.

I know one person who’s now pulling for him.

The post Shedeur Sanders appeared first on Dick Stockton.

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Have you ever played musical chairs?

That’s when there are a bunch of chairs and one more person than the number of chairs.

The music starts to play and everyone keeps moving until the music stops.

Then the people stop and have to find a chair quickly and sit down.

But for one person there is no chair. That person is out of luck.

The NFL draft of collegians is this week, but the game of musical chairs involving quarterbacks, the most critical position on any football team, has been going on for a couple of months.
I have a feeling the one left standing is named Aaron Rodgers, but I’ll get back to that.

There already have been a ton of blockbuster moves and plenty of cash being thrown around to players of all positions during this free agent season.

But in football, it’s all about the quarterback. If you don’t have a good one, a real good one, you have little chance of success.

Musical chairs.

Sam Darnold, a journeyman who had a fantastic year for the Vikings before he turned into a pumpkin when it counted at the end is now with the Seahawks. He’s 27.

The guy they had, Geno Smith, who didn’t do a bad job with Seattle, but is 34, is now with the Las Vegas Raiders, rejoining head coach Pete Carroll. The Raiders were desperate for a QB and I guess he’s good enough for minority owner Tom Brady.

The Jets, who once had both Darnold and Smith, signed Justin Fields who had yet to prove himself with the Bears and Steelers.

New York’s other team, the Giants, went for Russell Wilson, the diminishing veteran who had his moments in Pittsburgh. But not enough of them, and not enough of them in the playoffs where they went out in the first round which has been their habit.

Those were basically the teams playing the musical chairs game for starting quarterbacks. Actually there have been 10 more NFL clubs who played the same tune for backups.  When you think of the injuries during the long, grueling season, the teams that have someone dependable coming off the bench are the smart ones.

It’s been said that the most important position on a team is the quarterback.

The second most important is the backup quarterback.

So there has been more than the usual movement in that department during this off-season.

The truth is, every one of those moves is a question mark.

There’s a lot of hope. A lot of fingers crossed.

Lately, I’ve seen teams make deals with veterans that are really fooling themselves.

Let’s zero in on the most prominent.

A couple of years ago the New York Jets thought signing 39-year old Aaron Rodgers, unquestionably a future Hall of Famer would bring them to the promised land.

I wrote at the time that Rodgers’ success was starting to wane in Green Bay, and at his age, leading a team that was in no way ready to seriously challenge for the playoffs, was pure folly. Well, we know the history. Rodgers was injured on the first series of the first game and was lost for the year. He came back at 40 last year, had some flashes, but the plan basically fizzled.

What was the upside for the Jets when they brought Rodgers in?

Oh, they got plenty of buzz, but how does that pay off in wins and riding the wave into the post season?

Now, as we return to the game of musical chairs, it appears that Mr. Rodgers is the one left standing as the music comes to a halt.

It appears he has had little interest around the league.  The Vikings, Giants, Raiders, 49ers, the leading possibilities all passed.

However, the Steelers have not. Yet.

Having rid themselves of their two signal callers of a year ago, it looked like the Black and Gold were clearing the decks for King Aaron. But now everything has been frozen in time. Is Rodgers holding the Steelers hostage, by his contract demands?

Are the Steelers not sold on him? We know their hard-core fans, among the greatest in the league, are dead set against his signing. They know.

If there was little upside for the Jets two years ago, what is the upside for any team now?

Then there is the problem of Rodgers himself. The things he says. The way he says them. Space prevents an enumeration, but take my word for it, this is a strange dude.

You can look it up. In his latest public declarations which he does on ESPN, he railed at the Jets for having him fly coast-to-coast just to tell him they were going in another direction (that’s been the easy way to say, “bye bye”).

If they had called, Rodgers would have complained the Jets didn’t have the decency to axe him in person.

To be fair, I’ve never met the man.  But everything I’ve heard from him and seeing everything played out on the field and off, makes me confident in my view.

The last time he spoke, Rodgers talked of personal issues with those close to him as one of the reasons he hasn’t made a decision. Will he retire? It’s a good possibility. But he shouldn’t if he still feels he can play and win. But with whom? And win what?

A Super Bowl?  Doubtful.

So, the Aaron Rodgers saga goes on.

Every team prays for a chance at the brass ring when it comes to quarterbacks.

The best way is usually through the draft. Select the right one who becomes a franchise QB who can lead you to years of winning and Super Bowl opportunities.

The Washington Commanders got it right when all the pieces came together when they snagged Jayden Daniels in last year’s draft. Now they’re just putting the pieces together around him and on the other side of the ball. They have a future, for sure, if Daniels stays healthy.

In this year’s draft, the blue chip quarterbacks were Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders.

Ward was set to go to the Tennessee Titans. Sanders? Who knows.

Of course, by Thursday night everyone has.

Don’t forget there are always those long-shots who come out of nowhere after being chosen in say, the sixth round. Sometimes those long-shots win seven Super Bowls, but that doesn’t happen very much.

So you either are fortunate enough to pick high in the draft when the real good prospects are there for the taking.

Or you play the game of musical chairs.

And hope.

The post Quarterback Musical Chairs appeared first on Dick Stockton.

Hear it here!

I’ve never seen more raw emotion than when Rory McIlroy, 11 years chasing a dream and falling short, finally won the Masters golf championship.

It had built up for over a decade. Year after year something would happen so that it wouldn’t happen.

And then it did.

It did on a final round with more twists and turns than a tornado.

When it was over, after a birdie on the first playoff hole against Britain’s Justin Rose, the 35-year old from Northern Ireland became only the sixth golfer in history to win golf’s grand slam: The Open (British), the PGA, the US Open, and now the Masters.

The others are named Nicklaus, Woods, Player, Hogan, and Sarazen.

First it looked like it wasn’t in the cards once again for McIlroy, then it appeared he would break through, possibly in a runaway. Then things tightened up again, followed by a pair of heroic shots to the green. A short missed putt on 18 to win made you wonder if he just wasn’t destined to seal the deal.

It took an extra hole before Rory sunk his winning putt, collapsed on the green and sobbed uncontrollably.

The way it ended was a far cry from the anticipated scenario at the start of the final round. In the beginning it was all about a dream matchup between McIlroy and Bryce DeChambeau, who dueled to the finish of the 2024 US Open in Pinehurst, NC, when McIlroy lost to the American in heartbreaking fashion.

The final pairing of the two became a reality when DeChambeau sank a long birdie putt on the 18th to finish the third round.

You couldn’t have scripted a more enticing final round showdown, and it had to cross your mind that this might be McIlroy’s worst nightmare, going head to head with his conqueror at Pinehurst, even with a two stroke lead.

When Rory double-bogeyed the first hole and DeChambeau birdied the second to not only overcome the deficit but take the lead, it had the look of a movie you’d seen before.

Later, during his victorious post-match interview, McIlroy said that double on the first actually calmed him from his jitters at the start.

But it was DeChambeau who began to fall apart.

With the Irishman rallying with birdies on 3 and 4, the animated and outgoing DeChambeau three-putted both holes and lost his lead. Not only could you see McIlroy’s confidence rise, but DeChambeau slowly dropped out of contention, winding up with a 75, and a tie for fifth place.

The man who ended up as the real challenger was 44-year old Justin Rose, who had the early lead as he has so many times, before fading. Rose was in front after 36 holes put him seven strokes behind Rory.

So, while DeChambeau skied to that same 75 in the final round, the veteran Rose came back brilliantly and finished nine shots better than the previous day.

That’s golf.

Those of us who play it at the level we play are fully aware that it’s a day to day adventure, even a shot to shot game.

It’s really no different on the professional stage, only that the ability and skill are light years better.

That’s why it’s amazing how consistent Scotty Scheffler has been in recent years.

But in this Masters, Scheffler never made a serious run, in spite of a fourth place finish, trailing by only three shots.

When we talk about the team sports, we often cite what one side did to succeed or fail to do. That’s the way it is in football, basketball, baseball and hockey.

I’ve often mentioned what Red Auerbach, the legendary coach of the Boston Celtics once told me: “It’s not solitaire out there”, he’d say. He was on the money.

In team sports you go up against an opponent who has a lot to say about how you perform.

But golf is different. Yes, you’re playing the course. That’s your real opponent.

But you’re the one in control of your shots, the clubs you use, and your emotions.

Taking a big picture view of this year’s Masters, how refreshing it was to witness such an event with the drama building as it went along reaching a finish that took your breath away.

In your heart you could feel what McIlroy was feeling, although we all know we really had no idea.

It was live human drama unfolding the way it only does in sports. Most of what we see doesn’t go the distance emotionally the way this one did.

That’s a good thing.

It makes the ones that do special and truly memorable.

That’s what we got from the final round of the 2025 Masters, when Rory McIlroy finally reached the finish line in first place.

The post Mastering The Masters appeared first on Dick Stockton.

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March Madness was strictly ho-hum for the first two weeks.

The usual array of upsets and dramatic game-winning baskets at the buzzer were nowhere to be seen.

When the Final Four arrived, the four top-seeded teams representing each region were left standing. So, what kind of surprises could emerge?

That’s what makes March Madness so special. There’s always something lurking that no one expected and that proved to be the case when the top rated schools got together in San Antonio to fight it out for the national championship.

Of the quartet that remained, Duke was the odds-on favorite to win another title.

They had an amazing group of young stars, led by their big guy Cooper Flagg, an air-tight defense, and a swagger that reminded observers of the best of the Blue Devils championship teams of the past.

But it didn’t happen for them.

Instead, the Houston Cougars knocked off the Blue Devils in one of the memorable shockers that will stick in the minds of hoop followers for a long, long time, maybe longer.

In the other half of the draw, the Florida Gators beat the regular season SEC champion Auburn Tigers. Florida got to the final by beating four straight strong entries including defending champion UConn.

The lesson learned from the Final Four was clear: Don’t turn your TV off.

In both of the semifinal encounters one team took command for a half, even more, only to see sensational rallies by the trailing team that resulted in victory.

In the championship game, the same story.

In this case, Houston, seeking their first title after several near-misses, led Florida by as much as 12 points early in the second half, holding their star, Walter Clayton, Jr. scoreless for more than five minutes into the second half. This was the same Walter Clayton who had a career high 34 points in the semis against Auburn and was the leading scorer in the entire tournament.

But the Gators cut down on their turnovers, tightened their defense and captured their third national championship 65-63, despite holding the lead for only 64 seconds in the game. But they were in front when it counted the most. Head coach Todd Golden, at 39, became the youngest coach to win the NCAA crown since the late legend Jim Valvano at N.C. State in 1983.

It was a thrilling championship battle, but it might take a backseat to surprising turn of events that marked that semifinal matchup between Duke and Houston.

When you get to the final four teams, obviously, anyone is capable of winning.

But when the one regarded as the cream of the crop is in command, with a comfortable advantage, well into the second half, and then couldn’t do anything right, that’s a stunner.

The Blue Devils led by 14 with a little more than eight minutes to play.

Then Houston’s L.J. Cryer sparked a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to four points.

Even then, Duke managed raise their lead to 9 with three minutes left.

But the Cougars were relentless and the finish became frenetic.

Yes, there was a controversial loose ball foul on Flagg who couldn’t connect on a key shot, and Houston hung in there, forcing a turnover and making its free throws and wound up beating mighty Duke, 70-67.

There are countless fouls called in a game that are questionable. This one had a few.

The call on Flagg was certainly one of them in my opinion. But teams don’t lose because of one officials’ call. If you looked at some others down the stretch, including a 5-second violation for not getting the ball inbounds that might have cost Duke a possession, that one might have made a difference as well.

They can’t review 5-second violations and other close calls. I think there are too many instances of officials marching to a TV monitor to look at a replay.

Coaches are human, players are human and so are officials.

Let’s stop killing the momentum of a game with so many stoppages. Play on.

The fact is, Duke let Houston back into the game in the first place, they failed to protect their big lead.

It was surreal the way the Blue Devils, once in control, were ultimately upset.

Florida took down Auburn in the other semifinal when it appeared the Gators had played themselves out of it with a first half that saw the Tigers overpower Florida down low close to the basket. Auburn was the SEC conference champion and Florida won the SEC post-season tournament so it was a fitting collision. But Auburn’s big men dominated in the first half. That’s when Walter Clayton Jr. became the hero, on and off the court. At halftime, he lifted up the beleaguered big men in the locker room and encouraged them to turn the tables in the second half. They did just that. Clayton, meanwhile, scored his 34 points with acrobatic layups and timely 3-point baskets to put the Gators in the championship game.

Hats off to the new women’s national champion UConn.

Once upon a time it wasn’t anything new.

In the 16 year period starting in 2000, the Huskies dominated the sport with 10 national titles. Then followed a drought of 9 years before Geno Auriemma took them to another crown, beating South Carolina handily in this year’s final.

Auriemma’s greatness as a head coach is a given. However, it used to rub me the wrong way how the coach would leave his starters in the game with leads of 20 or more points.

But in this championship, Auriemma went to his bench to avoid embarrassing the Gamecocks who were the queens of the court three times in the previous eight seasons.

Watching all the action, it became more apparent to me Jeff Van Gundy’s philosophy of the game he coached so well at the pro level.

He once summed up basketball succinctly declaring, “it’s make or miss, that’s what it’s all about”.

Truer words were never uttered.

The post March Madness: April Edition appeared first on Dick Stockton.

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When we see it looking up we see a Final Four that features all the top-seeded teams.

Bettors call it “chalk”.  The favorites have ruled the roost in this year’s edition of March Madness. To be honest, this year’s tournament has lacked the excitement of unheralded upsets, and thrilling buzzer-beaters, meaning last second shots that decide games.

What we’ve seen are the best teams playing the best.

Every year is different, and this year is no exception. When was the last time we’ve seen this? It was in 2008, when Kansas, UCLA, North Carolina and Memphis, all #1 seeds, reached the final four with Kansas prevailing. That’s 17 years between this particular phenomenon.  That year, the Final Four was played in San Antonio. This year it is also in San Antonio, so there’s the coincidence.

Duke, Houston, Auburn and Florida will compete for the national championship and those reading this may already know the identity of the finalists and even the ultimate champion if you put your eyes to these words on the back burner.

The four finalists are all good teams. They are all worthy of cutting down the nets late Monday night. They say Duke was the obvious choice to take it all when March Madness started.

The only question centered around the health of their best player, Cooper Flagg the 6’9″ freshman who suffered an ankle sprain in the ACC Tournament and sat out the final games. But Flagg has been the kind of dominant force he was for the regular season and his young but talented supporting cast has stamped the Blue Devils as one of the finest teams they’ve ever had. That’s saying a lot.

But the other three can also win the title.

The lack of surprises and the minimum of close battles doesn’t take away from the annual show that always has impact because it’s “one and done”.  Anyone can get knocked out anytime.

So, that’s the scene when you gaze above the surface.

Then there’s the story of what’s below.

I saw a news conference with Tom Izzo, the 70-year old immensely successful coach for 29 years at Michigan State. Izzo is the winningest coach in Big Ten history. He has won a national championship, was runner up once, been to eight Final Fours, and has led the Spartans to the NCAA tournament 27 years in a row. He is much more than a head basketball coach. He is part of the fabric of Michigan State, with a style of communication with his players and fans that is unparalleled.

I attended the 2010 Final Four in Indianapolis, working with the late Bill Walton for a pharmaceutical company that brought its pharmacists in for a series of conferences and a basketball game between the invited guests on the Sunday between the semifinals on Saturday and the championship game Monday night.

Our particular hotel was also the headquarters for the Michigan State team and their fans. The Spartans lost their semifinal contest 52-50 to Butler. Following the game, the MSU fans took up every inch of the lobby soothing their disappointment with beverages of various kinds, and commiserating with each other after the defeat.

In came Tom Izzo with his wife, jacket over his shoulder, about a half hour after the 2-point loss, moving about the mob scene, milling with, and talking with individuals in the crowd.

I went up to him and said, “Tom, you transcend the game of basketball”. And he does.

Here was a man who was and is just a guy who coaches a sport and exudes the human touch, answering any questions, speaking honestly and in simple terms.

Rewinding to the news conference I saw prior to MSU’s elite 8 game against Auburn, which they lost, Izzo talked of the new world of college basketball, which also includes football, where money has become the name of the game. Players ask how much money they will be paid, choose schools based on a paycheck, they can transfer once, even twice, to another school which offers more cash, and in essence, they’re now professionals.

The day after this particular talk to the media, the transfer portal was opening. Players could put their name in at the same time they were preparing to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA championship. How weird was that? Izzo said he had no idea if any of his players were going to leave, and had not thought of players on other schools he wanted to come to East Lansing. But he shook his head at the fact that while his team might be looking ahead to greener pastures, they were in the midst of competing for something that would be incredibly meaningful for them, their kids, even their grandkids for their entire lives.

I’ve pointed out that for us, the viewers of the games, nothing has changed.

We relish in the competition and are entertained by the wonderful performances of great athletes. We don’t think of how the major college sports are suffering because of the greed that now has taken hold of young people. You wonder if there will ever be a strike by lesser players demanding more money. You wonder what can be done to halt an ugly downward turn of what used to be kids choosing schools for the right reasons, including a degree for a possible career?

Can the genie be put back into the bottle?

I don’t know. And I doubt it.

But that’s the way it looks below the surface, as we get set to celebrate another national champion capping March Madness.

The post A View Of College Basketball Above And Below The Surface appeared first on Dick Stockton.

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When I was a kid I got to see the Giants play baseball because a family member had season tickets.

Now that’s I’m older, I can still see the Giants play baseball because an another family member has season tickets.

Let me explain.

Growing up, my father, Joe, had tickets for the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds.

So, I got to go.

Now, my wife Jamie has tickets to the San Francisco Giants for their spring Cactus League games at Scottsdale Stadium. And I get to go.

How’s that for completing the circle?

There’s a kind of throwback to a more innocent and joyful time when you attend an exhibition baseball game in the spring. It not only signals the end of what could have been a harsh winter to welcoming the start of a warmer, brighter, happier time, with the summer sport of baseball about to take center stage.

At the ballpark, boys and men wear shorts, team jerseys and baseball caps while girls and women do the same. Parents bring their children and spend a family day sitting and watching a game played on lush green grass under clear blue skies, with the unmistakable crackling sounds of a ball meeting a bat, with the crowd cheering when something exciting happens.

Concessionaires roam the park hawking whatever food or beverage there’re carrying.

Is there anyone in the stadium not having a grand time?  I don’t think so.

To say things are different than they used to be in practically every aspect of life is not only a gross understatement but now, almost a cliche.

But the atmosphere at a spring training ball game is pretty much exactly as it has always been. It’s one thing that is the same today as it was 100 years ago. Imagine.

I never really attended one of these games as a youngster. We lived in Queens outside of the city and waited for the real season to begin. My dad took me to Opening Day at the Polo Grounds every year.

But I had the radio broadcasts of the exhibition games to whet my appetite.

The Giants trained in Phoenix, a million miles from home, and I never missed listening to every spring game they played. Usually it was against the Cleveland Indians, who trained in Tucson. They played about 20 games each other since there were only four teams training in Arizona. All the rest were in Florida. Now 15 work out of Florida, and 15 in Arizona.

I would also listen to the games played by the NY Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers. The Yanks called St. Petersburg their spring home. The Dodgers were in Vero Beach.

It’s funny, I always wondered why it was getting dark when the Giants broadcasts began and when it was over it was pitch black outside.

I guess I was unaware of a three-hour time difference when I was eight years old.

But the sounds of the games, as I described earlier, was magic to me. That’s a big part of what I’ve always felt about baseball being far better on radio than television.

Why, I think books have the edge over film and TV.

That’s when your imagination takes over.

I have a feeling my younger audience would think I’m out of my mind.

Now we’re on the brink of another baseball season.

It was once considered our national pastime, but those days are long gone.

Baseball has been eclipsed by the NFL.

But it still has its legion of followers, especially in the cities where the teams play. Fans sit back and see their favorites at the ballpark and on television. And yes, they listen to the games on radio in their cars and anywhere else where a TV isn’t handy.

With a 162-game schedule, it is a long journey, a marathon, a day-by-day story that unfolds over time.

But it all starts with spring training. The Grapefruit League if you’re in Florida, or the Cactus League if you’re out west to set the stage for the season ahead. The exhibition games when the results don’t count.

However, the sights and sounds awakening a new time for the months ahead have all the meaning in the world.

A short note on the first two rounds of March Madness.

The buzzer beaters and the rise of a Cinderella team or two which spark the first week of the tournament basically didn’t materialize.

Oh, McNeese State scored a big upset in the first round but were dispatched in their next go. St.John’s, the #2 seed, was knocked off by Arkansas. John Calipari got the best of Rick Pitino, in the return of their personal rivalry. I still believe Pitino is the best coach out there, but when your team can’t buy any kind of a basket, whoever is coaching doesn’t matter.

Maybe things will change this week, when March Madness gets down to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 phases of the tournament.

The post What Goes Around Comes Around appeared first on Dick Stockton.

Hear it here!

It all started with the traditional Selection Sunday when the 68-team field was revealed.

Who made it. Who didn’t. Who are the #1 seeded teams. Who plays whom and where do they play? It begins with a pair of play-in games Tuesday and Wednesday before the action involving 64 schools begins Thursday, capped with the Final Four in the first week of April.

The Sunday show featured analysis, over-analysis, intense questions over why some teams like North Carolina got in, and some, such as West Virginia did not.

It’s the same every year, but it’s different because they’re always talking about different schools.

This year, the number one seeds are Auburn, Duke, Houston and Florida.  No one has a problem with that.

It’s all pretty exciting, and it’s a wonderful time of the year in sports.  Many of those who watch have their own group of people where you fill in your brackets and hope for the best. By the way, the odds of picking all 63 games correctly are 1 in 9.2 quintillion.

That seems tough to do. Just sayin’.

As the games begin, there will be buzzer-beaters, shocking upsets, and matchups involving great coaches who have great reputations.

When the Final Four comes around, after all the craziness, you will find that most of the teams still standing come from among the top four seeds in each region.

Once upon a time, in a different life, there were 24 and 25 teams in the tournament.

The regions were named East, Southeast, Midwest, and West. Schools from those areas only played where they came from until the Final Four. Now, they mix it up and with so many in the field, you find St.John’s playing the first two rounds in Providence in the West Region. Go figure.  If a conference, say the Atlantic Coast, had five teams represented it was a big story. This year, the Southeastern Conference has 14.

Many of them may have a losing record in conference play, but they have been dominant playing teams from outside the conference. That’s where they will start when the ball gets rolling.

I have no idea who will win, make the Final Four, or advance deep into the tournament.

It’s the old story, it’s not the better team that wins, but who plays better that day.

As a broadcaster, this was one of the thrilling and grueling weeks of the year.

I  would watch the Sunday show, learn pairings, then wait for the call later that night to find out my assignment. Then the fun would begin. If I had a Thursday, Saturday region, I had to request plane reservations quickly, leaving on Tuesday. If I were assigned to a Friday and Sunday matchup I had the luxury of an extra day to prepare and get things done.

Monday and Tuesday before departure, I would do a deep dive into the 8 teams I would be covering. I would have to learn about some obscure schools in those days. The information wasn’t that easy to find.

Wednesday and Thursday are the toughest days for any announcer covering the NCAA Championship. My day would start at 9am and finish at 9pm. Eight schools would have practice sessions, followed by a news conference by the head coach. I would jump from the court to a back room at the arena to watch the players and hear the coach, then return to the court for when the next team took the floor. Preparation for these games were all about getting an understanding in rapid fashion, not only who the players were and how they performed on the court, but human interest stories about them and the school in general as to their history in the sport. A lot to do in a short period of time.

Practice was critical, not so much as learning how a team played, but who the players were. Put a number with a name. If they had names on the backs of their practice uniforms so much the better. But many of the smaller and far less prominent schools did not. We always joked between us that we hoped we didn’t get a “directional” school such as SE Louisiana, or NE Missouri State, which often had no names on their uniforms.

Don’t get me wrong. We’re not talking about grueling and frenzied work like in the construction field or anything serious. This was fun stuff. Actually, I never called what I did work.

Our crew would meet after the full day of action and coaches’ interviews and go over each of the four games upcoming the next day. There would be no time available the next morning when the production crew would have to get to the arena early and do what they had to do.

The next day was upon us and we would broadcast four games, starting around noon with a doubleheader. Following a break of about two hours we’d be at it again with the final two games starting at 7pm and ending around 11pm.

So those two days, the practice sessions, the head coach interviews, and the four games of the first round were the biggest challenge any of us faced.

The next day was an abbreviated version of the first practice day. Now there were four teams to cover and coaches’ interviews dealing with the upcoming second round contests. The following day the two second round games were played.

Week two of March Madness was not as furious to cover with the four teams in the Sweet 16 and then Elite Eght round involved.

So, following a doubleheader on either Thursday or Friday and a regional final on Saturday or Sunday, one of the Final Four entries would be established.

I’ve gone into detail on the prep for the first two weeks to indicate how much time and effort the broadcasters spend as you, the viewer, go back and forth using your remote to relax and  enjoy the great action while sitting on your ottoman.

Often my assignment for the second week would involve a totally different region so it became necessary to learn four new teams from the first week of play.

One year, I was teamed with the legendary analyst Billy Packer for the first round while the lead play-by-play announcer, Jim Nantz handled the studio coverage, which he did so well. He would join Billy the second week and I would be given a different partner.

We were assigned a Thursday night game in Salt Lake City, Utah, then traveled by private plane to Baton Rouge, Louisiana the next morning for a doubleheader to be played Saturday, only to board another private flight to Minneapolis early on Sunday to broadcast two games that same day. How hectic do you think that was?

Five games in four days in three cities, none close to the other.

These experiences are what I remember more than the games I broadcast.

I can hardly remember them all or most of them because there were so many and they become a blur. I even covered many tournament games involving Syracuse, my Alma Mater.

Readers may wonder how difficult it was not to root for the Orange, or did I really become a big fan?

The answer is simple. There were so many facts to be aware of for both schools, and the demand to concentrate intently on the action to make sure the calls were correct, that it was impossible to sit back and root for your school, even though I naturally wanted them to win.

So, March Madness is here and it’s one big circus of competition involving drama, surprises, and wonderful stories of the people involved.

It all winds up with a national championship for someone. The nets get cut down after the final game and there are memories galore for so many.

For those who broadcast the games, the term March Madness couldn’t be a better way to sum it all up.

The post March Madness Is Upon Us appeared first on Dick Stockton.

Hear it here!

For all those out there who watch televised sports of any kind, I wonder if they realize how those pictures appear on screen and who decides what they see?

We take for granted that the action shown will give us the best possible view, including the reaction shots that follow.

I spent my entire TV career either upstairs in a broadcast booth, or in the case of basketball, at a table court side.

But the real action takes place inside a production truck located outside the stadium or arena. That’s where the folks who actually put the broadcast on the air do their thing.

There is a producer, director, technical director, audio man, and countless others in charge of video taping possible replays that follow the live action that is initially shown.

We’re going to only deal with the director here because he is the one man who decides what pictures you see. He’s the one who faces a vast wall of screens showing what each cameraman, (as few as 7 and as many as 20 or so) has focused on, and which one of these shots will be called out to actually go on the air.

It is a lightning fast experience, resembling what sounds very much like an auctioneer does when he’s chanting the rapid change in bids for an item that’s on sale.

If you think about how quickly shots change in any sport that comes to mind, that’s what the activity is in the production truck.

I’ve been blessed working with some of the best ever, and believe me, a good director makes your job so much easier. Here are some of those, who are all in the broadcasting Hall of Fame.

The first one was Harry Coyle, who directed 36 World Series for NBC beginning with the very first one telecast in 1947.  He was the man calling the shots for that network’s regular season Game of the Week, as well as nearly 30 All-Star Games.

He was the director, of course, when I joined the NBC team for the 1975 World Series, and is responsible for one of the iconic pictures showing Carlton Fisk using his arms, willing his line drive down the left field line to be a fair ball, and when it was, leaping with joy as he started down the first base line with the game winning home run in the 6th game. As the fortunate one to call that dramatic homer, I know better than anyone that it was the pictures chosen by Harry Coyle that made the moment memorable forever.

The exultation by Fisk was a reaction shot that was taped and shown after the actual home run that people remember. It was Harry Coyle, who decided in advance to place a camera inside the left field scoreboard, enabling the view from left field that made it so special.

A camera inside a scoreboard had never been done before. A true genius of his profession.

Sandy Grossman was a director for CBS Sports for 10 Super Bowls, 18 NBA Finals, five Stanley Cup finals and Olympic events. He won eight Emmy Awards for his directing and was a true innovator.

He was the main man for all of CBS’ NBA coverage, and I had the honor of working with Sandy when I served as lead announcer for the hoops coverage in the early 80’s until NBC took over the contract in 1990.

He was also the lead NFL director and worked with the network’s #1 team of Pat Summerall and John Madden. The connection between Madden and Grossman played, I believe, the major role in Madden’s tremendous success using the telestrator, which were the drawings on-screen that brought out John’s explanation of a play.

Madden also communicated with Sandy via the talk-back button between plays that set up what John wanted to focus on next. The talk back button made it possible for the coach, as he was known, to talk to the director without it going out over the air.

In the hours before a broadcast, and during the pre-game warmups, Grossman instructed his cameramen to be on the lookout for unusual happenings that might be of value, especially if the game became a blowout. Sandy Grossman and John Madden were at work way before the opening kickoff.

Besides never missing a beat in covering an NBA game when I was on the mike, Sandy was the first director to show immediate close-up reaction shots of other players and coaches, as well as the crowd, after a particular play or a key foul.

Grossman also was the first to use music going to a commercial which lent an air of theatrics to a sports telecast.

I miss Sandy, another Hall of Famer, who passed away in 2014.

Still with us is Bob Fishman, another CBS great who just retired in 2022 after becoming the trademark director of the Final Four NCAA Basketball Championship and countless other sports achievements.

He was in the production truck for 39 Final Fours, 27 U.S. Open Tennis tournaments, 21 Daytona 500’s, and other events such as the Belmont Stakes, MLB and NFL Playoffs, and the great figure-skating competition in the Olympics. He also was the director of the NFL Today, the legendary pre-game show in its early years.

Fishman never missed live action on the field of play, not always an easy thing to do, and refined the art of capturing the emotion in every sport he covered.

Do you remember Tonya Harding, in tears, after discovering her laces broke on her skate at the Lillehammer Olympics in 1992?

How about Jim Valvano’s crazy sprint on the floor of the NCAA men’s championship after his N.C. State Wolfpack improbably won the national title in 1983?

To delver further into the list of Bob Fishman’s achievements would be never-ending.

But I recall a personal time. Bob was the director when I teamed up with Jim Kaat for CBS’ backup Baseball Game of the Week. Bob underwent a bone marrow transplant after he was diagnosed with non-Hodgins lymphoma that nearly took his life.

He missed the 1990 Final Four, but in ultra-courageous fashion came back to direct our baseball coverage. Accompanied by his remarkable wife, Margaret, and draped in tubes connecting what it seemed all over his body, I often would fly with them to the site of our game. We would watch the Friday night game before our Saturday afternoon broadcast.

But Bob would retire early to get rest and store up energy for the upcoming telecast.

Those moments are what I remember the most about Bob Fishman.

He will turn 77 at the end of the month.

He’s not yet in the Hall of Fame of directors, but he has plenty of years to go on what has been a terrific career as sports director,  Rich Russo just completed his fifth Super Bowl for Fox Sports.

Russo, along with producer Richie Zyontz, finished a season to remember launching the broadcasting career of Tom Brady. Whatever Brady gained in going through his rookie year in the booth, he was blessed working with a duo that excelled in creating the right atmosphere for the super-knowledgeable and uber-intelliegent Brady to make progress. They both got the job done with a remarkable low key and pressure free culture. It is a trademark of Rich Russo as well as the other directors I have saluted.

Russo has learned from the likes of Sandy Grossman and Bob Fishman as others will learn from Rich Russo. Keeping calm and being patient go hand in hand in calling the shots of games that are often frenetic.

All of those revealed here have that trait as they peer over all of the screens and rapidly choose the next picture you see when you watch the games.

The post Behind The Scenes Of Televised Sports appeared first on Dick Stockton.

Hear it here!

Time for a little fun.

There are sayings and phrases that you hear every day that everyone knows what you’re talking about. But when you really examine what they are, and look at them in a purely literal way, well, you may wonder what they REALLY mean.

Let’s examine a bunch of them.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.
But, what IS it, anyway?

TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT.
Most of the time that means it’s a story that goes on a lot longer.

THAT’S ON MY BUCKET LIST.
We all know it comes from the 2007 film The Bucket List.
It’s about a list of things to do before you “kick the bucket”.
I don’t think there’s a line from a movie that’s used more than that?

WE’LL TAKE A RAIN CHECK.
We know it’s a baseball term but what if the weather has nothing to do with it?

LONG TIME NO SEE.
No one would ever simply say “I haven’t seen you in a while”.

SAME OLD, SAME OLD.
Is what you’ve been doing that old?

SIX OF ONE, HALF A DOZEN OF ANOTHER.
That works if you’re good at math.

I HAVE A LAUNDRY LIST OF THINGS TO DO.
Is it always about sheets, pillowcases, shirts, and towels?

PICK YOUR POISON.
Who wants to make that choice? I’d rather not.

HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW.
What if it’s still here tomorrow.

IT’S THE ONLY WAY TO GO
Whatever it is, believe me, there’s always more than one way to go.

KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE.
We always say we’re doing it, but isn’t it practically impossible to do?

NO PAIN, NO GAIN
Really, does it have to hurt?

WHATEVER.
I really have no answer to what you’re saying.

UNDER THE WEATHER.
So, if I’m not feeling well, what does it have to do with the weather, and how far under am I?

IT’S SUCH A SMALL WORLD.
You know that’s not the case so why do you say it?

EVERY NOW AND THEN.
In other words, not very often.

WE SHOULD GET ON THE PLANE.
Isn’t it better to get IN the plane? Getting on the plane won’t go well once it starts to move. Besides, no one ever says “Get on the car”.

Then, of course, there are the sports phrases we hear that make us roll our eyes.

THEY WANT TO GET OFF TO A GOOD START.
Really, I thought they wanted to fall behind early.

HE CAME TO PLAY.
I know he’s performed very well, but didn’t everyone else come to play as well?

THERE’S NO QUIT IN HIM.
Again, he’s battled back, but who out there has really quit?

HE’S A COMPETITOR.
As opposed to everyone else who just goes through the motions.

THEY CAN SMELL IT NOW.
They’re on the way to win, but what does that really smell like?

THEY CAN’T AFFORD TO MAKE THOSE KIND OF MISTAKES.
Sure they can, if they’re out to lose.

HE HAS ALL THE INTANGIBLES.
Not only is it hard to enumerate, it’s hard to spell.

THIS IS A CRITICAL PLAY COMING UP.
It sure is, until the next one comes along.

WE WON BECAUSE WE’RE A FAMILY.
But when we lose, we don’t speak to each other.

There are so many others we hear and use in everyday life and in sports.
I welcome our loyal readers to offer their contributions and they’ll appear at some point given proper credit.

Super Bowl Sunday is long gone, but there was another sports happening that day that bears recognition.

Hubie Brown, one of the great TV expert-analysts, broadcast his final game that afternoon when the Milwaukee Bucks hosted the Philadelphia 76ers.

The telecast was a salute to Brown, who, at the age of 91, that’s right, 91, wrapped up a coaching and announcing career that spanned well over half a decade.

Brown was my partner for the last two years of CBS’ national coverage of the NBA.

That was back in 1990. We then teamed up for several seasons on TNT.

I have written about Hubie in a past column or two, and cited his remarkable consistency in preparing, teaching, and delivering on television, precisely the way he did as a two-time NBA Coach of the Year. He led the Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks and Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA and won an ABA championship with the Kentucky Colonels.

He gave 100% as a coach demanding the same from his players, and gave 100% in every game he broadcast.

You couldn’t fail to get an education in basketball when you listened to him, and I am proud to have had the honor of sitting with him courtside.

But the viewers were the real winners as they listened to the unwavering way he broke down the game every time he took to the air.

But if you step away for a moment, and think of anyone in any field working before an audience at the age of 91, you would have to shake your head in utter amazement at that achievement.

That’s what I think about.

The post Idioms and Hubie Brown appeared first on Dick Stockton.