"The world is going to collapse"
Padres TV coverage to remain excellent, Luka continues his Kobe-like scoring tear, day 1 of the NCAA Tournament, and Pep Guardiola points to things that are bigger than sports.
I’m going to be honest with you, it’s hard to care as much about sports these days as I used to. I don’t know if that’s because I have gotten older, with more responsibilities, or if it’s because the world outside of sports seems to be screaming for our collective attention every second of every day.
This is likely the first, and last, time I will ever say this, but I agree with Manchester City manager on the current state of things:
We’re also starting to see headlines that feel an awful lot like the ones we saw before the world shut down in 2020. Maybe that’s not so bad, assuming it comes without the deaths of over a million people.
Either way, the distraction of sports are becoming more important than ever while it is also becoming more and more difficult to actually distract away from whatever is happening and whatever is coming.
Take care of yourselves out there. Enjoy the sports when, where and however you can.
Now, onto the links…
San Diego Padres
Padres agree to extension with colorful TV analyst Mark Grant - San Diego Union-Tribune
Don Orsillo and Mark Grant, the Padres’ exceedingly popular television broadcasters, are now both signed to long-term contracts after the team agreed this week to a multi-year deal with Grant.
Orsillo, the play-by-play voice of the Padres since 2016, signed a multi-year pact last spring. The exact length of the contracts is not known.
Grant, nicknamed “Mud” since his playing days, has provided color commentary on Padres broadcasts since 1996. He had been operating on one-year deals.
Tatis vs. Miller: Padres stars ruminate on the Classic matchup that never was - MLB.com
“We both wanted it,” Tatis said. “We know the caliber of each other. It was going to be a battle, man. It was going to be a really fun battle.”
That’s not entirely true. No question, Miller would’ve embraced that battle. But he didn’t exactly “want” it. At least not in the way that Tatis did.
“You see Tati standing on deck, knowing what he can do, knowing the tournament he was having -- yeah, I’m definitely grateful I didn’t have to get him,” Miller said.
Padres notebook: Mason Miller talks WBC; Fernando Tatis Jr. beats the heat - San Diego Union-Tribune
With Tatis and Manny Machado back from the WBC, the Padres had all their regulars for the first time since Feb. 27. Jake Cronenworth batted leadoff for the seventh time this spring. Tatis was second, Jackson Merrill third and Machado fourth. Said manager Craig Stammen: “Croney has had a great spring training, and he’s looked really good at the top of the lineup when we’ve had him in there against right-handed pitching. So we’ll see how that looks with everybody in the lineup. Five days to kind of shake it out and see what we’ve got before the lineup actually counts.”
The True Victim of the Petco Scam Is Youth Sports - Voice of San Diego
Uniforms, field permits, equipment, field maintenance, umpires, etc. — all of the things it takes to run a league are very expensive. And now with travel clubs, private coaching, far-away tournaments and specialized gear, private equity has gotten deep into youth sports. Wealthier families and talented kids are finding all kinds of reasons to leave their communities.
Those of us trying to keep communities together – to ensure everyone gets a chance to play and to ward off the sharks of profit as long as possible — are swimming against the tide.
An investment of $3.75 million over seven years into local softball would have had immeasurable, long-term positive effects on a youth sports community in Chula Vista. Thousands of young girls would have had opportunities they maybe can’t get now.
As part of his plea, Rebello has agreed to pay the Internal Revenue Service almost $540,000 and the Social Security Administration more than $71,000.
Youth sports will get nothing. The other victims, Delaware North, the Padres and Aztec Shops may have to tap into the tens of millions they collected to implement their new protocols.
San Diego FC
Tom Krasovic: San Diego FC could’ve used exiled star in Champions Cup match in Mexico - San Diego Union-Tribune
Lozano’s absence was expected. The stalemate between SDFC and its star left wing has kept him out of every match since the team lost in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference finals five months ago. Neither side has indicated the pattern will soon change; San Diego FC has said it is moving on from the star.
But Lozano’s absence never has felt nearly so unfortunate as it did on Wednesday night in his home country.
With Lozano on the pitch, it would’ve been a more fun and interesting event, given the enticing circumstances.
MLS reveals details of its 2027 sprint season before calendar flips - The Athletic
MLS teams will play 14-game regular season schedules, with the entirety of the slate limited to intra-conference play. Each team will play all 14 of their conference rivals, seven at home and seven away. The top eight teams from each conference will qualify for the playoffs.
The playoff will be a single-elimination bracket culminating in MLS Cup, which will be held in May.
March Madness
Aztecs edge UC Irvine in ‘home’ game at USD, advance in WBIT - San Diego Union-Tribune
Naomi Panganiban snapped a 55-55 tie with a pair of free throws with 33.2 seconds to play Thursday night and Nala Williams added four insurance free throws in the final 20.3 seconds as San Diego State defeated UC Irvine 61-55 at the University of San Diego in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.
The Aztecs return to the Jenny Craig Pavilion Sunday at 2 p.m. to host McNeese State in the second round. SDSU is playing across town because Viejas Arena is hosting the first and second rounds of the men’s NCAA Tournament.
UNC’s Hubert Davis defends decisions after latest early exit - ESPN
In the final four minutes of regulation, as VCU chipped away at what had been a 19-point deficit to claw back to within reach of a suddenly sluggish North Carolina, Rams coach Phil Martelli Jr. told his team to keep the energy up, that the Tar Heels were tired.
It was obvious to VCU. But on the UNC bench, it was apparently far less clear.
In a series of terse exchanges with reporters after VCU’s 82-78 overtime win, North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said he didn’t think his team was tired, appeared baffled by a question about what went wrong down the stretch and when pointedly asked why he had gone with a short six-man rotation in those waning minutes, offered a succinct response: “Because that was my decision.”
No. 1 Duke overcomes double-digit halftime deficit to avoid massive NCAA tournament upset against No. 16 Siena - Yahoo Sports
Duke needed quite the second-half comeback to avoid one of the biggest upsets in NCAA tournament history on Thursday.
That’s probably not a sentence you expected to read.
The No. 1 overall seed beat No. 16 Siena 71-65 after trailing by 11 points at halftime. It was the first time in NCAA tournament history that a No. 1 seed trailed by 10 points or more to a No. 16 seed at the half and Siena’s 13-point lead in the second half was the biggest deficit Duke had faced all season.
Odds & Ends
Luka Doncic puts up 60 vs. Heat as Lakers’ win streak hits 8 - ESPN
When Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic went to the free throw line Thursday with 14.8 seconds remaining, needing to make one out of two to reach 60 points, a funny thing happened in Kaseya Center.
The Miami Heat’s home crowd started chanting, “MVP! MVP!” for Doncic.
“It was pretty impressive, especially an away game in Miami,” Doncic said after L.A.’s 134-126 victory extended the team’s winning streak to eight. “You hear the whole crowd chanting, ‘MVP,’ that’s what I think every player wants to hear. ... I got a lot of goosebumps, so it was pretty special.”
What’s next for the WNBA after reaching a historic CBA deal? - The Athletic
After months of contentious negotiations and a week-plus of overnight marathon meetings, the Women’s National Basketball Players Association and the league hammered out a new collective bargaining agreement early Wednesday morning. Players will be paid more than ever (an average salary around $600,000 and a $1.4 million supermax salary), according to sources with knowledge of the deal. That is more than four times the cap of $1.5 million in 2025. Players will also receive a larger chunk of revenue (20 percent of gross league and team revenue) as part of the deal, which likely will be considered a pivotal moment in women’s sports labor history.
Though the financials are settled (for now) after a drawn-out CBA process, the league and its players must now face the reality of calendar logistics. They’re facing the most truncated offseason in league history. Other offseasons have been conducted in shorter time periods — in 2003, for example, a CBA was agreed upon on April 18 and the first game was played on May 22 — but no other offseasons have had this much business to accomplish before the season tips off on May 8.
It’s Gambling - Defector
What’s the difference between betting on sports and “trading on a prediction market?” For the gambler herself, very little. If you go on Kalshi, the suddenly ubiquitous “prediction market” platform that has enjoyed the backing of the Trump administration, one can click on the “sports” tab and see a list of, among other events, all the college basketball games being played today. One can “buy shares” in, say, Kennesaw State to beat Gonzaga, and if that result happens, she will collect profit from the money “invested” by the losers. Kalshi, with a straight face, argues that this is different from traditional sportsbook betting because they are a neutral party simply charging transaction fees, instead of a bookmaker charging a vig. But if you define sports gambling as “risking money on a sporting event in the hopes of making more money,” all the synonyms in the world can’t hide that.
How Doomed Is the Price of Oil? An FAQ. - The Ringer
Gas prices are skyrocketing due to the conflict in Iran. How worried should we be? Let’s go deep on exploding plankton, market mood swings, and one of the strangest industries in the world.