Does Major League Baseball start today?

Does Major League Baseball start today?

  guess I missed spring training. Now I get it...there was no spring training in Tucson. It just seems a bit odd to me. I bet some of my readers feel the same way. Oh well, on with the show. Maybe I'll turn on my Vizio and catch a game this morning. Let' play ball!

Hey, the Ducks are still playing...

Can you believe it the Oregon Ducks are still playing basketball?

The Ducks are in the championship game of a tourney in Eugene, Oregon called the CBI, which stands for College Basketball Invitational. The Ducks will in the rubber game of a three-game championship series on Friday against Creighton. Oregon evened the series with an 81-58 win last night.

Of course, our Arizona Wildcats bowed out of the "Big Dance" last week, following their Elite Eight loss to UConn, and the Washington State Cougars lost a couple of nights ago to Wichita State, after reaching the semi finals of the NIT (that tourney is a bit more familiar). Joevan Catron scored 18 for the Ducks last night. The Ducks will play their 39th game of the year on Friday! They are 20-18 on the season. Go Ducks, if you have any energy left!

Back on DL...again

I did it again!

Back on the DL, the disabled list...no more baseball for three months! A year and half ago I was taken down by a big fella in a play at third base, during the 2009 Mens Senior League Baseball (MSBL) World Series in Phoenix. The result some nerve damage to my right side. I recovered, bounced back and played in the 2010 MSBL World Series and have played regularly, for the most part, at Tucson Udall Park on the Tucson Oldtimers (TOTS) baseball club the past 18 months.

But another fall, this time trying to avoid a tag at third base at a TOTS game last week, has put me out of action. I now have a cane in my right hand, instead of a bat. Frustrating, is the word that comes to mind. I'll miss the game...and the guys at Udall Park.

Sometimes...you just can't risk it (it, as in playing baseball). And sometimes, you have just too much on your plate (play on words, there) like handling life away from the baseball diamond to take a chance on putting on a ball uniform and running from first to third.

They call third base a hot spot, it is more like a construction zone for me!

No Number 1 or Number 2 Seeds In NCAA Basketball Final Four!

I'm wondering if someone was crazy enough to have predicted this year's NCAA Final Four?

Where is this crazy person who would have penciled in 11th-seeded Virgina Commonwealth, 8th-seeded Butler, 4th-seeded Kentucky and 3rd-seeded UConn? It stands to reason millions of basketball fans may have one or two...Kentucky certainly would be a fan- favorite pick on a lot of brackets...UConn, too...and even Butler would have certainly been penciled in by many.

But all four! That's a heck of a guess. All number one seeds go down in the tournament and today VCU pulls off the shocker over Kansas -- the only numero uno left in the field and moments ago Kentucky takes down North Carolina -- the only number two seed left in the field. VCU might as well finish this crazy tournament, win seven games, and take it all.

About Liz...

Elizabeth Taylor passed away last week.

When you're a movie buff like me, well you just can't forget her beauty and her movies from National Velvet to Cleopatra...from Butterfield 8 to Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf, but the one that sticks with me the most is The Giant, Edna Ferber's novel which was made into a 1956 award-winning movie with a cast I'll never forget. Rock Hudson, James Dean, Dennis Hopper, Mercedes McCambridge, Chill Wills...and the list goes on with another handful of character actors involved in the epic film about a Texas cattle baron (played by Hudson), who falls in love with a beautiful lady (Taylor) from Maryland, gets hitched, and moves her West.

The new bride steps off the train and enters a new life on the Benedict Family spread, called Reata, complete with a ranch house full of characters like Jett Rink (Dean) and Luz Benedict,the sister, played by McCambridge. Bick Benedict (Hudson) ends up with a keg of worms, so to speak, corralling all of the above characters (and a few more) into a family unit.

Elizabeth Taylor, a movie star, one of my favorite actresses of all time, dead at the age of 79.

The Pitchers!

Okay, I can't resist. See my previous post about the 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks. Let's throw out the names: J.J. Putz...our closer, and the starters...the probable starters, I must add: J. Saunders, D. Hudson, I. Kennedy, B. Enright, A. Galarraga and A. Heilman.

That's enough for now. So, let's pull back the curtain to the 2011 MLB season and head (surprisingly, how many times does the D'backs play these guys this year?) for Denver and opening day Friday afternoon with the Colorado Rockies.

My prediction: Kennedy gets the nod, throws a shutout for eight innings, and gives the ball up in the ninth to one of our many relievers in the bullpen. Kennedy walks off the mound with a 4-0 lead and the Diamondbacks' reliever (I'll leave that prediction alone) comes in and allow three runs. Mr. Drew makes a game-saving, diving catch with the bases loaded and the Arizona Diamondbacks win their opener, 4-3.

Wow! I have had way too much coffee this morning.

What does Mr. Gibson have to work with?

Nady...Young...and Upton in the outfield. Miranda, Johnson, Drew and Mora around the horn. Montero behind the plate. Pitchers? Let's don't go there yet.

Are these the 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks whom will carry us to the promised land. Opening day is just around the corner. How about this for a starting lineup: Kirk Gibson, Don Baylor, Charles Nagy, Eric Young, Matt Williams, Alan Trammell, Glenn Sherlock, Jeff Motuzas and Wilson Valera. Oops! That's the manager and the coaches!

All kidding aside, good luck Diamondbacks. I'm behind you 100 percent.