NO MARCH MADNESS? WHAT NEXT?

Day 1 without sports.

Here I am thinking about writing or having time to write because everything has been cancelled and since my work revolves around sports I literally don't have work. We were in spring break when this happened at my last sport event was a John Tyler softball game. I think I might have caught a few minutes of the Duke game the weekend before but now that I think about it I can't actually remember. The funny thing is that I work so much with sports that I actually don't get to sit down and enjoy them as often as I would like. March Madness is actually the one time where I devout myself to college basketball, multiple games a day over a consecutive period of time. Teams who had a show out seasons making it for the first time in a while and those who have had a great season going to head to head. All the upsets? I remember last year when I watched at work, the dog park, the movies. I was hooked and I thought that Duke was going to go all the way, unfortunately their season was ended in the Elite 8 by Michigan St. If I'm being honest I don't know what their run would have looked like this year. On the women's side I firmly believe that Baylor could have went back to back but I guess we will never know.

Day 2 without sports.

UIL laid down the hammer, no sports or practice until March 30th. Schools closed down for a week to weigh options. What is life with all this time?

Day 4 without sports. Today would have been Selection Sunday. By now all of the conference title games would have been completed and sport analyzers would have put all the numbers to determine where the teams fall in seeding for March Madness. Who made it and who didn’t? There have been several stories of teams who would have made this tournament for this first time, who’s to say that team will have a shot next year? There are a number of seniors who have completed their regular season and won’t be eligible for another year of eligibility for the post season. The end of the basketball season was abrupt and left a lot of questions unanswered. I still feel like there should be an attempt to salvage the season and play a tournament, even if it has to be in an empty arena. Watching on TV would be better than not watching at all and everyone will get the much needed satisfaction of how the season will play out.

Instead we find ourselves reminiscing on games from this season and games from last year’s conference tournament, but it doesn’t have the same thrill. We know the outcome we witnessed some phenomenal moments in history.

So what’s next? Hoping that the Coronavirus pandemic dies down so that sports can return on time in the fall and hoping that the Olympics won’t be affected. From now on I will record my favorite games in order to fulfill that need of sport. I wish I would have recorded the Duke UNC match up in Chapel Hill this year. From being down by double digits and playing a terrible game to bringing back a win in OT. There have been a ton of games that are worthy of re-watching.

Hopefully the NBA will complete their season and baseball is on the way. Only 11 more months until next March.

Day 5 without sports led to a trip to the bookstore to find some good “Sport” reads and good reads in general. As a fan of John Grisham I always try and find the books that I do not own yet because I am certain that I own most of them already. I have been fortunate to find a few sport related reads that tie my love for the author and the game into one.

Today I came upon a book about Earl Campbell, one of the greatest players of all time. #7 according to the national list, and he is from Tyler, TX. Did you know that his middle name is Christian? Pretty freakin awesome if I should say so myself. But then again I am just a little biased. I’m only a few pages in but I have learned so much about the Tyler great. I’m very intrigued by the guy who has a street, stadium, and holds many of the records at the high school where I work. I’m interested to learn more about Mr. Rose himself. So far I’ve learned that Earl also attended the middle school where I work and that John Tyler used to be an All-White school, nowadays I can count the number of white kids on my hand.

I also purchased a book about my favorite Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera, one of the last guys to wear #42 after it was retired for Jackie Robinson. I’m interested to learn more about a guy that I’ve watched for years. I also found a book by John Grisham called The Innocent Man that discusses an athlete who had the potential to be the next Mickey Mantle before his career was derailed. All the sport reads without watching the game, it will do better than nothing. I will search for more reads following the completion of these 3.

Lastly, I got a book on Psychopaths and Serial Killers because who doesn’t love a good murder story? But no worries, I don’t plan to pursue any activities related to this read.

Today was my first day of mitigation break, spent most of the day at home organizing all the random things.

The greatest part of the day was accepting a new job position. Although my heart will forever be a John Tyler Lion I am excited for this new opportunity.

Day 6 without sports but with all the sport news! Notable takeaways from Free Agency so far.

DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals? 🤯

Houston Texans have been good but not great in the past. DeShaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins is definitely a force to be reckoned with. When I saw the news I couldn’t believe it and in my opinion the Cardinals got a steal. It will be very interesting to see what Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins will do next season.

Cowboys place franchise tag on Dak.

I don’t know how to feel about this one. Dak is not worth all the money he is asking for. Yeah he is good but not great, I mean he is better than Tony Romo but is that saying much? The Cowboys have yet to make a deep run for the Super Bowl and until then Dak needs to stop acting like he’s Tom Brady.

Tom Brady announces not returning to the Patriots? 😲😯

Speaking of Tom Brady the news broke this morning that the he would NOT return to the Patriots. I am shook. He has been with the Patriots his entire legendary career. Has multiple super bowl rings, MVPs and all the accolades. Why would you give that up with the team that drafted you and not just end your career? There is talks of him retiring altogether which would make sense but also of him potentially headed back to the West Coast. Either way Tom Brady has been a Patriot since I can remember football I mean the guy before him was Drew Bledsoe and I remember Bledsoe playing for the Cowboys. The most exciting part of this is that my boy Jarrett Stidham has a shot to be the next great or maybe the Pats will be looking for a QB in the draft.

Amari Cooper sounds 5-year dear with the Cowboys.

Now this is finally a move that I can be on board with. I am not a fan of the Cowboys but there is not a football fan that won’t tell you that Cooper was a quality piece for the Cowboys offense. When he was out of the line up things just didn’t click. I’m glad the Jones family actually made a good move and signed a stud to the roster. It will be interesting to see that’s for sure!

Possible trade for C. McCaff??

Okay MATT WHAT IS U DOIN? Prior to Matt Rhule (Former Baylor Football coach that I had the a chance to work with) becoming the head coach for the Carolina Panthers, there were talks of trading Cam Newton but now its flipped to keeping Cam and letting McCaff go?? Now don’t get me wrong I love me some Cam Newton I’ve been of fan of his since his Auburn days, BUT the offense would not be the same with C. McCaff in the backfield. The dude is one of the next greats. Matt should NOT let him go that’s for sure.

Update the Panthers are moving to trade Cam Newton, and potentially signing Teddy Bridgewater. I think it's a good move to give Teddy a shot at QB1 especially under the reigns of Joe Brady who just had an insane year with LSU. Hopefully this is good news about keeping C. McCaff.

It’s kind of strange to be voicing by football thoughts in March, because I should be glued to a TV at work with all the basketball I can hope for. This Coronavirus is really messing things up and I want my sports back.