Sports Agenda for Monday (4/1/13)
Big Stories:
The Heat are taking flak for sitting LeBron, but that's not the full story. The Marlins begin their pursuit of the worst record in baseball this afternoon. The Dolphins continue shopping. And the media avoids a broken leg like the plague, but why?
Quote of the Day:
"Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied." – Otto von Bismarck
Miami Heat: (off Monday)
So the Heat sat LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Mario Chalmers last night.
And it just so happened to be against the team that sat their stars earlier in the season.
Did Miami do it intentionally, probably.
Can the Spurs prove it, nope.
Will the league take action, possibly.
Is it a big deal, nope.
Here's what I mean.
San Antonio sent every star they had home earlier this year at the end of a tough road trip.
That's their right to do especially with the age of those players.
I get it, it was also a shot across the bow of David Stern, which I never have a problem with.
Miami did the same thing with LeBron and Wade.
They were at the end of a long winning streak and at the end of a road trip.
Plus, you can't say for certain Wade/James weren't sore or needing a day off.
Here's the difference:
The Heat still put a star-laden team on the floor last night with Chris Bosh, Ray Allen, Shane Battier, etc.
And guess what, the Heat still knocked off the Spurs in San Antonio.
This bodes extremely well for the playoffs and shows once again that Bosh is often overlooked, but just as important to this team as anyone.
Well, anyone not named LeBron, because let's be honest, he's in another galaxy of play.
I just laughed at Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN when they said if Miami did hold out LeBron and Wade to get back at Poppovich, shame on them.
I disagree, I say, touche'.
Miami will next play the New York Knicks on the home floor Tuesday night.
The Heat should be able to handle the Knicks fairly easily..should. I mean how many teams do you know that have won 29 of the last 30 games?
Miami Marlins (vs. Washington Nationals, 1:05 p.m., Fox Sports Florida)
Ah yes, the Marlins begin their pursuit of infamy with the season opener against the consensus number one team in baseball, the Nationals.
Here's how you know Miami is going to struggle more than me with grammar and spelling.
Check out this starting lineup.
1. Juan Pierre, LF
2. Chris Coghlan, CF
3. Giancarlo Stanton, RF
4. Placido Polanco, 3B
5. Rob Brantly, C
6. Donovan Solano, 2B
7. Casey Kotchman, 1B
8. Adeny Hechavarria, SS
9. Ricky Nolasco, P
Yikes.
Poor Stanton. He has no protection in the lineup and pitchers will just avoid him all season long.
Placido Polanco is the cleanup hitter and has never hit cleanup in his life.
The pitching rotation should be interesting with the addition of Jose Fernandez and his fastball, but I think it's a little early to throw him to the wolves, but we'll see soon.
I take shots at the Marlins but there is a little bit of talent, the problem is that it's at least 2-3 years away from being on the field for significant action.
By that time, Stanton will most likely be gone because you know Loria won't pay him what he's worth and even if he did, for a buck he'd trade his own mother.
I got a kick out of listening to Bud Selig say the Marlins trade wasn't about just acquiring cash.
Really? Does he think baseball fans, typically some of the smartest fans out there, are that stupid?
I guess he does, which explains most of his decisions thus far in his career.
Miami Dolphins:
The Dolphins continued spending like a drunken spring breaker by signing cornerback Brent Grimes.
I actually really like this signing, provided of course Grimes is healthy.
He tore his Achilles tendon last year, so his health is a big question mark right now.
But, if he is healthy, he takes over one of the cornerback spots and should immediately improve the play from Sean Smith last season who was extremely inconsistent.
Grimes is a good corner in zone coverage and is not afraid to take a shot at an opponent to stop the ballcarrier.
Now, let's say the Dolphins are content at corner with the returns of Grimes and Richard Marshall.
To me, that leaves two positions to really concentrate on during the 2013 NFL Draft.
Offensive tackle and tight end/wide receiver. (Okay, three positions)
Luckily for the Dolphins, the draft is loaded with offensive line talent and there are a few tight ends who are worth late first-round consideration.
If I'm the Fins I watch to see who starts falling and if it's a corner or stud tackle, I jump up and go get them.
If the guard Warmack is sitting there and the Fins don't draft him, it will haunt them for a decade.
But, the one thing all of the free agent spending has given the Fins heading into the draft is flexibility.
And that is a good thing for a young roster looking to improve the overall talent level.
NCAA Tournament Update:
This is not so much of an update as just a quick little opinion about something that happened during the Louisville-Duke game that was horrific.
Louisville guard Kevin Ware fractured his leg in the first half of the game and when I say fracture, I mean compound, bone sticking out of his leg, fracture.
It was bad, really, really bad.
If you follow sports, it was as bad as Joe Theismann, who actually tweeted well wishes to Ware after the injury occurred.
But here's where I have a problem with the media today.
Most media outlets have chosen not to show the injury.
I guess my question is why?
Is it gruesome, yes, absolutely.
Was it the biggest news of the game, arguably yes.
Does it serve a purpose to tell the story, absolutely.
It's easy to hide things from the public, or say that they are welcome to go find it themselves because there's a plethora of places online to see the video/image.
But if it's a big enough story to be mentioned in the news, it should be shown in full context.
Think about it, which one is worse?
A story about a father who killed his daughter by starving her and then was going to kill himself and his son on the side of the road. Then finding out about horrid conditions that are shown on television from the homes.
Or seeing a broken leg.
See, that's what people in news today often miss. Which one is worse, telling constant stories about murder, death, mayhem, or showing a graphic image?
It reminds me of an old psychology class experiment that some professors have run.
They give people two cards, on one of them they write the word "MURDER" and on the other one they write the F-bomb.
Then they ask people to tell them which one is worse.
It's always about context, and sometimes in the news business we miss that.
Of course that's just my opinion, and I've been wrong plenty of times in the past and will be plenty of times in the future.
